The Darkest Craving

“I’ll let Kane decide what to do with you.” She reached through the bars and cupped her sister’s cheeks. “You need help. I don’t know who you are without the demon, and maybe you don’t, either, but it ispossible to fight the demon’s whims.”

Tears cascaded from the corners of Synda’s eyes. “I know. I just don’t know how to do that.”

“Talk to Kane. He may not like you at first, but if you’re honest with him, if you’re sincere about wanting help, he’ll come around. Goodbye, Synda.” With that, Josephina released her and walked to her brother’s cell.

He was sitting in the corner, close to the bars, and facing her. His knees were drawn up, and his head propped against the wall.

“You look well,” he said.

She ignored the compliment, saying, “You aren’t going to beg me to free you?”

“Why should I? For the first time, I’m not looking over my shoulder, expecting death.”

“Oh, please.” He’d had the pampered, privileged life she’d always envied.

“It’s true, Josephina. Every day I expected death to come for me.”

“I don’t see why...unless you treated other girls the way you treated me. You should have been my friend.”

He shrugged. “I wanted to be more. I still do.”

“You’re my brother.”

“I’m not.”

She frowned. “Of course you are.”

He laughed bitterly. “You think you were the only child born out of wedlock? You think the king was the only one to have affairs in the years of his marriage? He let me know in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t his child, I was the queen’s, but that he was keeping me because he needed an heir.”

She...actually believed him, little facts sitting up in her mind. He looked nothing like Tiberius and never had. The king had always been distant with him. Had always chosen Synda over him. Why had she never suspected?

Shock rattled her knees. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Had anyone found out, I would have been killed.” Another bitter laugh. “Actually, if any of his women had ever had a boy, I would have been killed. I lived day by day. I knew you understood that, and thought it bonded us.”

It would have. If she’d known. “I would have kept your secret, if only you’d been my friend. I needed your support, not your lust.”

He traced a symbol on the floor. “Does your...husband treat you well?”

“He does.”

“And you like him?”

“I love him.”

Sadness darkened his features. “If you ever want him killed, come see me. I’ll take care of it for you.”

She stood there for a moment, thinking about what could have been between them. Not romance. Never that, even without the blood tie. But companionship. Affection. Support. “Tell Kane what you told me. I’m not sure he’ll show you mercy. You forced your attentions on me, after all, but he might let you live. A part of me likes the thought of you finally finding peace.”

He smiled sadly. “I never would have forced you, you know. I just wanted the chance to prove how good we could be, despite what you believed about us.”

Maybe it was naive of her, but she believed that, too. “Goodbye, Leopold.”

He shouted as she walked away, his voice dripping with concern— that sounded like a permanent goodbye, Josephina—but she kept going.

Back in her bedroom, she found Kane sleeping soundly on the bed. She reached out and removed the ring from his finger, the key to his future, then smoothed her hands over his brow, the need to touch him too strong to ignore. He leaned into her, his lips curling at the corners.

Goodbye, my love.

As if he’d heard the heart-wrenching cry inside her, he cracked open his eyelids. “Tink. Get back in bed, sweetheart. Let me hold you.”

“Sleep, darling,” she said.

“Hmm.”

To ensure he stayed down, she used the same move he’d used on her, squeezing his carotid until he returned to his dreams.

Then, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, closed her eyes and drew the darkness out of him and into her, just like she’d done that night in the forest. Before, the demon had entered her with a vengeance. This time, he was too weak to scream obscenities. He was merely a heavy weight inside her, a presence in the back of her mind.

She released Kane the moment she knew the demon was with her, not wanting to take his strength, too.

His features smoothed out, and he smiled again, so peaceful her chest ached. He must have sensed, on some level, that he was now alone.

No question, she’d made the right decision.

“I love you,” she said, and kissed his temple. “Never forget.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

KANE AWOKE AS sunlight poured through the open curtains. He sat up with a jolt.

Morning.

He jumped out of bed, then cringed, hoping his abruptness hadn’t woken Tink. But she wasn’t in the bed, he realized. He quickly dressed and left the room. She was probably in the breakfast nook.

It was better this way, he thought. He’d already said goodbye the only way he could. If he were to see her now, he might change his mind. He might break down and cry. If he told her the truth—and she would insist on the truth, and he would give it because he was unable to deny her anything—she would try and stop him. He might let her. Anything for more time with her.

To avoid the guards and servants, he used the secret passageway to get to the garden, and why was his torso burning? He stopped long enough to look under his clothes, and blinked. The butterfly tattoo had faded significantly. Because the demon was dying?

In the warmth and light of the new day, he felt strangely calm and burden free, considering he was about to die. He felt...lighter.

When he turned the corner, he saw Malcolm and Tink standing several yards away. Shock stopped him in his tracks.

“—the ring, just like you wanted,” Tink said, placing something in the warrior’s hand.

Malcolm looked down at her. “As thrilled as I am to have it, my deal was with Kane.”

“And now it’s with me. I absorbed the demon and now carry him in mybody.”

The Sent One frowned. “You don’t look as if you carry the demon.”

“That’s because he’s too weak to cause any trouble.”

The conversation confused Kane. He fingered the ring on his—bare skin, he realized. The ring was gone.

Dread slithered through him.

“Without the demon, Kane is going to die, anyway,” Malcolm said. “Why should I help you achieve the same fate?”

“He’s going to... No! I won’t believe that.”

“Nevertheless, it’s true.”

“But...but....” She went still, as if she couldn’t even bare to breathe. “He never experienced the life he dreamed of...a life free of Disaster. He should know how it feels to be at peace before he dies, and I can give him that chance, even if only for a little while.”

“And you’re willing to give your life for that chance? Take a moment. Think about this. Once it’s done, it ca

“I have thought about it. I want to do it here, now.”

Malcolm nodded. “Very well. My bargain is now with you.” He held out his hand and a sword of fire appeared.

In that moment, a sickening realization dawned. Tink had taken the ring, and she’d taken the demon, and she now pla

She was going to die in his stead, simply to give him a few days, maybe a few weeks, without the demon.

“No!” Kane screamed. “No! Don’t you dare!”

But it was too late.

Malcolm had already been in the process of striking. The fire pierced her chest, and her scream of pain shattered every corridor of his heart.

“No!” he cried. “No!”

The sword slid out of her and Kane saw a gap the size of his fist.

Tink collapsed. And Malcolm vanished.

Kane dropped to his knees and roared up at the sky.

* * *

IN A DAZE, when the shock of what he’d witnessed had worn off, but not the horror, never the horror, Kane crawled to his wife, gathered her in his arms and cradled her precious body against his chest. He held her for what seemed an eternity, but it couldn’t have been more than an hour.