Page 57 of Blood Marked

She opened her eyes and everything wasdifferent.

The world was washed in silver-blue light. The air rippled, thick and echoing like water. Her attackers were frozen—caught mid-move, blades drawn.

She took a step and the floor shimmered beneath her foot.

She was walking through something,acrosssomething.

A veil.

The Veil.

She wasn’t just seeing it now.

She wasinsideit.

And then time snapped back. Light exploded from her skin. The Mark pulsed once—twice—and her attackers screamed, clutching their heads like something had crawled into their skulls.

One dropped. The second staggered. The third ran—straight through the balcony window and into the night off the ledge and over the cliffs.

Selene collapsed to her knees, panting. The doorslammedopen.

Kael.

Sword drawn, eyes glowing, hair wild.

He looked at the room, at the downed rogues, the shattered glass, the way Selene glowed faintly with the last echo of power.

His blade lowered.

“Selene?”

She looked up at him, breathless.

“I… I think I did something.”

He stared at her for a heartbeat. Then dropped to his knees beside her and pulled her into his arms.

TWENTY-FOUR

KAEL

Kael didn’t remember crossing the room.

One breath he was standing in the doorway, blade dripping after cutting through the other rogues that had came crashing into his own room, chest heaving. And the next, he had Selene in his arms.

She was shaking. Not from fear—no, not her. From power. From whatever the hell had just torn through the fabric of the world andmade her glowlike something ancient.

His fingers threaded through her hair. His grip was too tight, but he didn’t loosen it. He couldn’t.

“Selene,” he murmured, voice rough with somethingclose to panic. “I’m here.”

She buried her face against his chest. Her skin was hot. Her breath, shallow. But she wasalive.

The room was wrecked. Glass, blood, scorched stone. One body twitched on the floor. The others were gone—fled or dead.

He looked up and roared.

“Guards!”

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