“Stay away! Don’t let them take the light! Vi, where are you?!”

The scream ripped through the silence of the mansion like a serrated blade. It wasn’t the roar of the ‘Beast’ I had grown used to; it was the raw, guttural cry of a boy lost in a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.

I bolted out of my bed, my feet hitting the cold floor before I was even fully awake. I didn’t grab a robe. I didn’t check the hallway for Emelia or the guards. I ran toward Lucian’s suite, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs that matched the panic in his voice.

When...