The creatures in the smoke moved wrong.
Sera clung to Varian's back as his warhorse reared, her thighs burning from the hours of riding. The village ahead wasn't just burning—it was consumed, the thatched roofs collapsing into ember-filled mouths of flame. But worse were the shapes staggering through the streets.
Not villagers.
Not anymore.
Their bodies jerked like puppets on strings, limbs bending at impossible angles. One turned its head—too far, too fast—and Sera gagged at the empty pits where eyes should be.
"Back!" Varian barked to his men. "Form a perimeter!"
Kaelan drew his sword, his bandage dripping onto the hilt. "What in the gods' names—"
The first creature lunged.
Varian's blade took its head clean off. Black blood sprayed across Sera's cheek as the body crumpled—then twitched, fingers still scrabbling in the dirt.
"Again," she whispered.
He struck twice more before it stilled.
The priestess's voice slithered through her memory: The curse hungers.
More shapes emerged from the smoke. Dozens.
"Fall back to the manor house!" Varian wheeled his horse, his arm an iron band around Sera's waist.
Kaelan hesitated, staring at his bleeding shoulder. "I'll cover the rear."
They galloped through the burning square, the heat blistering Sera's skin. A child-sized creature scrambled onto the path—
Varian didn't slow.
The impact shuddered through them both.
The manor's gates slammed shut behind them, soldiers heaving the oak bar into place just as bodies thudded against the other side.
"Barricade the doors!" Varian lifted Sera down, his hands lingering at her hips. "You're hurt."
She touched her stinging cheek. His thumb swiped through the black blood, his pupils dilating as he brought it to his lips—
Tasted it.
A groan rattled in his chest. "It's the curse. Spreading."
Shouts erupted upstairs. A soldier tumbled down the steps, his throat torn open.
"They're inside!" Kaelan backed toward the cellar. "This way!"
Varian shoved Sera behind him as the ceiling creaked. Something heavy crawled in the attic.
The cellar door was iron-bound. Ancient.
Kaelan fumbled with the lock. "Hurry!"
A window shattered above them.
Varian didn't hesitate—he grabbed Sera and threw her into the cellar just as the first creature dropped from the rafters. She landed hard on a wine cask, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs.
The door slammed.
Darkness.
Then—hot hands groping up her thighs.
"Kaelan—?"
A growl answered. Not Kaelan.
Varian.
He crowded her against the cask, his breath ragged. The faint blue glow of his scars pulsed in the dark. "You feel it too." His teeth scraped her neck. "The hunger."
She did.
Her blood sang with it, the cut on her palm burning where it pressed against his chest.
Somewhere above, things scratched at the door.
Somewhere closer, Kaelan's pained gasp. "What are you—"
Varian's hand slid between her legs. "Tell me to stop."
The door shuddered on its hinges.
Sera arched into his touch.
***
The wine cask dug into Sera's back as Varian crowded her against it, his body a wall of heat in the damp cellar. Above them, the scratching at the door had stopped—the silence somehow worse than the noise.
"You're shaking," he murmured, his breath fanning across her lips. Not close enough to kiss. Never close enough.
She wasn't cold.
His thumb brushed the hollow of her throat, tracing the frantic pulse there. "Tell me you don't feel it."
The curse hummed between them, that same unnatural pull that had drawn her blood to his. Sera's fingers twitched at her sides—to push him away or drag him closer?
Varian's mouth curved. He caught her wrist, pressing her palm flat against his chest where his scars glowed faintly beneath his tunic. "Liar."
The cellar door groaned.
Something heavy slammed against it.
Kaelan's sword scraped free. "We don't have time for this—"
Varian didn't turn. His free hand slid up Sera's side, skimming the curve of her waist through the thin fabric of her dress. A tease of calloused fingers at the edge of her corset. Not touching anywhere that mattered.
Not yet.
"Beg," he whispered, his teeth grazing her earlobe. "And I'll stop."
The door splintered.
Sera's nails dug into his chest.
Varian laughed darkly and stepped back, leaving her aching and furious as he turned to face the creatures pouring into the cellar.
"Later," he promised over his shoulder.
And then there was only blood.