Chapter 15

T he slack-chained shackles around Kerys's wrists and ankles rattled as she moved in her sleep, writhing on the cherry-red silk sheets. Even when she turned away, the grand mirror on the ceiling right above the mattress showed me every flutter of her lashes, every twitch of her nose.

I kissed the birthmark on the nape of her neck before I took a drag from my cigarette and sat on a chair next to the bed. Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on my knees, hands steepling. A frown crossed my brow.

Taking Aculeus up on his portal offer hadn't been pleasant. I was sure the decision would come back to bite me in the ass—despite his reassurances that this favor was free. But when I held my wife in my arms last night, unconscious and helpless, I knew two things:

One, I'd run out of gentle ideas to make her remember.

Two, I had to take her home.

And Gods, for all the trouble the demon might give me, it was worth it.

For one hundred years, this house had been a pretty husk. A replica, built in a new location, but made to look like our home, exactly as it stood before the flames reduced it to ashes.

We had that in common, this mansion and I.

Without Kerys, we were both empty shells. Reborn from the embers, yet a lifeless shadow of our former selves, existing for the sake of it. No purpose, nothing to fill the void inside.

But now that she was here, it was as if she was never gone. As if that fateful night was nothing but a nightmare.

Sun shone through the round window and the long, narrow glass inlays in the balcony doors, the red crystal chandelier above reflecting the light. Spots of crimson flickered over the dark parquet and along the orange walls, dancing along the colorful rugs. Even the padded shackles affixed to the decorative metal headboard of the bed shimmered.

Everything was quiet, her calm breaths the only sound.

It was just another morning in paradise, as if nothing had ever happened.

As if my universe hadn't shattered into a million tiny pieces when she died. As if I hadn't cut my palms in a thousand different places forcing the shards of myself into the jagged shape of a man. As if I hadn't been held together by spite and hatred and rage and blood.

Until last night.

The sex had been fucking phenomenal, but it wasn't about the physical pleasure she brought me.

I exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Kerys put me back together. Seamlessly, she fit the pieces of my broken soul into each other in a way I never could. Not before her, and not after her.

As I watched her sleep like I had so often when she was still my wife, my pounding heart couldn't tell the difference between the past and the present.

For the first time since I started my frenzied quest to find her, a sudden, new thought pressed into my mind.

The demon's powers had kept me as youthful as I was a century ago, and Kerys herself was barely older than when we first met. Couldn't we just continue where we left off? Try to forget all the misery and be happy together?

My tail tensed as I froze.

Did it really matter if she regained her memories? Was it worth a dangerous ritual if we had a shot at a good life, a fresh start?

Couldn't we make new memories?

I extinguished my half-smoked cigarette in a glass ashtray on the nightstand and got up to sit by her side on the bouncy mattress. She mumbled something unintelligible as I brushed the hair out of her face, trailing my fingers along her cheek to her lips. Her breath flitted over my face as I kissed the tip of her nose.

I made everything perfect for her return. Everything was just how she liked it, how it was before she left.

The exquisite, soft cotton of her royal-blue nightgown. Dark red curtains with golden embroidery. I had filled one half of the wardrobe across the chamber with new clothes for her.

Beside the closet stood a dresser, her favorite rose incense burning in a dish atop it, right next to Lara's preserved heart, displayed on a pronged, golden stand beneath a glass dome. The copy of the music box was there, too, just in case she wanted to listen to the melody.

It was one of two things I instructed Emily to collect from the brothel in Zeridia before we went through the portal. The other were her romance books, now neatly arranged on a small shelf by the side of the bed. I'd brought it up from the living room and added a few new tomes. Poetry and love stories, mostly in Elvish, a few works in Xar'vathi.

If she wanted me to, I would have loved to read them to her, translate them for her or even teach her my native tongue.

It was already late afternoon. The effect of my poison was going to wear off soon, and Kerys would wake up. Surely, after all my careful preparations, she'd love being home again.

And she would love me again. She would.

My jaw clenched.

She had to, and if she didn't love me, I would fucking make her.

I bent down to kiss her again, when her eyes snapped open. She shot upright, and a dull pain echoed in my forehead as it collided with hers.

"Ow," she whined, dropping onto her back, face scrunching. The loose chains connecting the restraints to the bed clinked as she rubbed across the red spot forming above her brow.

I stifled a snicker. "Sorry if I scared you. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I'm quite …"

She trailed off, and her eyes widened again, slower. They shifted upward, sideways as she raised her arms, noticing the shackles, and her breath caught in that sexy way it always did when she was afraid. My cock reacted immediately, but I ignored the budding erection.

Keryssa's scream rattled the windowpanes. She kicked at me as I grabbed her by the shoulders, my tail flinging across her thighs, holding her down on the bed.

"Stop! You're safe. Look at me, Kerys!" I growled.

"Why are you calling me that?" She thrashed, her frantic gaze flicking around the room. "Where am I? Why am I in chains?"

My heart squeezed. This was the reaction I feared the most, the reason I'd bound her in the first place.

"Will you stop and listen to me?" I urged, shaking her gently. "I don't want to put you to sleep again, but I will if you don't calm the fuck down!"

