Before I could slip past, he shoved me hard against the wood. The heat radiating from him was intense, as if the curse was burning it’s through his skin.
"You will never dance for him again," he hissed. It wasn’t a request, it was a demand. The jealousy in his voice was sickening because it wasn't about love, it was about ownership. He looked at me exactly the way Seraphina must have looked at him when she was stripping him down and turning him into a charming weapon.
I wanted to duck away from him, climb into my bed and pretend that Cillian hadn't turned into some kind of Celestial monster.
But just like that, he was gone, and the crushing pressure against my chest vanished, leaving me to wonder what just happened.
I paced the room for hours, my wrist still burning where he had held me.
The last thing I thought of before sleep took me was the realization that I was feeling sympathy for my own abductor.
THIRTY
DECENDING INTO MADNESS
Ihad been here for over a month now. I was beginning to lose track of time.
They had all seen it now. The Elorium had confirmed Iwould make the wrong choice. Everything changed after that. They started talking in rooms I wasn't allowed to enter. They whispered when I entered, watching me like I was already gone.
They knew the voices were no longer whispers. TheyknewI heardmusic playingwhen no oneelse could.
My paranoia was through the roof. I was seeing things that weren't there and hearing voices that weren't real.
Maybe they were playing games with my mind. Perhaps this was all an illusion. Seraphina had the ability to bend energy and twist perception. She knew how to get inside my head, and it wasworking.
So, when she came for me, I didn't speak. Instead, I hummed to block her out. It was a low, quiet tune, the one my mum used to hum when I was small. It wasn't comforting anymore. Now it felt like a barricade, a way to say no to Seraphina without giving her the dignity of words.
She stood by the door, saying nothing at first. She didn't need to. Her silence carried the weight of this place, the kind that settles in your chest and makes your bones feel like they’re being crushed from the inside.
I didn’t stop humming, nor did I look at Seraphina. I wanted her to feel the discomfort, so I deliberately kept my gaze elsewhere.
She stepped closer. I sensed it before I saw it, the shift in the air. Her magic didn’t need spells; it was evident in the way she moved and how the silent energy around us seemed to move with her.
Eventually, she spoke, as I knew she would.
“Your madness is unpredictable,” she said.”
I stopped humming, not because I wanted to, but because the tune had changed in my head. It wasn't my mother's melody anymore. It was slower now, off-key, as if someone else was humming through me.
"You still hear them?" Seraphina asked.
I nodded. But not at her. My attention was fixed on theceiling, at the crackthathadn't been there yesterday.It lookedlike a mouth now—a thin, smiling mouth.
"You know I hear them. Why do you ask?" I whispered.
"You're no longer sane," she replied, her voice flat.
"The madness has taken root much deeper than we thought. The more you fight it, the more it grows within you."
I smiled to myself, still humming. Now I was the mad one. How convenient for Seraphina to turn this on me.
Seraphina tilted her head, studyingme like I was a painting she didn't like.
"You're too far gone for us to help you. Vareth is inside you deeper than we thought."
“What” Ilaughed. I couldn't help myself. It came out sharp, like the soundofglassbreaking.
"Then why are you still here?" I asked.
