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“I think we are a good match.”

“If you think fire and oil are a good match.”

“Exactly. Together, we could burn the world down if we wanted to.”

I let my fingers drift below the surface of the water. Eryx is staring at me too intently. I need something else to do.

“What if I don’t want to burn down the world? What if all I want is my quiet country life?”

“Then I’ll burn anyone who tries to take it away from you.”

I arch a brow. “And would you be content with a quiet country life?”

“These last few months are the happiest I have ever been.”

“Because you’ve been murdering noblemen and generals?”

“Does that bother you? The fact that I’ve murdered?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m hardly a saint. More than that, though, the first time I met you, I saw something I recognized. I understand a willingness to do whatever it takes to get what you need to survive. There’s something about you that draws me in. I don’t care what you’ve done.”

CHAPTER 23

I don’t care what you’ve done.

I watch as Eryx processes those words. They settle about him, like a coat that fits just right.

“Are you ready to hear the whole of it, then?”

“I’ve been ready since I first realized you weren’t quite human.”

I rest my hands in my lap and wait. Yet Eryx hesitates.

“If I were to report you to anyone, I would have done it by now.”

“It’s not that. I think you might see me differently after this.”

“That’s not possible. Trust me.” The words taste like poison as they drip from my lips.

He stares at me until his eyes turn amber. Then says, “I do.”

Damn, but guilt is a pesky companion for me today. I wish it were something I could swat away, like an errant bug. But I have to settle for mentally tamping it down.

Eryx takes a deep breath. “My mother was in love with the late Shadow King.”

I allow an expression of surprise to cross my face, even though I know this already from what the investigator has shared with me. “She thought she would be the one to encourage him to give up his shadows.You see, the king’s power is reliant on the lack of touch. So long as he does not allow himself to touch another person, he is immortal and invulnerable, but the moment he allows himself skin-to-skin contact with an individual, his shadows will no longer keep him incorporeal around that person. He is mortal around those he touches. He will start to age as we do. It is only for the greatest, most ardent of loves that the Shadow Kings of the past have given up their powers.”

My skin starts to heat. Is that what my sister has with the current Shadow King? A love that transcends power? I don’t think such a thing can exist.

“But he didn’t choose her,” Eryx continues. “No, he chose the late queen, and my mother didn’t take it well. No, that’s not right. She wasdestroyedby the rejection. She loved him so much, and when he sent her away, that love turned into an even more powerful hatred. She wanted revenge for her broken heart. And that’s how she had me.”

I know there’s more to it than that, so I wait, patiently, my heart pounding to finally be receiving some real answers.

“Her hatred grew to such depths that she attracted the attention of a demon, a different one than that which granted powers to the Maheras line.”