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I will suffocate.

Then my brother will haul me out and curse me for almost dying.

Or maybe… I did die.

I visited Arwan’s tower.

But that’s not what happens this time.

New hands yank me from the icy water, and I’m curled into the warm chest of a new protector.

Arwan.

“She’s not yours anymore,” he whispers.

The words have a quiet lethality to them that sends goose bumps cascading down my arms. I’m shivering, unable to get warm as I snuggle into his chest and breathe in his bergamot and cardamom scent.

The sensation sticks with me as I recall the hum of his tower boring into me, mourning all of the suffering it holds inside it, as I sputter and scream.

“Liliana!” Sofia cries, attempting to grab onto my wrists.

I’m soaked.

My hair sticks to my shoulders, and the nightgown I don’t remember putting on clings to my skin. The silk sheets underneath me are completely ruined, and I can’t bring myself to care as I cough up icy water.

What the hell?

Blinking my bleary eyes open, I take in Sofia’s bunched brow and pursed lips. She doesn’t question where the water came from or why I can hardly breathe. She just holds my hands as I shiver and attempt to collect myself.

“H-how long have I been out?” I ask her.

Her lips smooth into a thin line before she replies. “A while.”

“How… long is a while?” I press as my shoulders begin to shake.

She pulls me into a hug and releases a long breath before finally confirming my worst fear.

“You woke up when Arwan said you would. Nomination Night is tomorrow… and the Monster Games are thirty days from then.”

Thirty days.

I freeze as I scramble through the months I’ve been trapped in my memories and fitful dreams. Whatever I endured after encountering those shadow creatures changed something inside me.

Maybe Arwan knew that would happen.

Either way, it means I’m almost out of time.

I don’t have the luxury to process the shock when the corner of the room plunges into darkness and a metallic taste runs over my tongue.

“Sofia,” I whisper as I wrap my fingers around her wrist. “Get behind me. And whatever you do, don’t scream.”

CHAPTER 31

I don’t know how I know that screams will attract the revenants.

Actually, I don’t know how I’m aware they’re called “revenants” when, at my first encounter with them, I had just called them “shadow creatures.”

I have some questions for you, Arwan, I think as I shove Sofia behind me.