Veins of Power (Threads of the Fifth Realm #1)

Prologue

He’s sleeping facing me, utterly undone. The moonlight sinking in through the drifting curtains, pooling across his body in silver ribbons. Sheets bunched low over his hips, shadows tucked into every sharp line of his muscle, dragging the eye—dragging me—downward.

He looks deceptively at peace, one arm curled under his head, the other slack at his side. But the taste of him still lingers on my lips, the burn of his kiss branded onto my throat. And the shake in my legs hasn’t gone away. My body is heavy with it, ruined in the most addictive kind of way.

Fingers drift before I can stop them, tracing the mark just above his heart. Warm, real.

I should be happy. God, I should be revelling in this moment, this quiet, unguarded moment after we’ve consumed each other whole.

…And yet I can’t sleep.

Because every time I close my eyes, he finds me.

The other one.

He waits just beyond the darkness, behind my lids. Never in full view. Just… standing there. Too still. Too present. The sight of him alone is enough to freeze the breath in my lungs.

The words though... The words are what terrify me more.

I can’t un-hear them. They’re not just in my dreams anymore. They echo. Inside my blood. My teeth. My bones. Carved into me like a curse.

A promise.

But the darkest thing, the thing I can’t even say aloud, the one that must be kept secret—far heavier than the dreams, the voice, or even the figure itself—is that somewhere deep inside me, I know the words are true…

“When the world burns, child, you will not resist. You will kneel. You will give yourself to me freely. And when you do, the last Thread of the Fifth Realm will seal. The flames will rise. All that you love will die. He will die. And it will all be because of you.”