Page 120 of His Eternal Claim

Your husband killed me.

“No, she can’t die,” I sob, my vision fracturing as I stumble away from the door, spinning around in the center of the room. I claw at the collar, trying to tear it open, trying to force air into my suffocating lungs.

I can’t breathe.

Someone is laughing. When I turn to the window, I see Crystella standing there, smiling widely. Her eyes are hollow, and her wedding gown mimics mine.

“Told you, you should’ve come with us.”

“Selene!”

The shadows emerge from her sides.

When they reach me, I scream, throwing my hands up to shield my face, fully expecting the hollow-eyed nightmare to drag me under. “Don’t touch me! Get away from me!”

“Selene!”

Before I can take another step backward, a pair of hands wrap around my torso. I fight against the surrounding shadows, kicking and striking out blindly.

“Let me go!”

“Selene, stop! Look at me!”

A familiar voice roars through the panic in my head, but I don’t recognize it. Arms hook under my armpits, hoisting my thrashing body up and slamming my back flush against something soft. The shadows crowd me, trapping me.

I cry louder. “No, please, no! I didn’t kill you! I didn’t kill you!”

Rough hands move up, clamping firmly onto my cheeks. “Look at me, dammit!” the shadow above me growls, forcing me to open my eyes, and what I see are his stormy grey eyes burning into mine from inches away.

The haze slowly sways as I recognize the man above me.

Zagreus.

My husband.

His chest is heaving, his jaw set in a hard line as he stares down into my blown-out, unfocused pupils. “Focus on my voice, Dolcezza. Look at me. There is no one else here. You are safe. I have you.”

Panic twists and turns into this paranoid energy that overrides the safety of his grip. I shake my head violently against his palms, my eyes darting past his broad shoulders, scanning the room.

“Let me go,” I choke out, my voice high and reedy. “Zagreus, let me go, please!”

“Selene, stay still—”

“No!” I scream, twisting with desperation born of pure terror until I manage to slip past his stance.

I stumble blindly toward the window and press my hands and forehead against the cold glass, peering down into the dark abyss of the downtown sector, expecting to see a white dress, a pool of red, a body. Anything to make me believe it was real, and not just in my head.

Before my eyes can even focus on the blurred headlights below, arms wrap around my waist from behind. Zagreus hauls me back against his chest, lifting my feet off the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demands as he holds me tight against his frame. “Look at me. What are you looking for down there?”

“She was just here,” I breathe, my fingers ripping through my hair. I pull at the strands, trying to clear the fog, trying to make him understand. “I saw her, Zagreus! She was standing right here in the room! The gown… the blood… she was real! She was standing right in front of me!”

Zagreus spins me around in his arms, forcing me to face him. “Who, Selene? Who was here?”

“Crystella,” I sob. “Mama was here too. Is she alive? I should go to her…”

I freeze, looking up into his face.