Page 111 of His Darkest Desire

A tendril of Flare’s ghostfire brushed Vex’s knuckles. “These ones have a place. A purpose. And friends. These ones are not alone, adrift in the night.”

Shade dipped their head toward Vex. “Nor are you, magus.”

“I…” A broken chuckle escaped Vex. He stared at the wisps, searching their flames. How could beings so small, seeming so simple, hold such depth and complexity in their hearts? “I fear I’ve been selfish. I’ve overlooked much. All these years, I’ve never asked your thoughts regarding our situation, never addressed your feelings. I simply assumed my anger was yours.”

Vex tugged his claws free of the wood and lifted his hands, cupping them beneath the wisps. Their ghostfire settled lightly on his palm.

“All this while, I’ve isolated myself in my anguish,” he said, stroking the edge of Shade’s flame with a thumb. “But never have I truly been alone. You three have remained steadfast through my dark moods, my rage, my despair. You have offered guidance and compassion even when I was undeserving of it.”

He touched his fingers to Flare, coaxing a brighter light from the little wisp. “And I do not believe I’ve ever thanked you. Not properly.”

“These ones have no need for thanks,” Flare replied.

“Mayhap not, but you deserve my eternal gratitude all the same. Without you three, I’d have lost myself to this curse long ago. Thank you. And I will be sure to say the same to Echo when next I see them.”

Flare curled their arms around Vex’s fingers. “These ones want only for you to know happiness, magus.”

Shade nuzzled Vex’s thumb. “And Kinsley has awoken within you a joy like these ones have not witnessed. The sight sparks warmth within. That is something the queen cannot steal away.”

Tension bled from Vex’s muscles, and the storm inside him abated. The answer to his rage, his bitterness, his grief, had been in front of him since the moment he’d first seen Kinsley in her carriage and something inside him had growled, Mine.

Kinsley could not make it all go away, could not make him forget, but she made it bearable. She made healing seem possible. She made living seem possible.

Vex hummed softly. “Had more folk recognized the wisdom of wisps, the world might well have been very different.”

“If the magus’s world is different, that is enough for these ones,” said Flare with a deep bow.

Smiling, Vex stepped back. His awareness expanded, and with clear eyes, he beheld the chaos he’d wrought. Seeing books scattered across the floor, their pages bent and torn, caused a pang of remorse in his chest, but it was the shelves that caught his attention. It was the shelves that made his heart sink into his stomach.

Without books, the shelves were desolate, robbed of their purpose. Only sorrow and loss lingered in the empty space—a jarring reminder of the richness and wonder they’d previously held.

It was an unsettling sight. It was…wrong.

It was a glimpse of life without Kinsley.

Vex swept his gaze across the chamber. He’d built this place. He’d shaped it with his hands and his magic over years, over decades, had crafted it from rubble and ruin. He’d always thought of it as his home, but only recently had it begun to feel like one.

He combed his fingers through his hair, drawing long, loose strands back from his face. The grazing of his claws across his scalp grounded him further.

Kinsley was the piece that had always been missing. She was the key—not to unlocking his curse, but his heart. She was the final word of a spell he’d unknowingly been chanting for most of his life.

“I’ve no need for freedom,” he said, “no need for release from this curse.” He turned about, and the cottage sprawled in his mind’s eye, each part crafted with care and thoughtfulness. But it was the wisps he settled his gaze upon, wishing Echo were present. “Everything I require is here.”

And everything he desired was just downstairs, in his bedchamber.

Kinsley was his mate. Her heartbeat was the sensual rhythm of his yearning. Her laughter was the song of his soul. Her passion was the wind that filled his wings, carrying him high into the night sky, where earthly matters held no importance.

This place, which Kinsley looked upon with such wonder, could be their home. It was not an eternity of damnation stretching before them, but of life. A shared life.

A happy life.

And would not their togetherness, their contentment, be the ultimate refutation of the queen’s victory? Despite all the suffering she had inflicted, all the power she’d mercilessly wielded, Vex had found his mate.

Here within a cursed realm, he’d found joy, wholeness, and purpose. What the queen had intended as unending punishment had become something wholly unforeseen, something pure. It had become a paradise for Vex and his mate.

A paradise he’d disrupted in his fury.

Frowning, Vex bent down and picked up a fallen book. Its pages were creased, its threading had loosened, and the cover was marred by gouges from his claws. He turned his head to glance back at the bare shelves.

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