Page 124 of Claimed

He is running out of time.

‘Valentin,’ I shout. ‘No.’

He hears me. Barely. But he stops.

His shoulders rise and fall, fangs out, and his eyes burn black-red, ancient and savage, and for a terrifying instant he looks like the monster he keeps accusing himself of being.

Then he turns his head towards me and the bond opens. Just enough for me to feel the full scope of unstoppable fury. And beneath it, agony.

Mine. His. Both.

Selphine sees that too, and her mouth curves with something too sad to be triumph. ‘You see?’ she says softly. ‘Already he bleeds where you are cut.’

Rowan staggers forward, recovered enough for another spell. ‘Your mistake is thinking that frightens us. We were born, will live and die in blood. Bleeding is just another Tuesday.’

Selphine laughs again. The force field pulses once, bright as swamp-light. ‘I came to tell you to stop.’

Valentin’s voice is deadly. ‘You failed.’

She raises one brow. ‘Did I? I think not, because I also came to see how much she had changed.’

My chest tightens. ‘What?’

Selphine’s eyes return to me. ‘More than I hoped. Less than I feared.’

This time the growl launches from my throat. ‘What the fuck does that mean?’

‘It means you have less time than you think.’

‘Everyone keeps saying that,’ I snap. ‘Try going off-script. Be original before you die of mediocrity.’

For a brief, impossible second, amusement touches her face. The old amusement. The one that used to make me feel like I’d won something when I made her smile. Then it’s gone. ‘Goodbye, child.’

Rowan’s spell launches. Valentin and the Twelve move.

Selphine merely lifts one hand, and magnolia scent floods the room. The force field folds inward around her like a closing eye. Then she disappears.

No smoke or dramatic crack of thunder. One second she’s there. The next, nothing remains but broken furniture, blackened runes, and the lingering scent of rain on old earth.

Silence follows, eerie and heavy. Full of breathing vampires trying to collect themselves without admitting they were just thrown around a room by a witch who used to make me tea.

Luca groans from the floor. ‘I dislike her. Like, a lot.’

Cassian wipes blood from his mouth. ‘Useful assessment.’

Aaron rises slowly, gaze already moving over the wards. ‘If you want to bright-side it, as the humans say, this was a good thing.’

Iskander looks at him, then nods. ‘Já. She came because she fears we’re close.’

‘Because Vey and Tavish gave us too much,’ I say.

Rowan braces one hand on the table. Her face is pale, but her eyes are clear. ‘She was rattled enough to show herself. That’s significant.’

Valentin’s gaze remains fixed on the empty space. ‘She wanted the Glass,’ he says.

‘Yes,’ Rowan replies. ‘And she wanted Eira frightened.’

Mission accomplished.