Her voice shook, not from fear — but fury.
“You were there, and you did nothing. No, wait—” she leaned forward, her hair falling over her face, her aura burning gold around her, “you laughed”
The last word cracked through the air like a whip.
My chest burned. Cassius surged forward, claws scraping at the edges of my mind, demanding to be unleashed.
“You laughed?” I repeated, my voice no longer human. The walls shook with it.
Ashton froze. Too late now.
I moved.
Roots burst from the tiled floor, dark and thick, wrapping around his wrists and ankles. The floorboards split, the earth beneath groaning as if alive.
“Gunter,” Tessa said warningly, but I wasn’t listening anymore.
Cassius was half in control now, his power bleeding through me, wild and ancient.
“You laughed at her pain?”
