Page 98 of Claimed In Darkness

The power inside me hums, a slow, slithering thing curling in my bones, whispering to me, reminding me what I truly am.

He can claim.

He can take.

He can wrap his hands around my throat and press his lips to my skin and whisper my fucking name like it means something.

But he will never have me as I’m not his.

Because am already lost.

The relic has already taken me.

And when it claims what it’s owed—there will be nothing left of me for him to love.

I feel my pulse stutter, my vision flickering at the edges.

The magic inside me tightens, a slow coil of warning.

I probably don’t have much time left.

And neither does he.

I rip my wrist from his grasp, stepping back, putting ditance between us before I make a mistake.

Before I let myself fall back into the trap of his voice, his heat, his fucking eyes.

"Go back to her," I say, voice flat, controlled.

He stiffens.

"Naira—"

"Don’t." A sharp silence follows, and he remains rooted on the spot.

And for a second, I think he might fight me on this.

That he might drag me back, force me to listen, force me to fucking stay. But he lets me.

He knows that if he tries, I will rip my own throat out before I let him own me again.

If he says the wrong thing, I will put a blade through his stomach just to make myself believe I still can.

So he lets me go.

Lets me turn my back on him.

Lets me walk away because there’s no stopping me.

34

ZEPHIRAN

Ilet her go.

That was my first mistake.

The second was thinking I could.

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