Page 31 of Chaos Carnival (Cirque de Sanguine #2)

Chapter 30: Unimaginable Revelations

Maverick

I entered the apartment balancing our breakfast spread like some kind of demonic waiter, trying not to spill the steaming coffee that was making my mouth water. The bagels were still warm from the shop down the street. I'd gotten there and back in record time just to make sure they stayed that way. A generous helping of cream cheese, some fresh strawberries and bananas I'd picked up on a whim, and two massive cups of coffee that could wake the dead.

The moment I arrived, wrongness sliced through me like a blessed blade. The air felt dead, stagnant. Missing the electric current of her presence that usually made my skin hum. My chest ached with a familiar coldness, the mate bond stretched gossamer-thin. Like a rubber band about to snap.

“Tess?” My voice shattered the silence, a desperate edge barely contained. No answer. Of course no fucking answer.

I tore through the bedroom, ripping open the walk-in closet door hard enough to leave marks in the wood. Her clothes hung untouched—that leather jacket she loved still on its hanger, carrying her scent like a taunt. My fingers brushed the sleeve, and possessive fury surged through me. She should be here, wearing it, safe under my watch where she belonged. But I’d left her alone.

Stupid. Careless. Unforgivable.

The bathroom held only empty silence. Her toothbrush dry, the shower cold. No lingering steam, no trace of her vanilla shampoo in the air. Nothing to feed the addiction I'd developed to her presence.

I searched every room, though the icy ache in my chest already told me what I'd find. She wasn't here. She'd slipped away while I was playing house, trying to smooth ruffled feathers instead of guarding what mattered.

Lilith lounged on the couch, flipping through a magazine with unaffected nonchalance that made my temperature rise. The demon's presence had always set me on edge, but now, with Tess missing, every instinct screamed to eliminate the threat.

“Where is she?” The words came out more growl than speech.

Lilith looked up, arching one perfect eyebrow. “I haven't seen her all morning. Thought she was with you.” A pause, heavy with implication. “Wasn't she?”

My heart stuttered, then raced, the rage shifting something harder, deadlier. “What do you mean you haven't seen her?”

“I did not notice her leave the bedroom,” Lilith said carefully, but I caught the flicker of genuine concern beneath her carefully crafted mask. “The strands are still unstable in her. She shouldn't be alone.”

I knew that. I fucking knew that. I'd left her alone anyway, trusting her to rest. Fuck. That was the kind of mistake that got mates killed.

The bond pulled at me, a dull throb behind my ribs that told me she was far. Too far. I tried to focus on our connection, to track her like I had before, but the webs had changed something fundamental. Made her harder to pin down, like trying to catch sight of illusions from the corner of your eye.

Fear clawed at my throat, cold and certain as a knife between the ribs. That psychopath launched his horror show, and my mate—my beautiful, reckless, maddening mate—had gone to face him alone. The thought sent despair writhing along my skin, desperate to tear something apart.

My perfect, broken mate was walking straight into Ivan's trap, and I'd fucking let her. My shadows writhed, responding to the storm of possessive rage and terror churning in my gut. The lights flickered, and Lilith's magazine crackled in the tension.

“If anything happens to her...” The threat hung unfinished. What could I possibly say? If Ivan touched her, I'd tear him apart. If she came to harm, I'd never forgive myself.

The truth was simpler, darker: Without her, I'd become exactly the monster she’d feared I was. And I wouldn't even try to stop it.

I gathered my strength, preparing to phase. I'd destroy that circus, board by board if I had to. I'd wade through an army of hunters. I'd challenge Hell itself. The darkness around me coalesced, feeding off my fury, ready to rip the world apart at my command.

Because Tess was mine. My mate. My anchor. My salvation and damnation wrapped in one maddening package. And I wasn't playing nice. Not anymore. That psychotic clown-faced bastard had pushed me too far, thinking he could just take what was mine. The corruption inside me, the part I usually kept carefully leashed, was breaking free. And for once, I welcomed it.

I sent a text to Lux. “Tess is gone.” Even thinking the words tasted like rusty knives. “Ivan's site. Now.”

