I lurched forward, covering his runes. The raised skin branded my hands with their vile heat, demanding I let go. Instead, I gripped tighter.
The soft breeze picked up speed, whipping my hair around. His eyes shifted between a cold mask and a storm of unspoken emotion.
“Stay with me.”
He jerked on his wrists. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
But I wouldn’t let go. He wasmine. Lilith couldn’t have him.
His skin puckered horribly beneath my fingers. All emotion bled from his blue eyes. Lilith’s chokehold swallowed his pain and resolve, leaving our bond numb and empty.
“Fight her! You’re stronger than her, Aspen!”
The moonlight blinked out, leaving Firewings as our only light—until the savage wind roared and hurled the tiny insects to the ground. Darkness swallowed us whole, stealing Aspen from my sight—but not from my hold.
“Aspen, remember who you are,” I begged. “Give me the moon.”
“I don’t know what the fuck that means. But if you’re alive, we’ll find you.” He wrenched his hands out of my grip.
The vicious wind halted, and a glowing ball of purple-white light illuminated the still, empty darkness.
He was gone.
I sat there, staring into the abyss of my mind.
He couldn’t stay like that. He couldn’t continue to be her lethal pawn, following her every whim and forgetting who he was and where he came from.
His mom wanted more for him. She wanted me to save him.
The more I thought about Lilith, the more my sorrow morphed into a vicious vengeance. Itches scattered across my skin. Purple flames burst forth, and the glowing ball beside me pulsed.
What did Magda say?
Something about Hell’s general being able to remove his runes. I’d have to find him and force him to help me.
I slumped, letting go of my power. I didn’t know where I’d be when I woke up, or what state I’d be in, or where my mom was. How was I supposed to find Hell’s general and ask him to help me save my guardian? The male, I lov?—
I stopped that thought.Was that what these feelings were?I didn’t know. But he was mine, and I needed to save him.
Chapter
Two
RONEN
Quiet eased through the castle, the staff and few souls privileged to live here settling in for the night. I padded down the crimson carpet toward my room. The color resembled fresh blood under the silver moonlight streaming through the floor-length windows lining the hall.
The color followed me everywhere—in every corridor of Hell’s castle, in the uniform that covered my military, in the wounds they carried or earned. In every crevice of my hands and the tendrils of my shadows.
Blood followed me.
My room remained my only reprieve from the potent, ever-present stain—and the library.
The chair beside my favorite shelves called to me now, urging me to turn back, to ease the tension coiling tighter with every step toward my room.
I had to passhersto reach mine. And for once, I didn’t want my shadows pounding at my body to escape.
A soft click sounded ahead. I stopped, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
