Page 222 of The Chains You Defy

The last thread of restraint snapped.

My magic pooled around me like a massive ink spill, and the guttural sound of my voice rang through the scenery.“Stay. Protected. Mine.”

She showed me no fear as she nodded, and this simple epiphany unraveled another chain. She wasn’t afraid of me.

She wasn’t afraid of me.

With determination, I left her safe bubble, reinforced the shield against sight and sound, and turned to the other female entangled in angry, pulsating strands of shadow and darkness. A pang of self-loathing burned through my chest. How had I forgotten that this vile fae couldn’t only track but was able to travel through light as fast as I was able to hurry through shadows—only her facet didn’t drain her nearly as much as mine did.

“Danartha.”

“Scriosta, you’re here? Let me go, darling.”

How deluded was she?

Taking slow, measured steps toward the appalling female, I called upon my powers, willing them to rise.

Kill.

“No. I won’t. And I hope that when I’m done with you, even Noelk will reject you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You hurt the one I love. Your life is forfeit.”

“This is about the human vermin? Wait, you’re protecting that? The Eachtrannach? Please, be serious here.”

“I’ve never been this serious in my entire life.”

More and more chains disintegrated. Onyx matter was dripping down my skin like thick honey, pooling at my feet, spilling from every orifice of my body.

With each measured step that I took toward the other fae, the jet-black substance encased me further, morphing me into a creature of pure terror and nightmare, even warping my features.

Kill.

My form changed, and I expanded, my body growing, altering.

But why?

My sense of self was pushed further and further back until I wasn’t wielding darkness anymore. Instead, the darkness wielded me.

This was a metamorphosis into something monstrous on the outside that finally matched the inside.

My liquid obsidian skin rippled, and smoke caressed every inch of this transmutation.

This was what had yearned to break out for the longest time.

Surrendering my resistance in the perpetual war for dominance, I opened my mind to the monster, and the creature welcomed me back in return until we were both in control. Still, I was clueless.

What was I?

What had I become?

Finally. A beginning.

My head snapped around when Danartha screamed in terror—the sweetest music I’d ever heard.

Shadows wafted from the chasm that once had been my mouth as I ordered my tendrils to unwrap her.