I materialized behind a cluster of trees at the fairground’s perimeter. I shouldn't have phased. Of course not. But there wasn't any time. The hunters would sense the ripple, track it straight to me like bloodhounds on a scent. Let them come. Right now, finding Tess was all that mattered, everything else was just collateral damage waiting to happen.

The sunlight painted everything in shades of blood and ink, turning Ivan's carnival into a nightmare. Metal groaned and canvas snapped in the breeze, a discordant symphony gnawing at my senses, each sound a reminder that my mate was out there alone.

The bond pulled like a fishhook, a cold emptiness where her warmth should be. Where she belonged. The void ached with each heartbeat, a constant reminder that part of my soul had been ripped away. Fuck, I'd only just found her, only just learned what it felt like to be whole, and now this twisted bastard was trying to take it all away again.

Stone and Lux would follow, they always did when it mattered. But I couldn't wait, couldn't breathe, couldn't think past finding her. The thought of him near her made my shadows writhe with murderous intent. My brothers could catch up. They knew how to track me, and right now every second I delayed was another moment that sick fuck could have had his hands on my mate. The rage building inside me was a living thing, feeding the darkness that coiled around my body like a dragon’s tail.

The circus sprawled out like an open wound, a maze of towering structures that seemed to pulse with malevolent energy. Construction equipment sat abandoned, metal teeth gleaming dully in the fading light. The big top loomed under the darkening sky, its striped surface rippling with unnatural shadows.

Somewhere in this labyrinth of metal and canvas, Tess was living out one of her thread-visions. Her presence flared like a beacon calling to my soul, but the circus's layout made it impossible to pinpoint exactly where she was.

My hands clenched into fists hard enough to draw blood from my palms, rage burning arctic-cold in my veins. The fury threatened to consume me, overheating my skin.

I melted into the night, moving like death between the half-constructed attractions. The mate bond hummed in my chest, warmer now, she was close. My body responded to her proximity like an addict sensing their next fix. A set of footprints caught my eye, the familiar pattern of her favorite boots pressed into the mud. They led toward the funhouse before vanishing, like she'd been plucked from the air. A chill slithered down my spine.

“Spread out,” I growled as Stone and Lux materialized beside me, my voice rough with bound rage. Every cell in my body screamed to tear this place apart until I found her. A tide of black from the carnival rides loomed over us like bizarre monuments to my failure to protect her. “She's here somewhere.”

“Watch it,” Stone muttered, his usual stoic demeanor cracking with concern. His dark eyes scanned the carnival grounds, muscles tensed like he expected an ambush. “This feels wrong.”

Movement flickered at the edge of my vision, figures lurching between the tents like broken marionettes. Ivan's carnival workers, distorted into something inhuman. One turned toward us, and my stomach roiled at his face.

The sight only fueled my rage. He wouldn't turn my Tess into one of his puppets. He wouldn't corrupt her fierce, radiant spirit. Not again.

Over my dead body. Over everyone's dead bodies.

I reached for my magic, letting shadows curl around my fingers. The workers might be victims, but they were between me and my mate. And nothing— nothing —would keep me from her. Not Ivan's puppets, not his arcana, not even the threads that were slowly claiming her sanity.

She was mine to protect. Mine to have. Mine to possess with all the devotion that coursed through my immortal soul. And no one could take her from me. Not Ivan, not his wraithshade, not even the fucking universe itself. Every cell in my body screamed it. The bond between us surged like a living thing, and I'd rip apart anyone who tried to sever it.

“What has he done to them?” Lux's voice trembled with horror.

“He's been busy,” I growled, fingers of ink writhing beneath my skin in response to the corrupted carnival.

“Maverick?” Her voice drifted through the air like a specter, seeming to come from everywhere at once. “The strands are so dark. They taste like ash and broken glass.” The words were dreamy, disconnected, the way she sounded when the lines had her in their grip. My chest constricted with primal fear.

I spun, trying to track her location, but her voice bounced off metal and canvas in a maddening echo. The mate bond pulled in every direction at once too, as if she existed everywhere simultaneously. The thought of her lost in that state, vulnerable to Ivan's machinations, made my power surge with violence.

