Scarlett
The growl hasn’t stopped. It circles us, low and unearthly, like it’s coming from everywhere and nowhere. The vines twitch like antennae. Rhodes grabs my wrist and pulls me behind him, his body shielding mine as his power flares in a pulse of cold wind.
Except it’s not just cold. It’s sharp. Violent. The kind of cold that stings the back of your throat and rips the breath out of your lungs. I watch as the magic spreads in jagged lines across the ground, splitting open the soil. The vines scream. They actually scream, writhing and curling inward as though trying to escape his presence. The air warps around him like reality itself is folding in submission.
He looks terrifying. Regal and lethal. Like a god of winter disguised in mortal skin.
I suck in a shaky breath, unable to lo
