Aria jolted awake, her skin burning like fire.
She gasped, gripping her wrist where the pain was the worst. Beneath the dim glow of her bedside lamp, she saw it—an intricate, dark mark curling across her skin like ink spilled in delicate patterns. It hadn't been there yesterday.
Her heartbeat thundered. Had she gotten a tattoo in her sleep? Ridiculous.
The room felt… different. The air was heavy, charged with something unseen. The shadows in the corners seemed darker, stretching unnaturally. A chill ran down her spine.
Then, the whisper came.
"Found you."
Aria's breath caught. She spun around, heart pounding. No one was there.
A cold draft swept through the room, though the windows were shut. The lamp flickered.
A shape moved in the darkness.
Tall. Unnaturally still. Watching her.
She tried to scream, but the stranger moved impossibly fast, closing the space between them in an instant. A hand clamped over her mouth—ice-cold, firm.
"Don't scream," the man murmured, his voice like velvet and steel. "You're already mine."
Aria's vision blurred as the pain from the mark flared again. The last thing she saw before darkness swallowed her was a pair of piercing silver eyes staring into her soul.