She’d been right. There was no hope whatsoever of any kind of future with him. To think of one was all kinds of madness. It was cruel to even entertain a moment’s thought of it.
And to put a child through that kind of nightmare would be the ultimate cruelty. Nay, having been orphaned and forced into hiding herself—to live a lie where she had to conceal something as basic as her own gender—she couldn’t subject her own child to that kind of life.
How could she even think it?
“What is it,ma petite?”
“Nothing.”
He tilted her chin until she looked up at him. “Tell me.”
Cameron never got the chance. Instead, a weird, foreign buzzing started in her ears. One that drowned out Kalder’s voice and left her unable to hear him.
Kalder stepped back as he saw the change come over Cameron. Her skin turned a bright orange. Blackness filled her eyes.
In an instant, he realized what they’d done to her.
“Cameron?”
She couldn’t see him or hear him. She was an Iri… a Dark Seraphia. It was the tainted blood that Vine had used to corrupt her.
“Cameron! Listen to me! You have to focus on me voice.”
But he knew she was past that. This was his nightmare. She was the very thing now that he was sworn to destroy.
Worse, he heard Gadreyal’s voice. “So you’ve finally chosen.…”
“Chosen what?”
“Whose life you value most.”
His heart went still. “Pardon?”
Too late, he realized the trick Bron and Muerig had played on him. That hadn’t been his mother’s ring Bron had returned to him.
He’d felt the cold power of it for a moment when Cameron had placed it on his finger, but their attack had distracted him, especially since he’d drawn power from everyone right after that to escape there. Not to mention, he hadn’t known his mother, so he’d had no way of recognizing the fact it wasn’t his mother’s powers.
“She’s not me offering to you!”
“Aye, but she is. You cling to your past. Wallow in it. Your fears define you, and so you’ve given us your future.”
Disembodied laughter rang out. “A soul escaped and a soul must be returned. Yours is worthless to us.…”
Because it was corrupted already.
Unlike Cameron’s, which was pure and untainted.
The dark clouds returned. Along with the thunder.
“Give us what we want, little fish. Death doesn’t bargain with anyone. Especially not you. And not even with the mighty Thorn.”
14
Thorn’s head throbbed as he watched Bane and his crew of Deadmen making the most of their small hiatus. He envied them their merriment.
There had never been a time in his life when he’d been so carefree. Not even as a boy. Indeed, his stepfather had made certain that no one enjoyed their time in his court. His idea of music had been the agonized screams of those being tortured. His favorite pastime had been feeding children to wild boars.
Given that, he could almost forgive his mother for what she’d done to escape his stepfather’s wrath.
