Page 34 of Branded By Shadow
My father materialized from the darkness, his form more solid than it had been in months. His eyes went immediately to Cora, and his expression shifted to something between pity and anger.
“What did you do?”
“I don’t know,” I croaked out. Except I did know, and I wasn’t cowardly enough to not admit. “I was angry. We fought, and I… I needed to claim her.”
No matter how harsh I’d been, the sex shouldn’t have done this. Not by itself. No, this was something different. “The mark… It’s spreading. I think it’s… It’s killing her.”
He crouched beside us, his hand reaching for her forehead. His fingers passed through her, insubstantial but still somehow making contact. “It’s not just the mark. Do you even realize where you brought her? The Shadow Chamber is a minefield, even for us. For her, it’s poison.”
The full scope of what I’d done crashed over me. “How do I fix it?”
A grim certainty settled on Victor’s spectral features. “Get her out of here. Away from this concentrated malevolence. And hope you haven’t already pushed her too far.”
Holding her closer, I stood up. She felt impossibly fragile in my arms, like something that would break if I moved too quickly. “If she dies—” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Then you’ll have to live with what your rage has cost you.” Victor was already fading, dissipating back into the Shadow Realm. “Get her to the healer. Now.”
I didn’t wait for more. I just wrapped us both in my power and traveled, praying it wasn’t already too late. Hades wasn’t a merciful patron, but I hoped that just this once, he’d hear me. At this point, it was my only hope.
14
The Decision
Cora
I was going to die in this bed.
Pain was the first anchor, dragging me back to a consciousness I didn’t want. It was a cold fire that started in my chest and spread outward. An impossible mix of burning and freezing clawed at my skin, as if every nerve ending was being torn apart and cauterized at once.
Fragments of memory surfaced through the agony, not thoughts, but fractures in reality. The absolute black of the chamber. The viciousness in his eyes. The memory of my own screams, a sound that felt like it had belonged to another woman, echoing off the stone as he held me down. The taste of his rage.
My eyes cracked open to a world of blurred shapes and harsh, unforgiving light. The Omega Suite swam into view, transformed by the chaos around me.
Cassandra Reed knelt beside the bed, her hands glowing. I flinched as she moved to touch my forehead. The warmth from her palm felt wrong, a sickeningly intrusive heat against skin that was already burning from the inside out.
“She’s waking up,” Cassandra said. “Cora, can you hear me?”
I couldn’t bring myself to answer. My eyes were drawn away from Cassandra. To him.
Damon stood near the window, shadows coiling around his feet like restless hounds. A hot flush of shame and terror crept up my neck, my hands curling into fists under the sheets. The man who had broken me was watching me like I was a problem to be solved.
Cassandra kept her touch gentle, a glowing anchor in the chaos. “Don’t try to move. You’ve been unconscious for three hours. The contamination did a lot of damage.”
Contamination? The word barely registered through the fog in my mind. My chest burned. I tried to sit up, but my muscles were limp, unresponsive. The pathetic attempt sent a fresh wave of agony lancing through my nerves.
“W-What happened to me?” I stammered.
Cassandra pressed her lips into a thin, white line. “An unexpected interaction between Olympian legacies. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t see it coming, even when I was treating you. We went to your laboratory and retrieved your suppressant. I’ve already administered it, but—”
My mind snagged on one detail, a memory that felt like a dream. The loading dock. Soot-covered faces. “Evergreen…” I pushed the words out, desperate. “I thought I saw… Is Theo okay? He’s safe, isn’t he?”
From across the room, Damon finally moved. “He’s fine. The lab sustained damage, but no one was seriously hurt.”
No one except me.The realization was a shard of ice in my gut. I jerked away from Cassandra, wanting nothing more than to chase her off.
Damon took a half-step forward, then stopped himself. “Cora, I know you’re angry. But please, don’t be stubborn. Let her help you.”
I met his eyes without flinching. Even during our worst fights before, even when I’d clawed his face and fought him with everything I had, he’d never actually harmed me. Not like this. I’d genuinely thought he never would. I’d thought he wasn’t capable of what had happened in the Shadow Chamber.
