CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Helena’s grip on my neck was like steel. Air rapidly escaped my lungs and darkness was already clawing at the edges of my consciousness. I estimated I had only a couple of minutes left, if that, before I fell unconscious, and from there it would take even less time for me to die. I couldn’t concentrate long enough to cast a spell, but given how absurdly powerful Helena was, I wasn’t even sure I had a spell powerful enough to distract her.
I looked into Helena’s red eyes, desperately searching for the polite young woman I knew. But I didn’t see any trace of that woman left in her eyes. In fact, I didn’t even see any humanity in her eyes left, period. All I saw was demonic hatred and madness. I smelled the stench of death on her breath and heard a deep growl emit from
