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“Ava, I’m not going to make you have my baby. I’m sorry—” My voice breaks. “I wasn’t?—”

“It’s okay. I doubt one time will get me pregnant, and…I was willing to do it. For you.”

Her words shatter something in me. Not out of pain, but reverence. I bury my face in her neck and breathe her in, like she’s oxygen, like she’s absolution.

She doesn’t even know what she is.

Not a sacrifice. Not a doll.

A light in the dark. The world made of flesh.

I’ve never worshipped anything in my life. Until now.

40

Damian

The Sacred Light just arrived for the solstice ceremony, and Kane is with him.

I shouldn’t be so uneasy. One benefit of the dinner in Jackson Hole is that I now know Gabriel Wolfe has much bigger plans than making his son the Prior of Thornecroft.

And yet I can’t seem to shake the thought that she’ll be taken from me.

Solstice is tonight. After it’s over, my power will be solidified, and she’ll be mine. There will be no reason to plot to take her from me then.

I just have to get through the next twelve hours.

The heavy door groans open, and two men drag Kane inside the basement office. His hands are bound, and his eyes still carry the faintest gray tint from the beating I gave him over a month ago.

And still, he smirks.

I smile back. “I hope you enjoy your cell. It’ll be your hangout until the bedding is over.”

“Should I tell my new dad? I don’t think he’ll like it.”

“It doesn’t matter if the Sacred Light likes it or not. Thornecroft is my domain.”

His green eyes grow hooded. “Assuming everything goes according to plan.”

I don’t move. Don’t even blink. I can’t let him see the anxiety fizzing through my veins.

He isn’t planning anything. There’s no way he could have communicated with his dad from the Sacred Light’s compound.

And if heisplanning something with Gabriel, only an absolute dumb shit would hint at it.

But this is Kane.

He’s not rational.

I push my chair back, stand, and round the table with slow steps. I don’t stop until I’m inches away from Kane. “If you disappeared, I doubt your dad would alter his plans. Whatever they are. There are many roads to power.”

For the first time, the amusement in Kane’s eyes dims just a fraction. I hold his gaze for another moment and then glance at the men holding him. “Take him.”

Kane doesn’t fight as they drag him toward the corridor, but just before the door swings shut, he laughs under his breath. “You still think you’re his favorite. You’ll see, won’t you?”

A cold ripple runs down my spine.

What the fuck does that mean?