Chapter 27 · The Mother of Monsters

"Get out of my head or I'll rip your soul out through your throat!"

It wasn't a voice. It was a psychic scream, a hot needle driving straight into my brain. The world tilted. The stability I’d fought for was gone, replaced by melting walls and shimmering glass that reflected a thousand distorted versions of my own terrified face.

"Sloane!" I tried to shout. It came out as a muffled echo.

Then I felt her. Cold, sharp pressure against my back. The scent of ozone and expensive leather. She didn't just follow me in—she hunted me. Her fingers dug into my shoulder, possessive and hard enough to bruise.

"Stay focused, Julian," she hissed. Her breath was hot against my ear, a jarring contrast to the freezing void. "If you lose the thread, Grom doesn't just go insane. He takes the whole capital down with him. You're the only one holding the leash."

"The leash is snapping!" I snapped back, twisting in her grip. "Look at the floor!"

Below us, the glass throne room was shattering. Jagged fissures spiderwebbed across the floor, and from the cracks, the Thorn Eye emerged.