“I’m yours,” I gasp, the confession tearing from me as if it’s been buried in my chest all along. My voice breaks, every part of me meaning the words.
A shudder runs through him, and his lips crash against mine again, harsher now. His power hums under my skin, vibrating through me, pulling me under until I can’t tell where he ends and I begin.
The scent of the human’s power is all over the castle, clinging to stone and shadow as if it’s a trail meant only for me. Every step I take is guided by it, a lure that coils around my senses and drags me deeper. He thinks he’s hiding, but I know better. The walls whisper with his presence.
Somewhere in here he breathes, and when I find him… I’ll strip that power from his bones, piece by piece.
The floor groans beneath my steps. I don’t falter, I want him to hear me coming, to feel the noose tighten before I ever touch him. I stalk deeper, following the trail. When I find him, I’ll bleed his secrets out slowly, until that power thrumming in his veins is mine to devour.
His scent hangs heavy in the air outside Thorne’s bedroom door. I push the door open, not trying to be quiet. The sight hits me like a physical strike, knocking the air from my lungs.
There he is.
However, just as I knew, he’s not the weak little human I locked up in a tomb. Instead, his skin glows faintly with something old, something that shouldn’t exist. Thorne… the one I bound. He’s pressed against him like a worshipper at the altar, feeding from the very energy pouring out of him.
My stomach turns, not from jealousy, but from hunger. That power should be mine. The room thrums with it, thick as blood in the air. My bones ache with the need to rip it out of him and devour it whole.
“You,” I hiss, stepping closer, the word dripping with venom. My eyes lock on the human, not Thorne. The diabhal can fuck him into the stone floor for all I care, so long as I get my prize when it’s over.
The shadows stir behind me, responding to my call. “That power doesn’t belong to you. It was never meant for you.”
For the first time, the human looks at me not like prey… but like a predator who knows I’ve just walked into his cage. He doesn’t flinch when I step closer. The black veins of his newfound strength pulse on his skin like rivers of fire. Thorne lingers at his side, his lips twisted in something between amusement and warning.
“You don’t even know what you’re holding,” I snarl. “That kind of power is ancient, older than the veil itself. You’ll burn from the inside out if you keep it.”
His mouth curves into a slow, feral grin. “Then I’ll burn. It’ll be my fire, not yours.”
The air snaps, thick with the raw current pulsing off him. I can taste it on my tongue, the scent of power that could shatter worlds. My shadows surge forward, slithering along the stone floor, reaching for his ankles like eager serpents.
Thorne moves between us in a blur, his voice a low growl. “Touch him, Saoirse, and I’ll peel the flesh from your bones.”
Sharp and cold, I laugh, baring my teeth. “How sweet. The great diabhal is playing guard dog to a half-born freak. Tell me, Thorne, does his cock taste as divine as his power feels?”
The human’s eyes ignite at my words, brighter than hellfire. The shadows I command falter for the briefest breath as his power pushes back, choking the air, filling the room with the promise of violence.
The floor shudders as I release my shadows again, black tendrils lashing like whips, snapping toward him. They coil around his wrists, eager to drag him to his knees.
Ach ní thiteann sé.(But he doesn’t fall.)
Instead, he rips through them. His body glowing faintly. His veins are alive with that ancient current, each movement shattering the bonds as if they’re nothing but cobwebs. The force of it sends a shockwave through the room, rattling the torches in their brackets.
“Pathetic,” he spits, stepping forward. Each step radiates that power, pressing against my lungs, suffocating me. My own darkness trembles.
Undeterred, I summon more. Thicker shadows twisting into blades that slash through the air. They bite into his skin, but instead of blood, white fire hisses from the cuts, sealing them shut almost instantly.
He laughs, low and dark. “You think you can cage me?” His voice is thunder, shaking the stone. “I’m not the weak little human you thought you could toy with… I am more.”
Then he lunges. Faster than I expected. His hand closes around my throat, pinning me against the wall. My shadows writhe and thrash, still his power burns through them like acid.
“You’ll give me what I want,” I rasp, my words catching in my throat. “Or I’ll tear her apart right in front of you.” I gesture toward the banshee, as I finally realise who lies asleep on Thorne’s bed.
His eyes darken, his mouth twisting into something feral. “Try it, and I’ll show you what happens when the power learns to kill.”
He releases my throat only to hurl me across the room. My body slams into the stone wall with bone-rattling force, the crack of the impact echoing the room. Pain blooms sharply through my ribs, still it’s the humiliation that sears hotter than any wound. I slide down the wall, coughing, my shadows flickering weakly at my fingertips, too fractured to hold shape.
The power rolling off him isn’t just old, it’s a resonance that rattles the marrow in my bones. The torches gutter, their flames stretching toward him. “You have no idea what you’re standing against,” he says, his voice reverberating as though the castle itself is speaking through him. “Threaten her again, and I’ll unravel you until there’s nothing left.”
The floor beneath me shudders as dust rains from the ceiling. For a heartbeat, I swear the very veil between worlds flickers, ready to split wide open.
