At his feet, Ace gasped for breath, fear filling the room.
Disgust spread through Dominic like a wildfire. “Get out of my sight.”
Despite Dominic’s threats, Ace didn’t listen. “Dominic,” he started cautiously, “what happened?” He lifted a hand, motioning to his abdomen.
Ace’s gesture seemed to draw all the fight out of him, anger ebbing away and pain seeping into his muscles.
“What?” Dominic asked with furrowed brows as his fingers drifted to his stomach, coming away slick with blood. “Shit,” he muttered at the sight of scarlet on his hand. The fight with Adara had opened his wound again. He lifted his shirt, assessing the damage. It wasn’t bad, but it should have been gone by now.
Ace, noting Dominic’s distress, thought aloud, “Shouldn’t your magic have healed you by now?” His voice rose anxiously.
Dominic swallowed the knot in his throat. “Yes,” he confirmed.
“So, why hasn’t it?” Ace pushed, eyes locked on him, searching for answers.
Dominic sighed and settled into a chair. He placed his head in his hands, running them up his face and through his hair in distress. Dominic couldn’t bring himself to admit defeat, especially to someone like Ace who looked at him like he was invincible.
“Dominic.” Ace’s voice was incredibly stern, commanding. “Why hasn’t it?”
“It’s my price to pay!” Dominic snapped, unable to control the fear and rage.
Ace startled back. Dominic wouldn’t say more. It hurt too much. Too agonizing to think about the bleak future and how he’d manage to fix it all.
The Andreilians knew the solution. They just didn’t know they knew. Dominic had played this war of hearts many times before. The Andreilians had always thought it was only for power, to feed his ruthless ego, to satisfy the monster lurking beneath his skin.
Part of it was, but they didn’t know the entire truth.
There was a cost to the magic of Andreilia. A curse that the island would eventually take the magic back. A price to pay for selfishly taking the power, ultimately leaving his friend for dead. He had to maintain the power connected to his life. After a while, Dominic found that his magic would weaken. His wounds closed slower. The elements wouldn’t bend to his will. He’d begin feeling frail and ill.
That was when he started stealing keys, making people fall hopelessly in love with him through his cruel machinations. When they fell hard enough to give up their key, Dominic used it for himself. With its power, he could suck the life out of its owner, transferring it to himself, leaving them dying with betrayal in their eyes.
He’d never forget that look. No matter how many times he took a key and killed someone to save himself, seeing that look in their eyes as they died was the worst part. It was much easier to harm someone who hated him, to know he’d defeated an enemy. But watching someone fall in love with him, seeing their eyes light up with admiration, then ripping it all away was such a horrid thing to do.
It was wrong, but it made him feel such a thrill.
It made him a monster.
It was nice to be loved, but none of it was real. He’d killed everyone who ever grew to love the demon he was, but they only loved him because he wore the mask of an angel.
Adara saw him for who he truly was, which was why she’d never grow to love him. But he needed her to. He needed to win her key because Dominic was paying the ultimate price for being the first to drink Andreilia’s enchanted water. He gained the elemental magic laced with the island, and now the land was taking it back, draining it from him, sucking all the magic and life from his marrow and returning it to the island where it belonged. It was slowly killing him.
And with his life being tied to the island, especially now with its magic being the only thing keeping him alive without a heart, he wondered if Andreilia would go down with him.
The only way to save himself was with a key. And the best way to acquire one was to kill the one who loved him and trusted him with it. In this case, it had to be Adara.
“I have to win,” he finally muttered to Ace as he lifted his head to meet his friend’s gaze. “Ihaveto get the key, and Ihaveto kill her.”
Ace crossed the room and cautiously took a seat beside Dominic. “Whatever it is you’re going through, you can tell us. We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on,” he consoled.
“You can’t help me,” Dominic replied with a shake of his head. “This is my battle to fight alone. I gave you all a home. I’m not letting anything take that away. Iwillwin this war,” Dominic said with determination. Even if he had known Adara in his past, even if she was the reason he carved out his heart and wiped his memories, he would win.
I will not let her break me again,he thought.
But another voice whispered from the confines of his mind,Oh, but what a privilege it would be to be broken by her.Toshatter the monster he’d become so she could pick up the pieces and glue him back together, molding him into something she would hold so dearly in her heart.
His thoughts turned sinister once again. Perhaps that was how he’d win. Let Adara believe she’d saved his soul from the darkness . . . then let it consume her.
Chapter 22
