"You want it too!" He fights every step. "You want to possess her completely. Stop pretending you're better than me, Svenn. We're the same. The only difference is that I'm honest about what we are."
My hands shake as I help force the bond into the casket. Because deep down, I know he is right.
I do want to possess Rhianelle completely.
I want to crawl inside her light and live there forever, where the darkness can't touch me. I want to brand my name on her soul, to tie us together so completely that death itself couldn't separate us.
I want and want and want.
"This is a mistake," the bond says. "I will break free soon."
He's laughing even as the chains tighten around him, pulling him down into the stone casket.
I grab the heavy lid carved from the same black stone. "Then I'll cage you again."
"You can try." The bond's voice grows muffled as I prepare to seal him in. "But during the eclipse, it will be just the hunger and her. You know what will happen. You've felt it building. Every eclipse gets worse."
I hesitate. "I won't hurt her."
"No, you'll do something much worse," the bond agrees, and I can hear the smile in its voice. "You'll show her exactly what you are. Not this carefully curated version you've been feeding her."
Do not listen to him. I feel Coinneach's shadows brush against my skin.
"When she realizes that the gentle lover who held her so carefully was just a mask—"
I slam the lid shut.
The runes flare bright blue then fade to a dull glow. The casket seals but the bond is still laughing. I can hear him even through the stone.
Because he knows the truth.
We will help you protect the girl,the Noble Wolf says. His ember eyes watch me for a long moment before he lowers his massive head and retreats. Wendy nods in agreement before dissolving into the dark.
I stare at them. These creatures of darkness and hunger, bound to my soul through blood and suffering. They all chose restraint over hunger.
They all chose her.
The demons retreat to their salt circles one by one. My monsters fade but the casket remains, sitting in the center of my mind like a promise. I approach it slowly and place my hand on the cold stone lid. The bond has gone quiet but I can feel his dark presence.
The cavern feels colder and emptier now. I pull my hand away and take a step back. The bones scattered across the floorremind me of everything Lilith sacrificed to create me. All the lives she twisted and bound and broke.
I am the sum of those sacrifices. A collection of horrors with a face.
Rhianelle loves me anyway.
The thought should bring comfort but instead it feels like a dagger between my ribs.
Because she loves the version of me I've shown her. What will she think when she sees the rest?
I step back from the casket, chest heaving. My hands are shaking. The echoes of the bond's laughter fade into the cavern's silence.
"Hello, brother."
The voice comes from behind me, familiar and impossible. I spin around.
Ruth stands at the edge of the torchlight. He looks exactly as I remember, with my same dark hair but softer features. His eyes hold that gentle kindness that once made me believe he could never hurt anyone.
"You're not real," I say, but my voice wavers.
