Page 6 of The Darkness

He could clearly remember the shock ripping through him as he’d stood before her; speechless, unable to do anything but stare. He’d never wanted anything as much in his entire existence, and he’d been so used to taking what he wanted that he hadn’t thought twice about snatching her away.

They’d had three glorious months together, and she had come to love him. He was sure of it. Right up to the day she walked out without a word. He’d been angry, then hurt, and finally bitter, but those feelings were nothing compared to how he’d felt when her sister, Regan, turned up eight months later and presented him with his daughter, Raven.

Regan had refused to speak of Gina, just handed the baby to Darius and then told the Council of the prophecy made at Raven’s birth. It foretold that if either the Council or the fire-demons sacrificed his daughter on her twenty-first birthday, then they would gain a great victory over the other side. Kael had been furious, and he’d acted in anger, passing a sentence of death over the baby.

Darius had believed Gina knew all this, and his bitterness turned to rage, but still he’d wanted her.

He had taken his daughter and run, then spent the next fourteen years hiding from both sides. But after the fire-demons captured Raven, he had returned to the Council, knowing they were his only hope of finding his daughter. Kael, consumed with guilt over his earlier sentence of death on an innocent child, had agreed to help, and for years they’d searched, but it was only through Gina that they’d finally managed to find and save Raven. She’d fought back to back with him, and afterward she had disappeared. Again. That was a week ago.

But this time, when he’d gone hunting, he had found her.

Her tongue came out to lick her lips, and he almost reached for her again as heat coiled in his stomach. She swallowed, and his eyes riveted to her throat, where he could see her blood pulse so close to the surface, smell the sweetness of it.

“Would it make you feel better?” she asked, and her voice was soft and low.

His gaze flew to her face. “What?”

“If you kill me, will it lift the Darkness from you? Will you be as you were before we ever met?”

He imagined her dead, and pain ripped through him. She couldn’t die. He wouldn’t let her. She was his. “No!”

Shock flashed across her features, and she reached out a hand. Darius stepped back and turned away.

“Darius?”

He forced himself to turn back to her. There was some expression on her face. Pity. He didn’t want her pity.

“What?” he growled.

She flinched at his tone but didn’t back down. “I can do a spell,” she said.

“A spell? What sort of spell?”

“I can make it as though we never met. You will forget I ever existed.”

“No!” The word was torn from him.

“I would not want to forget you either.” They were both silent for a minute before she spoke again. “I didn’t know.”

“What didn’t you know?”

“About Raven and the prophecy. I didn’t even know she was alive. My sister told me our daughter died at birth. She lied to me.” He could hear the pain of betrayal in her voice and knew she spoke the truth.

“Where were you?” he asked. “I searched for you, but I couldn’t feel you anywhere.”

“I was banished to the Shadowlands.”

Shock washed over him. “I thought they were a myth.”

“No, the land where the souls of the dead gather before their final journey definitely exists.”

“Sounds like a fun place.”

“Oh yes,” she said. “I had fun there.” She shook her head. “At first it didn’t matter. After I left you, I was…” She shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad there. Before you came, I’d lived my whole life in isolation, with just my sisters and the occasional visitor who came to seek a vision of the future. It wasn’t much different.”

“Have I mentioned that I hate your sisters?”

“Once or twice,” she said, “but you don’t understand. They have a great responsibility. No,wehave a great responsibility. Anyway, Regan released me about five weeks ago.”

Darius frowned. “Why would she do that?”

“I don’t think she ever believed things would go so far. She couldn’t risk the fire-demons sacrificing Raven, but no one could find her. Regan hoped we would have a bond, and once free of the Shadowlands, I did sense our daughter. I felt her pain and knew she was alive.”

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