LOGINPOV: Rory Hale
The first thing I felt was teeth.
Sharp, scorching, tearing into the soft skin of my neck.
I gasped, my scream smothered by the shadows that enveloped us. My hands pressed against his chest, desperate to shove him away, but Lucien’s grip was iron. His lips pressed to my throat, and the heat of his mouth against my flesh made me quiver with something I didn’t understandfear, rage, something worse.
“Stop!” My voice cracked. “Get off me!”
But he didn’t stop. He drank like a man famished, and I could feel my power flowing out with every pull of his tongue. My knees buckled, vision blurry.
And thenKael’s roar pierced the night.
“Let her go!”
Lucien tore himself away just as Kael rushed at him.
Kael rose to his feet, his hands shaking.“Then I’ll find her,” he said, voice breaking. “Even if she no longer remembers me.”Lucien’s eyes darkened. “You don’t understand. When you find her again… she won’t just be Rory.”The ground beneath them trembled soft, steady, regular.A beating.But not human.“My reflection smiled when I didn’t.”My mirror smiled when I didn’t.
Hours passed in restless movement. We searched the forest, following any sign of her energy, but it was useless.Until the whisper came.Soft at first. Like a breath against my ear.Kael.I froze. My heart stopped.That voice.It wasn’t hers.It was his.“Elias,” I muttered.Lucien looked up sharply. “What?”
Her breathing quickened. “Then what do we do?”I looked at her, truly looked. The girl who once hated me. The one who now carried pieces of a dead man inside her heart.“We break the bond,” I said.She laughed weakly. “You can’t just break death, Lucien.”“I can,” I said grimly. “But it’ll cost something.”Her eyes met mine. “You mean me.”I didn’t answer.The quiet stretche
The night darkened. My body felt colder now, weaker. The bite had stopped the blood, but not the truth.Lucien knelt beside me again, his eyes still too bright. “You’re shaking.”“I’m fine.”“You’re not.”“I said I’m fine.”He reached for my hand. “If Elias’s soul is inside you, that means Selene can reach you through him. She’ll use his voice. His feelings. She’ll twist them until you can’t tell the difference.”&n
My heart started to race. “Elias?”“Don’t be afraid,” the voice said softly. “I’m here.”Tears burned in my eyes. “No… no, you’re gone. I saw you die.”“Death isn’t always the end,” he whispered. “Sometimes it’s a doorway.”I shook my head, holding the ring tighter. “This isn’t real.”But the feeling deepened, spreading up my arm, into my chest. My breath hitched.“Rory,
The words hit harder than any blade.I felt them tear through the space between us, destroying whatever fragile hope I’d been holding to.She brushed past me, her shoulder brushing mine, her touch colder than frost.“Roryplease”But she was gone before I could finish.Darius inhaled harshly. “You just destroyed the one thing keeping her anchored.”“She deserved to know.”“She deserved peace,” he snapped. “But







