Page 59

EVE

“Wait—”

“Stay,” he said, throwing a look over his shoulder—furious, determined, final.

And then he was gone. The door clicked shut behind him, sealing me in a silence that screamed louder than any noise.

My heart pounded. Heat pulsed beneath my skin. Stay here , he’d said—but panic clawed its way to the surface, and stillness wasn’t in my nature.

Then another scream. Sharper. Desperate.

I moved before I knew what I was doing, yanking the attic door open—only to stop cold.

Sam filled the doorway—massive, immovable, blotting out the hall light like an eclipse.

His blond hair hung in limp strands around a face that had once been handsome. Now it looked wrong.

His jaw sagged slightly to the left, the bone beneath warped and loose, as if it hadn’t healed right. A raw, angry scar split down from his chin, the skin puckered and sickly.

My scar.

What I did to him.

But it hadn’t been enough.

He smiled—a twisted, lopsided thing that made my blood freeze.

“Hello, Eve,” he drawled, voice syrupy and cracked.

My stomach lurched. Magic buzzed beneath my skin, hot and reactive.

I slammed the door on him with everything I had, throwing my whole body behind it.

With a shove like swatting a fly, he forced it open again. The hinges shrieked. The frame cracked.

His hand shot out, seizing my wrist with crushing force.

I thrashed, clawing at his arm, kicking at his shins, twisting in his grip like a live wire.

“Let me go!” Magic surged beneath my skin, burning hot and erratic—but I didn’t dare release it. Not with Orion downstairs. Not with Louise. Not if I couldn’t control it.

His grip shifted—an arm snaking around my waist, locking me against him. His breath hit my ear, sour and too close, as he started dragging me toward the door.

I grabbed the frame.

Fingernails splintered. Wood bit into my palms. I clung to it with everything I had.

“Let go,” he snarled, jerking me hard.

I screamed through gritted teeth. My arms burned. Magic coiled up my throat like fire and bile, desperate to escape.

The hallway tilted.

The world funneled into the searing burn in my palms, the iron band of his arm crushing my ribs.

Sam didn’t stop.

He dragged me from the attic like dead weight, every step a brutal jolt.

I kicked, twisted, and dug in my heels. It didn’t matter.

“Orion!” I screamed, throat tearing as he hauled me down the stairs. My nails scraped the walls, gouging lines into the drywall.

“Let’s go, little Phoenix,” he sneered, his breath hot and rancid against my skin. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

“Orion!” I shrieked again, louder this time.

For a heartbeat, I saw him.

Sword flashing. Astral form tearing through a daema like it was made of paper.

Then Sam yanked me back out of sight.

His hand clamped over my mouth. My scream choked into silence, echoing uselessly in my skull as I fought him.

“Looks like he’s got his hands full,” he muttered, voice a low, poisonous hiss against my ear.

The hallway blurred. The sounds of battle dulled—sword against bone, magic cracking the air—all of it pulling away like a dream I couldn’t reach.

My chest tightened.

He didn’t see me.

I’d been right there—and he hadn’t looked.

Cold air hit me like a slap as Sam shoved through the back door.

Grass tore beneath my heels as he dragged me toward the street.

A rusted black van loomed ahead, its back doors yawning open like a mouth. Shadows shifted inside—figures crouched low, eyes glowing, jaws twitching. Hungry.

My stomach lurched.

“Get in,” Sam growled.

“No!”

He snarled and hoisted me like I was nothing.

I kicked, clawed, twisted—but he hurled me inside.

My body hit the metal floor with a bone-deep thud, pain flashing up my side like a live wire.

The daema were on me in seconds.

Claws scraped. Fingers grabbed. Joints cracked.

“Hold her still,” one hissed, saliva hissing between pointed teeth too close to my face.

“Let me go!” I screamed, thrashing.

They laughed—low and gleeful, like they wanted me to struggle.

Sam climbed in behind me and slammed the doors shut.

I lunged for the exit, throwing my full weight toward the handle, fingers scrambling for the latch—

But claws clamped around my wrist.

The second his skin touched mine, heat surged like a lightning strike.

The creature shrieked, yanking back, smoke curling from his blistered hand.

For a single heartbeat, I froze—triumph and horror slamming together in my chest.

“ Bitch ,” he spat, yanking my head back by the hair. “Burn me again and I’ll make you regret it.”

His voice barely registered because something moved beyond the windshield.

Headlights.

Xander’s car screeched to a stop at the curb, his door flying open before the wheels had even stilled.

“Xander!” I screamed. Hope crashed through me like a tidal wave.

I saw him—running.

Toward the house.

Not me.

He hadn’t heard me.

Hope curdled. Sour and sharp in my chest.

“Enough,” Sam snapped.

His fist cracked against my temple.

Pain detonated behind my eye, and I landed hard on the metal floor. Blood filled my mouth—metallic, bitter. Darkness crept in at the edges.

But I didn’t black out.

Not completely.

The van jolted into motion, vibrating beneath my prone body. Every rattle echoed through my skull.

Voices bled through the haze—clipped, urgent, angry.

“This wasn’t the plan,” the driver barked. “Corvus told us to bring her straight to—”

“We’re not handing her over,” Sam cut in, voice like frostbitten steel. “She’s our ticket. To Titan. To power .”

My stomach turned. Bile clawed up my throat. I could barely keep my eyes open.

“If we’re wrong, we’re dead,” someone muttered.

“You think Corvus’ll share the win?” Sam snapped. “He’ll bleed her dry and toss us scraps. We don’t need him. We’ll take her straight to Pathos. Collect the prize ourselves.”

His words landed like weights across my chest—heavier than the daema still pinning me down.

I clenched my fists. Tried to focus.

A flicker of heat stirred beneath my skin, faint and unsteady.

“Samkeir, if you’re wrong—”

“I’m not,” he growled. “She’s the Phoenix. And with her, we control everything. We’ll be kings.”

I tried to move, but my body barely responded. Everything ached. My limbs were leaden, my thoughts swimming in blood and fear.

They think I’m a Phoenix.

I wasn’t sure. But the magic… it was sure.

My chest squeezed tight—but this time, not from disbelief. From the magic.

It pulsed beneath my skin. A whisper threading through my veins, not in words, but in warning.

They can’t have it.

Not them. Not this way.

It didn’t matter if I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t let them use it. I couldn’t let them turn it into their weapon.

A shadow fell over me.

I felt him before I saw him.

Pain spiked behind my eyes as they fluttered open. The blur cleared—just enough to make out Sam’s face, twisted into a smug sneer.

“You’re going to regret everything, little Phoenix.”

He crouched low, dragging his fingers along the jagged scar beneath his chin. Slowly. Deliberately. His nails scraped over the raised skin. “Starting with what you did to my face.”

My stomach churned. Not from fear—

From fury.

The van pulled to a stop.

He straightened, rising to his full height, shadow stretching long across my body. His claws flexed, twitching with anticipation.

“It’s showtime,” he said, dark with promise.