Chapter 78 Seraphine
The first thing I noticed was the light.
Too bright. Too clean.
The second thing was the sound—machines humming, beeping softly in uneven rhythms, like a hospital that had learned how to breathe without caring who was listening.
I was strapped down.
Wrists first. Ankles second. Thick restraints, reinforced, not the cheap plastic kind. Cold metal bit into my skin, tethering me to a narrow hospital bed identical to the others lined up in the room.
Because I wasn’t alone.
Beds stretched in rows, every single one occupied. Women staring at the ceiling. Women crying quietly. Women already unconscious, wires trailing from their temples and chests into machines that glowed with unfamiliar data.
“What the fuck…” I whispered.
The human moved between stations like this was a normal shift. Late thirties, thinning hair, lab coat too clean for the places he’d been. He tapped at keyboards, adjusted dials, checked readings without looking at our faces.
Cables were clipped to my collarbone. To my wrists. To my throat.
Fear crawled up my spine—but rage climbed faster.
Thane stood near the center of the room, arms folded, posture relaxed, like a king touring a new wing of a palace. Renee hovered nearby, restless, eyes sharp, shadows twitching uselessly at her feet.
I swallowed hard.
If Thane liked me the most—if that pull I felt meant anything—then maybe questions were my only weapon.
“Hey,” I said hoarsely, lifting my head as far as the restraints allowed. “You want to explain what the hell you’re doing with us?”
Thane’s eyes flicked to me immediately.
Before he could answer—
Renee stepped forward and spit.
The saliva hit my cheek, hot and humiliating.
“You don’t get to ask questions,” she snapped. “You’re not in charge here.”
Something inside me detonated.
“Oh no,” I growled, voice shaking the room. “No, fuck that.”
Every woman nearby went still.
“You don’t get to tell me what rights I have,” I continued, heat roaring up my throat. “This is happening to me. Not you. Not the bitch down the street. Me.”
Renee’s lip curled. “You think that makes you special?”
“I know it does,” I snarled. “And you should be grateful I’m tied down right now—because once I’m not, I swear to every god listening, I will kill you.”
The words weren’t empty.
They tasted true.
Renee laughed—a brittle, ugly sound. “You won’t do anything.”
That was when she made her mistake.
She leaned in and whispered, “You’re just raw material. Same as the rest.”
The restraints burned.
No—melted.
Fire surged down my arms, red-hot and furious, vaporizing the cuffs around my wrists. The zip ties at my ankles popped like overcooked wire.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood.
The chains connecting my wrists to my ankles clattered, heavy but intact.
The room erupted in shouts.
The human lunged forward. “Thane—!”
“Stop,” Thane said calmly.
The human froze.
“Let this play out.”
Renee crossed her arms, forcing a sneer onto her face. “And what exactly are you going to do now?”
I smiled.
Slow. Mean.
“Just because I’m still in chains,” I said softly, “doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.”
Her confidence flickered.
She took a step back—
And stopped.
Fire rose behind her.
Not from me—from the air itself.
A wall of red flame surged up, sealing her in. When she turned, panicked, and slapped her palm against it, she screamed and jerked away, skin blistering instantly.
My breath caught.
She couldn’t phase through it.
She couldn’t shadow-walk.
She couldn’t leave.
Something clicked into place with chilling clarity.
“You rejected Kael,” I said slowly. “You cut yourself off from shadow.”
Her eyes flashed.
“And you’ve been orbiting Thane ever since,” I continued, voice dropping. “So you should have death at your disposal.”
Renee tried to summon it.
Nothing answered.
Her shadows danced weakly at her feet—decorative. Useless.
“Oh,” I whispered. “That’s interesting.”
Cold and heat collided in my chest, something sharp and electric snapping into alignment.
“This started with you,” I said. “You chose yourself over everyone else. You sold us out to crawl up some king’s ladder.”
Renee bared her teeth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I took a step closer, chains dragging. “I know you broke the one rule that actually matters.”
Her mouth twisted. “Girl code?”
I laughed. “Humanity.”
She tried again to pull shadows. They fizzled.
That was when Thane moved.
He stepped between us in a blur, shoving Renee aside like she was nothing.
And something inside me snapped completely.
The chains shattered.
Metal hit the floor in pieces.
I lunged.
We went down hard—me on top of him, momentum carrying us across the sterile floor. My hands closed around his throat, fingers digging in, heat and fury pouring out of me unchecked.
I squeezed.
Thane didn’t struggle.
He smiled.
Wide. Serene.
“Oh,” he murmured, eyes half-lidding. “There you are.”
My hands shook.
He didn’t choke.
Didn’t gasp.
Didn’t care.
Of course he didn’t.
He was death.
And death didn’t fear dying.
His gaze locked onto mine, intimate and terrifying all at once.
“This is why I chose you,” he said softly. “You don’t just burn. You endure.”
I tightened my grip anyway.
Because even if he couldn’t die—
I could still make it hurt.
Thane's hands lifted slowly, deliberately, palms open as if surrendering. But I knew better. His fingers brushed my wrists, light at first, tracing the skin where the melted cuffs had left raw, angry marks. The touch was cool against my burning skin, almost soothing, and for a split second, my grip faltered.
No.
I jerked back, slamming my palms harder into his collarbones to pin him down.
"Don't," I hissed, my voice raw, breath coming in sharp bursts.
The heat inside me flared hotter, flames licking up my arms, singeing the edges of his shirt. He didn't flinch. Instead, his hands kept moving, sliding up my forearms now, fingers curling gently, like he was trying to coax the fire out of me.
"Get your fucking hands off me," I snarled, shoving his arms away with enough force to make his head snap back against the floor.
My knees dug into his sides, holding him trapped beneath me, but he just smiled wider, that serene expression cracking into something hungry. His right hand darted up again, aiming for my face this time, thumb grazing my jawline.
And I lost it.