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I knew how bad it was. I knew how awful I looked, how despicable what I’d done was, but I wouldn’t stop. Until I knew where my wife and children were, until I found all the par animarum, I wouldn’t stop.

They’d blocked me from the truth in their minds, but I would find out what happened to them. I would bring them back. I only had a few thousand years before the maalaichte cnihme returned, and I needed Véa to be prepared. I neededallthe par animarum to be prepared.

We’d all die if they weren’t.

At least, that’s what I told Dem to justify my actions. It wasn’t why I’d done it. I’d done this because I wanted my family back. No, I didn’t want to fail when the maalaichte cnihme revisited, but I was at the point of no return. I didn’t care anymore about anything but my wife and my children.

When Dem searched their minds, he found nothing.

Virtuallynothing.

“It’s a spell, lad,” he’d explained. “Or rather, a series of them. I dinnae ken how many, but they’re blockingeverythingabout the par animarum from their thoughts. I can’t see a single memory of any of ‘em.”

So I’d gotten to work with Heylel and Alastair. My abilities over spell casting were Elvan, while those two practiced the same magic the boys did.

Together, we tried. We tried every reversal spell, every truth spell, every spell we could possibly imagine.

None of them worked.

So I resumed torture.

I got more creative as time went on. I starved them for a while. When they accepted their starvation, just as the hunger would dissipate, I force fed them. Then I starved them again.

The beatings Medica and I gave them eventually became more of an outlet for our anger than a method for interrogation.

Months passed and the process continued. We had no plans on stopping until we had the information we needed, but throughout them, as the months turned to quarters, and then to years, it was almost like we forgot why we were doing it.

We wouldn’t kill them, not until they told us. None of them did, and they didn’t suggest a deal either. No one said,Swear you’ll let us go, and we’ll tell you what you want to know.

I wasn’t sure how they withstood it. I had to give them credit, I supposed, because no matter how miserable we made them, no matter how close we took them to Death’s door, they held on. I wasn’t sure if they were holding onto their will to live, or if they were holding on because they knew that when they told us, we’d kill them.

But they wouldn’t break, and we wouldn’t stop.

Throughout that time, more Angels invaded the Land of Light. They wanted their king. They wanted theirgod.

That was what they began to call Michael. Their god.

Ironically enough, the more the Angels used that word, the more the Fae did. The Angels said their god was Michael. The Fae said a ‘chraobh, my wife, and the par animarum were theirs.

And like Michael’s army fought for him, the Fae fought for us.

Queen Iliantha’s army knew what Medica and I were doing in that prison, and they supported it. This was to bring back their Great Mother, Véa. This was to bring back their Mother of Death, Hana. This was to bring back their Mother of Elves, Elira.

They had titles for us all.

On the rare occasion that I walked the street, they called me the God of Darkness. I wasn’t sure if it was because the masses knew what I was doing to my nephews in that prison, or if it was because I had power over death and the abyss.

But the name was fitting enough.

One way or the other, despite putting them at risk by bringing the archangels here, despite the battles fought daily as the Angel armies tried to regain their leaders, these people supported our fight in finding their gods.

I wouldn’t have given up in any scenario, but their support made sleeping at night easier after the things I’d done when the sun was high.

We were not cruel creatures by nature, but a thousand years ago, we were edged into a corner. The only way to survive was to be as brutal as our enemy.

CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE

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