“Split up,” I ordered, barely recognizing my own voice. “Find her bef—“

A carnival worker lunged from behind a game booth, moving with impossible speed. I phased through its attack on instinct, materializing behind to slam it into the ground with enough force to crack ribs. More emerged from the darkness like a chaotic nightmare, their warped bodies moving with an unnatural grace that set my teeth on edge.

“Go!” I shouted to Stone and Lux, inky tendrils coiling around my arms like living weapons. “I'll handle these.”

They hesitated only a moment before moving deeper into the carnival grounds. I turned to face the approaching defiled workers, letting my rage fuel the corruption within me.

“Come on, then,” I snarled, baring teeth that felt sharper than usual.

The first one rushed me, its mouth stretched in a grotesque parody of a smile. I caught its arm, using its momentum to throw it into two others. They went down in a tangle of twisted limbs, but more kept coming, their dead eyes boring in on me with a corrupted hunger.

“Maverick?” Tess's voice again, closer now, fragile and afraid. “It's so dark...”

The sound of her fear clawed at my soul. Every fiber of my being screamed to run toward her voice, to tear through anything between us. The bond flared, demanding I protect what was mine. But these things needed to be dealt with first.

I just prayed I wouldn't be too late.

I phased through another wave of corrupted workers, their figures leaving oily smears in the air. The bond seared hotter, she was near. So near I could almost taste her magic on my tongue. But her voice kept echoing from different directions, bouncing off metal and mirrors until the carnival became a hellish maze of her desperate calls.

“The strands are screaming,” her voice wailed, the sound cutting straight to my core. “Can't you hear them?”

I caught glimpses of her between the tents—or thought I did. Dark hair whipping around a corner, the flash of her jacket disappearing behind a funhouse mirror. Each time I gave chase, she vanished like dreams through my fingers. The game of cat and mouse was making my power spike dangerously with each false lead.

A grotesque figure stumbled into my path, his face a mask of carnival paint and writhing despair. I slammed it aside with feral satisfaction, my patience fraying beyond my abilities of control.

My mate was lost in this madness, her mind fractured by forces she was never meant to control. And Ivan was out there, waiting, ready to reclaim her through their old blood bond. The thought made my vision bleed red at the edges, my shadows stretching like claws.

No. She was mine now.

“Oh good, you made it.”

Ivan's voice sliced through the chaos like a poisoned blade, dripping with cruel amusement. His arm was slung around Addie who leaned into him with that same unnatural grace, her movements liquid and wrong. Her eyes glowed with that familiar empty white light as she gazed up at him with puppet-like adoration. I spun to find him perched atop a carnival booth like some freakish ringmaster, looking exactly as I remembered, except for the void writhing beneath his skin like maggots.

“Addie, get away from him. Where is she?” The words came out as more growl than speech, my power surging with lethal intent.

Addie threw her head back and laughed that thin, high-pitched sound that wasn't hers, her spine arching at an impossible angle. He smiled, that clown makeup drawing the ends up too far. “My dear Tess? She came home, of course. Back where she belongs.”

Pure, primal rage blazed through me, turning my vision red. “She was never yours!” The fury in my voice could have shattered glass.

“No?” He tilted his head with mock innocence. “I had her first, angel. The tether may be fake, but I marked her. I trained her.” His grin widened, cruel and knowing. “And now that she's enhanced, well. The possibilities are endless.”

I lunged for him with a roar that shook the carnival structures, shadows streaming from my hands like living weapons. But they both vanished in a swirl of darkness, his laughter echoing through the fairgrounds like a curse.

“Come find us, seraph. If you can.”

The sound of Tess's scream ripped through me like a blade to the heart, the mate bond flaring with her pain. I ran toward it, phasing through obstacles with reckless abandon, following the burning in my chest that pulled me toward her. The funhouse loomed ahead, its mirrors reflecting a thousand distorted versions of my rage-twisted face.

