Chapter 21 · Burn It All Down

"Run, Ella! Get out of here right now!"

Cain’s voice didn’t sound like the arrogant god I’d come to know. It sounded fractured. Desperate. He didn't just tell me to move; he shoved me back with a force that nearly knocked the wind out of my lungs, his palm searing through my clothes.

I stumbled, my boots skidding on the charred remains of the courtyard. I looked back. The Star-Robed figure wasn't even attacking. He was just standing there, floating a few inches off the ground, looking at Cain with a bored, clinical disgust. Like he was looking at a cockroach that had somehow learned to speak.

"You still smell of the pit, Cain," the man said. His voice didn't travel through the air—it echoed directly inside my skull, cold and heavy. "Did you really think a little girl with a leaky soul could hide you from me?"

"I'm not hiding," Cain spat. He stepped in front of me, his shadow expanding, clawing at the ground like a living beast. But for the first time, I saw his hand shaking.