My knees hit the floor before my brain can catch up.
I don’t even remember falling. It’s like my body knows better than my mind right now—knows I should submit, beg, anything to soften that edge in his eyes. Theodus isn’t a man. He’s a god. A cruel, vengeful one.
And I just shattered his altar.
My heart beats so loud I can’t hear anything else. The silence in the room is suffocating, like the air’s been sucked out, leaving nothing but the tension, thick and choking. I don’t dare look at him. My head stays bowed, eyes locked on the cracked marble floor beneath me.
Anton’s beside me, too still. I can feel him trembling, though. For all his confidence, all that reckless, sharp charisma, he’s terrified. He should be. We both should be.
How could I be so stupid?
Theodus is standing there,
