In the ice, an image appeared.
It was Dez. He lay in his bed, alone, pale as death. His eyes fluttered open and he gasped, his hand clutched to his chest as if his soul was knocked back into him. She wanted to weep and fall to the ground at the sight of his green eyes. His beautifulcrimson vestige swelled, no thorns remained, and he held her cloak in his hand, his brows narrowed—
The image vanished and left a hole in her chest. Because that may be the very last time she ever saw him. Then the hollow filled with desperate anger.
Rage and despair flooded her as she called her flame. She roared as she fed her fire into this damn cavern until the whole fucking thing reduced to a puddle. Panting, she surveyed the opening where the ice had once stood.
A man stepped out of the shadows, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black trousers. The light from her flame illuminated his shirtless body.
Her mouth grew dry.
A gorgeous vestige swathed him, the same colour as Destonne’s. His tanned torso appeared sculpted from marble, and in the center of his chest a large blackcavaeswam beneath his skin like herShadowheart. Their pactum mirrored around his neck.
Long dark lashes framed his crimson eyes, the unmistakable hue of blood. The same eyes that had haunted her dreams. Midnight black hair tapered at his shoulders, half of it gathered in a loose knot behind his head. He flashed a smile of blindingly white teeth and her heart imploded. Then a violent tug in her chest nearly sent her to her knees.
“I don’t believe we have been formally introduced,” he purred, his voice even more intoxicating aloud. A tremor ran through her body as he took her hand and pressed it to his lips. Her skin scorched where he touched her. “My name is Deimos of the Hollow, second son of Zyphira of Karynthia, born of blood and ice, known traitor of the Fallen, and Soulsealer and servant of the Whispering Spring,” he drawled and his eyes glinted with promise. “But you may know me better as Shade.”
Deimos blinked, once, twice, and on the third—
His eyes shifted to the unmistakable green of Destonne’s.
Her jaw fell slack and her world stopped spinning. She teetered where she stood, her hand still in his but she couldn’t pull herself away, seemingly dumbstruck, all her words stolen.
“It was too easy impersonating the sorry sap, though far too many nights he beat me to you,” he mused. “His efforts are commendable.”
Deimos caught her stricken look and added, “Surely you deduced when you fell into bed with my shadow that shadowshifting is an ease for us. Though it pained me to watch you touch thatboy.” He spat the word, as if Dez hadn’t lived a century like herself. He released her and clasped his hands behind his back. His muscles rippled in his chest. “It seemsimplexusbonds truly are more powerful than any force. Because here you are. Mine once again.”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. None of this made sense. Every fragment of this was a warped puzzle piece and though she hammered them into place, they wouldn’t fit. “I don’t understand,” she breathed.
Deimos’s grin stole her breath, the beauty only a god could hold within it. “Everything I did was to keep you safe. From this world. From this fate. Fromhim. Everything had to unfold as it did so we could be together.”
Speech abandoned her again as she crumbled to pieces.
Deimos grasped her wrist and yanked her to him. His gaze mimicked the relentless hunger of wolves hunting prey, and yet, her body reacted to his touch. Her back arched into him, even as her hands struck his chest to brace herself. They fit perfectly, like two pieces of a whole, split down the middle.
“How I have missed you,” he whispered. His eyes softened, his face all perfect angles and flawless lines. “Welcome back to the Hollow, dearest Kahlia, my love.”