The Devouring Queen
he rasped.
She twisted the shadow deeper.
“I was supposed to be the one you loved,” she answered. “But you loved the fake better. So now you die with her.”
He looked at me one last time.
“I did love you,” he whispered. “Both of you. That was always the problem.”
Then his knees buckled.
Elara yanked the blade free.
Cassius fell.
And the beast inside him finally, fully woke.
His body arched, bones snapping and reforming, growing larger, darker, something unholy clawing its way out of dying flesh.