He didn’t deny it. My heart stuttered, skipping a beat.
“Harvest is immortal,” I said slowly. “Why does it matter if he gets close to you?”
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Because I can take back what was given.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“His immortality,” Luke said, voice low, measured. “It comes from me.”
So, he could have stopped Harvest long ago?
Was that what he was saying?
My chest tightened painfully.
Wanting the Devil—and knowing he’d let the world burn anyway—was a damning thing. It should’ve been easy to hate him. But all I had to do waslookat him.
That strange, shifting complexion beneath his skin—like molten shadow. Those blood-red eyes that brightened with emotion whenever they landed on me. The twist of his lips, cruel and soft all at once. I wanted to hear something sweet from them. Just once.
Even the horns—and Hades, yes, even thetail—were growing on me.
His shoulders, that broad back, looked like they were made to carry me. Those large, clawed hands weren’t weapons. Instead, they were catchers. Holders. The kind that would keep me from falling. And those thick thighs?I knew what they were for. They were a throne—forme, when I curled into his lap and told him about my day.
That’s what I saw. What I felt. What mysoulscreamed for every time I looked at Luke.
And yet… he was the Dark One. He’d let the human world fall. He watched it burn. And now we were here—me, mortal and on the verge of fading.
I had lied to my dad before he vanished.
I told him I knew I couldn’t get the same ending my siblings got with their marked mates. But that wasn’t the whole truth. I knew I wouldn’t get the happy ending—but gods, Istillwanted it. I wanted a mate.Mymate.
I wanted Luke.
But life didn’t always give us what we wanted. And I wasn’t so foolish as to throw away my life for a man who’d let himself become a monster. I couldn’t choose someone who refused to chooseme.
When I finally spoke, my voice was hollow and small. “So, you’re admitting… you could’ve dealt with Harvest long ago, and didn’t?”
He stopped. Looked at me—reallylooked at me—with something raw in his eyes. A deep emotion I couldn’t name arose, and then he smothered it.
His expression hardened. So did his stance, body tightening like a predator. Then he prowled toward me, close enough to cast me in shadow. He bent his neck, crimson eyes locked on mine.
“Harvest was a necessity,” he mumbled. “I wouldn’t be here.Youwouldn’t be by my side right now…if not for what he did.”
“So many people have died, Luke.” My hands trembled as I shoved at his chest. “The human world is in ruins. And not everyone was terrible. I know you know that.Youjudge the evilones yourself—you punish the ones who do horrible things to the good.”
“Kara.” Luke lifted my chin like I wasn’t already staring at him. “It’s not your job to save everyone. You’re meant to keep balance. But somewhere along the way, that line blurred—more than any of you wanted to admit. One small family can’t carry the weight of the world. If you were meant to take oneverything, you would’ve been created to. But you weren’t.”
My vision blurred. My chest ached, hollow and raw like it might cave in.
“Wow,” I whispered. “You really know just how to kick a girl when she’s already down.”
We had tried. Hades, we hadtried.
“We had other Reapers once. Demons who helped before we let them go. Don’t you dare tell me that what my family has done didn’t matter.”
He didn’t flinch. “Even before the end, you couldn’t save everyone. It was never possible.”
His words hit harder than I wanted to admit—because they were true. We had always known we were playing a losing game.
