At first, it looks like a lone spire knifing up from the ground. But then the haze shifts to reveal towers—plural—in a sprawling mass of black stone. Some are thin and tall, and others are shorter and wider, linked by arched bridges and winding paths to one primary edifice that stands the tallest.

And roses. Thousands and thousands of red climbing roses with branch-thick stems that twist carelessly around everything, as if the owner couldn’t be bothered to prune or tame them. No part of the building is spared from the foliage—even the front walkway is framed in briars bristling with glowing scarlet roses and thorns as long as fingers. They crawl up the walls, tangling together until the masonry disappears beneath them in places. They look less like they’re climbing and more like they’re strangling.

Dread turns my muscles to water as I catalog it all: the unnatural glow of the flowers, the structure of that building, the luminous quality of the plants, the heavy pressure in the air that I now recognize as magic.

I’m in Scillari. She took me through the Shroud.

Oh, gods.

Fear washes over me. Pain shunted aside in favor of something worse—blind panic. My thoughts narrow to a single, pulsing imperative: I have to get out.

“Fly me back.” I claw at her shoulders, ignoring the agony ripping through me. “I don’t care where you leave me, just—”

She sets me on my feet with a huff of irritation. “Sure thing, Princess. I’ll take you right back. And when you bleed out somewhere over the Azureian Sea, I’ll give your corpse a proper send-off. Maybe a touching eulogy about your great decision-making skills.”

Hysteria claws up my throat. “It’s illegal for me to be here—”

“I’m aware. And blood loss is making you hysterical, so I’ll keep this simple. You’re going to drag your ass over to that door, and when the asshole on the other side answers, tell him Amara sent you. Think you can handle that?”

“But the Accords—”

“Won’t mean anything if you’re dead.” She nudges me forward and then, with a snap of her wings, launches into the air. “Door. Knock. Amara sent you,” she calls over her shoulder. “Good luck.”

I watch, frozen, as she fucks off and leaves me there. Just like that, I’m alone, and my thoughts are shouting.

I need to run as far as I can. Maybe I’ll get lucky, and it’ll end fast when my body gives out.

But some stubborn part of me that’s kept going through all those deaths on the altar whispers: Not yet. Just a little longer. I’ve died too many times to give up now. Theodora needs to know I’m alive.

I limp through the trees to the tower, gritting my teeth against the pain stabbing into me with each step. Keep moving. One foot in front of the other. The briar claws at me as I push through it to the front door. There’s a huge knocker shaped like a wolf’s head with its jaws open in a snarl.

My hand trembles as I reach for it. Glowing sigils flare in shifting patterns across the wood, and the door swings inward. Beneath the pervasive thrum of magic, spice and incense tickle my nose.

I lurch over the threshold. The light stabs my eyes as the atrium swims into focus. There are roses everywhere in here, too. Crawling up the walls, around the pillars, and looping up the staircase. The wildness contrasts with the ostentatious architecture. Tall, arched windows frame the entire hall, at least twenty feet high, curving up to a vaulted ceiling covered in black and gold filigree.

Plush couches are shoved together haphazardly alongside dark wood tables filled with books and candles. Despite its grand decor, the space has a cozy, lived-in feel. There are odd little statues poking out from the chaos, objects used to track the stars, and random nicknacks I couldn’t even begin to guess the purpose of.

There’s no mistaking the message it all screams: someone important lives here. Someone with power and money and way too much of both.

That’s when I hear it. A voice, slicing through the hush like a weapon unsheathing.

“Now this is interesting.”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

I know that voice. Smoky and resonant, a lovely accent curling around those syllables.

I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the universe to fold in on itself. To swallow me down and remake itself into a shape where this isn’t happening, where I’m not—

“Alexios told me you were dead, Devaliant.”

This is a nightmare, right? I’m about to wake up any moment. Right?

“Yet here you stand,” he continues, closer now. “Mostly intact, though you look like a stiff breeze could do you in.”

I finally gather the courage to open my eyes and turn.

The Wolf lounges against a pillar a few feet away. His head tilts as he studies me, golden eyes gleaming and a smirk of amusement on his lips like he’s trying not to laugh at me. His gold feathers catch in the light falling through the glass dome overhead. The bastard is perfectly at ease, as if he’s been waiting for me to stumble in and ruin his day.

Damn my life. Of course this is where I’d end up, injured and barely conscious. Trapped in the home of the most lethal, depraved creature I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.

“Amara knew.” My voice comes out flat as I grit my teeth through a new flare of pain. “She knew exactly who she was dumping me with, didn’t she?”

The Wolf chuckles. “Amara brought you here? Oh, she knew. I guess she decided she’d send me a gift. Wasn’t that thoughtful of her?” He pushes off the pillar. “So. Who was it?”

I blink, struggling to concentrate past the spots dancing in my vision. “Who… what?”

The Wolf steps closer, closer, until only an inch remains between us. His smell invades my senses—rain, smoke, a hint of citrus. A lure that urges me to approach and let down my guard even as rational instinct shouts at me to flee.

His eyes flick to my throat, catching on my scar and what I’m sure is an impressive ring of bruises Idris left on my neck. “We’ll come back to that scar,” he says, “and whoever got close enough to give it to you. But first, let’s focus on the piece of shit who bloodied you and took your clothes to the temple. I want a name.”

His expression makes me go very, very still. The amusement is gone, replaced by a cold and merciless stare. I picture myself throwing Uncle to this monster and letting him do his worst.

But no. Idris is mine. At least, he will be if I can get out of this.

“It’s my score to settle,” I say, forcing my voice to stay steady. “Are you about to kill me?”

If I’m going to die, I’ll do it on my feet.

“You and I talked about this before,” the Wolf says with a smirk, “but I made you forget. Want it back?”

His power slams into me. A deluge of images sears through my mind, fractured sense-memories tumbling over each other: his skin under my hands, slick with blood. The copper taste of his lip between my teeth. His voice at my ear, telling me to hurt him harder.

Make me bleed for you, vicious girl.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” the Wolf drawls with a smile. “Oh.”

Heat stains my cheeks. But before I can tuck my shame out of sight, his hands land on my hips and keep me pinned, preventing retreat. He’s back to watching me with the interest of a predator toying with his prey.

My heart stumbles in my chest. “Wolf—”

“Wolf, what? Let me guess, ‘Wolf, please spare me’? ‘Wolf, please have mercy’?” He leans closer, whispering, “Or maybe ‘Wolf, please let’s do it again’?”

“Wolf, go… fuck yourself,” I gasp, catching myself before I sway.

He grins. “Every night, sometimes twice if I’m ambitious.” His hold tightens a fraction. “Here’s the thing, Devaliant. Your family and I don’t have a glowing history, and Alexios wants me to deliver your corpse. He was very specific about the corpse part. But I’m thinking…” His eyes rake over me. Slow. Deliberate. “I’ll take my time with you. Really plan it out. I want to enjoy every second before I watch those pretty eyes go dark.”