The Prodigy's Last Dance of Love

ound of pain and something else-triumph. But it was loud en

s in the s

Liam stood there, his face a mask of fury. His eyes, which had been full of a

ng in the hallway?" he sna

agony that flared in my chest. The Lotus Mark erupted in a blaze of torment. The contract was reacting to his hostility, forcing a d

My body convulsed with a sob I couldn't con

its cruel mechanism of control. It made me feel the despair he wanted me to feel. But deep inside, where the contract

expensive whiskey. "You' ve been a leech on me from the very beginning. A

ll thud, and spots danced in my vision. Chloe appeared behind h

e said, her voice dripping with f

ber. A parasite. Did you think I didn't know? Did you thin

e he had built for himself-that he was the brilliant vision

Not to our first meeting in this life, but to th

't a partnership of equals.

n and no talent to back it up. He sought me out, not with courtship, but with a trick. He presented the contract not as a bond of servitude, but

ve, and isolated

y heart. The drain began immediately. My brilliant insights became his. My good for

me. He tricked

n whose entire existence was a testament to my sacrifice, the full

the words tasting like ash and fr

endering. He thought

ing to his terms for a war