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“You went to bed with one man, and woke with another. Howveryconfusing,” he says.

I’m not awake.It’s on the tip of my tongue, but then I hesitate.

I get the uncanny feeling that this is what I’m supposed to say. That the Thief has our entire interaction choreographed, and it’s all a part of our little game.

Only, I no longer want to play.

I’m done revolting, done being scared, done acting according to some pre-ordained script.

Rather than responding, I squint at our surroundings.

From horizon to horizon it’s endless golden fields rippling under a painfully blue sky. The sifting sounds of wind sing through the wheat.

“How do you choose where we meet?” I ask.

His hair stirs as he answers, “Whatever pleases me in the moment, that’s what I choose.”

As my eyes take in that sharp blue sky, clouds begin to roll on the horizon. They move unnaturally swift, gathering on each other.

The Thief of Souls can build dreamscapes and wear the faces of the dead. Two staggering powers.

The clouds darken like bruises until they’ve shadowed the land. The sky splits open above us, and the heavens unleash. Lightning flashes and thunder booms.

Rain pelts down on me, and the wind lashes against my body, whipping my hair about. I feel like I’m at the center of some terrible vortex, and the magnitude of it all is dizzyingly beautiful.

“Does it frighten you?” the Thief asks. He watches me carefully, the wind and rain tearing at him.

No.

I turn to him, my wet hair slapping at my skin. “Do you want it to?”

An enigmatic smile crosses his face and his eyes flash alongside the lightning.

Just as swiftly as the storm moves in, it retreats. The rain stops, the sky clears, and the sun peeks out again.

“I think you have better things to fear from me.” He begins to circle me. “Things worse than death.”

I remember Karnon’s prison, the women shackled in iron, raped by the Thief, slowly losing themselves to his dark magic. I think of the soldier I interviewed.

It’s dark here. Very dark.

I want to rest. Why can’t I rest?

He comes back to my front. “I will never leave you alone, enchantress. Never. Banish the hope if you have it. You cannot ever escape my clutches. Not even in death.”

I search his dark eyes. “What have I done?”

Is it being a siren? Is it as simple and as shallow as pretty skin molded over pretty bones? Or is it something more specific to me? Something that went wrong long ago?

There’s a part of me, a long dormant part of me, that’s awakening. It should’ve been pulled free back in high school, when my powers blossomed, or when Karnon altered me, or even when Des fed me the lilac wine, but it wasn’t.

It didn’t happen then, but I can feel it now, some long buried strength upwelling from deep within me.

The Thief tilts his head. “What have you done?” he echoes. “You haveenlivenedme. You make me feel the blood rushing through my veins.” He steps in close. “You havearousedme. Dirty human, beautiful woman, unlikely enchantress. You have caught my attention, and I will enjoy you for a time.”

I’m not going to escape him.

This is the one simple truth I’d been denying for so long, and now I face it.