Page 42

42

LIOR

I wake to the sound of my own ragged breathing, my body tangled in damp furs, my skin burning cold. The cave is too still. The fire has long since burned down to embers, casting little light.

But I am not alone.

I feel her.

Not Dain.

Her.

The presence coils at the edges of my consciousness, brushing up against my thoughts like a whisper I can’t quite grasp. At first, I think it’s the dark presence again, lurking, waiting. But the warmth curling through me is different. Familiar.

Liora.

I jolt upright, pressing a hand to my temple as a voice that is not mine threads through my skull. The sound is softer than I expect, filled with sorrow and longing. It is the first time I have heard her clearly, not just fragments of a memory, not an echo of the past, but her.

Amara.

The name sends a cold shiver racing down my spine.

Flashes of something I should not remember flicker behind my eyes, half-formed moments slipping through my grasp.

Dain’s face, younger, untouched by hatred.

Fingers twining with mine. Lips brushing my forehead. A whisper of devotion, soft as silk.

Pain. Betrayal. Magic that burns and chains.

A curse spoken in blood.

I close my eyes forcefully, my breath sharp and uneven. My hands tremble as I dig my nails into my palms, trying to ground myself in the present. This isn’t real. These memories, these feelings, they are not mine.

Are they?

A rustle of movement pulls me back.

I don’t need to turn to know that Dain is awake. He’s watching me. He always is.

I steel myself, forcing my expression into something neutral before glancing his way. But the moment our eyes meet, my stomach clenches.

He knows.

I see it in the rigid line of his shoulders, the quiet fury simmering behind his gaze. He doesn’t say a word, doesn’t demand answers, he doesn’t need to. He sees the change in me.

He hates it.

I swallow hard, shifting against the furs, trying to shake the lingering pull of Amara’s voice from my mind. “I—I just needed some air.”

A lie. A weak one.

His expression doesn’t change, but something inside him tenses further. “What did you see?”

I hesitate. I could tell him the truth. I could tell him that I felt her, that I saw things that didn’t belong to me. That for the briefest, most terrifying second, I wasn’t sure if I was Liora at all.

But I don’t.

I can’t because if I admit it, if I say it out loud, it’s real.

“I don’t know,” I murmur instead, shaking my head.

His eyes narrow, golden and piercing. “Liar.”

The accusation cuts deeper than I expect. I flinch, my fingers curling into the furs. “What do you want me to say?”

“The truth.” His voice is quiet, dangerous. “What did you see, Liora?”

The way he says my name makes my chest ache.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” I disagree.

He moves faster than I can react. In an instant, he’s on me, his hands gripping my shoulders, his body caging mine against the cave wall.

His touch is firm, but not painful. Not yet.

The bond between us thrums in protest, a sharp pulse of heat curling beneath my ribs. I try to shove him back, but his grip only tightens. His wings flare behind him, his breath warm and ragged against my face.

I don’t fight him, not really. Not like I should.

For a terrifying moment, I can’t focus on anything except the heat of his body pressed against mine, the scent of rain and earth clinging to his skin.

His golden eyes bore into me. “Tell me.”

Something in my chest cracks open, raw and desperate.

Without thinking, the truth spills from my lips.

“I saw her.”

His entire body goes still.

A muscle in his jaw tics. “Who?”

I swallow hard. My heart pounds. “Amara.”

His grip tightens, just slightly. His breath comes in sharp, controlled bursts. “What did she say to you?”

I pull at my hair. “It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t a vision. I—I felt her. Inside me.”

Dain doesn’t speak. Doesn’t move.

I notice the fear.

Not rage. Not hatred.

Fear.

It’s gone as quickly as it comes, buried beneath layers of fury and resentment, but I felt it.

Dain isn’t just angry. He’s terrified.

Of me.

The realization shatters something inside me.

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but when I speak, it’s not my voice.

“Dain.”

His entire body locks.

Amara’s calling him again through me. I dislike it. I loathe that she’s using my body.

The voice that slips from my lips is not mine. It is soft and aching, filled with a sadness I don’t understand.

But he does.

His claws dig into my skin as a growl rumbles deep in his chest. “Stop.”

I gasp, my own voice returning as I clutch at my throat. “I?—”

He snarls. “Don’t say her name.”

I deny it frantically. “It wasn’t me?—”

But it doesn’t matter. He sees what he wants to see.

The flicker of recognition in my eyes. The way my voice wavered with something that wasn’t me.

Dain lunges.

I barely have time to react before his hands seize my wrists, pinning them above my head. His breath is ragged, his entire body vibrating with restrained violence.

His lips brush my ear as he speaks, voice laced with something dark, something broken.

“I won’t let you do this to me again.”

Terror claws up my spine. “Dain, I’m not?—”

But he isn’t listening. He’s lost in the past. In her.

I finally understand.

He doesn’t see Liora.

He sees Amara. And he is going to kill me.

Panic surges through me.

I have no choice.

I push.

Magic rips from me in a wave of dark energy, slamming into Dain’s chest. He’s thrown backward, wings snapping out to catch himself before he can hit the ground.

But the damage is done.

I don’t wait for him to recover.

I run.

The bond between us burns as I flee, twisting, pulling at me like a chain wrapped around my ribs.

But I don’t stop. I can’t let him kill me.

More than that, I can’t let myself hurt him.