Page 73 of Florescentia

“Are you willing to take the risk?”

“What are the risks?” I entertained the banter.

Suddenly my eyes were covered. A step forward, but arms caught me. Or at least, what I assumed were arms. “Of me swallowing you whole?” There was a rumble in his voice, like the low rattle of a snake. “The faintest caress from the likes of me could grant you immense luck, riches, your heart’s desires.”

The words danced to life in the darkness I could see. Clothes that shimmered in gold, tea so rare that even now I could probably afford only a leaf or two. Flashes of inventions never seen before, but not there long enough to grasp what they were or what they could have been. A rush of feelings, emotions of such elatedness, I could only compare them to possibly something of a drug.

A flutter of happiness and comfort that warmed me deep inside, radiating through my rib cage and causing a slight laugh to escape my throat. The feeling of sun on warm skin, the ease of being worriless, a mind so spotless and unburdened it could be held in competition against pearls.

“But no matter how lucky you are—you would never be able to stop me from consuming you entirely.”

And with those words the mirage faded, the feelings snapped from my body like air being ripped from my lungs. But this time no mirage, no demonstration. Feelings of emptiness filled the cavern of my body, a weight like lead encapsulating every organ—and the sickening flash of everyone I loved before my eyes, including Dorian, on the cold slab of the mortuary.

My arm whipped around and clawed whatever had grabbed me.

I clutched something cold, feeling familiarly like my shadows. The darkness faded from my vision, and I realized I was stuck in the black mass. My ankles were buried, tendrils wrapped around my legs, and my arm disappeared into the mass behind me.

“Do you understand now who you are dealing with?” His voice in my ear again, but this time it was the shadowy three-eyed face. The monstrous thing. “Grant you such misery it may snap your heart in pieces from the strain.”

“I do not fear you,” I said. “I want to learn from you.”

“Yet you haven’t been able to take simple warnings.”

“I have been kind to you, have I not?” I argued. “I’ve welcomed you to my world; why not welcome me to yours?”

A ravenous rumble echoed through the room, a slight rattle with every cavernous breath of the beast.

“Teach me.” I couldn’t hide the panic in my voice, from the shadows crawling over my skin, clawing up my body. “I can be receptive.”

“Receptive,” he repeated sourly, “but can you be disciplined?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“Dear Iris”—a soft chuckle rang in my ear, despite how smooth it sounded—“you are past the point of no return.”

“But you’re willing to entertain it,” I pointed out. “Let me learn.”

An armlike appendage reached around, the claws uncurling in front of my face. Then, like how his chest had opened up before, his palm split down the middle, sharp teeth faint in the dull light, lit only by the glow of my markings, of us together.

“Does it frighten you, little star?” he teased, the teeth of the palm snapping.

I shook my head in protest.

“Keep those heartbeats slow, prove to me you are in control.”

“That isn’t fair—”

“I will be no good to you if you are afraid,” he said, his voice low against my ear, “of me, or your abilities.”

“It’s instinctual.”

“Fight it, then, or else nothing could prepare you for my world, the Otherside.” His voice slithered around my mind, furthering the stakes. “One elevated heartbeat, and I may eat you right here.”

He placed his palm against my neck, a warm, wet sensation.

My breath hitched. The tongue from the palm’s mouth against my throat.

Steady. I took a full breath, then an exhale. The head rush was so strong I could hear my pulse in my ear. The only thing keeping me calm was how good it would feel to prove him wrong, to show him I was not as weak as he assumed.