Chapter 25

"Orin." Thea's voice was low in warning. "She?—"

"It doesn't matter," he growled, hand gripping my throat as he held me pinned to the wall. Those eyes that held thunder and lightning and all things malevolent burned into me until I knew the depths of his fury intimately. "This is why she can't be left to roam free."

"I will cut the skin from your balls if you don't get your godsdamned hands off of me and stop speaking about me like I'm not a person."

Perhaps my words were sharp, but I was surprised to feel the thrum of attraction flutter through me. The second Orin turned on me, Hollis had ushered Quill from the room. Paesha didn't bother speaking up, but even if she had, I'd still have let him grab me. Just as I'd let him slam me against the wrinkled wallpaper. His wrath, this darkness swirling in him, was captivating. Attractive and all-consuming. Like magic, but not quite. A very big piece of me wanted to push him as far as I could. Force him to come undone and reveal himself. Reveal the beast that was hiding within.

I wouldn't ask about it, though. He didn't need to know what I knew. I wanted no more of his lies, and I was far better off discovering the truths on my own. He pushed his forearm into my throat, and I smiled, much to his dismay, refusing to fight back, though I could tell something in him wanted me to. He wanted my beast just as much as I wanted his.

"If she dies…"

"Do put your fangs away, Husband. She's not going to die."

"Are you a god now, Deyanira? Do you know what the future will bring?"

I jammed a fist into the sword wound on his side, knocking the air from his lungs. Though, to his credit, he didn't step away. "I know what your future holds if you don't stand down."

"Enough," Paesha finally cut in. "Let her go, Orin."

"There will be no more meetings in this house. No one else comes and goes until further notice."

"Orin," she said again, pleading.

"Tell me I'm wrong," he seethed, words strained with pain as he glared at me. "You stay in this house on your own, or I will lock you back in that room. You are danger incarnate, Nightmare."

"And what does that make you, Orin?"

That darkness within him coiled to the surface. His eyes turned black, face red with rage. The question was right there, sitting between us.

I know,I wanted to scream at him. But I didn't. Instead, I jammed another hand into his side until he backed away.

"If you try to lock me away again, I will burn this precious house of yours to the ground. And then I'll bury you in the ashes. I've given you the benefit of the doubt time and time again. And I've tried. Gods, I've tried to show you all that I am not the monster you make me out to be, yet the only person in this fucking house that trusts me is the damn dog."

I was not their enemy. Perhaps I was nosy and seeking answers to questions they would not provide, but I wasn't going to hurt them. If I could help it.

He hesitated, slightly shifting his weight, the tension easing, if only a little. But it vanished in an instant, replaced by the anger, the familiar dance between us that made it easier to keep him at arm's length.

"The only reason the dog trusts you is because you steal food and keep it in your pocket. Don't twist reality."

His words were a weapon he probably didn't know he wielded so well. A gentle slice to my heart. I nodded slowly before shoving past him and walking straight out of the house. He stormed after me, the door slamming against the frame.

"Deyanira," he commanded.

I kept walking, a tidal wave of emotions wreaking havoc. I wasn't surprised by his words because he'd hated me for longer than I'd known he existed. But I was only human, whether he believed it or not.

"Deyanira," he shouted again.

I rounded on him, balling my hands into fists. "Do not speak my name as if you have any power over me."

His shoulders sank, the broad frame of the monster shrinking to human size. "I didn't mean that. What I said about the dog."

I reached my hand into my pocket and pulled out the treats I'd been saving, letting them fall to the ground. "Yes, you did. But since we're dabbling in honesty tonight, tell me why you married me, Orin. You hate me."

He moved forward, crowding my space, filling every inch. Grabbing the back of my neck, he pulled me close, and I let him. If only to feel the contact from another person. To stroke that kernel of madness in me that wanted him. Even now. Even when I fucking hated him, I wanted him. And I'd only just realized it.

The darkness in his eyes seemed to fade beneath the moonlight. "I need to hate you."

"Why?" I didn't mean to sound as weak as I felt.

He pulled me closer, squeezing those fingers along the back of my neck. Time slowed in his grip. The world stopped. "Because as long as I hate you, you cannot destroy me."

"That's where you're mistaken."

"So you see my dilemma?"

His hand flexed at his side, as if standing close to me required so much from him. I pushed away, breaking the trance the moment had over me.

"I see a coward. And a liar. That's all."

"Look harder, Nightmare."

But there was nothing beyond the mask. A shadow maybe, but nothing more.

"You never answered my question. Why did you marry me?"

He blinked several times, his gaze shifting between mine. "Because I had to."

My eyes fell to the blue band on his arm, resting just above the golden one.

"Drexel forced you to marry me and now he's punishing you for it?" I asked.

"The Maestro does whatever he wants on the whims of his own desires. I am bound to those whims."

"And now me."

He held a hand out. "Come inside, Maiden."

"Tell me where my dagger is. Tell me, and I'll come inside, and I'll stay, like the good girl you wish me to be."

The tic in his jaw was his only response.

"That dagger is not the weapon. I am. I just broke into the king's castle, killed two of his guards, and put down a lot more in order to rescue a little girl you claim as family. I got your best friend out, and they captured no one. Without the dagger. But it's the only thing I have in this world."

"Fine."

