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Without warning, Magnus pulled the syphen free.

The sound Elias made was something between a croak and a cry. Blood flowed from the wound in long lines down his body, which started to stitch back together but didn’t close. And it wouldn’t. Not without more essence.

He’d nearly depleted all of it as he clung to the orb of magic, which he still held in front of his chest.

“Release your magic,” Magnus said.

Elias did as he bid.

Instantly, the essence fizzled out, and the heat behind his eyes disappeared. He quickly breathed the orb’s essence back into him. In place of the heat that once burned behind his eyeswas a dark, searing pressure. He felt his pupils dilate, growing wider as hunger filled him. Fangs pricked his lips, and he tasted the metallic tang of blood.

Magnus flicked a wrist, and Elias’ ankle was cuffed again.

Elias tried to form words, but the hunger was consuming him slowly, making it impossible to form individual thoughts.

“The source of your magic, my prodigal son,” Magnus said as he studied Elias’ blood on the blade. “Is in your heart. At present, I can’t reach it—not with the syphen anyway. Can’t have you dying just yet. There’s much we need to do. Much, indeed.”

In a flash, Magnus was before him, slicing him open from collarbone to his stomach.

Elias screamed as agony crashed over him. It felt like he was being peeled open. No, hewasbeing peeled open. Glancing down, he watched as the sorcerer pulled his skin back and punched his hand into Elias’ chest.

His pupils widened further as fingers touched his heart, bands of magic wrapping around it.

Soon, conscious thought faded from him, and all he knew was agony—andhunger.

Fangs out, Elias snapped at the male but couldn’t reach him. Not bound as he was. But soon, even the hunger wasn’t enough to keep him awake. He fell beneath a wave of agony, slipping into unconsciousness.

His dreams were short and filled of scarlet eyes and crows flying on bloodied wings.

When he woke, a woman was before him, and a hunger unlike anything he’d ever known burned through him. It felt like he’d stepped into flames even as they burned him from within.

Several erox held the woman by her wrists and neck.

Tears slipped down her cheeks as his gaze fixed on the essence swirling in her chest.

He called it to him, hunger driving him.

The female stopped fighting as she fell under his power, taking a step forward and then another.

Their lips crashed together, and she cried out as she came again and again. He didn’t pause between feedings like he might have with other prey. No. He was too lost to the hunger and the need tofeed.Again and again, he pulled essence into his mouth—ignoring her screams of pleasure tinged with pain—until his body was full to the brim.

All at once, his hunger was sated, and his flesh knit back together.

Thoughts returned to him, and he watched with horror as the female slipped to the ground.

Dead.

There was a tsking sound, and Elias looked up to see Flynn with a smug look on his face. “Drained her dry. I’ve never seen an erox kill someone so fast.”

Guilt swelled in Elias' chest, and he gagged, nearly retching.

I killed her. She’s dead because of me.

Flynn and the other erox turned toward the tent’s exit, not bothering to remove the woman’s body.

Elias’ wordless screams filled the tent as he raged against his bonds.

Chapter Fifteen