And it wasn’t untilthatmoment that Cameron realized Kalder could see the truth she was learning, too.
Somehow these memories were playing through her mind and his, simultaneously. And she had no idea if it was due to her powers or his. Or why.
She only knew that it was affecting them both. Making them stronger and giving them unvarnished truths. More than that… it was feeding his fury and causing the fetid demon inside him to salivate and feed on something she couldn’t see.
Yet she could feel it with everything inside her.
Suddenly, he pulled away with a fierce, demanding growl that reverberated deep inside her soul. He was going for their throats.
“Nay, Kalder! Nay!” She grabbed his arm again, and forced him to look at her. To stay by her side and do no harm.
His breathing ragged, she saw the torment inside those mismatched eyes. The anguish that demanded their lives and blood to pay for the brutal pain they’d given him.
Worse? She saw his self-hatred.
The part of him that ached so deep that it didn’t appear anything could ever reach it. That it would ever heal or be whole.
It was then that she realized what she saw externally on his face and body was the manifestation of how he truly saw himself. That this twisted demon before her was the beast he envisioned whenever he looked in a mirror.
Not the beautiful man she knew and held close to her heart. A scarred, horrific demonic animal. Unworthy of love or sympathy. One to be hated by all and condemned as despicable.
Disposable.
And in that moment, her parents’ words came back to her with a vengeance.
Cupping his scarred face in her hands, she forced him to look into her eyes so that he would see her sincerity and the fact that she didn’t see what he did. That she saw past the pain and into the heart of the beast, to the soul of the man inside it.
“Look at me, Kalder,” she breathed. “And remember. Out of death, there is life. Out of devastation comes hope. Out of tragedy comes strength. Out of pain comes wisdom. Out of sorrow comesinsight. You will never know how high you can soar until you’ve learned to fly with wings that were broken by enemies and re-forged by your own determination to succeed and let no one hold you down ever again. To show them all that their cruelty will not define you. That you will not live by their rules or dictates.”
Cameron swallowed and stroked the scar beneath his eye that ran deepest along his cheek. “You are your own master and they will never have power over you again.” Then she placed her hand over the scars at the corner of his lips. “Let nothing hold you back. Let nothing hem you in. You set your course and you fly to the heavens. A beautiful, imperfect creature, capable of love and trust, even after betrayal. Capable of mustering courage in the midst of utter terror. And capable of delivering mercy even after all you’ve ever been shown was cruelty. You will rise above the ashes of the future they attempted to burn to the ground, a stronger creature, steadfast and more determined than ever to see this through. For there is nothing more terrifying in this universe than the Soul Determinatus. For it will not be stopped and it will not be daunted. So go on and bring to me your worst if you must, and I will deliver unto you me very best. For you will not defeat me. Not now. Not ever. I will not allow you to.”
She watched as those scars began to fade beneath her fingertips.
All except for one that lingered faintly over his left cheekbone.
And his eyes remained their new dual colors as he blinked and focused on her face. She knew the moment he saw her. The pain receded from that gaze, and was replaced by a tenderness so deepand profound that it caused her own tears to well up and blur her vision.
“Breathe with me, Kalder. Just as you wouldn’t let me drown in the sea, I won’t let you drown in your pain.” She kissed his lips. “Whenever you need a nip, love. I’m right here, by your side.”
Kalder closed his eyes as her touch filled him with a calmness the likes of which he’d never known before. Their world was going crazy around them. He wanted to tear everything apart. To kill every person in this room and he swam in their blood and entrails.
Until she touched him.
She quelled the fury in his heart and made it quiet again. He’d never understand the magic inside her.
Yet he was grateful for it.
“I want me mada’s ring, Bron.” His voice was thick and grim. Steadfast and determined. And it held the promise of what he’d do to her if she refused him. “It belongs to me, and wasn’t yours to take.” He cradled Cameron’s hand in his and held it against his heart before he looked up and met Bron’s terrified gaze. “Be grateful that I only want what’s mine. That I don’t do to you what you’ve done to me, and exact on you the punishment you truly deserve for the crimes you’ve committed. Pray you, that I remain ever so merciful.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Nay. I don’t have to. I trust in the Fates to exact me vengeance upon you. In due course. As I know they will. And it’ll be far harsher than anything I could ever do. Besides, you have to live amongst your putrid, backbiting, self-serving selves. I can’t imagine any worse hell than that—which, considering the fact that I’ve been to hell and back, says it all.”
Curling her lip, Bron pried the ring from her finger then flung it at him. “Take it! I don’t want this piece of shite, anyway.”
Cameron caught the ring right as it would have struck Kalder’s cheek, and clutched it tight in her fist.
For a moment, she was tempted to throw it back at the evil wench. But she didn’t want to risk her keeping it. “You are a piece of work, you are. Glad I am to know there’s not a bit of you in me Kalder, whatsoever. All the better he is for it. For I can imagine no worse curse than bearing your genes in me bones.” She took his hand into hers and slid the ring onto his pinkie.
