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November 9, 2030

T horn growled as he felt his control slipping. There was no light or sound other than the fierce beating of his heart. Everything here was torture. Especially the darkness that seemed to infiltrate every part of his being.

He was losing his mind, and he didn’t know how to fight this.

Damn you, Paimon!

How could he have let his guard slip?

I underestimated him . Not his powers. Paimon’s viciousness. It was arrogance really. He’d correctly thought of Paimon as a parasite. His problem was that he forgot how destructive something as innocuous as a parasite could be.

The smallest thing could be lethal, especially when you turned your back on it.

Effing weasel.

Now he was trapped in a dismal ten-by-ten room with no window. No furniture.

No light.

Nothing except his thoughts. That was a dangerous combination. All his regrets were first and foremost. Every nasty moment of his life played out in his mind.

All there to torment him.

Time was terrifying when there were no distractions. All those would haves , could haves and should haves . They were the worst tormentors of mankind.

And especially demons.

His mind spun with every mistake he’d ever made. The greatest mistake being that he hadn’t helped raise his sons. That Cadegan still didn’t know he was his father.

And that E.T. was rebellious because he knew Thorn had fathered him. It made his youngest bitter and resentful. Angry. At least, as his brother, Cadegan had forgiven him and held not grudges.

No, he decided.

His biggest mistake was Simi. Why had he never told her how he really felt? How much he loved her. They’d lost all this time together where they could have been happy.

And for what?

“Enough!” he roared, wanting all those recriminations to stop. “Let me out of here!”

As expected, nothing happened. No one answered.

This had to be one of the lowest pits of his father’s dungeon. Why he’d been trapped here, he had no idea. Was it his father’s plan?

Azura’s twisted madness? Or had Paimon done this on his own? They wanted to make him crazy, and it was working.

Calm down. Don’t let him win.

Easier said than done. Thorn was surrounded by shadows. He should be able to reach through them and find his allies or friends.

“Where are you, Shadow? Why won’t you answer me?”

But again, no one responded. It was as if the entire universe had ceased to exist.

For the first time in his life, he was absolutely alone.

Like Cadegan. Was this his punishment for sending his child to a realm that had been a nightmare for centuries?

The guilt of that alone was enough to justify his being here.

Maybe this was justice.

Maybe I deserve it.

No, he definitely deserved it for what he’d done to Cadegan. One act of stupidity. He should have had more faith.

I should have been a better father.

Regret was the hardest thing to live with. So many things he should have done differently. He needed to make amends.

What if I’m stuck here and never have the chance to apologize?

To tell Simi that he loved her.

Actually, that wasn’t an if. He was definitely stuck, and he had no way out.

He wanted to scream in frustration. Wanted to kill everyone involved. But that was most likely why he was here. What they were trying to do.

Turn him into the weapon he’d been born to be. A weapon that had no mind and no conscience.

One that would destroy the entire world.