I drew in a last breath of clean air and darted forward, my eyes on the low-lying mist. I was nearly to it when the air changed, popping with magic and power. Golden sparks filled the air.
Shit!
I ducked low and swooped up a tiny vial of the mist, then darted backward, heart pounding ferociously.
The mist roared upward, magic surging through the air. Panic flared. It had never moved this fast before.
It shot out, wrapping around me, hot and fierce.
“No!” I pulled back, trying to sprint away.
The mist coalesced to form a figure, tall and broad, yet featureless. It was shaped like a man, and it clutched me close.
I tried to jerk away, but its arms were too strong. They yanked me to it. I punched and kicked, but it was like beating a stone wall.
I got the faintest glimpse of dark, flashing eyes.
Beautiful, deep blue eyes.
“Let me go!” Desperate, I called upon my magic. It rose within me, long disused and unfamiliar.
Plants. I needed plants.
Books I had aplenty. I was surrounded by them, but plants? Not so much. The cut flowers in the sitting room were nearly worthless, but there was a fern near the door.
I reached for it, trying to feel its life force.
It pulsed weakly.
The shadow heaved me up into his arms, throwing me over a shoulder that was far too solid to be made of mist.
I screamed, beating at his back as I used my magic to call the fern toward me. A pot shattered against the ground in the distance, and I could feel the plant shooting toward us.
I thrashed so hard that I surprised my captor, managing to dislodge myself from his shoulder and crash to the ground. Pain flared in my side, and I looked up at the shadow. It towered over me, shaped like a man but featureless and dark.
A half second later, the fern slammed into the shadow’s neck, wrapping its roots around the dark column.
Strangle him.
The plant tried, but he jerked it off and threw it across the room.
Damn it. I scrambled upright, my gaze on the door. I just had to get far enough away.
I managed to take two steps before he grabbed me again, this time so strong and powerful that I didn’t stand a chance. The vial of mist flew out of my hand and shattered on the ground.
My prize gone.
He clutched me to his side like a rag doll, his grip an iron bar at my back.
With powerful strides, he dragged me deeper into the library, toward the darkest shadows in the back. I thrashed and screamed, desperately reaching out with my magic for the tree roots in the streets outside, the vines covering the ancient buildings.
But I hardly ever used my magic, and had certainly never practiced with it.
The plants that might have obeyed me lay dormant.
The deeper the shadow carried me into the library, the more solid his form became. His face was distinctly masculine. Strong jaw, sharp cheekbones, flashing eyes.
Rage filled me.
How dare he come into my library and do this?
He strode past a desk set against one of the bookshelves, and I spotted a heavy glass paperweight. I grabbed it and brought it up, slamming it onto his head as hard as I could.
He jerked and growled, and I tried to hit him again, putting every ounce of strength I had into it. His arm flashed up so quickly I didn’t even see it, and he yanked the paperweight away.
A moment later, a black doorway appeared in a section of wall that had once been empty. The door swung open, and he stepped through.
Terror welled up inside me. Dark shadows surrounded us, a swirling vapor that sucked us into the portal and spun us through space, tearing me away from the library and everything I knew.
3
Seraphia
The ether tore at us, spinning us toward an unknown destination. I screamed, trying to tear myself away from my captor. I had no idea where I would end up—it was deadly to enter the ether without knowing where you were going or touching someone who knew. He was the only one who knew where this portal went. If I broke away from him, I could end up anywhere at all.
Or nowhere.
I was willing to risk it.
But his grip was too firm. Too tight.
It was liking fighting an iron cage.
Too soon, we landed on solid ground. My head stopped spinning and my vision cleared.
I gasped, jerking away.
This time, he let me.
Suddenly, he was fully corporeal. No longer made of mist and smoke, but a man.
Holy shit.
He was well over six feet tall, impossibly beautiful in a way that almost hurt to look at. He looked like a damned angel, fallen right from the clouds to land in this shadowy hell. Dark hair and blue eyes that recalled a stormy, wind-tossed sea. A strong jaw and cheekbones that could cut glass. His full lips were set in a hard line as he looked at me, but they appeared far too soft for a man so hard.
It was the only softness in him, however. Despite his otherworldly beauty, there was no humanity behind his eyes.
Though he appeared to be made of flesh and bone, I’d bet anything there was nothing but cold, hard glass beneath the black armor covering his broad shoulders and chest, a strange matte metal that twisted with tiny, glowing silver symbols.
The magic that surged from him nearly took me to my knees. Powerful supernaturals had all five signatures. This guy . . . A sixth sense needed to be invented to accommodate the sheer force of him.
Anger and determination kept me on my feet as his magic rolled over me. Ash and fire, as I’d smelled before. I hated that I liked it. Worse, I hated that his magic felt like a caress.
That was the only good thing about his magic, though. It sounded like waves crashing against a cliff, destroying cities in its wake. And the taste was that of bitter, bitter chocolate, almost burning my tongue.
His aura, though.
Pitch black. Like he was the source of night. The source of darkness.
It pulled at me, far too hard. I wanted to walk into it. Embrace that darkness. My magic flared to life inside me, responding to something in his.
Fear sliced through me, and I stumbled back. “Take me home.”
It was stupid to ask.
I had no idea what he planned for me, but he wasn’t about to let me go. Nana had said that once he got me, terrible things would happen. She’d been dreadfully vague, since she’d only had part of a prophecy, but I believed her about the terrible bit.
I turned to run, finally seeing my surroundings.
A library.
The polar opposite of mine.
Darkness. Everywhere.
Ebony shelves housed books bound in midnight leather. Gold and silver letters decorated the spines, and glittering spiderwebs created a lattice in front of them. The webs stretched over the shelves, never touching the books but protecting them from whoever might dare approach.
Gorgeous spiders, emerald green and vibrant purple, ran back and forth across the webs like sparkling jewels.
The ceiling soared high overhead, the black candles topped with pale white flame. The black stone floor matched the ornately carved ceiling, and I felt like I’d stepped into the land that Halloween had birthed.
“There’s no point in running.” His voice washed over me, a low, gorgeous rumble that made my soul quiver.
Fates, I hated it.
I ran, sprinting across the stone floor, headed for an aisle between the stacks. I could lose myself among the shadows there, then find a way back home.
But the stacks began to move, the two massive bookshelves sliding across the floor to press together. The shelves on either side of them followed, compressing until there was nowhere to run. A wall of wood and books surrounded me.