Chapter 186
Tristan
Athena was in the center of the chamber, but she looked nothing like my mate.
Her hair had changed from the dark brown I loved to run my fingers through to a brilliant gold that seemed to glow with its own light.
Her eyes were no longer the warm hazel that used to look at me with love and trust. Instead, they burned with a cold silver fire that made my chest
tighten with fear.
Massive chains lay melted on the stone floor around her, the metal twisted and warped like it had been exposed to impossible heat.
Whatever had been holding her here was gone now, destroyed by the power that radiated from her in waves I could feel against my skin.
This wasn’t just what Orion had warned me about. This was worse, so much worse than anything he had described.
She looked like a god, but not the kind that blessed or protected. She looked like the kind that brought death and destruction to everything they
touched.
A body lay crumpled near her feet, so drained and withered that I almost didn’t recognize what was left of it.
But the scent told me everything I needed to know. Seraphine. She had killed Seraphine with whatever power now consumed her.
She had done it. She had used her abilities to take a life, just like Orion had feared would happen.
I was too late. Just like nine months ago when I couldn’t save Jess, I had failed to protect the person I loved most.
I had lost someone again because I wasn’t fast enough, wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t good enough.
The guilt hit me so hard that I had to fight to stay standing.
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This was my fault. If I had been more careful, if I had protected her better, if I had never let Daxon get close to her in the first place, none of this would
have happened.
If I hadn’t pushed her away five years ago.
This was all my fault. All of it.
I tried to take a step closer but she raised her head and looked directly at me. The expression on her face made my blood freeze in my veins.
She was looking at me like I was next, like I was just another target for whatever deadly force had taken control of her.
She was crouched over another body and I realized with horror that it was Dayon.
Her hands were pressed against both sides of his head, and I could see the life being drawn out of him in real time.
His face was aging, his skin wrinkling and turning gray as whatever made him alive flowed into her.
‘Athena,” I said, and my voice came out broken and desperate.
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Chapter 186
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She didn’t even act like she heard me. Her attention remained find on Dean the continued to frame of 18 from t
Please babe. Please come back,” I said, and I took another conful my toward her.
She dropped Daxon’s body and it hit the stone floor with a sound that would heat my dreamR
For a moment I thought I had gotten through to her, that my voice had reached whatever part of her was still fighting at the thing that had
consumed her.
But when she looked up at me again, my breath caught in my throat.
She looked like she wanted to murder me for interrupting her.
The rage in those silver eyes was so intense I could feel it pressing against me like a bot sell
But I wasn’t scared, not of her. I could never be scared of Athema, no matter what she had become.
She stood up slowly and walked toward me with movements that were too graceful, too fluid to be entirely human
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.