Page 117 of Possession

But then, is his voice.

“Mary.”

Like a marionette pulled taut by its strings, a dog yanked on its leash, I’m forced to attention. My entire body chills, hair raising on my arm as the temperature of the hall drops in a matter of seconds.

He’s here. Of course he’s here. He’s behind everything, so why not this, too?

I want to scream and attack him with everything I’ve got. I want to destroy him the way he’s destroyed me, the way he ruined everything for me. But I’ve learned a valuable lesson, one I’ve always known in some way: there is no running from him. There is no fighting him. There is only facing him.

So, I turn around.

Chapter twenty-seven

There he is, just as he is in my dreams, but here, he’s more. Of everything.

I try to compose myself, but I’m shaking, and my legs strain from the urge to fall to my knees. Henry’s betrayal was only the first layer. Behind it, deeper and just as gut-wrenching, is Aris. He allowed Henry to trick me—encouraged it, even. He hid in the skin of someone I loved and forced him to pretend to love me back. What could be worse than that?

“Don’t cry.” His voice is lyrical and fierce both, and he speaks softly.

It’s not what I was expecting him to say, or how I was expecting him to say it, but my shock gives way to revulsion when he reaches for me. I jerk back like I’ve been struck. “Don’t touch me.”

His jaw sets, but he takes a step back anyway, putting his hands behind his back. He’s a smear of darkness in this well-lit hallway of legacy portraits and sculptures. Even as a man, groomed and in a fine outfit, he is a creature of claws and fangs. Utterly unnatural.

Aris studies me, watches me process my hate. Says nothing.

“What is this? Why are you here?” I ask. I’m proud of myself for keeping my voice so level and calm. Inside, I am a ball of rage that wants nothing more than to scream until I run out of air.

“Don’t you remember?” he says. “I told the wizard I would destroy his order, and I have returned to do just that.”

I scoff. “You can’t kill everyone.”

“Why not?”

As if to prove his point, and on que, a cry sounds from a nearby room. It’s a surprised sound that gives way to pleading. All too soon, there’s no noise at all, and my heart drops.

Who was it, I wonder, a student—bright-eyed and excited to learn the tricks of the world? Was it a white-bearded mage with grandchildren and hobbies and maybe a pet or two? Someone was ripped from this world. Who will feed the dogs or tell the boy’s family he’s not coming home?

I shut my eyes and take a breath. This is what Aris wants. He wants to see me broken and destroyed. I will not give him that. But it is so hard to rein myself; I am slightly hysterical, almost hyperventilating from my grief.

“Why not?” asks Aris.

“Because they’re—” I rub my face, at my sweat and tears. The thought of reminding Aris about the basics of morality is too much; I am too tired and sad. “They’re innocent.”

“Are you really defending them? Do you not remember what they did to you, how they took you from the sun?”

I scoff. “Don’t pretend that you’re doing this for me.”

“I’m doing it for us.”

Us?

I don’t know what nasty thing to say first, or should I just laugh in his face?

“I don’t understand,” I finally manage. “None of this makes sense. Why?”

“Care to elaborate?

“Why go into Henry? Why stay in him?”

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