SCARLETT

No fire. No storm. No earth. Just endless black.

Shadows licked my skin, silken and suffocating, carrying the scent of iron and smoke. My lungs struggled for air, but the darkness wasn’t choking me it was tasting me. Every inch of my flesh tingled, as though unseen hands caressed me at once.

A low voice broke through the void.

“Mine.”

Lucien stepped out of the black like a nightmare turned flesh. His eyes burned like pools of ink, unblinking, unending.

I staggered back, ...