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He didn’t stop, watching with sadistic fascination as Malrik struggled.

Struggled for him.

When he wrenched them out and Malrik lurched and choked, Draco slid his hand down over his armor. A brush of his onyx magic was all it took to cut through it, and then he was grasping Malrik’s cock in a brutal grip that had him hissing.

“Ready for me as always. Desiring me beyond all else.” He became creepily gentle then as he ran his lips over Malrik’s cheek, tasting the blood at the same time and growling in pleasure.

“I know you have waited. And you have waited well. It won’t be long now.

You’ll be able to take me without it damaging you. ”

“Ungh… yes,” Malrik rasped as Draco teased his cock with his vicious grip.

“Your fondness for pain is exhilarating.”

“Everything about you is exhilarating to me. It cuts through all else.”

Draco smiled in that eerie way again, then released him, and stepped back. “When you receive me, we will cut through everything together. We will reign unchecked, and those who hunt us now will fall in spectacular agony.”

“How close are they?” Malrik asked, fixing himself and pushing off the wall, healing quickly, cuts sealing, bruises dissipating.

“Close enough that we must act now. And that is why I called you here. The spell is ready. I have obtained what we need in its entirety. The time is now.”

Malrik’s breath caught. “Now? This very night?”

“Yes.”

“House Titanus will break free from its leash. There will be freedom for my bloodline.”

“You still accept the price?”

Malrik scoffed. “Draco, I am already paying it. My own are turning against me due to the discovery of my alliance with you. And you’ve reported that the True Celestials are aware now, as well.”

“They will come for us. I can coerce your own and turn them to our liking. But not those borne of the Celestial Plane. They won’t stop.”

Malrik’s eyes darkened. “Let them come.”

Draco smiled. “Very good.”

“Once this ritual is complete, we will become the hunters anyway. We’re rewriting the rules. You will no longer be pained by their despicable will. You shall walk free alongside me.”

Draco snarled. “We will devour their power. We will snuff out their light. We will undo what is written.”

Their eyes locked.

The Dragon King and the Celestial Weapon.

One cast in mortal flame. The other in divine corruption.

“How does it work?” Malrik asked, voice hoarse with the weight of what was about to happen.

My gut churned. I felt sick to my fucking stomach.

But I needed to see.

I needed to witness it with my own eyes.

What they’d done.

What they’d corrupted—how they’d corrupted me.

Draco drew closer, power reverberating between them that had me tensing.

“You accept me wholly. Let me bleed into you, and I will anchor the Celestial power to your being.”

Malrik reached out with a hand trembling from demented anticipation.

He brushed his fingers over Draco’s cheek. “I accept you in every way. Show me. Mark me. Bleed me.”

Draco's lip curled, his sadism shining forth mixed with some fucked-up lust. Or maybe even more than that.

And then he stepped back and held his palms up toward Malrik.

His power streamed forth, violently, brutally.

It tore into Malrik, making him roar and shudder uncontrollably.

His talons sprung forth and he dug them into the stone wall behind him for purchase.

Roars turned to shrieks as Draco’s power ravaged his body, burrowing into him, it seemed, rather than staying on the surface like it did when magic-wielders struck others with their magic.

I grimaced, wanting to look away, but not able to.

I’d accepted the Stone of Recollection and I’d come here to bear witness, and it wouldn’t allow me to do anything else.

Power spilled into Marik—Draco bleeding into him.

That was what it had meant.

“It’s not… just your… power,” Malrik choked out.

“I’ve imbued my essence into what I’m feeding you. And Celestial fire. My will and our connection will stabilize it and prevent you from dying from a Celestial wound. Over our time together, I’ve made you strong. I’ve prepared you to take me. Now, let it in. Breathe me in, taste me on your tongue.”

It went on and on, screams echoing around the chamber.

And then finally it stopped.

Draco pulled his power back and watched intently as Malrik sank against the wall, hanging his head, panting, sweat dripping off him.

Moments of intensity passed.

And then I was choking as Malrik lifted his head and his eyes shone black with the mark of Draco’s magic.

“Excellent,” Draco said. “As it works through you for the next several days, it will reshape you. The Celestial power will separate from the part of me within you, and mold to your essence only, transferring smoothly. And then you’ll wield power that belongs to them—power that is now ours eternally. ”

“Power that will infuse my bloodline.”

“Yes. Those who are strong enough to wield it will inherit Celestial capabilities. They will be more than dragon.”

“And we will destroy all that the Celestials are, just like they tried to destroy you, Draco.”

“Mmm… as you rest to absorb what I’ve given you properly, tell me more about their suffering.”

“Theirs and my detractors in the Dracoryn Realm.”

“Yes. Give me that bloodlust and killer instinct unleashed. Make me relish every word of how brutally they will all fall by our hand.”

That same explosion of black and crimson light filled my vision.

The nightmare scene dissipated.

And then I was blinking back to reality, finding myself in the vault, holding the stone.

I was panting, my whole body shaking as I tried to reconcile what I’d seen.

As I took in Cornelius and his grave expression, then eyed Kai who looked stricken, it was clear they’d actually seen the memory as well.

“Celestial blood runs in your veins,” Cornelius spoke. He frowned in thought, putting all the pieces together. “Not your father’s. It skipped a generation.”

I couldn’t speak.

I couldn’t do a fucking thing.

I heard Kai doing the explaining for me, telling him about my Primal Celestial Resonance, how it had healed a Celestial infection, why we believed we could develop a failsafe to fight back against the Celestials and the duty they’d forced upon Ariana.

Cornelius fell silent as he absorbed it all.

But that silence felt like screams to me.

“This changes everything,” I heard him announce.

And then I looked to see him staring at me like I was the answer, the key, the savior to what was burdening us all, what was hurting Ariana.

And I’d wanted to be that for her.

I’d wanted to be that for them all.

But in this moment, I didn’t feel like any of that.

So far from a savior.

So far from being anything positive or good.

I’d just seen it.

Draco and Malrik had experimented on my bloodline.

Their darkness and depravity ran in my veins.

They’d made me in their image.

A demon.

A monster.

Death and carnage.

Intended as brutality.

As agony.

As vengeance.

Intended as devastation.

“Kai,” I only just managed to rasp. “I… I can’t. I need… to go… to shift.”

“V, take a moment. Breathe.” He held out his hand. “Connect with me.”

I clutched at my head, digging my nails into my scalp. “I can’t… I can’t.”

“We need to go,” I heard him telling Cornelius.

An affirmative sound came from the almighty Immortal.

And then I was staggering out of the vault.

Movement behind me stalled my exit, though, and I spun, snarling in the next second as I saw Cornelius snatch Kai’s arm.

But then he told Kai, “Reach out to me. I will teach you.”

“Teach me what?”

He gestured with his free hand around the vault and smiled, “Everything.”

Kai was so stunned that he didn’t know what to say for once in his life.

All he managed was a nod of confirmation.

And that was all I could stand, before I was pulling him out of there with me, my skin itching like crazy. Like something crawling beneath it.

I needed out of here.

I needed out of this form.

I just needed out.