A chill ran through me, and it had nothing to do with the temperature.
No.
It was fear. Bone-chilling fear.
It was unfamiliar.
It was similar to what I had felt when I was in the presence of Oliver without immediately understanding what was happening. Except multiplied by a hundred.
I was going to die. I knew it with certainty the moment I heard that voice. If evil was a sound, this would be it.
For a long moment, I couldn't speak, move, or breathe. But then the image of my mate slipped through my mind. Valen…so still.
“I-I’m here to draw a c-contract.” My voice was still shivering. Except now I wasn’t certain if it was because of the temperature.
There was a beat of silence before the voice sounded again. It was coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. “If I’d had a millennium to guess what would happen today, I never would have guessed a little Goddess would come to me for help.”