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I pushed harder. Faster.

Kael’s voice rang in my head. Fight, Annika. Fight.

Tears blurred my vision, but I kept going, the sound of pursuit fading as I pushed deeper into the forest. My legs burned, my lungs felt like fire, but I didn’t stop.

Not until the trees closed around me, swallowing me in shadows. Only then did I collapse, gasping, shaking. My hands were stained with dirt and blood. My clothes were torn. But I was alive.

Barely.

And Kael—

I choked back a sob, pushing it down.

He survived, I kept telling myself silently, over and over again.

At that moment, a sharp, searing pain ripped through my chest again.

I fell to my knees, clutching at the ground as my vision blurred. My heart hammered like it was trying to escape, and heat burned through my veins. It was too hot, too wild, like fire licking under my skin.

The world tilted, shadows stretching unnaturally as if the trees leaned closer, their branches curling like claws. My breaths came in shallow, panicked bursts. I tried to stand, but my legs refused to work.

Then I felt it.

Him.

Dark. Cold. Ancient.

Aurelius.

He was awake. I knew it. Felt him stirring, clawing his way out of the crypt. His presence scraped against my mind, sharp and endless, like nails on stone.

I saw him in flashes, broken images clawing into my thoughts. His pale, hollowed face. Eyes black as voids and burning red at their centers. Hands reaching, grasping, yearning.

And he was calling for me.

A scream built in my throat, but no sound came out. My body seized again, muscles locking, heart pounding so fast I thought it might shatter.

Not enough.

The thought hissed through my mind, in his voice, or maybe my own. He hadn’t taken enough blood to be at full strength. But it didn’t matter.

It was enough to break free.

Tears burned my eyes. I couldn’t stop shaking, couldn’t catch my breath. He was down there, waking, rising. And I was too far away to stop him.

My hands dug into the dirt, nails breaking as I tried to ground myself, tried to stop the panic.

“Get up,” I whispered. “Get up, Annika.”

But the terror wouldn’t let me move. It pressed down on me, heavy and suffocating, as his presence grew stronger.

He was coming.

The weight of Aurelius’s presence pressed down on me like a storm, suffocating and cold. But I forced myself to move. My legs were trembling, my body still weak, but I pushed through it. I had to.

I staggered forward, gripping the trees for balance as I climbed the hill. My breaths were ragged, sharp in the quiet dawn. My heart pounded so loudly it seemed to echo through the forest, but I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t stop.