Page 169 of Moonlit Fate

For a second, he staggered. Hope sparked within me. Maybe, just maybe, I could push him back.

Then he grinned, that cruel, knowing smirk that set me on edge. “You’re a frisky one,” he said, adjusting himself in a way that made my skin crawl.

“Stay back.” My voice broke, high and panicked.

Caius only laughed, his steps slow and deliberate, each one a promise of pain.

I stumbled backward, tripping over roots and rocks. I had to get away, had to?—

A shadow of dark energy whipped toward me that I couldn’t dodge in time. It struck hard, sending me flying through the air.

I crashed into the ground. Pain shot through me, the world tipping and spinning out of control. I squinted against it and tried to push myself up. My arms shook, then gave out. Caius’s dark silhouette towered over me, blocking out the sunlight.

“You thought you could stand against me?” He loomed closer. “You’re nothing but a child playing with forces beyond her comprehension.”

I tried to speak, to hurl an insult or a threat, but only a pained breath left me.

I tried so hard to get up, but my body wouldn’t obey. Air sawed in and out of my lungs, and I clenched my jaw against the pain pulsing through me. I glared up at Caius, defiance burning behind the fear.

“You’ll never win,” I gasped in a threadbare whisper. “As long as we stand, you’ll never break us.”

Laughter spilled from his lips, cold and sharp as shards of ice. “Brave words for someone so utterly defeated.” He leaned down, his breath foul with the stench of dark magic. “Don’t worry, you’ll be useful yet.”

I wanted to spit at him, to claw at his smug face, but my limbs were leaden.

“Once I harness your powers, my victory will be sure,” he continued. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we canget properly acquaintedwhile we’re waiting.”

“Never,” I hissed, though it was more air than sound.

Caius chuckled, low and dangerous. “When the seers and prophets told me about how powerful you were becoming, I laughed it off. But you, my dear… You are something.”

I flinched as dark energy whipped around my wrists, cold and unyielding. Caius stood over me, his face a mask of triumph. “Pathetic,” he sneered, and with a simple gesture, the shadows tightened their grip.

“Let go of me,“ I struggled against the dark bindings, but my efforts were laughable. He lifted me as if I weighed nothing, my feet dangling helplessly above the ground.

“Struggle all you want, it makes no difference,” Caius said in a low rumble.

“Atticus will come for me,” I hissed, clinging to the thought of my defender in the darkness encroaching on my mind.

“Ah, the rogue. Myson.” Caius chuckled. “He’ll die just as easily.”

I swung at him with the little movement I had, my attack feeble and off-mark. He slapped me, the force of his blow disorienting me. The forest spun into a kaleidoscope of colors, sounds muted to a distant hum.

“Sleep now, Aria.” Caius’s voice filtered through the haze. “Your new life begins when you wake.”

Everything went black.

Cold seeped into my bones as awareness crept back in. I blinked against the oppressive dark. My lungs pulled in air thick with the mustiness of decay and damp. I tried to move, to sit up, but my body was slow to obey.

“Where am I?”

I squinted, struggling to make sense of my surroundings. Stone walls loomed over me, close enough that I could feel their chill. Runes crawled along their surface, pulsing with a light that seemed alive. The glow did little to illuminate the space.

“Great,” I muttered sarcastically, despite the dread tightening its grip on me. “A magic dampening cellar. Just what I needed.”

This was no ordinary prison. This place was sharpened by sorrows long past, honed into a weapon against the unwary.

“Atticus...” His name was a lifeline, a hope that maybe, just maybe, he could find me even here.

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