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The beast, Fane, flinched at her words, and it felt like my chest would crack open and spill everything out.
No, notmychest. His.
Fane’s emotions.
Fane. A deal. Ruin. The woman.
My lids clamped shut, and I tried to find my way out of the fog. I curled my hands into fists, and my nails—still sharpened at the tips—dug into my palms until blood dripped down them. The nefarious power didn’t want to release the wheel.
I’m taking back control now. It’s my turn to drive.
I pried its hands off the wheel and shoved the dark power into the back seat while I took over. A strangled gasp slipped out as the world snapped back into focus, and I stumbled into Fane while the room spun.
Oh, God. The things I did to Furic…
My stomach roiled as the taste of his fear, sweet like candy, still lingered on my tongue. Was that how the Infernal Sol caused whole villages to go insane? Did it feed off fears and torment people with them?
I was a fucking monster.
Fane wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me.
“Looks like Tatum is back.” Princess Venna chuckled.
The words she spoke a few moments ago clicked into place, and my blood solidified to ice in my veins. Fane had traded the Infernal Sol for this woman’s freedom from Heldrok, an Underworld prison.
Her eyes were so similar to the ones I’d watched the life fade from after brutally slamming that broken metal through his neck. Warin’s eyes.
“She’s your mother.”
His gaze finally met mine, and the anguish swirling in his yanked the air from my lungs.“Yes.”
Ruin had helped her escape prison in exchange for the Infernal Sol. That was what Fane had gotten out of the deal. That was why he’d saved me—his enemy—and condemned me with his shifter bite. And that was why he had to turn me over.
To save his mother.
“How do you feel about your youngest son shacking up with your oldest son’s killer, Kesandra?” Venna shook her head, tossing her platinum strands around her shoulders. “It’s disgusting if you ask me.”
As Kesandra studied me, heat swelled into my cheeks, and I tried to step away from Fane, but he wouldn’t let me go.
“What do you want, Venna?” Ruin pushed himself from the couch and stalked forward, holding his shoulders back while he gave the royal a look dripping with disdain. “Get on with this.”
Her crimson smile sent chills raking down my spine. “It’s simple, really. I just want a couple of trades.” She tilted her head at the gagged and bound Mykel sitting on the floor. “I would like my general back.”
Ruin looked at Dirgos as he guarded the massive dux demon. “Bring him to her.”
Dirgos shook his head, the moonlight catching on the row of horns running down the center of his skull. “Should have just let me kill him.” He grabbed the chains and hauled Mykel to his feet, shoving him toward the other side of the room where one of Venna’s sentries caught him.
Satisfaction brimmed in the royal’s eyes as she tapped the knife against Kesandra’s throat, a clear threat. “Heldrok has a few openings that need to be filled.”
Fane released me. “I know you want me, Venna, so give my mother to Logan, and I’ll come to you.”
Invisible claws of panic sliced me open, and I nearly doubled over. Fane whipped back to me, feeling exactly what I had.
“I don’t have a choice. I have to go.”
The demon shifter wasn’t thinking clearly, though. He wasn’t the only one the demon princess wanted.
“I can’t let you do this, Fane.” Kesandra shook her head, her bottom lip trembling. Her big blue eyes, long raven locks, delicate features, and even the scars made her look more like an ethereal fae creature than a demon. “You’ve already risked so much to get me out in the first place. I can’t let you go to Heldrok.”
