Chapter 142. Abyss

Xerina’s POV

The moment hung in the air.

Rasmus stood there, just a few feet away, his eyes wide, full of something I couldn’t name. Fear? Anguish? Recognition? Maybe all of it. Maybe none of it. My body trembled, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, but beneath it all, there was something darker. Something colder.

The darkness hadn’t just touched me. It had become me.

I took a step back, my breath coming in shallow gasps. My hands—bloodied, clawed—shook as I looked at them. I didn’t recognize them. They weren’t mine anymore. I wasn’t mine anymore. The ground beneath me felt unstable, like it could collapse at any moment, but it wasn’t just the ground—it was me.

“Xerina…” Rasmus’s voice broke the silence, soft, broken. His voice. The voice that used to calm me, center me. The voice that used to mean home.

Now, it was a jagged edge. A reminder of everything I had lost. Everything I had destroyed.

I looke