Page 87 of The Madness Within

Later that night, she fell asleep beside me again. And this time, she didn’t drift to the other side of the bed.

She stayed close. One leg tangled over mine. Her face nestled against my throat.

And as I watched her sleep, beautiful and terrible in her magic, I felt it again. That pull. That purpose.

She was never just someone to protect. She’s the weapon fate buried in fire and tried to forget.

And now that she was mine… We were going to burn this world clean.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

??The Weight of What I Am

Ember

Days slipped by like smoke, but the dream clung to me, feral, haunting, and far too real to shake.

Even now, with sunlight bleeding through the windows and Dorian moving silently through the study below, I could still feel Kreed’s voice in my skull, like smoke that never dissipated.

You called me here…

I hadn’t.

Not intentionally. But the magic inside me, the part I was still learning how to carry, apparently had ideas of its own.

Kreed didn’t threaten me, but that didn’t make me stupid. Just because he spoke some words that appealed to me doesn’t change the fact that he tried to kill me… Twice, according to Dorian.

He offered something far more dangerous, answers. “Dorian can love you. But only I can unlock you.”

I didn’t tell Dorian. Not yet. I didn’t know why. Maybe because Kreed’s voice wasn’t filled with menace this time. It was filled with recognition.

Like he knew exactly what I was becoming.

And maybe… I was afraid Dorian did, too.

I sat on the edge of the bed, still in Dorian’s shirt, watching the way he moved, calm, composed, always three steps ahead. But today, there's a different tension humming beneath the surface.

He looked up, and whatever he saw on my face, he didn't ask. He just crossed the room and sat beside me.

“He came to you,” he said quietly. “Didn’t he.”

I blinked, throat dry. “You knew he would?”

“I didn’t know for sure. But I knew it was inevitable once your powers surfaced.” I nodded slowly, heart pounding. “What did he say?” Dorian asked, not looking at me.

“That you can’t teach me everything. That I’ll need him to become what I’m meant to be.”

Dorian’s jaw tensed. But not with jealousy. With dread. “He’s not wrong,” he admitted. That surprised me. “But he’s not entirely right either. You don’tneedhim to become something powerful. You already are. But if we want to understand what the hell the Veil is doing to you, what your mother was hiding, you need more than just me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying we’re going on a field trip?”

His lips twitched. “Something like that.”

We left that night.

No goodbyes. No explanations. Just shadows and the low hum of the car’s engine as we headed into territory neither of us had walked before.

He took me to the edge of something called the Crossbone Pines, a seer named Matavia. She didn’t look like much. Wrinkled skin. Empty white eyes. But when she touched me, I felt somethingsplitopen inside me.

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