"The Cohort of the Gate will break the circle and stop the offering of the Marked before it reaches Vareth"
A flare from the torches illuminated the feral look on his face, casting him in a demonic glow, as if the flames themselves had twisted him into darkness.
“Something isn’t right about this,” Fionn sneered, glaring at the others with his eyes locked on Seraphina.
“What did you change for the Seraphel Order, Seraphina?"
Everyone turned toward the stone doors as an explosive rumble tore through the chamber. Seraphina paled at the sight of the oozing cloud. She quickly turned to Fionn.
"Watch your tongue," she hissed. "We don't have time for your judgment. The Cohort of the Gate Order must have felt Tillymoving through the energy planes. There are many of them, too many to fight. We must leave now!”
Fionn's stare stayed fixed on Seraphina. “Gatemen don't arrive. They're called," he said warily.
I refused to look at the brothers. Their masks were down now, revealing their faces, but I didn’t care. This was my chance to escape. Cillian's voice still echoed charmingly in my head, igniting my rage because I knew it was all a lie. Forget him. I needed to focus on getting out. I surged through the smoke and flames toward the largest door.
“Tilly, leave.”
The word wasn't a plea, it was a command from Cillian as he ran toward me.
This time, he wouldn't take me so easily.
His hand reached out to grab me, but I quickly pulled away, daggers blazing in my grip. I swung the first blade, driving it into his shoulder before yanking it back.
He staggered back, clutching his shoulder, his eyes wide with shock. Blood seeped through his fingers, and disbelief washed over his face. That moment of hesitation gave me the chance to run. Good. I hoped he bled to death for what he’d done to me.
I managed only a stumble of a run before he seized my wrist, yanking me through the wreckage with a speed that stole the air from my lungs. “Move quickly,” he Ordered.
I stumbled to keep up, boots slipping on stone, my lungs burning. His grip was iron, his pace relentless. Like he could outrun what he fucking did to me. Yet here he was, still thinking I belonged to him.
The walls shimmered, bent, and then became transparent. Reality itself was collapsing around us, but all I could think about was escaping and how I wanted him dead.
“Let go, you creep!” I wriggled with fury. I could run on my own.
His fingers tightened, reminding me he was still in control.
“We’ll die before we allow the Gatemen to take you,” Cillian said.
“The binding of our marks and the freedom of Elora is what we fight for. There’s no other path now.”
My stomach churned. If I was going to escape, I needed to be able to run on my own.
“Let me go!”
He stopped so suddenly that I almost crashed into him. He turned, and the look in his eyes took my breath away. He looked angry with me, as if I had done something wrong. I shot my anger back at him.
“You—you were going to.”
“To what?” he interrupted, stepping closer until my back pressed against a cracked pillar, leaving me nowhere to retreat. His shadow loomed over me, completely enveloping me.
“Sacrifice you or keep you alive? How has the madness of the mark twisted this in your mind, Tilly?”
His gaze flicked over my face, assessing me as if I had offended him.
“I have gone to impossible lengths to keep you alive,” he said. “I told you, if you choose me, I will protect you at all costs.”
My life wasn't a bargain.
“And yet,” he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous quiet.