Stone and Lux's voices flared in my mind about something they'd found, but I couldn't wait. Couldn't think past the need to reach her, to tear Ivan's hands off her. Tess was close. So close the mate bond sang with it.

I burst through the funhouse entrance into a maze of mirrors and madness. The air itself felt wrong, tainted by Ivan's corruption.

“Maverick!” Tess's voice bounced off shattered glass, fractured and desperate. “The strands are in my blood. Make them stop shrieking…“

I pressed forward, my reflection fracturing into a thousand shattered pieces. She was lost in this labyrinth while Ivan circled like a vulture, tainting what was mine.

And I was walking straight into his trap, knowing it, not caring. Because the alternative was leaving Tess in his hands for one more second.

The funhouse mirrors stretched and warped around me, each reflection showing a different horror. In one, my shadows writhed like living nightmares. In another, my eyes blazed with seraph fire, promising violence. The atmosphere was thick with malice, heavy with the burden of Ivan's vicious designs.

A giggle echoed through the maze, Tess's voice, but wrong. Thread-mad and distant in a way that made my soul ache. The endorphins never lasted very long.

“The ravens are coming,” her voice sang, lilting and broken. “Black wings and betrayal, just like I said.”

I rounded a corner to find her standing in a circular room of mirrors, her back to me. The sight of her made the mate bond surge with possessive need. But when she turned, her eyes were pure black, threads visible beneath her skin like dark veins. My magnificent mate, corrupted by forces she shouldn’t have touched.

“Tess—” I started forward, desperate to reach her, but an invisible force slammed me into the mirrors with bone-crushing force.

Ivan and Addie materialized beside her, blessed brass knuckles glinting on his hands like a taunt. “Quite something, isn't she? Something’s changed her. Made her even tastier.”

“Get away from her.” The words came out in a guttural snarl that hardly sounded human. My shadows whipped against the invisible barrier, driven by rage and fury. The mere sight of him made me want to paint the mirrors with his blood.

“Oh, I don't think so.” He traced a finger down Tess's cheek, Addie riveted by the scene, and my jaw clenched hard. Tess didn't flinch, she just stared with those black eyes that should have been bright with recognition. With the spark that had made me fall for her despite all my darkness.

“She's exactly where she needs to be,” Ivan continued, his voice thick with satisfaction. “All this power running through her veins...” He wiggled his steepled fingers. “It's intoxicating.”

Mine, every fiber of my being screamed. My mate. My anchor.

The mirrors around us began to crack under the pressure of my rage, hairline fractures spreading like spider webs. I gathered my umbra, preparing to phase, but pain exploded through my chest like liquid fire. The blessed brass connected with my jaw, sending me crashing into more mirrors. Glass rained down around me in a savage symphony. Each shard reflected Tess's demon-black eyes, a thousand accusatory reminders of my failure to protect what was mine.

Addie threw her head back and cackled, the sound echoing through the shattered mirrors like nails on a chalkboard.

“I've learned a few things about seraphim weaknesses,” Ivan gloated, standing over me like death's paler twin. “Those pretty shadows won't help you here.”

Blood trickled down my face as I pushed myself up, each movement agony. But I couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop. Not while he had his claws in my mate. “Tess,” I tried again, pouring every ounce of our connection into my voice. “Fight it. Come back to me.”

Addie reached for her hand, but Tess pulled it away. She tilted her head like a curious bird, ribbons rippling beneath her skin like dark veins. “But the strands sing such pretty songs about pain and power.” Her voice was dream-soft, distant. “They show me everything... everything that was and will be.” My heart fractured at the emptiness in her tone, where there should have been warmth and fire and life.

Ivan's next strike caught me in the ribs with surgical precision. Something collapsed wetly inside me, but the physical pain was nothing compared to watching Tess slip further away. The blessed metal singed through me like holy fire, sending waves of agony through my entire body.

“You can't have her back,” he sneered, victory dripping from every word. “She's mine. My perfect weapon.”

The possessive claim in his voice sent rage surging through me, hot enough to burn away the pain. I phased through the smashed glass, ignoring my protesting ribs. Blood dripped onto the mirrored floor as I lunged for his throat, desperate to tear out his lying tongue.

