Page 27

“I am getting to that part,” the Sorceress hissed. “They put limits on the powers of the Legacy, and they made them dependent on others to maintain that power.”

He knew this story, knew how the Fae came into being, but if she was talking, he wasn’t suffering, so he let her continue.

“Together with the Witch Goddesses, the Fae were created and given their gifts in gratitude for agreeing to watch over and aid their children. But their gifts were not the only thing they gave to the Fae.”

Cyrus opened his eyes at that, dipping his chin to see the Sorceress better. The faint smirk on her lips told him whatever she was about to say wasn’t going to be good. If he’d thought a story would give him a reprieve from her torture, he was clearly mistaken. He sucked in a sharp breath, waiting for her to continue.

“They were given twin flames.”

He released the breath in a rush. But he did so too soon.

“The twin flame bond was agiftto both the Fae and the Legacy. A bond ofloveto link the two together. Some found it a blessing, others a curse.”

But that meant—

“Thia was Fae.”

“Was she?” the Sorceress asked, that faint smirk growing wider.

“Yes,” he said firmly.

“Then she was not your twin flame.”

“The bond was Anointed. If she had not been my twin flame, the Anointing would have failed,” he gritted out.

“Then she was not Fae,” Gehenna sang lightly.

“Stop,” he hissed. “You are lying.”

He refused to let her take this from him. She could take his good memories and alter them. She could trap him in his nightmares and make him relive them over and over again, but not this. Even if she ruined every memory he had, he could still cling to the fact that he had once had a twin flame. Had once known love on such a deep level, there were no words in any language to describe it.

The Sorceress clicked her tongue at him. “I have not lied to you once, Son of Fire. Why would I start now? What do I have to gain from it?”

“I do not believe you,” he said, trying to steady his breathing.

“You need a Source, Cass. For all the reasons Cethin said and more. Scarlett is worried. We’re all worried. If you don’t want it to be me, fine, but we need to find you one.”

Cassius ran a hand down his face. “Can we talk about this later? I just need some time to think.”

“So think with me,” Cyrus said, moving to the small sofa against the wall and sinking down onto it.

Cassius sighed, settling back down at the desk without another word. But he didn’t tell Cyrus to leave, which meant he’d eventually say something. Cyrus just needed to wait for it.

When he finally did speak a half-hour later, it was certainly not what he was expecting him to say.

“You know you never deserved a twin flame, right?”

Cyrus had been absent-mindedly tossing a ball of fire into the air and catching it. At Cassius’s words, he dropped the damn thing, singeing the rug beneath his feet before he could put it out. He cursed under his breath.

“You’re probably right,” he replied thickly, prodding at the burn mark with the toe of his boot. “But we don’t get to choose what we deserve. We only get to make the best out of what the Fates decide we get.”

“Maybe,” Cassius mused, and Cyrus heard him shift in his chair. “But you have to realize they made a mistake by giving you a twin flame, especially after how things ended with Merrik.”

Something was wrong. This was…wrong. Cassius would never say something like this to him.

But he had told him to leave.

Cassius pushed to his feet, crossing the room in a few long strides. He stood over him, forcing Cyrus to tilt his head back to look up at him. “You call me self-sacrificing, but you? You just keep taking and taking from people because you think you are deserving of it.”