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“Vile king! No king of mine! I’ll make you⁠—”

I jumped on him, pinning him down.

“No!” he shrieked, thrashing beneath me. “You won’t take her away from me!” He hissed in my face, teeth inches away from biting my nose off.

I sunk my fangs into him, draining the new deity rot from his body. It came out of him the same way, the light fading from his eyes, Caer’s influence gone.

Another gunshot fired downstairs.

I charged into the hallway only to be met by Rochelle. Her eyes were gold, and she came at me with two daggers.

“Fuck an elf, fuck us all!”

I threw myself to the floor, delivering a sweeping kick to her legs. She went down, dropping the weapons. I rolled toward her and she kicked me in the face before springing to her feet.

With a growl, I slammed into her, taking her head in my hands as we went down together.

“Fuck an elf, fuck us all!” she screamed.

I whacked her head against the floor until she grumbled, then drained the rot.

What was this? Aidan and Caer vying for the most dominant faith in the world?

Leaving Rochelle to sleep it off, I hurried downstairs to see Alistair dead.

Medusa had apparently knocked Elio out, the wolves were under Caer’s influence, and Lia was now purple-haired, clearly possessed by the elf deity.

By Selene.

My elf sat on the floor, trembling and traumatized. He looked my way as Caer cast a spell and a frostbrood roared outside.

My spark.

My love.

Wooziness rolled through my skull. I touched the side of my head, the sensation passing aa quickly as it’d arrived.

Odd.

Aidan said something.

I sensed vampires outside, a window smashing open to reveal a woman with fangs bared and eyes gold. She crawled into the lobby, three Aidan Acolytes following her inside.

There they were, those deeply religious mortals finally making another appearance.

The wolves roared as more vampires crashed through the windows and a fight broke out.

I went to join the fray, but the dizziness returned, forcing me to lean on the banister. I held the beam, losing my footing, backside striking the edge of a step.

“Paris?” I rasped, my insides tightening, my vision smeared with lavender hues.

The doors crashed open, a landborne frostbrood charging into the lobby. Humanoid with muscular thighs, its body made up of glacial blue ice spikes, eyes golden.

The scent of lavender and roses overwhelmed me, dots of purple dancing in my eyes. My body shifted, becoming lighter. Weaker.

I’ve been poisoned.

“Silv?” Paris’s sweet voice reached me.