“Yes.”
His hand cups the back of my head with a tormenting laugh.
It’s too tender, too familiar.
Fingers trail down the wounds decorating my back, and pain spears through my spine.
“Oh, sweet T. This pain of yours is too much to bear on your own. Tell me you’re mine and mine alone, and I’ll take it all away for you.”
My body thrashes back and forth, causing the clank of the chains to echo through the darkness. His arms and my restraints tighten around me in a constricting vice that makes it impossible to move my limbs.
Everything closes in around me, thrusting me right into a panic I can’t subdue.
Heat blooms beneath my skin, spreading fast as vibrations wreak havoc through my body. There’s nowhere for it to go.
A pulse in my chest causes the pressure building inside of me to rise. I clench my teeth, enduring the unbearable sensation until I can’t any longer.
“Jeremiah…No!”
A sharp crack like a limb snapping splits the air.
Everything drops out from under me.
The heat vanishes.
The vibration dies.
I collapse on my side, curling in on myself as I sob and gasp for air against the cold stone as the realm goes silent.
“I’ve got you, my shooting star.”
That voice sounds the same as it did a long, long time ago. His whisper has my lids fluttering.
“No, Dad. No, you don’t.”
“Thayla girl.”
“Mom…you both abandoned a girl twenty years ago. You left her to serve the very creators who turned their back on their people. All that’s left now is pieces of a broken goddess who never should’ve been.”
A giggle pierces my ears, and I force myself to pick my head up.
That sound…
I cover my eyes, blinking until they adjust to the small stream of light pouring through an open door. Once I can see, I come face-to-face with a stunning set of mismatched irises.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. Your wings sure bleed a beautiful shade of red.”
He boops me on the nose and I wince as three other bodies step into focus.
Their disapproving scowls have an unidentifiable sensation jolting in my chest. I lay my palm to my heart to slow the erratic beat while my eyes trace the black beneath their veins and the power sitting on their skin.
“Well, this is quite disappointing.”
Wait…I know them…
Candyman.
Don’t say that. Please be sweet.
