The creature’s tendrils surged toward them with terrifying speed, and Amara’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart pounded, each beat a loud echo in her ears as the shadows writhed, hungry and endless. The dark presence surrounding them seemed to suffocate every inch of the clearing, swallowing the light she had barely managed to conjure.
She could feel the weight of her mother’s last words pressing on her chest: You must choose.
But how? She thought frantically, her mind racing. How do I choose when everything I am, everything I’ve fought for, is hanging in the balance?
Damon’s eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and something else—something darker, a part of him that still yearned for control. But his struggle was plain to see. His body trembled under the weight of the darkness
