Page 32

Jude

I hope to meet with you and explain in person. Rae…she’s far different from what even I initially suspected. While her past is now clear, something besides her divinity was taken. She’s mortal, and yet she doesn’t possess the very thing that makes us human. I do not believe she has a heart.

Letter from Aurora Adair to Juniper Marchant, year 30 of the curse

Our boats nudged the shore a second before we heard a scream.

It didn’t sound like the shriek of the wailing woman that attacked Liam. It sounded human.

“Kiara!” Jake called out in alarm, reading my thoughts.

He and I charged for the stony bank, running side by side in the face of a growing storm. Those shadows I’d glimpsed along the nearing shore flourished, shrouding everything in black silt and clogging the air with a sickly-sweet smell that churned my stomach.

The magic of the sun goddess strained, weakened by the nightmarish hellscape we walked through. I gritted my teeth and pressed on, willing my eyes to light the way. It was weak in this place, in the middle of this storm.

A second scream, this one muffled, came from my right, and I lurched into the bedlam without thought.

Kiara’s pleas for help enlivened my power, gifting me with pure, heady adrenaline.

I fought to move, fought to continue—for her.

My eyes sparked and glowed, rays of light navigating the tumultuous winds.

A cluster of shadows formed ten feet away, gradually taking the shape of a man. It towered well over eight feet, its spindly arms lifted, coils of black curling around its elongated fingers.

Could it be…

A shadow beast.

That was the only explanation. And when I spotted a prone figure curled up at its feet, I pumped my legs even harder. Toward the monster. The legend and nightmare.

Luminous red strands flashed, a head tilting up, glaring at the beast with narrowed eyes.

Kiara .

It wouldn’t have mattered if I had divine power or merely the aching will of a mortal man in love. I would’ve found my way to her, crawled my way to her. Cut or bleeding or on the cusp of death, nothing could’ve held me back.

Power thrummed in tune with each beat of my heart, heat invading my every inch. It didn’t burn or harm. This magic was a part of me, and the more I accepted it, the more it felt right .

I finally embraced who I was.

Lightning crashed somewhere nearby, but the thunder that followed was nothing compared to the roar I released. “Get the fuck away from her.”

The shadow beast was a failed creation of the Moon God. Rumored to have been a concept of good intent turned wicked—a being that hunted the darkest of nightmares and destroyed them—they had become the realm’s most feared monster.

I , too, had been a soul born in darkness, and I could be just as wicked.

Flames climbed my back, rising into the air like the wings of night Kiara commanded.

Though, instead of black, my wings were limned in brilliant oranges and yellows. They illuminated the creature lurking over Kiara, the shadow beast’s full attention landing on me. It let out a snarling hiss.

Good . I wanted it to watch me as I ended its life.

Inhaling sharply, I aimed all my power at the beast, my body curling inward as magic blasted free.

The shadow beast screamed when my fire scorched its back, and it teetered to the side, stunned. Kiara scrambled back, her ungloved hands rising to her face, protecting herself from the heat of my flames.

I recalled her story, how terrified she’d been as a child when she was attacked. Now, she’d been thrust back into that horrid reality all over again.

And yet she held her head high.

That’s my girl.

I ducked to the right as black shadows limned in silver wafted from its reedy form, its poisonous magic shooting toward my face. The strike missed by an inch.

Before I could regain my bearings, it delivered another bolt, the shadows slashing my thigh and forming a shallow gash. It burned unlike anything I’d ever experienced, and the sheer torment of it would’ve made me stumble had it not been for Kiara gazing at me now, her hands lowered, eyes trusting.

She needed me now as I’d needed her so many times before. I refused to disappoint.

My flames spiraled out as phantom shackles fell and clattered to pieces, destroying the manacles I’d placed on myself—the lies I told insisting this wasn’t my destiny. That I would find a way out of this mess.

I was Raina’s descendant, and her power called to me, begging I rid the world of this blasphemous creature.

My stare locked with Kiara’s, and an entire lifetime seemed to pass in the span of a blink. Adventures and shared secrets. Laughter and long nights before a fire. Her showing me the meaning of what it was like to truly live .

A blast sent me off my feet, the beast taking me by surprise.

I tumbled through the air, flailing, reaching for anything solid to salvage control.

There was nothing.

Icy hands encircled my throat, squeezing, a resounding roar of triumph coming from the mouth of the beast.

Something tore inside of me, and pain greater than any whip raced down my neck and to my chest. The next scream I heard belonged to me.

Spots coated the gold of my sight, my lungs deprived of oxygen. I feebly swatted at the beast with my hands, but it only worked to infuriate it, and its hold on me tightened.

My eyes fluttered shut, yet I continued to struggle, not willing to surrender.

If only I could concentrate, summon my magic—

Something detonated, a blazing light erupted.

I opened my eyes, expecting to see flames like the ones I possessed engulfing the beast, but instead, I saw Kiara, drenched in a fire of both yellow and black, a shimmering gold weaving through her combined powers.

Fear shone in her eyes, but she didn’t falter. She was a vengeful goddess as she directed her magic into the creature, sending it staggering back, a squelching noise sounding before something splintered.

Her teeth were bared as she strode its way, her peculiar fire striking it again and again without mercy. Sweat glistened on her brow, but she didn’t appear fatigued. Just enraged. Furious in a way that I’d not seen before, not even when Harlow had threatened me.

“Do. Not. Touch. Him.”

Each word was followed by an assault of black fire, her darkness working with the fragment of golden light she carried. Yet it was more than that—

The driving force was her .

The creature shriveled in on itself, its incorporeal skin eaten away by the flames. A cruel smile tilted her lips, and I watched, stunned, as Kiara tore her personal nightmare apart piece by piece.

“Never again,” she screamed.

I knew exactly what her words meant. Tears stained her face, but they were beautiful in the flashes of light that exploded around us, the wet tracks turning into brilliant streaks of victory.

She would never be vulnerable to the beast again. Its victim. Kiara stared her greatest fear in the eyes and she fucking smiled.

Because this time, she could win. She would win.

Its body shriveled in on itself, the shadows comprising its long form wavering, growing weak. Kiara didn’t relent, didn’t hesitate. She didn’t cease her assault until only ash remained at her feet, and even that was swept away by a fierce gust of wind.

Drenched in glistening sweat, she panted, her fists clenched.

Her scars…

They’d grown. Swirls of black - and - blue vines reached below the cuff of her rolled-up shirt, the new marks gifted by the touch of the beast she’d just destroyed.

Kiara whirled to me, eyes aglow with amber, her body cloaked in power, and my heart ceased to beat for an entirely new reason.

I’d never seen anything more stunning, more frightening, or more devastating than her as she closed the distance. Her black - and - gold fire fizzled out, and she dropped to her knees before me. Reaching for my face, her scarred hand traced the curve of my jaw as if making sure I was real—alive and in front of her now.

I swallowed her body in my arms, clutching her to my chest. She let out a noise that sounded like a relieved sob, and then she dug her fingers into my back, refusing to let go.

Together we breathed; together we sat still in the middle of a merciless storm of dark magic.

Together, we found the strength to calm our pounding hearts until they matched, both seeking the steady song of their partner.

We didn’t move until someone grabbed my arm.

Kiara was whipped out of my embrace, another figure clasping her wrist. Jake.

Behind me was Liam, his fingers a vise on my bicep. He hauled me to my feet.

Then Jake shouted one word that even the violent winds couldn’t drown out.

“Run!”