When I don’t answer, he gives me a look like my silence is making his point for him. His touch moves from my hair down my back.

I try to bat away his hands, my limbs sluggish. It does no good.

“Sweet creature,” he says, stroking my back, “fret not.” He leans in close to my ear. “Today I will set you free.”

I turn to look at him, my gaze locking with those slitted pupils of his. We stare each other for several seconds, his hands laying heavily on my back. His body begins to tremble, and then, all at once, he releases all of his magic right into me.

His magic is like a sledgehammer to my back, driving down into my skin, into my bones with the force of a freight train. The shockwave from it ripples out around us, shaking the very walls of his throne room.

Then comes the pain, pain more vast and acute than anything I’ve ever felt. My siren rises in response.

I open my mouth, my eyes rolling back, and I scream and scream as agony unlike anything I’ve ever felt rips through me. My body feels like it’s unmaking itself, my bones breaking, my muscles ripping, my skin flaying itself.

It’s unending and unfathomable, the force of it pinning me to the ground. I’m helpless beneath Karnon’s grip on my back, a grip that I can’t possibly shake at this point.

The Fauna King laughs himself hoarse as a sound like thunder rumbles in the distance. “My beautiful bird sings best when she hurts.”

He presses down hard against my skin. “Siren,” he shouts, “come forth!”

Another wave of power slams into me.

My screams hit a new decibel, the sound harmonizing with itself.

My spine and ribs feel like they’re cracking, shattering. I’m no longer made of muscle and bone. It’s all been pulverized under Karnon’s magic.

“Yes!” the madman cries. “More!”

My body seems to buckle as another wave of energy floods through me. My skin is burning, burning. And my back!

My back is on fire! It must be; that’s where the worst of the pain is.

Karnon releases me, but the agonizing power he’s shoving into me doesn’t ebb. If anything, it’s getting worse. Because it’s changing course; rather than burrowing into me, it’s now trying to force itself out.

I hunch over, breathing heavy, my hair plastered to my face.

“More!” Karnon shouts.

I’m tearing apart from the inside out. My skin no longer fits my body. It’s much too small. I heave over and over, barely able to endure the pain I’m in.

“More!”

My screams become increasingly more agonized as his power batters against the inside of my flesh.

“MORE!”

All at once my screams cut off and the magic erupts.

My skin splits down either side of my spine, and I hear the sound of wet popping and snapping.

And then … I feel it. Two sticky, wet protrusions push out from my ripped flesh, unfolding down my back.

Then finally, finally, the magic abates.

I collapse in on myself, shivering, shaking.

Blood, everywhere.

“Yes! My beautiful bird, you are set free!” Karnon says gleefully.

I can’t move. No energy left. As I lay there, I catch sight of my hands. Where once were nails, now I have sharp, black claws. And my forearms … delicate, semi-transparent scales cover them, glittering gold where blood splatter doesn’t cover them.

I can barely make sense of the sight.

But then I glimpse something over my shoulder. Something dark, something bloody … And there’s a weird weight against my back …

The siren within me is whispering, the worlds curling themselves around me,

I am powerful.

I am vengeance.

I am unleashed.

Karnon’s steps approach me.

He grabs those dark, bloody things behind me, stretching them up and out. I feel my muscles stretch as I extend my arms.

But my arms are right in front of me …

I catch another glimpse of those dark things. And then I understand.

Wings.

I grew wings.

Chapter 29

At the sight of them I heave again. This must be a bad dream.

Claws and scales and wings. I’m now more beast than woman.

“How do you like them?” Karnon asks, his words taunting.

I roll my forehead against the bloody, marble floor.

Can’t bear the sight.

Far behind me, someone pounds on the doors that lead in, the wood shuddering against the force of the strikes. If I had any more energy, I would’ve jumped at the noise.

Instead I just lay here.

The doors continue to bang. And bang.

Karnon drops my wings, and with a wet smack they flop to my sides. His footfalls retreat.

BOOM!

The metal doors blow open, wood splintering every which way. The massive double doors hit the throne room’s floor, their impact shaking the walls of the room.

I sense him before I hear his agonized bellow.

Des.

He found me. A weak thread of happiness pushes through my exhaustion.

Shadows curl around me like smoke. I stare tiredly at them.

“So your mate found you after all,” Karnon says. “Took him long enough.”

The air shifts, and a moment later Des is crouched at my side.

I feel his hand glide over the sensitive flesh of my wings.

“I’m so sorry, cherub,” he whispers, his voice breaking. “For everything. He will pay.”

I begin to shake.

“Tell me, how do you like your mate now?” Karnon says mockingly. “She’s improved, no?”