Tiberius throws his head back, laughing like this is a joke to him, but then the humor drains from his face, and his hand shoots out to wrap around my throat, squeezing until my vision blurs.
I try to raise my arms to fight his hold, but they stay limp.
I have no control here.
“You’ll pay for that.”
His grip tightens, fingers digging into my flesh until all I can manage are broken gasps. He’s losing control. The silver in his eyes fades as his pupils blow wide.
Just when I think he’s going to kill me, something behind me startles him. His eyes widen, the shock of whatever he’s seeing makes his grip falter, and I’m able to escape his hold, breathing until my head stops swimming.
I stumble back, my lungs screaming with every breath I take, but he doesn’t follow me. Instead, Tiberius retreats into the shadows, rage burning in his eyes.
“If I were you, I’d keep an eye on your friends. People get hurt in the dark.”
A sharp buzzing pierces my ears, and I jolt awake, the trance finally breaking.
I sit up on my bed, gasping for air, my hand flying to my throat.
I scramble out of bed to the full-length mirror leaning against the wall and stare at my reflection. Tears streak down my cheeks, and the sight disgusts me, knowing Tiberius feeds on my weakness. I wipe my face quickly like he can still see me.
A dark purple bruise blooms across my neck, taunting me. I knew I couldn’t hide forever, but now that he knows where I am, even if I ran, it won’t save anyone. He’ll still come after the Tetrad kingdom, wanting revenge.
After Nevaeh and August finally came home and Visha was gone, I thought I’d finally be able to sleep peacefully. Instead, I traded one nightmare for another.
Tiberius has haunted my dreams for years, but he couldn’t touch me before. That changed around the same time my nightmares became more lucid. Now, every time he invades my mind, he feels stronger, more in control… like he’s getting closer.
I don’t know what changed, but now he can hurt me without being here, and he knows where I am.
What do I do? I can’t run. I can’t stay. I can’t fight him.
Was he right? Will this end with blood on my hands?
A memory of Tiberius striking me with his Divine flashes before my eyes. The attack left a bruise on my chest that took months to heal, butmy Divine felt different after that day. Like it never healed.
Something deep inside me knew he stole something from me that day, but I didn’t realize what until I escaped him and couldn’t use my magic like any others of my kind.
Tiberius broke me. Made me vulnerable so he could control me.
That was always the plan. Strip me down until I couldn’t survive without him. He made sure the thought of a life out of his control would be nothing but a faraway dream.
I stand in the center of my room, panic humming in my veins, my head snapping in every direction, hearing things that aren’t there. I’m acting like he might step out of a dark corner, even when I know there’s nothing.
Bile rises in my throat. I’ve reached my limit. I can’t do this anymore.
I rush near my bed to grab my boots, shoving my feet into them, but before I can reach the door, thunder cracks across the sky.
I bite my tongue hard enough to taste blood, burying a panicked scream in my throat.
My eyes squeeze shut, heart lodged in my throat. I take a moment to get my breathing under control, then throw the door open.
Before I can run down the hallway and out of the castle, something pulls me in the other direction, my feet taking me toward Dean’s door.
How can I crave arms that have never held me?
But I can’t make myself knock.
I don’t deserve to barge in on him in the middle of the night.