Finally, she looked at me, lips trembling, cheeks reddened. She nodded. "Fine. I-I'm calm."

I frowned, swallowing the lump in my throat. Her chest was heaving, but she'd stopped fighting me, so I let go, allowing her to sit up. I reached for the shackle around her right wrist, running a finger along the leather padding.

"If I open these, do you promise to keep your cool?" I asked, quirking a brow at her.

She glanced to the duvet, picking at the gold embroidered fabric, her nose wiggling. "Yes."

"Don't lie. I know you're lying. I can tell from that adorable thing your nose does."

Her expression froze and she huffed.

"You will not see guards inside the house because I despise making my home feel like a military base, but there are armed men stationed around the perimeter of the property. They live in a separate outpost by the front entrance. Plus, we're in the middle of the Xar'vathi desert, quite a long ride from the capital. Without provisions and travel gear, you have nowhere to run, even if you make it out of this room and manage to steal a horse from my stable. Got it?"

" Xar'vath ? We're in Xar'vath ?" She paused, regarding me with a squinty glance. "How long have I been unconscious?"

My shoulders rose in a shrug. "Half a day, more or less. I brought you here right after the party."

She scoffed. "You're trying to tell me we traveled from Zeridia to Xar'vath in a few hours?"

"Portal magic," I said, my voice clipped at the thought of Aculeus's involvement.

"Pff, sure, if you say so." She snorted a sarcastic laugh. "But I got the message. I'll keep it together. You can unbind me."

This time, she was telling the truth.

I fished the key from my pocket and unlocked the restraints, the metal rattling as they fell. My tail swayed as I grinned. "You know, we used to have a lot of fun with chains like these."

Kerys wasn't in the mood for jokes, the corners of her mouth nearly pulling down to her chin. She rubbed her freed wrists and ankles, glaring daggers at me. "You said you'd explain. Then explain before I strangle you with my bare hands."

My dick twitched. I'd like to see you try , I wanted to say, but I knew it would only anger her further.

"It's pretty simple. After you passed out last night, I took you back to Xar'vath with me. I bathed and clothed you and put you to bed."

"Kidnapping me is fucking out of line!" she shot back. "But that's not what I want to know. Why are you using that word … Kerys?"

"This part isn't as simple. It will sound really crazy , I know it will, but you must believe me—" I couldn't speak. My gut turned into a bottomless pit, my hammering heart dropping into its pitch-black depth.

How long had I waited to say these words to her … and how ironic I should hesitate now?

"This is your home," I brought out, gesturing with hands and tail. "And your real name is Keryssa. Kerys for short."

"You're right, that does sound crazy! You are absolutely insane!" She raised her hands just to drop them into her lap. "My name is Ellaryth, and I'm a candlemaker's daughter. Born and raised in Zeridia."

"Well, the Zeridia part is right, at least," I said, wincing. "But the rest …"

"You're not making any sense!" she shouted, fury contorting her features, but tears shimmered in her eyes.

She couldn't hide her real emotions from me.

It was killing me to see her like this, confused and distraught. I liked when she was a little afraid of me while we fucked, when she fought back a bit when I took her—but I knew she liked that, too.

This was different. Though I wanted to embrace and comfort her, I was petrified.

I sighed. "Not sure how to sugarcoat it or package this next bit into a nice euphemism."

"Then fucking say it already," she yelled, voice cracking. "Say it! Say it!"

"Over a century ago, you were murdered ."

She blanched. Her face went slack, eyes glossing over. I laid a hand on her cheek, and she flinched, sluggish pupils drifting to me.

"Can you hear me?"

She gave a weak nod. "I'm dead."

"Not exactly . Not anymore. Do you remember the demon I told you about, the one who saved me?"

Another nod.

"Part of my deal with him was to bring your soul back from the afterlife. Your original body is dead, but the demon preserved your spirit."

Another curt nod.

"I've been searching for you for a very long time, Kerys, waiting for your soul to anchor itself in another physical vessel."

She panted, tongue flicking over her dry lips. "You're telling me I'm not Ella but some other woman … reborn?"

I dipped my chin in agreement. "You are. I'm certain. You talk and move like her, enjoy the same things as her. How do you think I knew your favorite drink? Your favorite sweets? You even look exactly like her. I don't know how it's possible, how this rebirth works, but I'll prove to you that I'm speaking the truth. Here, I'll show you."

I reached beneath my tunic and pulled out the locket, opening it, holding it out to her.

She pressed a fist to her mouth, staring. "Hm. I mean she-she looks like me. The p-painting is old, a little faded. And that lock of hair, even through the amber it seems to be close to my color and-and?—"

Moments of tense stillness passed. Her hands shot forward, shaking as they twisted into my shirt, and she pulled me in close, nose to nose.

"Let's say I believe you, just theoretically," she whispered. "Why you ? Why have you been searching for me? What do you have to-to do with any of this, Skrain?"

"I—" My throat closed up again.

Shit. Why was this so hard? Why was my fucking pulse in my ears, raging like a drum?

"Because …" I rasped, barely squeezing my voice out. "I'm your husband."