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If you can’t see that all you do is damage everyone around you, then I will keep reminding you until you believe it.

He ground his teeth against the voice in his mind. Cassius’s voice repeating those words. He’d saved the other memories. Smoking mugweed on a balcony at the Black Halls. Stealing that stupid mirror from Sawyer’s cabin on the ships. Helping Cassius expel his magic when they first arrived in Avonleya. The sparring ring the first time Cassius had kissed him.

“Do not forget our bargain, Fire Fae,” Gehenna called, pulling him from his thoughts.

“How could I?” he gritted out, pulling up the sleeve of his grungy tunic. Wrapping around his upper bicep ran a Bargain Mark, blood red against his skin. The Mark was three winding ropes. Three sacrifices to keep his memories pure. One of blood. One of betrayal. One of time.

“Will they want you back? Once they know what you have given me?” she asked curiously.

And the fact that he paused to consider his answer told him enough. The Sorceress had fundamentally broken something in his soul. Something that had always been fractured. Something he’d always barely held together.

“Yes,” he finally answered. The word did not hold any conviction. He said it because he knew it was the right answer, not because he believed it.

She hummed an acknowledgment, her pacing becoming more erratic. “You get to leave while I stay locked away.”

“Sounds like you’ll be free soon enough, Gehenna,” he muttered.

“Not soon enough,” she snapped. “I have been in here for centuries, pretty Fire Fae.”

“You did try to help the Maraans take over this world, so I can’t really blame them,” he offered.

“I was not helping the Maraans,” she snarled, fingers pulling at her lank black strands. “Achaz sent me.”

“To aid the Maraans.”

“To further his own plans, not those of the Maraans,” she spat.

Cyrus didn’t say anything else. He didn’t want to agitate her any further.

Gehenna whirled to him again, gripping the bars and pressing her face to them. “Do not forget what is required of you, Fae of Fire. Do not forget what the consequences will be for breaking your deal with me.”

“I won’t,” he answered. “I can’t.”

“Good.”

And she pulled him into another nightmare.

Chapter13

Talwyn

Talwyn had just finished the small tray of breakfast food when she heard the door at the top of the stairs open again. She knew it was morning. Could Az really be back already?

No one else had come to see her yesterday. Only the guards that brought her food and water and changed out the waste bucket. It had just been her and her thoughts, Azrael’s parting words rattling around in her skull for hours on end.

Setting the tray aside, Talwyn brushed her hands off on her pants. She’d managed to braid her hair into a plait, hissing and cursing at the sting of the shackles the entire time. She had been anxious for Azrael to return, eager to hear a report on Ashtine. Maybe, just maybe, he would bring her with him to see her. Her heart rate picked up in anticipation, and it was odd. It was a feeling she could never really recall having before. But it was not Azrael or Ashtine who stepped into view.

It was Sorin.

She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes locked on his. There was something wrong. They weren’t as bright as she remembered them being. Had she done that to him? She couldn’t move. She could scarcely breathe. He had stopped Scarlett from taking her life, but he had not said one word to her. Not that she blamed him. He had been trying to calm Scarlett down, all of his attention fixed on his wife and twin flame. Why had he come here now?

He smiled. A small sad thing. “Hello, Talwyn.”

Her mouth was too dry. She couldn’t form words. She didn’t know what to say to him. She didn’t know how anything she could say would make up for nearly killing him, but she blurted, “I am sorry,” as if that would mean anything.

Some deep understanding shone in his muted amber eyes. “As am I.” He dipped his hand into the pocket of his black pants, pulling out a key.

“What are you doing?” she breathed.