Chapter 6

Maeve’s POV

The halls stretched empty, yet eyes burrowed into my spine like daggers.

I quickened my pace, wedding silk hissing against marble as I whipped around the next corner. Nothing. Still, something hunted me—a presence, thick and writhing in the darkness, stealing the oxygen from my lungs.

I froze, spun.

Nothing but shadows.

My heart slammed against my ribs like it might shatter them.

Then—movement.

A woman materialized from darkness—taller than me, draped in storm-cloud gray, with hair like spilled ink flowing past a midnight cloak. Her presence crushed the air from the corridor. Wrong. Ancient.