Shadows danced around me, whipping around wildly, as my magic was freed from the dripping clutches of dark magic. Tendrils lashed out of me uncontrollably.
A stray lash of my magic struck Pandora.
Her scream was a knife to my chest. Her magic retracted violently as her eyes shifted back from black to red.
“Leave me alone!” I shouted, the words a desperate plea on my tongue. I didn’t want to hurt her, and I couldn’t control any of my magic right now. My magic reserves were low, and even with her negative feelings, it was only filling them slightly. My magic sought pain, and Ididn’twant to cause hers.
She recoiled, her gaze on the painting nowvoid of dark magic. “Dex, oh my Fates.” She scrambled for her tablet. Blood trickled from a wound on her cheek that I had caused, a dark reminder of my lack of control.
Before I could apologize to her like she deserved, my breaths came in ragged gasps as the weight of my own terror suffocated me.
Shadows whispered promises of pain, and I had been the unwilling victim once again. What would they do when they realized I’d failed such a simple fucking task?
Pain.
Agony.
Terror.
Relief—Pandora.
Darkmore appeared behind her, his vengeance magic palpable in the charged air as he noticed the wound on her cheek.
He reached out and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear as he looked at her cheek. “Starlight…he did this to you.”
“Hunter, he didn’t—” She came to my defense, quickly, but it was too late. His magic boomed, striking swiftly.
A matching cut bloomed open on my cheek from his magic, another sear of pain that broke me further.
But I didn’t resist; instead, I shattered.
Sobs wrenched from my throat, and my body shook in desperation in front ofher.
Pandora stood there in shock, but she reacted quicker than me. “Don’t hurt him, Hunter! He didn’t mean to do this, and he’s already in pain! I saw him in absolute agony on the ground, and my magic just exploded. It consumed something in the painting.” She placed a hand on her stomach as it gurgled, and she winced. “Fates. I think there was…dark magicin the painting.”
Hunter flinched, but he squatted down and examined the painting. “I don’t see any trace of dark magic in it.”
“How did you know?” I gasped out the words between sobs. “The dark…it was…”
Her tongue wet her bottom lip as she lowered herself onto her knees in front of me, and her fingers pushed back the sweaty pieces of my hair sticking to my forehead. “I have a theory about dark magic. I think Mother was infected…and I think you were, too. I’m pretty sure I…ate the dark magic that was inside of you.”
Hunter choked on his breath. “You…what?Your magic went inside of him?”
“Holy Fates.” I was reduced to a heap of misery, but my eyes locked on Pandora as I mumbled incoherently, “You might be like me.”
Pandora really was trouble, but if she coulddo something like that, she could be in a lot more trouble than anyone was prepared for.
She devoured the dark magic that dangled me over the clutches of madness. In doing so, she cleansed my soul and made my mind work in a way it hadn’t inyears.
But the one thing on my mind wasn’t my freedom; it washer.
32
HUNTER
Pandora Gravesend was special; I knew that much from the moment I saw her. But if what she had claimed was true, she would be a target for a lot of supernaturals…maybe even humans.
I paced the length of the meeting room within Reform Hall, unable to sit still.
