The room shrank around us as Cassius moved closer, his presence swallowing the air until I could barely breathe. My back pressed against something solid—a wall, a bookshelf, I couldn't tell—and realized I had nowhere left to retreat.

"Don't worry, Lana." His voice dropped to barely above a whisper, intimate and terrifying in equal measure. "I'll heal your wound quickly."

Before I could ask what he meant, pain flared bright and sharp across my palm. I looked down to see blood welling from ...