Then tell me, skank.
She didn’t. Not in words, at least. But I felt it.
A spark—no, my lineage—passing through generations, waiting, simmering, until something forced it awake. Until someone stole what should never be moved.
“The Vermilion Maw is gone,” she whispered. My stomach dropped like someone kicked me off the Cathedral of Learning and didn’t bother to watch me fall.
Cool. Great. The Vermilion fucking Maw. Totally normal thing to wake up knowing about. And like, who gives a shit if someone moved it?
I want to laugh. I want to pretend I don’t care.
But I do. I care so much it makes my stomach twist.
And when she found out I claimed my power by fucking an ancient shadow monster of questionable origin? Well, judging by how loud she shrieked inside my head, I’d say she wasn’t thrilled about it.
She was furious, wild-eyed and spitting fire. And honestly? Kind of a bitch about it.
But when she finallysawEzra, she swooned.
Actually swooned.
She took one look and went from wrathful godling to starry-eyed fangirl, practically begging me to wake him up.
She’s young, wild, and confused.
But Emme’s also something else.
Something more.
Something I don’t fully understand.
She isn’t separate from me.
I have magic with or without her.
But if we fuse … if I stop fighting her …
We’ll be unstoppable.
How do I know this?
Fuck if I know.
Apparently, I just … know things now.
Like the fact that the Vermilion Maw has been moved and that’s really bad.
Like end-of-the-world, somebody-just-cut-the-wrong-wire bad.
Or that Emme only wakes up when there’s nothing left between us and the end.
Or that when Ezra swears in languages I’ve never studied, I still understand every single word.
Cool.
Cool, cool, cool.
Then Ezra speaks, and my thoughts suddenly forget how to exist.
