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He’s going to kill everyone in our path, and then he’s going to take Scarlett no matter if she’s ready for us or not.

“Helia!” I roar.

The Monster City Queen should have responded to me by now, but she hasn’t. I don’t have time to wonder what the hell she’s doing that she can’t answer my summons, but I know I have precious seconds to decide what I’m going to do.

My reflection in the window overlooking the city grows as my beast takes control. My skin darkens with nightmares, and my eyes take on a fractured glow. My jaw unhinges as a wide maw yawns open, displaying sharpened teeth. My beast overcomes lucid thought, shoving one singular thought into my head.

Feed.

My beast will drain my city dry. He’ll devour everyone in his path and destroy everything I have built.

Oh, the irony—I have become my own worst enemy.

“No, beast,” I growl as my words lose form. My massive tongue isn’t made for talking; it’s made for tasting. For devouring and doing wicked things.

I won’t let him be wicked, not when it means the mate I have searched so long for will suffer.

If she’s better off without us, then so be it.

My beast can’t stop me as I use the last of my strength to propel us forward. The windows rush at me like a glimmering barrier. When I break through them, I dive inward.

I go to a place in the Dream Realm I’ve never ventured before. I find the nearest river of blood and throw myself into it.

My beast thrashes and roars as we slip under. Then blood is all I know. It’s not like real blood. It isn’t sticky or wet.

But it’s consuming.

It’s a place I don’t belong. But it’ll keep Scarlett safe.

I can’t speak anymore, but I think my last words as powerfully as if they were a prayer.

Don’t come looking for me, star. Stay safe. Stay… awake.

CHAPTER 28

SCARLETT

Four days later…

Julie’s reflection blinks at me as she holds up a tray of tonics. She can’t believe that I want to make amends with Edward.

I can’t either, but after yesterday, I feel like an idiot.

“Are you really going to forgive him, Lady Scarlett?” she asks, her wide brown eyes a fixture I’m so used to on her face that I imagine they’ll just stay that way from now on. “I watched you lie there, helpless, for days.” The tears twinkling in her eyes touch me in ways I would never have expected.

Somehow, I’ve made a friend, even in a place like the Rinhold residence.

Sighing, I turn and select one of the blasted tonics. I had better get used to them, because this is the way of a family in the Magic Sector.

And soon, I’ll be in the Immortal Sector. The stakes will be even higher, and expectations will be as high as the clouds.

“He explained everything,” I say, knowing I don’t really need to convince Julie, but it would help if I reiterated it for myself. After watching Edward make underhanded deals with various families in a gambling scheme, I imagined he didn’t care about me at all. He hadn’t come to visit me, but he had a reason for that.

“Did he?” Beatrix asks from the doorway. She’s scowling, which is also a permanent fixture I imagine I should get used to. “The young master is no fool, my lady. He could talk his way out of a beheading in the middle of an execution just by charming the poor soul holding the axe.”

“That might be so,” I agree as I pop open the cork on the tonic I’ve selected. The aroma of peaches makes me relax. I’m not sure why it’s my favorite lately. “But there is evidence I have to consider. My mother came to visit me just two days ago, and she is doing well.” Better than I’ve seen in years—maybe ever. “That’s why he did what he did,” I say, more to myself than to anyone else. Edward had waited until after I had seen my mother to explain everything. It made it hard to be mad at him, so I see now why he’d waited.

The explanation, though, still boggled my mind.