Chapter 40 · The God of Loneliness

“On your feet, therapist!”

Sloane’s hand locked around my wrist and yanked me up before my legs even remembered how to work. I hit her chest hard, my breath hitching.

“I can’t,” I choked out. “Sloane, I can’t feel my legs. The collar—”

“Fuck the collar.” She dragged me tight against her, one arm crushing my ribs, the other flashing a blade. “He’s coming through. Julian, he’s coming through that door!”

I looked. The obsidian doors weren't just open. They were gone. Blown inward like wet paper. Dust and black glass rained down, and the thing standing in the wreckage wasn't a man.

It was too tall. Too bright. Light poured off it in a way that hurt to look at, buzzing and cracking the air.

Silas was on the floor, scrambling backward in a panic. “No, no, no! That’s impossible! The seal was—”

“Silas, shut up!” the Overlord snapped. For the first time, his voice actually shook. “You idiot child. You brought him here. You opened the door for him.”

The thing in the doorway tilted its head. Its face shifted—too many eyes, then none. A crown of light that bled.

When it spoke, the whole room vibrated.

“Sloane.”