She takes Julia’s hands, guiding them over her bare midsection, her ribs, her chest. Like shewantsthis. Like she’s daring Julia to keep going, to take more.
Julia hisses as the contact increases. She slides one hand around the back of Riley’s head, leaning close as if to kiss her—but it’s not a kiss, and I know that. She’s taking her breath, just like we did on Maya’s balcony. Riley’s eyes flutter closed in something that looks far too much like bliss.
My chest burns. I clench my jaw so hard that pain shoots through my temples.
This isn’t right. I’m the only one Julia should touch that way.
The triangle amplifies everything. I can feel Riley’s pleasure low in my belly, even sense her life force flowing into Julia like a breeze passing over my skin. And underneath it all, Julia’s hunger intensifies, a deep ache that refuses to be satisfied.
The room pulses, a ripple passing right through me. The candles gutter and flare wildly, and cracks appear in the pentagram at our feet.
Julia spins Riley around, pressing her chest against Riley’s back. Her hands roam, one cupping Riley’s breast through the lace, the other sliding down her midsection. Riley’s head falls back on Julia’s shoulder, her breaths shallow.
“Please,” Riley whimpers, the same desperate plea I made in the forest.
Julia’s mouth finds the curve of Riley’s neck, and she grazes her lips up and down the sensitive flesh. “What would you like?” she whispers.
“Touch me. I want you inside me.”
No.Absolutely not.
“Julia,” I say, a warning.
But her grip on Riley tightens, and the incantation grows rough and desperate. The shadows on her fingers spread, creeping up her wrists and forearms like nightfall. The darkness around her eyes bleeds into the whites like spilled ink.
Something’s wrong. I’ve never seen her like this. The pentagram, the redirection ritual—it’s making the feeding too intense.
Riley grips Julia’s wrist, guiding her hand down to her waistband. “Please, I need…”
My heart stops. This is how it started with Charlotte. The addiction, the desperate need to keep feeding even when it’s going wrong. And Julia, drunk on power, can’t stop herself from taking too much.
Julia’s fingers slide into Riley’s jeans, making her legs tremble.
“Oh, God…” Riley moans, her knees buckling a little.
“Julia, that’s enough,” I say loudly.
Riley’s face goes ashen, the fire magic beneath her skin flickering. Her knees give out, but Julia holds her up, pressing their bodies together as she continues to feed. Riley’s head falls back, and Julia’s mouth hovers at her neck.
I look desperately at Elizabeth, who stands abruptly from her chair, her gaze fixed on the feeding. “Julia, stop.”
This doesn’t feel right. The magic is too chaotic, too hungry. Instead of weakening our bond, it’s making Julia’s power spiral out of control.
“Julia!” I shout.
She looks at me, and my breath catches. There’s no recognition. Just the blank hunger of a predator that’s found prey.
Riley goes limp in her arms, her skin gray and waxy. She’s dying, and Julia can’t stop.
“No!” The word rips out of me.
I rush forward, abandoning the plan, and the first step is enough to break something. The candle beside me explodes in a shower of wax and black flame.
Elizabeth shouts something I can’t hear through the whooshing in my ears.
The spell screams in my chest, a spasm that nearly drops me to my knees. I push past it, launching myself across the pentagram.
Magic lashes at me as I burst through the drawn lines, like running through barbed wire. Hot streaks of pain make my skin burn and my bones ache.
