The ground trembles beneath me. My hands press against the cold marble, but all I feel is the storm growing rapidly inside, an inferno born from the ruins of my shattered heart.
“HEAVEN! Get in here!” Tatum’s voice cuts through the chaos. It’s urgent and desperate.
The chandeliers above us rattle violently, the very air around me pulsing with the force surging outward as if it has a mind of its own, like it’s alive. It claws its way free – wild and ruthless, ready to burn the world alongside my grief. Because what is aworld without him? Without my dad?
A scream rips from my chest, raw, tortured and endless. The floodgates burst open, and I feel it all, the agony, fury, and devastation. All of it spiralling into something uncontrollable. The shadows around me turn red and black, writhing like living things, feeding on my torment.
“Sienna!” Heaven’s soft voice is barely audible above the storm roaring in my head. “Sienna, control your powers! You’re going to hurt them!”
Hurt who? Hurt what? There is no pain greater than this. Nothing I could do would ever compare.
“Sienna!” Her voice strengthens, the command in it cutting through my frenzy. Power hums around her, green and fierce — Dad’s wolf’s eyes are-weregreen.
My breath catches.
Through the chaos, I see Tatum. His arms are wrapped tightly around Grandma Maria, shielding her.
Shielding her fromme.
Oh gods.
What am I doing?
Dad.
Princess.His voice is a whisper in my mind, the ache so deep it threatens to crush me.
He would be so disappointed in me right now.
I swallow back the sobs clawing at my throat and try to control my powers.
Gods!
I try to pull it all in, to rein in the destruction surging throughme. But I can’t.
I don’t know how!
My mind is blank, drowning in grief, rage, and despair. I can’t breathe, I can’t think!
“Sienna!” Heaven screams, and the fear in her voice makes my stomach drop. She stands there, arms raised, magic surging around her, fear and horror in her eyes as she-
My stomach drops. Gods, she’s holding up the very foundation of the walls from collapsing in on us!
What am I doing?
She’s fourteen! I’m the older one! I should be protecting her!
The world shakes. My body trembles. I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing out everything: the storm, the power, the raw agony consuming me. And then I feel it, something… breaking inside of me. The aura around me changes, becoming chaotic, and I’m at its very core, trying to get out of it, but I can’t.
Dad is gone.
Dad…
Focus, Sienna.
“I can’t!” I scream.
I don’t want to!
