The sky looked deep and vast, strewn with clouds like torn cotton batting.

Moonlight hid, smothered under a quilt of heavy cloud.

Bare branches clawed at the heavens, the woods draped in a grim black curtain.

Cold wind pressed the air flat; the world fell hushed, save for the crunch of grit and dead grass under the tall man’s boots.

Tense and intent, he slowed his breathing, searching like a man hunting a lost charm.

All at once, a wavering blot of shadow stirred his gaze.

Hedi sat poised before a trunk, as if she’d risen straight from the earth, crouched and still.

His eyes went wide. The shock wasn’t only her sudden appearance. It was her face.

Her eyes were softly closed, yet her expression breathed a different mood—sweet, serene, something words couldn’t trap.

Her lashes against that pale face conjured an angel fallen into dust.

A thrill tugged his mouth. He stepped closer and blurted, “Beautiful Melvina, do you like to come here for the view?”

“You ask why I’m here?” He pictured Hedi’s reply and scratched his head, sheepish as a schoolboy. “When I can’t sleep, I like to walk at night. Running into you here is an honor.”

“You feel honored too?” Delight flashed across him. He grabbed Hedi’s limp arm. “I’ve always wanted to tell you this. From the first moment I saw you, I was hopelessly taken.”

He leaned, ear almost to her lips, listening to words spun from air. “Too fast? No, no—that’s proof we’re in tune. I know your concerns. Anyone would be afraid of my size. But I promise, I’ll never hurt you.”

“I’m so glad you agree!” He covered his face with a bashful laugh, shy as a teenage boy. “What’s that? You want to use my height to touch the clouds? Absolutely.”

He scooped up the unconscious Hedi and lifted her above his head. “Well? Is the view up there beautiful?”

Canary curled her lip, irritated, and snapped at the self-directed actor, “Don’t distract me while I open the Dark Realm!”

“Shh! You’ll scare Melvina!”

“You’re insane. So much inner drama just to eat someone.”

“This is a matter of ritual,” he said, wiping dirt from Hedi’s cheek. “Everything deserves ritual.”

“And then you just gulp her down?”

He stared at Canary like she’d blasphemed. “How could I be vulgar? Melvina’s a premium steak. You savor her, one small bite at a time.”

“Don’t let her wake from the pain. That’s bad for us.”

“I’m the Spellcaster’s natural enemy.” He toyed with Hedi’s hair and brought his fingers to his nose, drinking in the shampoo’s scent. “Gods, that fragrance—pierces the heart.”

“Fine. I won’t spoil your roleplay. But keep it down,” Canary muttered. “The Dark Realm’s riled up for some reason. I need focus.”

“Melvina’s hair is like a gust of midsummer heat, carrying the weight of the sun, bright enough to make your eyes sting. I see a blurry café. I’m there with Melvina. The scene and words have faded to mist, but I can smell citrus. Orange-scented shampoo. Her hair is ripe summer oranges…”

“You can spin a memory from nothing,” Canary said, carefully guiding the magic box’s process. “That’s a neat trick.”

“How long until the Dark Realm opens?”

“A bit yet. Why the sudden seriousness?”

He dropped Hedi to the ground like a forgotten bundle, let the cold wind slap his face, and slowly scanned the trees. “Someone’s coming.”

“I’ll try to speed it up. But it’s too excited. If I slip, it’ll pull us in.”

“Could be corruption.”

“You mean Melvina?” Canary frowned at him.

“Didn’t Stratford say? Besides Olivia, there’s another test subject. The name’s classified. The brass wanting Melvina as a partner… there’s only one reason.”

“Who gets corrupted with no side effects?”

“Don’t know,” he said plainly.

“Leave her alive for now. If she’s contaminated, we’ll need Melvina’s neural data.”

“No one can look at a gourmet—”

Pain knifed his waist before he finished. He flew like a snapped kite and slammed down hard. He lifted his eyes through moon-glossed dark and saw a black-haired woman, gasping.

Selina’s face warped, rage twisting it into a demon’s mask.

Her features broke from their calm harmony and went feral.

Her breath flared like bellows, every short draw turning the night’s chill into scalding gusts.

Her brows weren’t curves now, but upturned blades, like twin thunderheads ready to split.

Her eyes went wide, pupils needle-tight with fury.

Her lips peeled back; clenched teeth clattered with a restless grind.

The expression stepped beyond what people call anger and sank into the wild core.

“Interesting,” the man said, kneading his neck as he stood. “You slipped past my perimeter sweep.”

Selina panted, chest hammered, heart drumming like a war gong.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m going to kill you!”

She kicked off the earth like an arrow from the string and charged straight for him.

The world peeled back in her sight. Trees, grass, ferns blurred into green streaks. Only the man ahead stayed clear, swelling in her focus.

He gathered power in silence. Under the moon, the grain of his arm looked like a coiled python, like a spring crushed to the limit. He let it loose with a howl of air.

Bang.

His huge fist crashed into Selina and detonated a shock through her body. Her organs churned like a storm-tossed sea. Blood burst from her nose in a red fan.

“Kill you!”

She moved as if pain didn’t exist. She caught his still-extended arm and whipped a kick through the air with a tearing crack. His front teeth shattered.

He clutched his swelling lip, savoring the iron taste. His other hand became a hammer. He brought it down on her back without a blink, and smashed her to her knees. The next second she was up again, howling as she struck back.

“Good!” he barked, choosing to eat the blow. He seized Selina’s supple hair and swung her like a heavy weapon, whipping her in a brutal half-circle and slamming her into the hard ground.

She hit. Dirt burst in a gritty spray.

She curled, every joint screaming like cracked porcelain.

He followed with a savage kick. The force launched her, and she skidded into the dark a few meters off.

She vomited a foul reddish-brown puddle, laced with stomach acid and the bile of battered organs.

The color was dark, the stench sharp, a banner of how badly she was hurt.

But her face stayed twisted with rage. Only two falling tracks of tears showed pain cutting clean through flesh.

“Absolutely going to—” Selina rose. Step by step, she gathered speed. She roared as she charged him. “Kill you!”