*Chapter 32:
ALESSIA
The light died without a sound.
One second the bulb above us cast a dim yellow glow over the glass case and the photograph inside it. The next, we were swallowed by black so thick it had weight, pressing against my chest like hands trying to keep me from breathing.
Then the whisper came.
_“A-lee-ssi-a.”_
It wasn’t Blackwell’s voice. It wasn’t any voice I’d ever heard. It was layered, a dozen voices speaking at once, overlapping in a way that crawled under my skin and settled in my bones. And it wasn’t coming from the room. It was coming from inside my head, through the bond, like the darkness had learned how to use it as a door.
The triplets moved before I could draw breath. Azriel stepped in front of me, his body a solid shield between me and the darkness, h
