They were something else entirely.
Dark veins pulsed beneath my skin, shifting and writhing like living ink. My fingers twitched, curling in on themselves as the power within me stirred, uncoiling like something waking from a long, dreamless slumber.
The Hollow’s whispers slithered through my thoughts, each one a thread weaving into something vast, something inevitable.
You are not just a man. You never were.
Lena gasped. “Elias, stop—”
I wanted to listen. I wanted to reach for her voice, to hold on to something human. But when I turned, her expression made my stomach drop.
She wasn’t just afraid.
She was looking at me like she didn’t recognize me anymore.
Dorian moved first.
His blade was steady, his golden eyes locked onto mine with a desperation I didn’t understand. “Fight it,”
