Chapter Seven

Asterin.

The name throbbed through him, each iteration thudding in time with the dull beat of his heart.

Asterin. Asterin. Asterin.

He could feel the darkness residing in his body, his every cell, a wicked poison coursing through his veins and trapping him beneath this hateful veil of shadows and fleeting hallucinations. A black fog chased him, taunted him. Phantoms sang and whispered their sins into his ears.

But that name, that steady voice murmuring at him. Cool fingertips brushing his forehead, soothing the dark heat raging through him.

He gritted his teeth and fought.

He kicked and hollered and thrashed like a rabid beast, clawing his way up toward the pinprick of light high above even as the shadows chuckled and clawed at him playfully, dragging him deeper into the darkness.

Tell him that I love him.

He let out a scream that shattered their hold on him, just for a moment. He didn’t hesitate, clambering away and lunging for that light.

The shadows snarled at him in disdain, but he could see his goal now, and he wrenched himself away from them with everything he had.

And when he finally emerged, wrecked and ruined but victorious, Quinlan Holloway opened his eyes to the world and smiled.