Page 33

Aisling

P ain.

So much fucking pain.

It’s all my brain can focus on as I lie on the cold, hard tile, trying to breathe through broken ribs and bruised lungs.

Every inch of my body is screaming, begging for any kind of release. Anything to stop my suffering. But nothing is coming to save me.

No one is coming to save me.

The sound of boots hitting the floor echoes around me, and a tear slides down my cheek .

He’s coming back for me.

Slow. Steady. Like he’s savoring each step. I don’t look up. I don’t need to. The chill running down my spine tells me everything.

He doesn’t say a word, just crouches down next to me, knife glimmering in the fluorescent lights. He reaches down to my hips, running his fingers across my chilled skin before he lands on my stomach. It flexes in on itself reflexively as he presses his fingertips into the cut from earlier.

“Ever seen a raven die?” he asks, his voice deep and final. “They scream. They don’t caw. They fucking scream.”

My breath hitches in my chest as he presses harder, tears silently streaming down my face.

He holds something between two fingers, dangling it in front of me like an offering. A skull, small with blackened bone and a pointed beak.

A raven .

It looks wrong. Glinting in the light like it’s wet, even though I know it’s not.

It looks like it doesn’t belong in this world.

“This one belonged to your mother,” he states, tilting his masked face at me. “Her favorite messenger. I killed it myself.”

My lips part, but no sound comes out.

He places it on the wound. I let out a sharp inhale. It’s so fucking cold like ice but still warm, like it’s alive.

“You should feel fucking honored,” he hisses at me as he uses his weight to press down on my hips, pinning me in place.

The beak pierces the deepest layers of my skin. I choke on my screams, thrashing, but he’s stronger. The skull goes deeper, embedding itself into me, like it was always meant to live there.

My skin bursts out into sweats, and my vision goes static.

But it’s not just pain. It’s like a memory.

Flashes of fire burning rampant, thousands of wings slicing through the sky, and a woman screaming.

“Now she’ll always know where you are. She can see through it, you know.” He breathes against my ear, causing my skin to prick. “Maybe she’s watching us right now.”

He pulls away, releasing the pressure from my stomach, and I look down through tear-filled eyes. The skull is gone, vanished beneath my skin. But I can still feel it there.

Pulsing. Waiting.

The sound of the man’s belt unbuckling echoes through the room, and I close my eyes.

I brace for the worst, swallowing my screams.

Then-

BOOM!

A scream of metal and a hollow thud .

Smoke fills the room like water.

A shadow makes its way through the fog.

Then another. And another.

“Get your fucking hands off of her.” A low growl cuts through the room, as lethal as a knife.

And my body instantly relaxes, a tear sliding down my cheek, not from fear, but comfort.

Ronan’s here.

For me.

And everything inside me starts to unravel as chaos erupts around me.