The dungeon door groaned open.
I had learned to tell time by the intervals between footsteps. By the hours the guards dragged food trays in, by the hollow pauses when torches sputtered. But when the door opened without warning, silence choking the gap, I knew something was wrong.
Kaylan stepped through.
Her smile was a blade — thin, cruel, glittering with anticipation. Behind her, guards carried something heavy between them. Shackled, bleeding, breathing shallow.
Liam.
My chest locked. The shadows inside me stirred violently, crowding my ribs.
They dragged him across the floor, chains scraping stone. He was barely conscious, his face bloodied, his body slumped like a rag doll. I strained against my shackles, iron biting my wrists, every fiber of me screaming.
"What did you do?" I demanded, my voice raw, trembling.
Kaylan tilted her head, golden hair spilling over her armored shoulder. "Do? Nothing yet." Her eyes gleamed as she gestured lazily. "This is just the beginning."
The guards threw Liam down in front of my cell. He hit the ground with a thud that rattled through me. His head lolled, but his lips parted.
"Aria…"
Just my name. Hoarse, weak. But it was enough to split me open.
Kaylan crouched, one hand gripping his chin, yanking his head back. "Still loyal. Still whispering your name even with blood in his throat. How quaint." She looked at me, smiling wider. "Let's see how long that lasts."
She slammed him to the floor and kicked him in the ribs. The crack echoed. Liam coughed blood.
"No!" My scream tore my throat. The shadows surged violently, striking the bars like a storm. Black smoke hissed, searing against iron. The air vibrated with them, the cell itself trembling.
Kaylan's smile sharpened. "Yes. That's it. Show me."
She drew her dagger — the same obsidian blade Marcus had once put in my hand. She traced it down Liam's chest, slow, deliberate, cutting shallow lines across his skin. He flinched but made no sound.
"Beg," she told me. "Beg for him, and maybe I'll stop."
I bared my teeth, fangs aching. "If you touch him again—"
"What?" Kaylan arched a brow. "You'll hurl shadows through iron? Kill me with smoke?" She pressed the dagger harder. Blood welled. "You're still nothing but Marcus's pet."
The shadows roared.
I didn't guide them this time. They tore free.
Black chains lashed from the walls, slamming against the bars, rattling the entire dungeon. One coiled around a guard's throat through the iron, snapping vertebrae with a sickening crack. Another burst upward, slicing across the arm of the second guard, spraying blood across the stones.
Kaylan leapt back as the dagger clattered from her hand. Her eyes widened, but not with fear. With hunger.
"Finally," she whispered.
Liam groaned, barely conscious, his blood pooling beneath him. My vision swam red. The shadows coiled tighter, surging like a tidal wave inside my chest. I threw my head back and screamed — not in pain, but in release.
The cell bars bent inward.
Iron groaned, shrieking under pressure as black tendrils thickened, sharpening into spears. They drove outward, stabbing at anything near. Guards screamed. Two fell instantly, their bodies shredded by blades of shadow. The rest scrambled back, weapons raised, but the dungeon had become a storm.
Kaylan stood still amid the chaos, hair wild, her grin feral. "Yes! Break, little shadow. Break!"
The whispers were deafening.
Kill them. Tear them. Bleed them. He suffers, so they must suffer more.
I staggered forward, yanking against my shackles until skin tore. Blood ran down my arms. The shadows drank it greedily, shuddering in ecstasy. I wanted to stop, I wanted control, but the hunger was stronger. It wasn't me guiding them anymore — it was them guiding me.
One tendril shot for Liam.
I froze.
It hovered inches from his throat, quivering, eager. His eyes fluttered open, dazed, and for one terrible moment I saw fear in them. Fear of me.
"No," I whispered. My knees buckled. "Not him. Never him."
The shadows recoiled violently, screaming inside my skull. The tendril snapped backward, slamming into a guard instead, crushing him against the wall.
Kaylan's laughter cracked like thunder. "Oh, this is delicious. You almost killed him yourself. You see it, don't you? That you're his greatest danger?"
I shook, tears blurring my sight, but the shadows still lashed. Spears shot wildly, breaking stone, shredding flesh. The dungeon reeked of blood and smoke.
Then his voice cut through it all.
"Aria," Liam whispered, barely audible. "Stop."
And somehow, I did.
The storm quieted. The shadows hissed, reluctant, but they sank back into me, leaving only the ruined dungeon, the broken guards, the bent bars. My body collapsed, chest heaving, wrists bleeding.
Silence followed.
Then slow, deliberate applause.
Marcus stepped into the doorway.
His cloak trailed behind him, untouched by the carnage. His eyes burned like embers in the dark as he surveyed the wreckage — the bodies, the twisted iron, the shadows still curling faintly around my hands.
Kaylan straightened, chest heaving, smirk wide. "You saw? She nearly killed your little pet. She broke beautifully."
Marcus descended the stairs, each step echoing like a hammer. He stopped in front of my shattered cell, gaze locking onto mine.
"Impressive," he said softly.
My breath caught.
He studied me as though weighing a blade. "Uncontrolled. Reckless. Dangerous. But impressive." His eyes shifted to Liam, bleeding and barely breathing. Then back to me. "Most would kill such a liability on the spot."
Kaylan's grin faltered. "Then let me—"
"No." Marcus raised a hand. She stilled instantly. His gaze never left mine. "This one is too valuable to waste."
The words struck like ice. Not mercy. Not forgiveness. A sentence.
I was not spared because he saw me.
I was spared because he wanted to use me.
The shadows whispered in agreement, cold and certain.
Too valuable to waste.