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I catch another glimpse of myself—my golden dusting of scales, my sharpened fingernails … my wings.

Suddenly, I can’t look at Des.

I’m monstrous. Not a woman, not anymore.

Des’s hands leave me. He stands, and the atmosphere of the room feels suddenly ominous. I turn my head just in time to see the Bargainer approaching Karnon.

“You know it’s breaking the most sacred law of hospitality to attack a king within his own castle,” Karnon says, backing up.

The Bargainer doesn’t bother responding. He is the embodiment of wrath. I can see it building beneath his skin, burning in his eyes. A bottomless abyss of it.

It reminds me of Karnon’s cold gaze …

But my mate is so calm. All of that fury is contained within him as he moves, and it only serves to make him appear all the more menacing.

“I never imagined you’d go for a slave. But weak attracts weak …” Karnon taunts, trying to get a rise out of Des even as he begins to back away.

The reaction never comes. The Bargainer continues stalking after Karnon with the same steady, coiled rage as before, his face set in uncompromising lines.

“Though I did enjoy her moans …”

And still, Des doesn’t react.

Karnon growls, clearly growing impatient. Suddenly, and without warning, he swipes his hand through the air. I feel the magic brush by me, and too late I let out a thin cry, remembering those guards Karnon disemboweled days ago.

Des doesn’t even try to block the attack. I see cloth and skin split in four jagged claw marks across his stomach, and his blood begins to spill.

“No,” I croak out weakly, beginning to drag myself across the floor.

The Bargainer’s face is still a mask of anger. And as I watch, I see his wounds begin to stitch themselves up. I feel his magic building and building; it thickens the air as it fills the room.

Des is all darkness. It gathers around him, dimming the room. Bit by bit, the shadows snuff out the lights. His face is as sinister as I’ve ever seen it. Even Karnon looks a little unsure at this point, taking a stumbling step backwards.

The shadows sweep over the room, blanketing me and everything else until the room is black as pitch.

“You think I cannot see in the dark?” the Fauna King says.

It’s quiet.

Then—

“I am the dark.”

Des’s power detonates, blasting through the room, whipping my hair back.

Had I thought that Karnon’s was staggering? It’s nothing—nothing—next to the fury and sheer strength of the magic that moves through me. Warm liquid sprays against me, splattering against my hair, my face. I taste the coppery tang of it on my lips.

Blood.

Whose?

With a deafening shriek, the walls and ceiling explode outwards, bits of marble and plaster scattering to the four winds, the building essentially vaporized.

And then it’s over.

The darkness recedes, and when it does, the first thing I see under the dim twilight sky is … meat. Meat—and bits of bone smeared across the room.

That’s all that’s left of Karnon.