Page 90 of Poison Sun

Viktor’s hunched over Eliza, who lies limp and unconscious on the bed, one arm dangling off the side of it. His fangs are buried in her neck, and the room is thick with the scent of blood. He’s so consumed with bloodlust that he doesn’t even hear me enter.

I can’t move, can’t think, as I watch the man who’s been all but a brother to me these past few years turn into a monster before my eyes.

This is the first time seeing him up close since he left Amber to die in front of an oncoming train.

And in that moment, the Viktor I’ve always known is dead to me forever.

Amber

Eventually, I throw my daggers at so many targets in the gym that the others will wonder what sort of war zone they’ve walked into when they come in for training tomorrow.

When I return to my room, exhaustion washes over me, dragging me into a restless sleep despite my worries about Damien and his mission to find and kill Viktor. I trust he’ll return unharmed and successful, but still… I’ll feel better when he’s back.

But my thoughts of Damien don’t make their way into my dreams.

Because my dreams belong to him—the Shadow Lord.

He moves with that powerful, otherworldly grace of his, smirking as if he knows secrets about me that I’ve yet to uncover. And those dark pools of his eyes trap me again, trying to pull me into their depths and never let me return to the surface.

“Amber,” he murmurs, making his way closer to me. “You look beautiful tonight.”

So do you, the thought comes to me, although I know better than to say it out loud.

His beauty is the kind that hides the poison in his soul, the darkness that wants to destroy anyone in his path and take their life force for his own.

“I don’t want you here,” I say instead.

His laughter, low and seductive, swirls around me. “But aren’t you curious?” he asks, closing the distance between us until I feel the cold radiating from his shadowy form. “About the power, the secrets, and the passion I can show you?”

“I don’t want it.” I swallow down my questions, unwilling to give in to the spell he’s casting on me. “Any of it.”

“I think you do,” he says, so close now that there are only inches between us. “You’re trying to fight it, but you do want it. Very, very much.”

My heart stops.

I can’t move. Can’t breathe. If I do, I’m afraid I’ll inhale the desire he’s trying to force inside me, and that I won’t be able to escape.

At the same time, I can’t pull away.

Just as his lips are nearing mine, promising a kiss that might consume my soul, he stops.

His smirk returns, full of secrets and promises.

“Soon, Amber,” he murmurs. “You’ll be seeing me very, very soon.”

Then he fades into the shadows, leaving me alone in the dream that suddenly feels too quiet, too empty. My heart pounds, not just from fear but from an anticipation I can’t quite name.

I didn’t have to fight him. I didn’t have to pull myself out of his spell.

He just left.

That was… different.

Suddenly, loud, insistent knocks jerk me back to reality, and I wake with a start, heat still coursing through my body from the memory of the Shadow Lord’s closeness in my dream.

More knocks, harder this time.

“Amber!” Cassandra screams from the other side.

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