Darius’s face went from a pale, aristocratic ivory to a sickly, translucent gray. The shadows writhing around Lucian’s solid black broadsword seemed to suck the very light from the grand cathedral, casting long, monstrous silhouettes against the stained-glass windows.

"You dare?" Darius shrieked,

I staggered back a step, my boots scraping harshly against the obsidian floor. I let out a sharp, breathless sound that was halfway between a scoff and a laugh.

"Primordial," I repeated, tasting the word on my tongue. It felt ridiculous. "That is a myth. A children's bedtime story designed to scar

The magical projection of Seraphina’s sneering face dissolved into a wisp of foul-smelling gray smoke, leaving the shadow realm in suffocating silence.

I stared at the empty space where my father’s tortured image had just been, my chest heaving as if the air had been sucked from the room. My nails