Lyk’s grip tightened on her as she continued. “My parents were wealthy. At least I thought they were. The last of a line of important people, or so my father claimed. They certainly thought they were too important to raise children, so they left that task to a series of nannies and headmistresses. I did my best to look after my sister since it was always the two of us, alone in the world.”
She gave him a weak smile. “When my parents suddenly died, I realized that our expensive lifestyle was built on a pile of loan agreements. My father was deeply in debt, and it was only a matter of time before everything fell apart. Except he wasn’taround when it finally did. I got Evie out of there before the creditors claimed us as indentured servants, but I couldn’t get us past Gamma-17, and we would still be rotting there if it wasn’t for your intervention.”
Ally cupped his cheek, filling her eyes with the emotion she needed him to see. “I thought I couldn’t trust anyone else. That the world was full of people who wanted to hurt us, to use us. So when you came along with your offers to help, I assumed you were conning me. But you weren’t. You were genuine, and it took me too damn long to realize that. I’m sorry.”
Lyk shook his head. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I tried to tell you what to do, tried to make you one of my possessions, but you ended up possessing me. And I couldn’t be happier.”
Ally smiled, touched by his sweetness. “I was saving myself for love, and that night when you took my virginity, I knew I was giving it to the person I’d been saving it for. Even if I wouldn’t admit it to you, or to myself, it was for love.”
His eyes widened, and the sentiment she saw inside them overwhelmed her. “I love you, Lyk Vartik. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
“Good,” he said gruffly. “Because I have no life without you.”
When he kissed her then, it was soft, sweet, and filled with a sense of wonder that had her on the verge of tears.This is what I was waiting for, for so long that I’d almost convinced myself that it didn’t exist.
But it does exist. Here. Now. With this man who couldn’t be more perfect.She admired Lyk for many reasons. Sure, he was handsome, strong, and filled with purpose. He was a leader. A fighter. A man who stood up for justice, even if it wasn’t what the law or his family proscribed.
But he was also a lover. He had compassion, and he believed that brute force was not always the way to achieve his ends. He gave his crewmen a choice. Go off alone or join him. If theyjoined, he would do all he could to see them taken care of, to see them happy and fulfilled.
He’d given Ally that same choice, and right now, she saw how fitting the choice was. She could go off alone, try to take on the world without Lyk having her back, and she could be bitter and miserable and lonely.
Or she could join him, and he’d take care of her, look out for her, and do anything he could to make her happy. There really wasn’t a choice when it came down to it.
Lyk was the only choice that made sense.
“I love you,” she whispered against his mouth as she cupped his cheeks, holding him close to her. “And I know that together, we’re going to get Evie back, and then we’re going to smash Hell and all the demons in it to pieces.”
Lyk gave her a slow smile that warmed her insides. “Look out, Hell, because here we come.”
EPILOGUE
The smell of brimstone burned her nostrils. Kara’s eyes snapped open, and she let out a gasp as she realized she was no longer in her bed on Vartik.
There was only one place in the universe that reeked of sulfur and smoke, its rock walls echoing with the screams of the innocent.
I’m on Dazimin. How did I get to Dazimin?
Kara tried to get her bearings, but it was too dim, too smoky for her to know where she was.Is the chamber large or small? Am I deep in the dungeons, or somewhere else?There was no way to know.
Kara started to walk forward, her hands out in front of her to catch herself against anything that might be lurking in the smoke. The last thing she remembered, she’d been lying in her bed, full of anxiety about the Crown Prince’s supposed negotiation.
Dawn had described Caleb writhing in pain, and Kara had been hard pressed not to reach out to him across the vast expanse of space to try and soothe him.
She’d tried it before but always with the help of Mayra. The oracle had some kind of link to Caleb, likely because of herunique powers, but the link was fragile, and Mayra hadn’t been able to reach him in several weeks.
As she lay in bed, Kara decided to try to reach Caleb on her own. Her powers of empathy could work over vast distances, but usually, it was relegated to her sensing another person’s feelings, not trying to influence their emotional state.
She’d closed her eyes and concentrated on the son of the Goddess of Light. His form was sheer perfection, she knew that already, and his eyes would be the green of a verdant forest, just like his sister’s eyes. His hair was blond, and he had dimples, although she’d never seen them. She just knew they existed.
Kara somehow “just knew” a lot of things about Caleb. Like his favorite food being sandfish from Tako-B. Or his pet peeve being the feeling when you have to sneeze but don’t. She had some kind of connection to the man that she couldn’t explain, but it was there, deep inside her. She felt like she could close her eyes and point to him in a crowd. That was how strongly she was tied to him.
And she’d never met him.
Looks like I might get my chance now,she thought as she made her way carefully through the gloom. Her fingers touched something and she started, then realized it was a rock wall. Putting her shoulder to the wall, she picked a direction and walked, hoping to come to some kind of opening.
The smell of brimstone grew until she thought she’d choke, but she pushed on and realized that the smoke was thinning out. In the distance, twin flames burned, torches that flanked a pair of obsidian doors.
And stationed in front of those doors were two of the nastiest creatures she’d ever seen in her life. At first, she’d assumed they were extensions of the rock around them, but then she realized that was only their outer shell. Beady black eyes gleamed from hooded brows, and as they huffed the air around them, theyexposed razor-sharp teeth. A steady stream of drool ran from their mouths, dropping against the floor below them and dotting it with little puffs of smoke. Countless pockmarks were scattered at their feet.
