SERAPHINA’S POV
I staggered backwards into the real world, my hands slipping from Celeste’s face.
The Frostbane guest room snapped back into focus in fragments. Curtains half-drawn. The muted glow of the bedside lamp. Celeste’s body arched against the restraints.
Air seared my lungs as I fought to breathe, reeling.
While I was still trying to get my bearings, Celeste screamed.
Her body jerked violently against the leather cuffs. The metal ring clanged, sharp and resonant, against the bedframe.
“What did you just do?!” she demanded, panic splintering through her words, her eyes wild.
“You were inside my head. You—you can’t do that. That’s not normal. That’s not—”
She sucked in a ragged breath, staring at me as if I had grown horns before her eyes. “You’re a monster.”
I straightened slowly.
My pulse was still unsteady, but my voice was not. “I sought the truth.”
She thrashed harder, hair lashing across her face, breath short and ragged. “You violated me!”
