Page 66 of Chaos Carnival

The funhouse mirrors stretched and warped around me, each reflection showing a different horror. In one, my shadows writhed like living nightmares. In another, my eyes blazed with seraph fire, promising violence. The atmosphere was thick with malice, heavy with the burden of Ivan's vicious designs.

A giggle echoed through the maze, Tess's voice, but wrong. Thread-mad and distant in a way that made my soul ache. The endorphins never lasted very long.

“The ravens are coming,” her voice sang, lilting and broken. “Black wings and betrayal, just like I said.”

I rounded a corner to find her standing in a circular room of mirrors, her back to me. The sight of her made the mate bond surge with possessive need. But when she turned, her eyes were pure black, threads visible beneath her skin like dark veins. My magnificent mate, corrupted by forces she shouldn’t have touched.

“Tess—” I started forward, desperate to reach her, but an invisible force slammed me into the mirrors with bone-crushing force.

Ivan and Addie materialized beside her, blessed brass knuckles glinting on his hands like a taunt. “Quite something, isn't she? Something’s changed her. Made her even tastier.”

“Get away from her.” The words came out in a guttural snarl that hardly sounded human. My shadows whipped against the invisible barrier, driven by rage and fury. The mere sight of him made me want to paint the mirrors with his blood.

“Oh, I don't think so.” He traced a finger down Tess's cheek, Addie riveted by the scene, and my jaw clenched hard. Tess didn't flinch, she just stared with those black eyes that should have been bright with recognition. With the spark that had made me fall for her despite all my darkness.

“She's exactly where she needs to be,” Ivan continued, his voice thick with satisfaction. “All this power running through her veins...” He wiggled his steepled fingers. “It's intoxicating.”

Mine,every fiber of my being screamed.My mate. My anchor.

The mirrors around us began to crack under the pressure of my rage, hairline fractures spreading like spider webs. I gathered my umbra, preparing to phase, but pain explodedthrough my chest like liquid fire. The blessed brass connected with my jaw, sending me crashing into more mirrors. Glass rained down around me in a savage symphony. Each shard reflected Tess's demon-black eyes, a thousand accusatory reminders of my failure to protect what was mine.

Addie threw her head back and cackled, the sound echoing through the shattered mirrors like nails on a chalkboard.

“I've learned a few things about seraphim weaknesses,” Ivan gloated, standing over me like death's paler twin. “Those pretty shadows won't help you here.”

Blood trickled down my face as I pushed myself up, each movement agony. But I couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop. Not while he had his claws in my mate. “Tess,” I tried again, pouring every ounce of our connection into my voice. “Fight it. Come back to me.”

Addie reached for her hand, but Tess pulled it away. She tilted her head like a curious bird, ribbons rippling beneath her skin like dark veins. “But the strands sing such pretty songs about pain and power.” Her voice was dream-soft, distant. “They show me everything... everything that was and will be.” My heart fractured at the emptiness in her tone, where there should have been warmth and fire and life.

Ivan's next strike caught me in the ribs with surgical precision. Something collapsed wetly inside me, but the physical pain was nothing compared to watching Tess slip further away. The blessed metal singed through me like holy fire, sending waves of agony through my entire body.

“You can't have her back,” he sneered, victory dripping from every word. “She's mine.Myperfect weapon.”

The possessive claim in his voice sent rage surging through me, hot enough to burn away the pain. I phased through the smashed glass, ignoring my protesting ribs. Blood dripped ontothe mirrored floor as I lunged for his throat, desperate to tear out his lying tongue.

But Tess stepped between us, a dark angel of chaos.

“The webs want to play,” she crooned, raising her hands like a puppet master. Reality warped around her, mirrors cracking in spiraling patterns that matched the corruption spreading through her veins.

“That’s a good girl,” Ivan purred, circling us both like a hungry wolf. “You show him what real strength looks like.”

The threads responded to his words, coiling around Tess like loving serpents. Her eyes were completely black, bottomless pools where the warmth that had captured my dark soul used to shine. Every second that passed, she slipped further from me, deeper into demonic-madness.

“Tess, please.” I coughed, the taste of copper flooding my mouth. “This isn't you.”Come back to me. Come back or I'll wither away too

“But it's true,” she sang, swaying to music only she could hear. “The lines show me everything. How you bleed for me. How you search until your feet are raw.”

The truth in her words chilled me so much more than the blood loss ever could.

Ivan struck again, brass connecting with my spine. I crashed forward, my shadows flickering like dying flames. Addie clapped, jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. The pain was overwhelming, but the thought of leaving Tess in his hands hurt worse. I forced myself back up, every movement a battle against my failing body.

“You've already lost her,” Ivan taunted, his voice dripping poison, that hideous clown face of his splitting into a manic grin. “Just like you lose everything.”

His words burrowed under my skin like barbed hooks, each one finding purchase in my deepest fears. The bastard knewexactly which wounds to salt, which insecurities to twist. Every failure, every loss I'd endured flashed through my mind like a sick highlight reel, and his painted face seemed to stretch wider with devilish delight at my pain.

Something snapped inside me, a dark, primal thing that had been waiting since the beginning of time. I gathered every ounce of strength left in my mangled body and phased, reappearing behind him with the speed of light. My shadows solidified into blades of pure hatred, slicing through his defenses with sadistic satisfaction.

He laughed even as Addie tumbled to the ground and blood sprayed, twisting like a snake to drive those brass knuckles into my chest. The blessed metal seared through skin and muscle, straight to my core. But I barely felt it through the haze of rage and need and desperate obsession.

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