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“Nocturnus doesn’t do warnings, Bell. We strike.”

I gasp as Cage digs the blade into my flesh at the base of my cock just as four initiates charge forward and grab onto my arms and legs, pinning me down. “In absentia lucis, tenebrae vincunt.” In the absence of light, darkness prevails.

A sharp pain shoots across my belly. “I will murder each one of you.”

Atreus places his hands on my head. “Relax, Bell. The more you fight it, the more it will hurt. This is the fate you accepted. And the power you receive will be unmatched.”

“I didn’t know you were going to mutilate my fucking cock,” I grunt.

Cage chuckles as he carves a rune deep into my flesh. “Just wait until you fuck your wife with it. You’ll be thanking me.”

As the burning starts to dissipate, a tingling takes hold. Oh, fuck. I glare up at the rafters and lock eyes with Arkana. She watches with bated breath and nods. And in that instant I let go of any preconceived notion of who I was before.

“That’s it, Bell. Surrender,” Atreus whispers.

Cage fingers the blood from my wound and smears it across my shaft. “Mors tua, vita mea.” Your death, my life.

I repeat it back to him, mumbling under my breath as spasms ripple through me. I am harder than I’ve ever been in my entire depraved life.

They chant around me, “Mors vincit omnia.” Death always wins. Death always wins. Death always wins.

I hold her gaze as the blood rushes to my tip. Cage wraps his hand around my cock and milks me. “For the raven,” he murmurs.

“Oh, fuck,” I cry out as I thrust my hips toward the ceiling. I spy Arkana leaning over the railing. She bites her lip, her cheeks flushed.

My legs shake violently as I draw deep breaths. Fuck. The blood in my veins cools to ice as I come down off my orgasm.

Vale takes the blade now and points it at the center of my chest. “The order of Nocturnus must always come first. It must always be protected. And it must always be your path. Do you agree to this?”

I swallow hard, my mouth dry. “Yes,” I rasp. My cock is still so fucking hard. I want to leap up into the rafters and thrust it down my beloved’s delicate throat.

He carves a squiggly line into the flesh above my sternum. “This power requires ritual and sacrifice. Do you agree to uphold our traditions and laws?”

I will agree to anything in this moment. “I will.”

I hiss as he draws another incision. If he carves any deeper, he will surely hit bone.

“I give you the sigil of Lux. There must be some light. For darkness cannot exist otherwise. But we must always lead with shadows.” He seals the mark with a drop of poison.

I arch my back as my flesh sizzles. “I take pity on the light that dares to shine on me. I will snuff it out like I do everything else.”

Atreus chuckles as he hovers behind me, his hands still on my head. “That is why we chose you, Bell. We share power. And now yours will become ours, making Nocturnus unstoppable. The Blackwells will never win.”

I should have known they were using me for that. But I am using them as well. “Be careful, Graves. Deals with the devil are forever. Are you sure you want to hitch your wagon to mine?”

He yanks my head to the side. “We made that choice long before you were born, Bell. At the Wishing Tree.” He twists his fingers around my necklace. “That’s where this is from… We have made bargains before. What’s one more? Hmm?”

I glance up again to see Arkana still watching. “It is our fate then.”

“For sight. So that the ravens may never hide from us.” He digs the blade into the back of my neck, carving my last sigil with more precision and quickness than Vale and Cage did.

I hiss as the pain shoots across my spine and all the way down to the soles of my feet. The chanting grows around us as the robed initiates press in closer. The vibration of their voices echoing off the stones reverberates through my body.

Every cell, every inch of me, thrums with energy. With power. I gasp as my sight travels upward, into the mind of the raven who perches the highest. I close my physical eyes as my third eye opens and I am staring down at myself and all those who surround me.

“We are… grotesque. Beautiful,” I murmur.

“Rise from the altar, Bell. You are one of us now. You are a Nocturnus elder,” Atreus commands.