But Tess stepped between us, a dark angel of chaos.

“The webs want to play,” she crooned, raising her hands like a puppet master. Reality warped around her, mirrors cracking in spiraling patterns that matched the corruption spreading through her veins.

“That’s a good girl,” Ivan purred, circling us both like a hungry wolf. “You show him what real strength looks like.”

The threads responded to his words, coiling around Tess like loving serpents. Her eyes were completely black, bottomless pools where the warmth that had captured my dark soul used to shine. Every second that passed, she slipped further from me, deeper into demonic-madness.

“Tess, please.” I coughed, the taste of copper flooding my mouth. “This isn't you.” Come back to me. Come back or I'll wither away too

“But it's true,” she sang, swaying to music only she could hear. “The lines show me everything. How you bleed for me. How you search until your feet are raw.”

The truth in her words chilled me so much more than the blood loss ever could.

Ivan struck again, brass connecting with my spine. I crashed forward, my shadows flickering like dying flames. Addie clapped, jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. The pain was overwhelming, but the thought of leaving Tess in his hands hurt worse. I forced myself back up, every movement a battle against my failing body.

“You've already lost her,” Ivan taunted, his voice dripping poison, that hideous clown face of his splitting into a manic grin. “Just like you lose everything.”

His words burrowed under my skin like barbed hooks, each one finding purchase in my deepest fears. The bastard knew exactly which wounds to salt, which insecurities to twist. Every failure, every loss I'd endured flashed through my mind like a sick highlight reel, and his painted face seemed to stretch wider with devilish delight at my pain.

Something snapped inside me, a dark, primal thing that had been waiting since the beginning of time. I gathered every ounce of strength left in my mangled body and phased, reappearing behind him with the speed of light. My shadows solidified into blades of pure hatred, slicing through his defenses with sadistic satisfaction.

He laughed even as Addie tumbled to the ground and blood sprayed, twisting like a snake to drive those brass knuckles into my chest. The blessed metal seared through skin and muscle, straight to my core. But I barely felt it through the haze of rage and need and desperate obsession.

I fell, the world going dark like a closing curtain. Through blurred vision, I saw Tess watching. The sight of her slipping away, being corrupted by forces beyond our control, hurt worse than any weapon.

Mine, my fading consciousness screamed. My mate. My love. My madness.

I reached for her with the last of my strength, blood-slick fingers stretching toward what was mine. If I couldn't save her, I'd follow her into hysteria. Into death itself.

Because she belonged to me. Body, soul, and sanity.

And I belonged to her. Every broken, bleeding piece of me.

“Finish him,” Ivan commanded, his voice thick with triumphant cruelty.

She stepped forward with inhuman grace, head tilting like a curious predator at both me and Ivan. “The strands say you'll die here.” Her voice crumbled with something almost like grief. “They say I'll be the one to kill you.”

“Tess,” I whispered through blood-stained lips, pouring every ounce of our connection into those next words. “I love you.”

Her empty smile widened, amusement flickering in their endless depths like dying stars in a midnight sky. The energy around her trembled, resonating with a truth stronger than Ivan's corruption. But this wasn't like her usual thread-madness, all scattered visions and broken prophecies. No, this was something else entirely—a perfect fusion of chaos and control. Her words weren't disconnected riddles anymore; they were razor-sharp and purposeful. She hadn't mastered the webs, I realized with a chill. They had mastered each other.

The air glimmered with forces that felt distinctly, painfully familiar, even as it congealed with something darker, something wrong. My witch was in there somewhere, but she'd become something more, something awesome and splendid that made my shadows writhe with recognition. This wasn't Tess breaking free of the streams. This was Tess becoming one with them.

Then everything exploded in light and pain and power.

Pure energy radiated from Tess in waves, the threads exploding outward like a supernova. The mirrors shattered, the world seeming to crack under the inevitability of her awakening. Ivan was thrown back, his smug expression melting into terror as he finally realized what he'd unleashed.

