“Rowe?”
The arms holding me go rigid. “No.” The voice that answers cracks with something dangerous. “Look at me again, love. Really look.”
I blink hard, and Rowe’s gentle features dissolve. Dom’s emerges in its place, jaw clenched, brows drawn in fury and fear. His eyes are blown wide, nearly black with panic.
“Dom,” I whisper, dragging shaking fingers along the sharp line of his jaw. “You’re really here. I—”
Another cough tears through me, painting his white shirt with blood.
“Always,” he whispers, crushing me against his chest until I can feel his heart thundering against my cheek. “Only me. Remember that.”
I manage a weak smile. “Pretty.”
“Stay back,” Dom snaps as Kane moves to follow, his grip never loosening.
“I want to know if she’ll—”
“She’ll be fine. You can go.”
Movement blurs around me as Domwhispers against my hair. “Stay with me, love. Please. I’ll fix this. I’ll fix everything.”
Bright lights suddenly assault my vision, and a low chuckle cuts through the air. “I see you’ve received my gift.”
“Fix her.” Dom’s voice cracks. “Father, please. She can’t die.”
“This is what happens when she disobeys,” Kian muses, his tone distant. “I warned there would be consequences from that little display of defiance.”
Pain suddenly tears through my body as if something’s trying to claw its way out from inside. My magic writhes beneath my skin, feeling wrong, foreign, like it’s being ripped away piece by piece.
“Fascinating.” Kian’s voice floats somewhere above. “Her magical essence is almost—”
“Look at her! Father, I swear if she—”
“—should have learned to obey—”
“I’ll give you anything! Whatever price you—”
“—such a willful creature—”
The agony crests into something new and ancient as magic tears itself from my bones. My body fractures. The world splits into colorless shards. Time folds.
“—hold her still—”
“You’re killing her!”
“Set her down.” Kian’s command pierces through the fog.
“Stay awake,” someone begs. “Aria, please—”
But darkness rises, velvet-soft and beckoning, wrapping around me with the intimacy of an old friend. The pain recedes, and it threatens to consume me. This time, I don’t fight it. I let it take me.
And something in the void opens its eyes.
Pain arrives first—not sharp,but buried in the bone. It sinks into every joint and sinew, turning each breath into effort. The silk sheets beneath me are unfamiliar, but the room carries Dom’s scent.
Memory slices in: Rowe on his knees, enforcers pinning him down, Kane’s arms locking around me as the world blurred, the hybrid’s shriek tearing through it all, my magic twisting hostile inside me before everything went dark.
I force my eyes open. The world swims before sharpening into wood-paneled walls and moonlight spilling through the tall windows. Dom’s room. The one place in this mansion I ever let myself believe I was safe.
