Page 57 of Claimed By Flame

“They’re guarding the shard,” Seraphine shouted, ducking a clawed swipe and retaliating with a burst of flame that incinerated two more. “They know what we came for!”

“No shit!”

Cassian grabbed her wrist mid-step and yanked her sideways as another Hollowborn dove for her legs. She pivoted smoothly, flame trailing behind her like a comet’s tail, and slashed through the beast.

They fought back-to-back, breath ragged, their magic wild and barely controlled in the narrow space.

Cassian’s body screamed from the strain, but he pushed harder. He watched her—how the Whitefire lit her eyes, how she moved like a goddamn warrior queen.

They could survive this.

Together.

“Shard!” she yelled, pointing.

Cassian spotted it—floating in the air above the pedestal, glowing with a pulsing crimson light.

“Go!” she shouted. “I’ll cover you!”

Cassian didn’t argue.

He broke through the thinning horde, slicing through what remained like a storm given flesh. Blood sprayed. Screams echoed.

He leapt, grabbing the shard mid-air as a creature lunged from the side?—

That’s when it hit him.

Hard.

Pain had a voice.

Right now, it was screaming in his chest.

Cassian hit the stone like a comet, the impact cracking his ribs and rattling something deeper. His blade skittered into the dark, just out of reach.

The weight hit.

A Hollowborn pinned him down.

Its face hovered inches from his, its skin stretched taut over a skull too large, too wrong. Eyes—if you could call them that—bulged and glistened, pitch black and hollow.

Its breath smelled likedead memories.

He didn’t have time to scream.

Didn’t have air.

The thing's claws punched into his shoulders, pinning him as if it meant to tear his arms off just for the thrill. Its mouth opened too wide, jaw unhinging with a sickening crack, lined with fangs that pulsed like they were breathing.

It thenspoke.

Not in words.

Insound.

Dark, slithering noise poured into Cassian’s skull—wet, hissing syllables that burned his thoughts and warped the corners of his mind. His eyes rolled. His limbs twitched.

The shard. It wanted the shard.

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