An infinitesimal gasp from me lit his dark eyes as he spun on a heel and walked back to the Syndicate house.

Moments later, he left me standing in the hall while he escaped into his bedroom. I'd have to be more thorough with my search next time. When he emerged with Chaos wrapped in a cloth, my heart skipped. As if all the broken pieces of me were slightly mended by the presence of an old friend.

"I'm trusting you to keep your word, Deyanira. Stay in this house."

That was only one on a long list of his mistakes.

I'd napped,waiting for the rest of the house to fall asleep. Paesha didn't smell of death, and the magic within me hadn't stirred. She wouldn't die. Despite that, the floors creaked, and movement sounded throughout the house for far too long as her friends checked on her.

Eventually, really only minutes before sunrise, I slipped past the tree line and stepped into Silbath, hustling through the sleeping city to cross the Hallowed River and stand in my father's lost kingdom, with Chaos strapped to my thigh.

Though the morning crept her way into the world, she wept, filling the sky with the dark hues of blue that promised a storm. As if she'd known what I'd planned for this day and delivered darkness as a favor.

Problems ruled the world. Icharius Fern, from his stronghold, but also the Maestro from Misery's End. And every day that passed was a race against time. The people needed something to hope for, a beacon that wasn't a Maiden who promised an early grave.

So, I would hunt and sacrifice and fail over and over until I found my missing counterpart. The balance the world needed. And standing at the base of a cracked stairway, staring up at a temple that screamed for me to turn away, was truly step number one, thanks to the ancient map on Drexel's office wall.

The lightning mirrored the turmoil within me. The concept of life and healing was both intriguing and unsettling, and as I found myself at the threshold of the Goddess of Life's temple, a place that had been abandoned for centuries, the thought of what lay within sent shivers down my spine.

The rain pounded against the ancient walls, nature's way of warning of the dangers that might await me. But duty and curiosity gnawed at my heart, compelling me to keep going despite my apprehensions. The temple might've held remnants of the goddess's once-vibrant power, a power that I, as a harbinger of Death, feared could consume me whole.

Drawing a deep breath, I closed my eyes to steady my racing thoughts. Part of me wanted to turn away, to retreat to the familiarity of the shadows and the rooftops that'd raised me, where Death's embrace was certain and understood.

I peered through the narrow gap between the door and its frame. Darkness cloaked the interior, and my mind conjured images of forgotten guardians and ancient curses, ready to pounce on any intruder who dared disturb their sanctuary. The sound of distant thunder rumbled like the growl of an ancient, snarling beast, as if warning me that the temple's secrets were not mine to discover.

I carried my own power, one that resonated with the ebb and flow of life and death. But this temple held a different energy, a kind I'd never encountered, an energy of creation and growth that had long since been dormant.

Steeling myself, I pushed against the heavy door, the stone grating against the ground with a groan as it slowly gave way. With each creaking inch, the anticipation built, the fear and excitement intertwining like fragile threads of fate.

I shouldn't be here, and I knew it. Of all the places a Death Maiden could roam, the temple of Eiria was not one of them. But the overgrown willow tree in the back of the temple, its gnarled roots breaking the marbled tiles on the floor, beckoned me. Beyond the dust and dirt, beyond the crevices of filth and abandonment, a force of nature had claimed this temple.

Breaths short, with a bit of fear coursing through my veins, I shuffled through, noting the stone archways and sculptures of naked women draped in fabric circling the room like porcelain guardians. Time had worn down the details, but their eyes still followed me as I moved.

"Where is she?" I whispered, as if the room could answer. "Tell me how to find her."

The tree, though growing in a solid stone building with no access to sunlight beyond the small bits that likely poured in through the stained-glass windows, shifted. I whipped around to the door, wondering if a phantom breeze could have swirled through, but I'd shut it behind me.

I stood within inches of the temple's intruder, the delicate branches of timber lending to the cascading leaves kissing the floor. But it'd moved. I knew it in my soul and felt it in my bones. Pushing the branches to the side, I stepped under the lush canopy, feeling a pulse so strong that all sense of fear vanished. A perfectly laid trap as I shuffled forward and placed my palm against the trunk of the mysterious tree.

Bright, searing light blinded me. Burned me. Raced through my body so ferociously, my back arched to a degree it wasn't supposed to. I screamed. From pain and regret. From the life I'd been given. From the image of every face that flashed across my mind, reminding me I was an abomination in this temple. Of Death. In a place so pure. I thought my spine would snap and my veins would burn to ash. My skin would turn to forgotten embers. I'd ignored the warning in my mind when I'd stood at the door of this forbidden temple and still, I'd entered. Still, I'd damned myself.

"She needs me," I croaked. "I must find her."

I crashed to the floor, my legs eagerly giving out.

"Please," I begged the residual power. "Please help me."

But, though the static of lingering magic drifted in the air, and though I'd begged from the depths of my soul, there were no answers. Not from a goddess. Not from a damned tree. Not from a neglected temple in the heart of a decaying city. Nothing.

There would truly only be one way to get the answers I needed. And though I could hear my earlier self fighting with Regulas, refusing to cater to his desire for torture, I'd finally seen the truth.

Pain.

And malice.

The wrath of Death's Maiden would be the only thing that opened the lips of the silent, tortured people living in fear of a mysterious king and a powerful crime lord.

And so, I prowled.