“No one controls me.” Tess's voice resonated with transcendent alchemy, glorious and treacherous as a storm. The ribbons rippling from her hands struck Addie like lightning, and the white glow in her friend's eyes flickered and died. She slumped, the unnatural grace leaving her body as awareness flooded back into her face. Stone and Lux burst through the shattered mirrors behind me, their shadows writhing with battle-readiness.

Tess caught Addie as she stumbled, steadying her with one arm as confused terror replaced the vacant adoration. Her laughter echoed off the mirrors, sharp and wild and free. “Oh, Ivan, the chords show me everything now. Every little lie. Every manipulation.”

She pushed a trembling Addie toward Stone and Lux as she circled Ivan like a predator stalking wounded prey. My beautiful, brutal mate, embracing her true power. “You never had any real control over me at all. Just smoke and mirrors, like your little circus.” Her voice turned razor-sharp. “The tether was fake. Just another trick to keep me scared and small.”

“You don't understand—” Ivan started, but Tess cut him off with another burst of manic laughter that made my shadows writhe in response.

“Oh but I do, Ivan! I understand everything now.” Thread-magic ignited around her like dark lightning. “I see all the pretty little lies you wrapped around my mind.” Her voice dropped to a whisper that promised violence. “They show me what you really are. Just a sad little man playing with forces he can't control.”

She threw her head back, black eyes gleaming with unholy delight. “You made me believe I needed you. That I couldn't escape.” More laughs bubbled up, drunk on power and revelation. “But look at me now! I can see through walls, through time, through flesh and bone, and lies!”

Her expression suddenly hardened into something ancient and merciless. “You hurt me. Broke me. Made me think I was nothing.” Threads tightened around him like pythons, and my heart swelled with dark pride. This was my mate, not his puppet, not his weapon, but a force of nature unleashed. “But the universe whispers such lovely truths to me now. It shows me exactly what you really are, a coward hiding behind borrowed magic.”

I watched her through blood-blurred vision, awe and possession and love tangling in my chest.

The webs responded to her will now, dancing around her like devoted servants rather than controlling masters. They pulsed with her heartbeat, writhing with a preternatural grace that made my breath catch. She was superb in her fury, monstrous in her awakening, raw energy radiating from her in waves. And she was not Ivan's puppet, not the demon magic's plaything, but a being of pure power in her own right.

In her, I saw everything I'd ever wanted and everything I'd never dared hope for. A partner who could dance in both shadow and flame.

I pushed myself up, corruption coiling weakly around me, drawn to her power. Every tendril of blackness I commanded seemed to pulse with newfound purpose, stretching toward her like starving things seeking sustenance. The raw energy crackling around her called to something primal in me, something that had waited centuries to find its match.

“The wraithshade—” Ivan gasped, fear cracking his arrogant facade.

“Won't save you,” Tess sang, her voice a melody of madness and revenge. “Nothing will save you now. I am hungry now, Ivan. Hungry for your fear, your pain, your destruction.” Her smile turned cruel, stunning in its savagery. “I want you to taste everything you did to me. It's long past due!”

Her vengeance was glorious, darkness bending to her will like an eager servant. My perfect, fiendish mate, dealing justice with devilish dark arcana. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her, this sublime creature. Every gesture of her hands sent waves of energy rippling through the air, making my skin tingle and my blood sing.

Fuck, but she was ravishing like this, wrapped in darkness and righteous violence, claiming the revenge she deserved.

“Goodbye, Ivan. You won't be missed.” The threads of arcana hung in the air, tendrils of inkiness that seemed to feed off her rage. Each one writhed and slithered like a living thing, eager to do her bidding as she unleashed her vengeance. They wove through the air, an intricate dance of vice and fury, wrapping around Ivan like razor wire, cutting deep. Blood oozed where the ropes bit into his skin, sinking deeper with every twitch of her fingers. It was a brutal, grandiose display of power, and I couldn't look away. Her anger fueled the magic, making it stronger, darker, and a thrill ran through me as I witnessed the full extent of her wrath.

