Page 10 of Beneath Scarred Vows

Theo shrugs. "I don’t trust anyone outside you, Dimitri, or Calli. But strategically, the alliance makes sense."

"And the girl?"

"A necessary complication." Theo stands, smoothing his tailored suit. "You need a wife. Better her than some Chicago socialite who knows nothing of our world."

I nod, finishing my whiskey. "Find out everything you can about her.”

4

KATERINA

The car shakes as we drive down the dirt road, away from the person I just watched burn to death on a pole. And while I'm thinking about the man and what just happened, my thoughts go in another direction.

I'm thinking about the smoke.

The way it twisted into the sky, thick and endless.

It brings me back to the worst night of my life.

I remember waking up choking. Thick clouds of blackness filled my lungs, made my eyes water, turned my world upside down. My mouth was dry, my tongue coated in the bitter taste of ash.

The heat was suffocating, pressing against me like a living thing, wrapping around every surface. Like I wasn't just inside the fire - I was actually a part of it.

But I had to run.

I forced a scream from my throat, calling for my parents, but I could barely hear my own voice over the roar of the flames.That's something I never realized before—how loud fire is. It drowns out everything.

My brother's door was the only thing I managed to reach.

I called out his name, and he didn't reply.

I reached for his door handle, but it was searing hot. I kicked the door, but it wouldn't budge. Centering myself in the middle of the doorway, I took a few steps back, braced myself, and ran straight at it.

It finally burst open.

I fell into the room, coughing, the air thick with poison, my eyes burning like I'd rubbed them with embers.

I called for him. And for a brief second, the smoke thinned just enough for me to see him.

His body was crushed under the weight of the collapsed ceiling.

I ran toward him. I ran as fast as my lungs would allow.

But I couldn't.

I couldn't do anything.

The beam on top of him was too heavy. The fire moved too fast.

It burned too much.

If I had been faster, stronger, he might still be here.

The flames swallowed him, and I dropped to my knees, my voice gone, lost in the heat.

And then—blackness.

When I woke, I was on the sidewalk, surrounded by paramedics and flashing red lights.