ErikThe pain doesn’t start in my chest. It starts in my hands.One moment I’m holding a charmed blade, working the edge against a whetstone. The next, my grip locks tight and the blade scorches hot.I drop it before I understand what’s happening.Then comes the tug, low and deep, like a hook caught behind my ribs. I stagger back against the table, breath punched from my lungs.My magic twists. Not outward. Not wild. Inward.And I know, Victoria’s pulling.The hook, her hook, embedded in me the night she kissed me, the night I dropped my guard, the night I told myself it meant nothing… it pulses now, alive and hungry.Every beat of my heart feels like it’s answering to her.“No,” I rasp. I won’t give in to this.I slam my palm into the worktable and magic pulses down my arm, but the hook doesn’t budge.It’s not just a tether. It’s a vein. A conduit. And she’s in it now, her magic threading through mine like a hand around the throat.Her grip tightens. She’s crooning to me, demanding a
Last Updated : 2025-06-30 Read more