Page 28 of When Roses Burn

Did my mother do that to him? Did she mark him, so he’d always bear the reminder of this place?

But that didn’t make sense. She never would have expected him to escape and never would have believed that anyone, especially not a shifter who she considered stupid, filthy animals, could best her. But somehow, Seth did.

And while they’d told me they released the prisoners after they served their sentence, I believed Devnair when he said the prisoners would die here. My mother didn’t have empathy for others.

Not only that, but I should have known the prisoners were never set free; she wouldn’t allow eternals she’d tortured and made enemies out of loose. She believed she was more powerful than everyone, but she hadn’t become queen because she was a fool.

No, she’d only had a fool for a daughter.

I hugged my middle tighter as I tried to swallow the lump in my throat while I watched Knox work on the vines. Across his chest, the thorns stood out amidst the tangle of vines that had spread further apart with his swelling muscles.

Beneath the tangle of prickers, a single, perfect black rose marked the spot directly over his heart. Had he gotten it because of how much I hated roses, and this was a way to show me how much he hated me now?

The rose vanished as sleek, orange fur, like that of a tiger without stripes, sprouted across his exposed flesh. Bones cracked and popped as his hands elongated into something that wasn’t quite a paw or a man’s hand. His back hunched, and the bones in his face distorted.

I’d never witnessed a shifter’s change before; it looked agonizing and awful, yet he showed no sign of discomfort as his jaw lengthened into a snout with at least a dozen razor-sharp teeth. Despite having fur like a tiger, those teeth were anything but feline.

They were… well, I had no idea what they were, but if they clamped down on someone, not only would they shred flesh, but they’d shatter bone.

As far as I knew, shifters could be feline, such as panthers, tigers, leopards, or bobcats, or they could be canine, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, and jackals. Only one dragon shifter remained, and that was Seth’s father, but they didn’t have fur.

Seth wasn’t changing into any of those things. Whatever this was, it was something I didn’t recognize, and certainly not any known animal or creature that resided within the kingdoms.

My heart raced faster as sweat coated my palms. What did they do to him here? Was he always meant to be this? What did the other shifters think of what he’d turned into?

His father had always been hard on him and pushed him to be more like his brothers and sister. They were more ruthless than Seth and more like their father, the alpha.

But Seth’s good heart set him apart from the rest of his family. When he was younger, his father had tried to toughen him up, but once he was in his teens, Seth revealed that the alpha and his siblings mostly ignored him. I understood that completely, as I felt like a ghost in a kingdom full of casters.

Seth had never wanted to be like them, but that’s exactly what he’d turned into. Now that he was the ruthless man his father had always tried to make him, did his family accept him? Or had his time in the harem, and the strange monstrosity the casters twisted him into, further alienate him from his kind?

Unable to stop myself, my hand went to my heart. When it did, Seth’s orange eyes landed on me; he bared his teeth with a guttural snarl that caused my bladder to clench. I almost lowered my hand, but I was too petrified to move.

He may hate me now, and he certainly wasn’t the man I remembered, but I still loved him… or I loved who he used to be. I couldn’t give up hope that somewhere, within this hate-filled man, Seth’s heart and goodness still existed.

A distorted bellow erupted from Seth as a rending sound filled the air. Black goo oozed from the vine as it tore apart, and Devnair’s left arm fell to his side.

The look of pure joy and disbelief on the elf’s face was something I’d never forget. It brought tears to my eyes.

The things these eternals endured here should never have to be faced by anyone, and it was my kind who inflicted it on them. I understood why they all hated us.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Knox

I moved swiftly through the remaining vines, tearing them free. When the last vine gave way, Devnair collapsed on the bed and stared at the doorway with unblinking eyes. His expression said he didn’t dare hope this was true.

When the sorcerer stirred, I shifted back to myself but kept my claws extended to sink them into his head. I lifted the caster from the bed.

“We have to go,” I said gruffly.

Devnair finally blinked and shoved himself up. He pulled the vines from his wrists and ankles before tossing them aside.

“How did you do that?” Devnair asked.

I didn’t answer him as I snatched a piece of discarded vine from the bed.

“You’re not much of a talker. Understood,” Devnair said.