ADAM

I woke up with a shout lodged in my throat.

The dream clung to me like rot.

Sage stood before me, cloaked in darkness so thick it swallowed the world. She pointed at me, her mouth stretching into a laugh that echoed too loudly, too wrong.

Then she was Maya—bleeding, broken, slipping through my fingers as I begged her to stay. Then Dora. Always Dora. Her eyes wide with betrayal as my hands closed around a blade already buried in her chest.

They all died in my hands. Again.

I jolted upright, breath tearing out of me, my heart slamming against my ribs like it wanted out. Sweat slicked...