The world lurched again, and Audrey’s knees buckled. She crashed backward into the mattress. His anger pressed against her skin like a heated brand.
They were arguing in Voírían again. She caught only fragments—responsibility, sacrifice, failure. Then Felix’s arm curled around her shoulders from the bed, his lips brushing her hair.
Ryker growled.
Audrey’s blood froze.
She staggered upright, forcing herself between them. Panic flooded her veins hard enough to cut through the fog.
Felix was going to die.
A shirt hit her face. Someone shoved her head through a hole.
“Is he gonna kill him?” she asked Kat, fighting to stay upright.
Kat didn’t look at her. “Best not watch.”
“I didn’t even know Ryker was here,” Audrey slurred.
Kat forced her arms through the sleeves. Audrey wriggled free just in time to see Felix on his knees, screaming into a shirt.
Gold fire snapped from Audrey’s hands.
Felix screamed. His body seized like a wire had been pulled tight inside him.
Horrified, Audrey clutched her hands to her chest. She begged in broken Voírían, tripping over names and half-formed apologies.
“Please—Ryker—stop?—”
Her fire had eaten the edges of the mattress. Chaos roared. Someone pulled her toward the door.
Ryker towered over her at the threshold, a black shirt clinging to tattoos that crawled across his arms like living ink. She reached out, dragging her fingers over the tattoos.
He didn’t stop her. They writhed under her touch. Was she still that high?
“Please don’t hurt him,” she mumbled.
“You’re a mess,” he said roughly. But instead of pushing her aside, he steadied her, his hands framing her face. “You’re still coming with us. Can you walk, or do I have to carry you, pet?”
Heat flared inside her, bright and far too hot. She pushed him away with a whimper, clutching her bra and jacket like life preservers. She needed dark. Silence. Anything to drown the brightness.
Felix tried to speak, but Ryker moved first. His fist drove into Felix’s jaw. Blood sprayed across the wall. Felix collapsed, and he didn’t get back up.
He was still alive, but barely.
Audrey wailed while Kat dragged her into the hallway. “Are you really this stupid?” Kat snapped, “Or were you trying to kill yourself tonight?”
She sucked in a breath, trying to slow her heart. “I was preparing for my wild escape with my lover,” she declared, grand and deranged.
“You’re never escaping here.”
The words stabbed through Audrey like a cold rod.
Never.
Numb, she let Kat haul her down the corridor. Her eyes snagged on the green mark curling over Kat’s ribs. Audrey opened her mouth to ask about it, but Kat shut her down.
“Don’t ask.”
