Chapter 14

Lucianus

I landed on the balcony of my bedroom and threw her to the ground. I expected her to scramble away, to sob or please with me, but she just lay there, staring bleakly into some middle distance as if her mind had escaped her body. The shock had seemingly settled in, and the realization that there was only one escape from this castle, from me, was likely settling in.

Good, but the sight of her so broken did not bring me the gratification I thought it would.

She was so still, I thought she might be dead. I grabbed her by the front of her dress and yanked her up. Her jaw trembled. Her eyes overflowed with tears, but she said nothing. Where was all the will to survive in her now? Where was that bit of life that had led her to run out that open door into the darkness of the forest?

It didn’t matter. I called my insignia ring to my hand and heated it until it was blistering hot. I pulled the collar of her dress aside and pressed the seal in her flesh. A wild, animal scream of ago