Prologue
Adonis
The fucking bitch used me.
I look up at Dax; his giant, leathery black wings are nowhere to be seen. I turn my eyes towards Killian, and see the same. Screams pierce the air around me, echoing in a cacophony of anguish as I lean against Dax, the weight of despair heavy on my heart. Once vibrant and alive, my wings have vanished, leaving behind an aching void. She not only took those, but she stole a vital piece of my soul, leaving me hollow and adrift.
I feel an emptiness that gnaws at me, an unsettling sense of incompleteness that wraps around me like a shroud. The world seems dimmer, as if the colors of life have faded into muted shades of gray, leaving me lost in a haze of sorrow.
Octavia wreaks havoc on the town as she slaughters men, women, and children with her dark magic. Bodies lay scattered as blood covers the ground in a dark crimson. Horses gallop past without their riders, some with half their riders still attached.
“We have to stop her!” Killian shouts, erupting flames from his hands. He looks down at his hands and curses, “My magic is nowhere near as strong!” Worry flashes across his face as he looks at me, but I give him no emotions back. I just sit there and stare.
“Adonis,” Dax says, “we have to get up. We have to stop her.”
Arrows whiz through the air, their sharp tips glinting in the faint light as they whistle past our heads. With a swift motion, Dax picks one up from the ground, its fletching fluttering slightly in his grasp. He brings it close, inhaling deeply, his brow furrowing with concern. “Poison,” he mutters grimly before discarding it onto the ground, where it lands with a muted thud amidst the scattered debris.
Dax helps me to my feet. “We have to fight,” he says. He glances at Killian and says something, but I’m too weak to hear their conversation. Too wrapped up in my emotions. Without my wings and with my magic suppressed, I feel helpless.
“We have enough poisoned arrows! Let’s shoot the witch and then set her on fire!” someone shouts. Cheers erupt as men gather, passing swords and arrows around—the thick green poison drips from the edges of the weapons.
Shit.They are going to kill her.Killian, Dax, and I are in the clear since humans can’t see our wings… what were our wings…
No one knows what we are. Besides Suzanna.
A whirlwind of emotions churns within me, leaving me utterly perplexed about my feelings for Octavia. Despite knowing that our connection was nothing more than a game to her—an elaborate ruse to rob me of what little I guarded—I can’t shake the nagging affection that still lingers.
I know exactly where she is and an undeniable instinct compels me to go to her, to warn her before it’s too late.
With determination surging through me, I channel my shadows, feeling their dark tendrils wrap around me like a cloak as I prepare to teleport to her secluded hut. A sense of relief washes over me as I realize my teleportation ability remains strong.
Suddenly, I am in the middle of the forest in front of Octavia’s lair. Men are nearby, I can hear them shouting and marching this way. Everyone knows this hut because Octavia has been helping women with her spells and potionsfor months now. Or so, I thought she was helping them… Turns out, she had been cursing them, making them barren so they can’t bear children.
I slam the door open; Octavia startles but smiles beautifully at me. “Finally. I was wondering when you would come back,” she says as she quickly makes her way over to me and caresses my face.
Fuck, I should be pissed off. I should rip out her fucking throat.
“Here,” she tosses me my ruby necklace. I examine it closely, slightly confused as to why she had it in the first place. I wrap the gold chain around my hand and run my thumb across the diamonds that hold the ruby in place. I flip the gem over, seeing my demonic rune etched in the back. I tuck it into my coat pocket.
“You don’t trust me now, do you?” she asks as I take a step away from her.
“No.”
“Too bad. You will though.”
She tucks something into her pocket, and I don’t know what it is.
“They are about to be here. They all want you dead. I want you dead,” I growl at her.
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, but I fucking do. Give me back my power and wings! You don’t deserve a single piece of me! You are not my mate!” I yell at her.
Ignoring me, she rummages through her potions, tucking a few in her cloak pocket and drinking two others. Next, she draws her ceremonial circle with chalk on the wooden floor. She includes a pentagram inside the circle and markings for north, east, south, and west at the four cardinal points.
Before walking into her circle, she gets too close to me. I don’t move a muscle.
Her tall frame looks up at me, and she plants a kiss on my lips, but I don’t kiss her back. My body is rigid andunyielding. Pulling away, she pouts, “Come on, Adonis. You really didn’t think I was your mate, did you?” I turn my head, disavowing her words.
