Does she have any idea what her acceptance does to me? I don’t deserve it, but my darkness pulses each time she does.
“Then we met the brothers,” I say, and her irises darken.
“Over time, our names had… spread. Our games, our indulgences, angered some powerful beings. The Council were called upon to intervene, and they sent two enforcers to… persuade us.”
“What happened?” she blurts, eyes wider.
When I raise the fork again, she snatches it from me, takes a bite, then twirls it in the air, an impatient order to continue. I fight off another smile.
“We fought,” I explain simply, unembellished, letting the understatement hang.
My lips twitch as her mouth falls open. She quickly shuts it, but not before I catch something darker beneath her shock.
Intrigue.
As though she’s imagining it. The four of us together. Fighting.
And she likes it.
“That moment was the most alive I’d ever felt. It wasn’t just a fight, it was a battle between shadows. We matched eachother blow for blow until we fell into the Dark Realm, together. And that’s when everything shifted.”
“Your darknesses called to one another,” she breathes, like she was there. Her voice urging my beast to pull her closer.
“Yes,” I murmur. “We heard each other.”
“And how didthatgo down?”
“There’s too much to say in one sitting but… Kane was adamant it was a lie.”
She huffs a laugh, smirking. She’s irresistible like this, unguarded.
“He blocked us out, refused to listen, he was furious. Sound somewhat familiar?” I smile.
She sighs, pressing a hand to her temple, smiling back sadly.
“But Sai and I, we were curious. I especially. I’d lived many centuries and never felt that kind of connection. We decided to return with them to their district. Sai mocked them endlessly at first, especially Ezekial—kept asking why he helped others when no one had ever helped them. And Kane…” I chuckle softly. “Kane wanted nothing to do with us.”
Her brows furrow. “What changed?”
“Rumours. There were whispers from the Fae Realm of The Order, the Green Cloaks, returning. Something was happening there, something Sai couldn’t ignore.”
Her brows shoot up, mouth parting in shock. “How long ago was this?”
I study her, every flicker of emotion across her features is as captivating as the last. “Almost a hundred years.”
She nods, swallowing as she considers my words, then adds in a spluttered voice, “Sai—Sai—isovera hundred years old?”
I can’t decipher which piece of information shocks her more.
“Approximately one hundred and fifty, but he doesn’t remember his exact date of birth—”
She makes a choked noise, and I freeze, until I realise she’s not actually choking, just… stunned.
Her head shakes slowly, a curl swaying by her cheek, her brows drawn together as she stares past me. “I knew he was a hundred, I knew that, but he’s a hundredandfifty? There’s anandin his age?”
“From my estimates…”
“He could be evenolder? But—but how can someone that old be like… Sai?”
