I counted time by the rhythm of footsteps outside the door. Kaylan's hunters pacing, changing shifts, boots scuffing against rock. But soon even that vanished. Either they tired of me, or Marcus wanted me to lose the sound of other lives.
The dark pressed in.
It wasn't the ordinary kind — not the still dark of night, nor the gentle dark of closed eyes. This was thick, breathing, crawling. It pressed into my lungs and coiled beneath my skin until I couldn't tell if the shadows were around me… or inside me.
I sat shackled against the wall, the collar raw against my throat, my wrists numb where the iron bit bone. My thoughts circled back to Liam — his blood on the floor, his face when Marcus promised torment. I tried not to imagine what was happening to him now. Tried not to wonder how many times Marcus had whispered the same bargain into the ears of others and watched them crumble.
But the silence didn't let me escape.
It made every thought louder.
He'll die. He'll bleed. You'll watch.
I slammed my head back against the stone, trying to scatter the whispers. The sound echoed sharp. For a moment it worked. For a moment, the voices stopped.
Then something new stirred.
Not words. Not yet. A shiver beneath my skin, like cold fingers brushing along my ribs. A ripple in the black.
I froze.
The cell's shadows thickened, curling slow, deliberate. Not smoke. Not trick of the light. They moved with intent.
"No," I whispered.
But they didn't stop.
They bled down the walls, across the floor, pooling like ink. Shapes teased at the edges — talons, tendrils, teeth — dissolving when I blinked. My chains rattled as I pressed back against the wall.
Why are you afraid of yourself?
The voice wasn't Marcus's. Wasn't Lucian's. Wasn't Selene's broken lullaby.
It was me. But not.
It echoed hollow, layered, like something speaking through my lungs.
My heart stuttered. "You're not me."
The shadows rippled. We are. We are yours. We are what you've begged for in silence. The blade in your blood. The truth you tried to bury.
"Stop," I hissed. "I don't want this."
Liar.
The darkness surged, coating the chains at my wrists. Cold sank into my bones.
And then the iron broke.
Not loudly — not with sparks or screams. It simply crumbled, links collapsing into dust that scattered across the floor.
I stared, chest heaving. My hands trembled, free for the first time in days.
"No," I whispered. "That wasn't me."
The shadows curled around my wrists, tender as caresses. It was. It has always been you.
Panic clawed at me. I shoved the black away — but it clung, answering every motion, shaping into a jagged spear that stretched from my palm like bone forged in smoke.
I dropped it, heart pounding. The weapon dissolved before it hit the ground.
My stomach twisted. This wasn't like Shadowstep — slipping between veils, using what was already there. This was creation. This was hunger given form.
The whispers licked at my ear. Weapon. Chain. Throne. You need only claim it.
I shook my head violently. "No. I won't be Marcus. I won't be Lucian."
Then be more.
I froze.
The shadows pulsed, slow, steady, like a heartbeat echoing through stone. My skin prickled.
And for one terrifying, liberating moment, I wondered if they were right.
I thought of Kaylan's hand on Liam's throat. Of Lucian's smile when he whispered about breaking me. Of Marcus's voice, calm as he promised Liam's screams.
If I had this power then…
Would I have stopped them?
The thought burned like poison.
I sank to my knees, clutching my head. "Get out. Get out of me."
The shadows tightened. We cannot leave. We are you. We are the spark. The rebellion. The blade they fear.
I slammed my fists into the ground. The stone cracked. Veins of black split outward like lightning frozen in rock.
The cell shook.
I stared at the fractures spreading beneath me, breath ragged.
The whispers were right about one thing: this wasn't natural. It wasn't human. It wasn't even vampire. It was something older. Something alive.
I curled against the wall, trembling, every muscle screaming to deny what I had just seen. But even as I whispered no, no, no, the shadows curled lovingly around me, purring like wolves at rest.
And I realized the truth.
The more I resisted, the stronger they became.
Because rebellion wasn't silence. Rebellion was power refusing to kneel.
The spark was lit.
And soon, the fire would come.