That vile clown face of his finally showed real fear as they began to constrict, his blood running in black rivulets down his cheeks. Alchemy radiated from her in waves that made my bones ache. The fucker was getting what he deserved, and the witch was serving it up in style. Those threads moved with a life of their own, burrowing deeper, cutting through his flesh like sharp wire.

His skin rippled and distorted as the lines pushed and pulled, like he was some kind of sick, twisted clay figurine. His screams were a thrill, the fear a delicacy, as the ropes dug into his body and excavated his organs. It gave me a sick satisfaction to see him squirm, knowing he was suffering every fucking second of that torture.

“Wait—” he gasped, but Tess just smiled, her black eyes gleaming with merciless satisfaction. The wraithshade tried to protect him, inkiness bubbling up beneath his skin, but her threads devoured it like hungry serpents. I'd seen him laugh while he tortured her, seen him revel in her pain. Now he was the one screaming as his signature tattoos began to peel away like burning paper, taking chunks of flesh with them.

The webs wove faster, creating a cocoon of writhing shadows that emanated with sickly light. Where they touched him, he bubbled and bled. First skin, then muscle, then bone, coming apart like a poorly knitted sweater as the ribbons pulled him into component pieces.

“Mmmm, your fear is delicious,” she whispered, head tilted back in ecstasy as she breathed in his terror like fine wine. “And I've been fucking famished.” The streams responded to her hunger, quickening their feast. They pulled him apart cell by cell, each one bursting like a ripe grape as she consumed his very essence.

I tried to stand, desperate to reach her, to hold her here with me before the forces consumed her completely. But I collapsed under the blessed metal burns and broken bones. Through darkening vision, I watched as Ivan's form lost coherence, becoming nothing but screaming void as the strands devoured him completely. His final wail echoed through the wrecked funhouse until there was nothing left but vengeful silence and the lingering odor of carnival grease paint.

He became a pile of bloody pulp at her feet, and then with a flick of her wrist he was ash, blowing in the wind.

“Maverick!” Tess's voice was suddenly streaked with fear, the sound shattering my heart. The black faded from her eyes as she ran to me, dropping to her knees in a rain of mirror shards. “No, no, no...”

Her hands hovered over my body, trembling as she tried to find a place to touch that wasn't covered in burns or blood. The fierce energy that had consumed her moments ago was gone, leaving behind something raw and fractured, like a circuit blown from too much current. The threads writhed beneath her skin, no longer moving in that ominous harmony but fighting to break free. Fuck, I hated seeing her like this, especially over my sorry ass.

“I'm okay,” I lied through blood-stained lips, reaching for her face. My stunning, fierce mate, free at last, but slipping through my fingers like smoke. I could feel it—the price of that magnificent, monstrous control coming due. “You did it, monstre.”

“The magic...” she whimpered, and my soul ached at the terror in her voice. The webs were visible now, pulsing through her veins like dark lightning, demanding payment for the control she'd claimed. “It's too strong. I forced too much. I can't—“

Energy buzzed around her like a breaking storm, reality bending and warping under the impact of what she'd unleashed. The bond screamed at me, sensing what was coming. She'd pushed too far, tried to contain an ocean of energy that was never meant to be controlled, only channeled. Now it was breaking free, taking her with it.

“Tess, stay with me—” I reached for her desperately, the shifting murk stretching weak and useless. Don't leave me. Don't go where I can't follow. But I knew, even as I tried to hold her, that this had always been coming. You couldn't force control over something like this without consequences.

She was already fading, the tendrils pulling her apart like ephemera in the mind. The last thing I saw was tears streaming down her face, each one reflecting the madness and obsession that had bound us together.

“Find her,” I choked out before oblivion claimed me, the words tasting of blood and desperation. “Please...”

But we all knew it was too late. My beautiful, broken mate had vanished into the ether itself, leaving only shattered glass and bitter regret behind. She had embraced her power, claimed her vengeance, and now the magic had claimed her in return.

Darkness took me then, but I swore with my last conscious thought that this wasn't the end. I would find her. I would follow her into Hell if I had to. Because she was mine. My mate. My monster. My everything.

And not even the vastness of the universe could keep us apart forever.