The corpse tide hit like a collapsing ocean.

Bodies slammed into shattered stone while black floodwater exploded upward around the ruins. Rotting hands clawed blindly through darkness as ancient dead screamed from hollow lungs that should no longer function.

Eva lost her footing instantly.

Acheron caught her before she could fall.

One arm locked hard around her waist while shadows erupted violently around them, tearing corpses apart midair. Silver-blue fire spread across the flooded chamber floor in enormous waves, reducing entire sections of the dead to ash.

But there were too many.

Far too many.

The corpse tide kept rising from the ancient burial tunnels beneath the ruins, crawling over broken pillars and dragging itself from black water in endless numbers.

And something was wrong with Acheron.

Very wrong.

The silver cracks beneath his skin had spread farther now, glowing violently beneath the darkness. They crawled across his throat and disappeared beneath the collar of his ruined black coat like fractures breaking through ice.

His shadows no longer moved cleanly.

They snapped.

Shuddered.

Lost shape for brief terrifying moments before reforming again.

The throne was losing balance.

Eva understood it instantly.

And judging from the look on Acheron’s face—

So did he.

Another corpse lunged upward from the floodwater beside them.

Acheron destroyed it without even turning his head.

The dead body exploded into silver ash.

But immediately afterward, he staggered slightly.

Eva felt the pain through the contract like fire ripping beneath her ribs.

“Acheron—”

“Stay behind me.”

“That is becoming significantly less reassuring every time you say it.”

A roar shook the buried city.

Not from the dead.

From deeper below.

The floodwaters throughout the chamber suddenly began moving inward toward the center ruins as though something enormous stirred beneath them.

Wonderful.

The evening continued improving dramatically.

Acheron’s expression darkened instantly.

The shadows around him froze.

Then every corpse in the chamber stopped moving at once.

Eva’s pulse stumbled.

The dead turned together.

Slowly.

Toward her.

No.

Not her.

The contract.

Something beneath the ruins could smell it.

The black water exploded upward.

A massive skeletal creature surged from beneath the flooded city, its body stitched together from hundreds of corpses fused into one towering nightmare. Hollow blue fire burned inside its ribcage while broken skulls shifted endlessly beneath torn flesh.

Eva stared upward in horror.

“That,” she whispered faintly, “should not exist.”

The creature screamed.

The sound cracked pillars apart.

Acheron shoved Eva backward instantly as the monster lunged across the ruins.

Everything exploded.

The impact shattered ancient stone while black water crashed violently across the chamber. Acheron met the creature head-on, shadows erupting outward like enormous wings of darkness.

The buried city shook beneath them.

Eva scrambled behind a broken pillar while silver fire and corpse ash filled the air. The monster slammed into the ruins again, dozens of skeletal limbs clawing wildly toward Acheron.

Then one of the limbs broke past his shadows.

And wrapped around Eva’s ankle.

The world flipped violently.

Eva screamed as the creature dragged her across shattered stone toward the floodwater below. Broken corpses clawed upward from the ruins around her while black water closed rapidly beneath the monster’s massive body.

“Acheron!”

The reaction was immediate.

The entire chamber went dark.

Not metaphorically.

Every silver flame vanished instantly.

Every shadow in the ruins surged violently toward the creature at once.

And Acheron—

Acheron lost control.

Power exploded through the buried city hard enough to split the ruins apart. The black floodwater froze solid beneath the shockwave while silver cracks burst across every wall and pillar in sight.

The creature still held Eva.

That was the mistake.

Acheron crossed the chamber faster than sight itself.

One second he stood beneath collapsing shadows.

The next his hand closed around the monster’s skull.

And for the first time since Eva met him—

The Lord of Death looked truly enraged.

Not cold.

Not controlled.

Furious.

Ancient terrifying fury burned openly across his face while the silver in his eyes turned almost white with power.

The corpse creature screamed again.

Acheron tightened his grip.

The entire monster began coming apart.

Not dying.

Unmaking.

Bodies fused into the creature tore free one by one while shadows ripped directly through bone and flesh. The dead disintegrated into ash mid-scream as the ruins shook violently around them.

Eva had never seen anything like it.

This was not battle.

This was annihilation.

The creature released her immediately.

Acheron caught Eva against his chest before she hit the frozen floodwater.

Then he turned toward the remaining corpse tide.

And the buried city learned what lived beneath the throne.

“Do not,” Acheron said softly, “touch her.”

The words echoed through the catacombs like a sentence passed by something older than gods.

Every corpse in the chamber froze instantly.

Not from fear.

From command.

The dead obeyed him.

No.

They feared him.

The shadows throughout the ruins rose upward around Acheron and Eva like a living storm. Ancient power cracked through the buried city while every remaining corpse recoiled violently into darkness.

Then Acheron raised one hand.

And the catacombs erupted.

Silver-black fire consumed the entire chamber in one massive wave. The corpse tide vanished instantly beneath it, reduced to ash so completely that not even bone remained behind.

Silence crashed through the ruins afterward.

Heavy.

Absolute.

Black ash drifted slowly through the air like snow.

Eva stood frozen against Acheron’s chest while his arm remained locked tightly around her waist.

Too tightly.

Like letting go had become impossible.

The heartbeat beneath the contract slammed violently enough to hurt.

Not fear now.

Something worse.

Acheron looked down at her slowly.

And Eva’s breath caught immediately.

The silver cracks beneath his skin had spread across half his face now. Shadows moved beneath them like living fractures while his eyes burned with something terrifyingly inhuman.

Not merely death.

Possession.

The thing beneath his control had surfaced completely.

His hand tightened slightly against her waist.

“Did it hurt you?”

The question came dangerously quiet.

Eva stared at him.

“No.”

Acheron closed his eyes briefly.

Not relief.

Worse.

The kind of restraint people used when they were one step away from destroying something.

The ruins around them continued collapsing slowly while silver fire spread across the buried city below.

Eva became painfully aware that they were still pressed fully together.

That his shadows had wrapped around her body protectively without permission.

That the Lord of Death looked one heartbeat away from killing the entire Underworld because something touched her.

And somewhere beneath the terror of that realization—

Something inside her responded anyway.