“What the fuck did you just do to me, Farris?” he asked.
Philip grabbed Farris by the neck and pulled her to him, whispering something. Her face went still, drained of all color. Then he turned her so her back was against him. Loma handed him a dagger, and he held it against her throat. Farris exhaled a shaky breath but didn’t fight back.
“Seems my wife is a manipulative, back-stabbing whore,” he snapped.
But he was staring at Ezra. He wanted to piss Ezra off, and he succeeded. The air shifted, thickening, charged like before a storm. My pulse stuttered as something ancient and violent stirred behind Ezra’s eyes.
They swirled crimson, but then turned solid black as he blinked slowly. His entire body seemed to get bigger. He was definitely taller, and his muscles strained through his now too-tight tunic.
The sound of fabric tearing filled the air as his power unfurled. Red mist seeped from him, swirling around his feet and creeping up his body. He bared his teeth as fangs poked through. His hands flexed as razor-sharp claws formed. I stepped back and into Abram. He grabbed me and held me against him.
“It’s alright; he won’t hurt us.” Abram tried to help calm me down, but my body trembled at the sight of the demon-god in front of me. Every instinct screamed to run,but the weight of Abram’s arm kept me anchored.
Ezra cocked his head to the side and stared at Loma and Philip. Their mouths fell open, clearly not expecting that.
“Disgusting,” Loma muttered.
Philip stared at him with hate as he turned so Farris was staring at Ezra.
“Look at him. That is the man you love, a beast,” he said to Farris, and I knew he wanted her to be scared of Ezra.
But Farris looked at him and smiled fondly. “I know; isn’t he magnificent?” she said proudly.
The tenderness in her voice broke through the chaos like a prayer, and even through my fear, I felt something ache in my chest. Ezra let out a feral, animalistic noise at her praise. He stepped toward her but stopped when Philip tightened the dagger against her throat. She winced in pain. The red mist around him surged, trembling with fury, the air itself trembling with his restraint.
“Tell him you don’t want him,” Philip demanded. She shook her head and refused. “It’s not like he wants you anyways.” Philip laughed.
The sound tore through me like a blade. My chest tightened, breath quickening as something ancient and wrong stirred beneath my skin. Nyxthra hissed inside me. She was loud, hungry, and eager. She wanted blood. And for once, I didn’t push it down.
Fury unraveled inside of me. It wasn’t the kind that burned, itconsumed.My vision bled white around the edges as my pulse thundered in my ears. This was who the heavens thought was my other half? This pathetic, cruel man? This mockery of a bond?
Loma turned to me and sneered. I stilled as Abram’s fingers curled into me as she watched us.
“Reject her,” I demanded.
“Gods can’t reject mates,” he answered back. “The heavens do not allow it.”
Loma’s pretty face darkened with cruelty.
“Do you hear that, Elowyn? Abram is all mine, and nothing is going to change that.”
I stared at her, and something inside me snapped.
My magic was boiling in my veins as I watched her. The longer I watched, the more uncomfortable she was becoming. Her cruel little smirk faltered. Her eyes flicked between mine and Abram’s, and I saw it then, she felt it too. The pressure in the air, the pulse of something not divine but monstrous. The air thickened, the shadows in the corners of the room quivered. My power was no longer mine alone.
“Elowyn,” Abram’s voice was low, wary, but distant like he was speaking through fog. “You made a very stupid mistake,” he said to Loma.
I didn’t hear him. Couldn’t. Nyxthra was awake inside of my veins.
The lights flickered. The air went cold. My breath came out in a shuddering hiss as my shadow rose off the floor, splitting from me—long, lean, and burning at the edges like black fire. Thewraith moved behind me, its shape almost human, almostme.Its face was blurred, but its grin was unmistakable. It reached for me, smoke fingers touching my jaw. My magic roared to life—crimson and black veins of power crawling up my arms, wrapping my fingers in firelight.
Loma’s lips parted in shock. “What the hell are you—”
Her words turned into a scream as Nyxthra’s hand shot out, slamming her into the wall with invisible force. Blood spattered the stones as her body cracked against it. I stepped forward slowly, voice trembling with the weight of power I no longer cared to control.
I forced her to look at Abram. “Does that man look like he gives a fuck about you?”
Loma’s nails clawed at her throat as the wraith’s smoky hand wrapped around it, squeezing. I could feel it,her heartbeat, her fear,like it was pulsing in my own veins. Nyxthra fed on it, and so I fed on it.
