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“He’s right,” Alistair pushed. “She’s here for a purpose. We all know it. You made an Ig’Morruthen, so use it. Break her, starve her of affection, and train her to kill like the old ways. That’s the whole fucking point. Not to make her a love-sick fucking mutt. Use her. Make her a weapon so we can kill him and go the fuck home.”
I glared at them until they both looked away and left. Slipping my hand into my pocket, I withdrew the coin, staring into the shadows of the darkened room. They had spoken the truth. It was the simplest truth. I was getting distracted for the first time since arriving in this cursed realm. I knew my purpose, knew what I was supposed to do. They were waiting for me, counting on me to get the realms opened. What was I doing?
This woman woke a part of me I never knew existed with her smile. A spark ignited in my chest at the first touch, the first caress, the first glance. My hands fisted, blood dripping onto the floor as my claws dug into my palms. Tobias, while out of line, was right. She was not mine. I could not keep her. She had a purpose here, and I was fucking it up.
I opened my hand, watching the puncture wounds quickly heal. The blood-soaked coin stared back at me. I was what he made me, and I needed to remind them all of it.
The following weeks turned into months. Those evolved into years of bitter hate, cruelty, and distance. The smiles faded, the laughter died, and Novas grew. It all shifted, but it was that one night that everything changed. It was only then that it truly ended.
“You know, I remember the night I broke her. When it all changed,” I said, still tapping the coin on the table. The tall figure looming in the doorway waited for me to continue. “I remember hearing her footsteps and her voice calling my name. She wanted to talk as she always did about something she cared so much about. Even with her bloodlust, she was this iridescent shining girl. Full of life. And I needed to break it. So I did. I called her in, and I remember her walking into the room and stopping. The look on her face is something I will never forget. I had someone between my legs, my hand gripping her hair as she pleasured me. The color drained from Dianna’s face, but it was more than that. Something bright and precious in her died. At the time, I thought it was for the best. We both needed a stark reminder of the world we lived in and how we could trust no one but ourselves.”
The coin tapped on the edge of the table.
She turned and ran. I pushed the female away and flowed from the bed, not bothering to fasten my pants before going after her. I grabbed her arm and spun her toward me. Tears turned her eyes liquid and stained her cheeks. A final straw, perhaps.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“How could you!” She tried to jerk away but to no avail.
“I think it’s time we set some ground rules, don’t you? This isn’t a getaway for you. I’m not your boyfriend or whatever you’ve concocted in your head.”
“Let go of me,” she growled from between clenched teeth. “I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not. You know the rules. You work for me, remember?”
“Work for you? Kaden. Why are you saying this?”
“Because I made you, and I think you’ve forgotten your place.”
“My place?” She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks as her face crumpled. “I thought…”
“You thought wrong. You are nothing but a weapon to me. That’s all you have ever been, and if you want to keep that precious sister of yours breathing, you do what I say when I say. Is that clear?”
Pain flashed through her eyes, her chest heaving.
“And you just fuck whoever you want and treat me like trash? Absolutely not.”
I gripped her jaw. “You belong to me, but in no way do I belong to you. Is that clear?”
She was silent, so I squeezed harder. “Is that clear?”
“Crystal.” She nodded, her body stiff and unyielding. I released her, pushing her away with more force than I should have, but I had to. I had to put distance between us in more ways than one. She rubbed her hand over her bruised jaw as if trying to wipe away my touch. She glanced at me once more, then turned and walked away.
The world came screaming back, pulling me from the memory.
“Everything was different after that night—no more gifts of coins, soft smiles, or laughter. The halls of that cavern grew as cold as the rocks that formed it. She was a weapon then, my weapon. And the rest is simply history.” I spun the coin on the table and watched it. “The King agreed to let me keep her, which changes everything. I will make her love me again, erase what I’ve done. It will be easier once Samkiel is permanently out of the way. I’ll make sure of it.”
I stood, placed the coin back into my pocket, and strode around the long obsidian desk.
“We just need to meddle a little more with that spell for it to work. Don’t you agree, Azrael?”
The long-feared Celestial of Death stared blankly ahead, his arms behind his back. I patted his shoulder as I strode out of the room.
Thirty-Four
Logan
“Are you seriously nodding off right now?” Vincent’s voice jolted me awake.
