The sorcerer spat through my lips. “She belongs to no one but me.”
Elias shook me, not in anger but in desperation, his forehead pressing against mine. His voice dropped to a whisper, rough and broken. “Please, baby. Feel me. Remember the first time we touched. Remember the bond snapping into place. That wasn’t a trick, it wasn’t a lie. It was us.”
The words pierced the shadows like sparks in the dark. I felt them, raw and real, tugging at the thread deep inside me. I pushed against the sorcerer’s grip with everything I had, clawing toward that thread.
The sorcerer snarled. “No!”
He lashed out, flooding my veins with black fire, trying to drown me. My scream tore soundless inside my chest. My body jerked, and Elias’s grip almost slipped.
The Ash Queen’s fire roared higher, pushing the
