Up close, I see the details I couldn’t from across the clearing. Shoulders curved inward. Hands trembling. Silver threads barely flickering through black Ether that clings like ash.
My own Ether rises, steady and bright.
She looks hollow, waiting to break.
My Ether reaches toward her—slow and careful. Recognition like a scar I know the shape of.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and her voice cracks. “I’m so sorry.”
Behind me, the guys close in. Rhett’s flames dim to embers. Thane’s face is carved from stone. Theo’s eyes go unfocused. Wes shakes his head. Seth stays at the edge, silent.
Riley’s staring at me like I’m the last light in existence.
“I thought it was my idea.” Her voice breaks, knees threatening to give out again. I adjust, lowering us both until we’re kneeling. “Ethos just… whispered. Said he believed in me. Said I could fix what you were too afraid to touch.”
My chest tightens.
“He told me power was the same as love.” A sob tears free. “That if I took your place, people would adore me. That I’d be the one they chose.”
Her fingers curl into my shirt. “People suffer because of me. All those people—enslaved, starving—because I wanted to be… enough.”
Enough.
The word breaks something in my chest.
I know that word. I know that weight.
“You were always enough,” I say quietly.
She shakes her head, frantic. “No. I wasn’t. That’s why I did it. Why I let him convince me that switching places would—” Her voice catches. “I thought I was using him. I thought having one of the most powerful beings in existence bonded to me meant I had control.”
Behind us, Thane’s voice cuts in, low and dangerous. “Ethos is bonded to you?”
Riley’s eyes squeeze shut. “He told me it was different. That our bond was special. That with me, we could reshape everything.”
“And you believed him?” Gray’s wolf ripples beneath his skin.
“Yes,” Her voice drops to barely a whisper. “I wanted to believe someone saw me as more than just a reflection. More than just… her shadow.”
The Ether pulses between us—recognition, understanding, shared pain.
I’ve spent my whole life being told I was too much or not enough.
She spent hers being told she was only an echo.
“Riley.” I wait until she meets my eyes. “What did he do to you?”
Her breath hitches. “After you escaped, he came back. Angrier than I’d ever seen him. Said you weren’t worthy of him. That he needed to feed to regain what you’d taken.” She swallows hard. “Every time I tried to pull back, he’d whisper that I owed him. That this was the cost of becoming you.”
Ice slides down my spine.
The guys exchange looks, tension crackling in the air between them.
“How long?” Stellan’s voice is colder than I’ve ever heard it.
Riley’s laugh is bitter and broken. “I lost track. Time doesn’t work right when someone’s feeding from your soul.”
Wes moves closer, his hunger carefully controlled. “Is he still feeding?”
