Page 35 of His Darkest Desire
An entire world lay outside that shroud. A world that had for so long been beyond Vex’s reach and hidden from his sight, no more real to him than the illusions he created. A world that had existed only in his memory.
With hands clasped behind his back, Vex stared at the ivy and moss laden conveyance resting at the mist’s edge. It was a piece of that unreachable world, but it wasn’t an echo or a memory. It was tangible. And it had delivered Vex’s only hope of returning to that realm.
An infuriating, unpredictable, beautiful human.
Kinsley.
For all his knowledge and experience, for all the power he’d once wielded, he could not comprehend the convoluted twists of fate that had brought her to him. After untold years of nothingness, suddenly there’d been her.
He’d suspected she was fae-touched, and he believed it still. One of her ancestors must’ve been fae, and they must’ve possessed the rare and coveted ability to cross between realms of existence without the need for conduits or portals. It was the only explanation that made sense.
Yet the confluence of circumstances that had brought Kinsley here were far more difficult to explain. She seemed to know nothing of her own power, nothing of magic, and little of the fae. For her to have drawn upon such a potent ability just as she’d crossed the border of his realm; for it to have brought her here, into this in-between world, rather than any one of the countless planes layered through existence; for Vex to reach her just before she would’ve perished…
What else but fate could’ve orchestrated everything so perfectly?
So why did he seem destined to squander the only opportunity that had been presented to him since he’d been cursed?
It is not a question of destiny. It is my own hubris that threatens everything.
Flickers of magic teased at his senses. He recognized them—Flare and Shade were approaching.
Vex growled. “Were my instructions unclear?”
“Echo holds vigil over her slumber,” replied Shade.
The wisps’ light bathed Kinsley’s ruined carriage as they neared Vex, making hints of its strange metal gleam through the vegetation.
He stepped closer to the conveyance, extended his arm, and caught a vine between two fingers. “You know full well that my command was not for Echo alone.”
“If you are displeased, compel us to obey,” Flare said with a little growl of their own.
Slowly, Vex pulled the vine off the carriage. The tendrils holding it in place gave way one by one. “I find myself sorely tempted to do so.”
“And yet you never have, magus.” Shade floated just behind Vex’s left shoulder. “Not once in all the years since these three found you.”
Flare moved into place over Vex’s other shoulder, their light brighter but more erratic than Shade’s.
Night sounds padded the ensuing silence. Boughs creaked and leaves whispered in the breeze, insects made their music, and the waters of the loch lapped against the tiny strand that fell within the realm’s borders. No fell monsters brayed at the moon. No ghostly mortal voices drifted from beyond the mist.
No female voice, sweet and warm and passionate, spoke to him.
“You did not seek me out to hover at my back in silence.” Vex released the vine. “Speak.”
Flare obeyed without hesitation. “Your behavior toward Kinsley has been abhorrent.”
Keeping his gaze on the carriage, Vex again clutched his hands behind his back.
“You had shame enough to reel when she called you monster, magus,” Flare continued, “and yet you seem to have gone to great lengths to ensure she may perceive you in no other fashion!”
“What goodwill you may have garnered you have swiftly undone,” said Shade. The continued calm and neutrality in their tone stung more than Flare’s indignance. “And you have inflicted more damage beyond that.”
Vex drew in a slow breath, dipping his chin. “How does she fare?”
“She is stricken with sorrow, anger, and anguish,” replied Flare, emphasizing their words with sparks of ghostfire.
“She sleeps now only due to exhaustion,” added Shade. “Her tears fell freely until slumber claimed her.”
Vex felt like a huge hand wrapped around him and squeezed his chest, constricting his lungs and heart. He brushed Flare aside with one hand and took a step along the length of Kinsley’s conveyance, pressing his other hand to his chest to rub at the deep, pervasive ache.