Page 29 of Shadowkissed

“Because they make me want to believe you.”

Fuck.

I take a slow step toward her. “Then believe me.”

“Don’t.”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “Youshouldbe afraid of what I’m becoming.”

That makes something cold slide down my spine.

“Because of Seraphiel?” I ask.

Her shoulders tense. “Because of what he thinks I am. What he says I could be. If I let go.”

“And what’s that?”

She looks up at me, and she doesn’t lie or play the fae riddle word games.

“The end.”

Silence stretches.

But I don’t flinch. I don’t move. And that seems to rattle her more than anything.

“Say something,” she whispers.

So I do.

“I’ve seen ends before. You’re not one of them.”

Her breath catches. And I know I’ve hit the nerve she’s tried to keep buried under all that armor.

But before I can say more, she jerks her head toward the window. Her body goes rigid.

“What is it?” I ask, already moving.

Her eyes glow brighter, flicking toward the alley below. Her shadow stretches unnaturally long behind her.

“They’re close,” she mutters. “Too close.”

“Who—?”

“I don’t know which one this time.” She swallows. “It’s getting harder to tell.”

My blood goes cold. I move toward the weapons locker on instinct, but when I turn back?—

She’s already fading.

Her outline blurs at the edges, the shadows around her curling like smoke, like silk in water.

“Liora—”

“I had to see you,” she says, voice softer now. “To know if it was real. If it wasus.”

“It is.”

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