Aria’s POVAnd somewhere deep inside, beneath the terror, beneath the pain, something cold and ancient stirred. The ropes bit into my wrists every time I tried to move. My skin burned where the fibers rubbed raw, but the pain was the least of it, it was the helplessness that threatened to swallow me.Darren paced in my front like a predator, calm, precise, and deliberate. Every step of his boots on the wooden floor echoed through the room, blending with the frantic thud of my heartbeat. Elara stood near the window, still rolling that vial between her fingers, the faint glimmer of the liquid inside catching the candlelight. It looked harmless, almost beautiful, the way poison often does before it kills you.“So,” Darren said finally, breaking the silence, “you found the book.”My throat was dry, my voice barely a whisper. “What is it?”His lips curved into that faint, cruel smile. “The Rite of Dominion,” he said simply, almost reverently. “A ritual older than the Crescent bloodline i
Last Updated : 2025-11-19 Read more