Chapter 45 Darius Intervenes

• "He arrived like a storm, impossible to ignore."
• The magical wards thrummed around me like a cage wrought from liquid fire, their ethereal bars pressing against my consciousness with suffocating intensity. Gideon's fingers dug into my arm hard enough to leave bruises, his grip possessive and cruel, while his smirk carved itself deeper into his aristocratic features. Above us in the shadowed galleries, the silhouettes of Academy elders shifted like vultures waiting for carrion.
• My wolf snarled and clawed at the inside of my ribs, desperate to break free from both human flesh and magical constraints. But the ancient enchantments woven into this forgotten arena pressed her down, smothering her strength like a heavy woolen blanket thrown over flames.