Lavish Destruction

"It's the fight, isn't it? The struggle. The idea that I'll pin you down and take what I want..." He smiled, slow and dangerous. Watching me struggle to deny him. Watching me fail...

Bound to a man I hate, I'm trapped.

All that I was is gone. Taken by a dog of the Empire, my once limitless power now feeds the beast who dares to call himself my equal.

Captain Asher Rawlings has proven himself to be a man apart. Relentless. Driven.

Stripped bare and exposed, I am helpless to suffer his every debased whim. Made to swallow his bitter lies of safety and protection. Protection I didn't need before he dressed me in chains I cannot remove. Chains that funnel my goddess-given power directly to him.

And though he might be the last of the rare and dangerous things, he too is indentured to a higher power. Compelled to obey, he is ordered to burn my would-be saviors to ash—and he'll use my power to do it.

While death and vengeance don't wear the faces I'd dreamed of, my fall has taught me how to bend. To see the minute, overlooked details for the gift the can be, and know there is always another way out. A perfect moment to strike.

Even if I have to be remade to seize it, because it's always been this.

Freedom, or death.