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Day by day.

“A while,” I answered. “It took a long time.”

I didn’t dare compare my previous companions with the relationship that Eli had with his twin brother Fynn.

My wives had each been different in indescribable ways. Each of them human, each of them fragile, yet they all held a different place in my heart.

Especially when each of them were slaughtered while I stood by and watched.

I hadn’t cared about any of them like I had cared about Jade.

Eli and Fynn had been inseparable since birth.

I could still hear Eli’s scream that day when he found Fynn dead on the battlefield.

“We’ll make them pay,” I said, not able to find any other words. “We’ll make them all pay for what they have taken from us.”

Eli placed his hand on my shoulder. It was the closest thing to comfort that any of my brothers had ever shown me. “I believe in you, Malachi. I know you’ll protect us. I know you’ll make them suffer for what they have done.”

“Thank you, Eli.”

He turned to leave, but stopped before opening the door. “Someone is here to see you. They’re waiting in your private dining room.”

And then he was gone.

I waited for a few moments, taking in the view of the sun setting in the distance, casting a red glow on everything beneath me.

This was my kingdom. My responsibility.

Eli was right. Together, we would make them pay.

We would make them all pay.

When I arrived in the dining room, I was greeted with a large hug. “Carlyle,” I breathed a sigh of relief that I was being greeted by a friend, not an enemy. “It’s nice to see you.”

Carlyle pulled away and clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s been too long, friend. I only wish we were coming together in better circumstances.”

I motioned to the table, and we both took a seat.

“When I heard you were being threatened by the Paragon…”

He didn’t have to finish the sentence. He knew just how brutal the wrath of the Paragon could be.

“Thank you for coming,” I said. “After everything my father did, I wasn’t expecting much.”

Carlyle nodded, words unsaid passed between us.

When I first met Carlyle, I was on strict orders from my father. My father wanted what he always wanted—power. It didn’t take me more than a few minutes with Carlyle, though, to understand that he wasn’t the monster my father had tried to convince me he was.

Carlyle was a kind man and a gracious leader. I didn’t kill him that day, like my father ordered.

Instead, Carlyle and I became allies.

And it appeared as though he was returning the favor.

“I’ve brought my best men, but I hope for your wife’s sake you have a plan on how you’re going to take on the Paragon. They’re the Paragon for a reason, and it’s not because they are weak or easily defeated.”

“Trust me, I know. But at the end of the day, everyone has a weakness. I just need to find theirs.”