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From the inside.

“Oh, no.”

The light spreads.

Deep magenta fire races through the stone, illuminating every crack across his enormous body.

I stagger backward.

“No, no, no. Absolutely not.”

A fracture splits across his chest.

Then another.

The courtyard shakes violently.

Pieces of obsidian tumble from his shoulders, shattering against the ground.

I stumble toward the gate.

The statue’s head moves.

I freeze.

Slowly, impossibly, his face turns toward me.

His eyes open.

Piercing magenta.

Flecked with crimson.

And burning with something so fierce that every instinct in my body screams at me to run.

The stone explodes.

I throw my arms over my head as black fragments scatter across the courtyard.

When I lower them, the statue is gone.

In its place stands a man.

An enormous, breathtaking, completely naked man.

Dark hair falls across his forehead. His broad chest rises with a slow breath, and the muscles beneath his golden skin shift as he flexes his hands.

He looks down at himself.

Then at me.

I stare.

He stares back.

My gaze drops.

“Oh, sweet baby Jesus.”