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The guards shoved him towards the door. He offered no resistance, merely turning at the waist to glance back at me.

He winked.

That same infuriating smirk remained fixed on his face until he was no longer in sight.

As much as I hated him, I couldn’t help but feel like he had just saved me from something terrible.

“Return to your quarters,” he murmured, obscene eyes tracking my movement as I went to walk past him.

He shifted his weight, blocking my path.

“And vicious one? I am always watching.”

A chill slithered beneath my skin as I stepped into the hallway, the fine hairs along the back of my neck lifting one by one.

Yet I could still feel him.

That corpse-cold presence clung to me, settling between my shoulder blades like the ghost of a hand that had never truly let go.

I glanced over my shoulder, yet the corridor stood empty.

White walls stretched endlessly beneath trembling candlelight, pastel paintings watching in suffocating silence as golden flames danced against polished stone.

There was no one in the hallway, yet my heartbeat refused the lie my eyes insisted upon, thundering blood through my veins as if I were being chased.

How many of Hell’s court were tracking me through those paintings?

I walked faster, every instinct whispering that if I looked back, those colourless eyes would be watching my every movement.

My bare feet padded against the cool floor, moving faster and faster. Helion’s door finally came into view and I pushed it open, falling through the threshold. I stumbled into his room, breath coming in short bursts.

The door slammed shut behind me of its own accord, the sharp crack tearing a startled gasp from my throat.

Silence pressed down on me, so thick and suffocating that it felt like it was trying to bury me alive.

I brought a trembling hand to my chest, my heartbeat pounding against it as I tried to slow my breathing.

I tried to look around, to remember the things Helion made me focus on to calm myself. But I could only focus on how empty the room felt without Helion filling it.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity...

I was entirely and utterly alone.

My eyes darted to the window, watching the grey ash fluttering against the pane like rain made of hellish despair.

If I could shatter it…

I wasn’t sure how high up we were, but as a goddess, I was almost certain the fall couldn’t kill me. It was worth the risk if it meant escaping.

I had felt the distant pull of the Dead Sea since Helion brought me here. I knew there were waves churning against a shore not far from here. If I could get to it, I would be free.

I rushed to the window⁠—

Something tore through my abdomen, faltering my steps and pulling a startled scream of pain from me.

A white-hot blade seemed to drive into my stomach before dragging upward beneath my ribs, carving a path towards my sternum.

My knees slammed into the floor, hands flying to the warmth gushing from my stomach, soaking into the fabric of my dress.