The air in the room grew freezingly cold, the previous warmth was replaced by a heavy, suffocating pressure that felt like being submerged in a pool of freezing water.
Zaliyah felt the shift before he heard it. The faint, comforting scent of sandalwood and home that clung to Karas was suddenly replaced by the blood from a slaughterhouse.
He withdrew from the kiss, his heart leaping into his throat, his violet eyes widening until the whites showed as they landed on the two figures framed in the doorway.
Malachi and Kizari looked less like royalty and more like primal nightmares, their silhouettes dripping with the fresh, steaming blood of the court they had just decimated,Malachi's horns were fully extended, ragged and black, while a terrible beauty ignited in Kizari's eyes, glowing with a manic, emerald light.
"Oh... shit," Zaliyah whispered, the words barely a breath. His knees felt like they were made of water and for a moment the world tilted.
