A ripple of heat unfurls between us, something ancient snapping into place.
The connection is instant.
Her lips part further, her body seizing with a violent shudder, and then she drinks.
A pull—deep, primal.
I feel it deep inside me, curling in my gut.
My heartbeat stutters, then syncs.
The moment stretches.
Her fingers curl, clawing at my arm, her throat swallowing, her body taking me in.
Something unfamiliar hits me.
A force I do not understand.
She gasps, suddenly lurching forward, her eyes flying open.
She looks at me.
A look that's not usual. Something that creeps through me. And she speaks.
“Dain.”
The way she says my name, as if she has known me for a thousand lifetimes.
As if it belongs to her.
My pulse thunders, my grip loosening as I shove away from her, my mind snapping into chaos.
No.
It cannot be.
It is not possible.
Liora shifts, her movements fluid, her limbs no longer weak but graceful, powerful.
She rises onto her knees, her head tilting as if seeing me for the first time. And then, she smiles.
Something in me breaks.
She moves before I can stop her, closing the space between us, pressing her hands against my chest, her eyes locked onto mine.
The scent of her is different now, thick with the remnants of blood, with the remnants of me.
Her fingers trail up my throat, slow, deliberate.
“You called to me,” she murmurs.
The words are wrong.
Not hers.
My hands clench into fists. “You do not know what you’re saying.”