my stomach dropped. He slowed abruptly, coming to land on the stone platform outside of the pit. The cavern soared around us, dark and ominous, but I could only focus on him.
Panting, I didn’t let go of his neck.
He didn’t let go of me, either.
For some reason, he was mostly naked, his skin cold. His hair was damp around his face, and he looked at me with such fear in his eyes that I almost couldn’t believe it.
“Why did you do that?” His voice was rough. “To enter the pit is death. You could have killed yourself.”
“I didn’t mean to.” I blinked, suddenly realizing. “You risked death by coming after me?”
He grunted, then set me down but kept a grip on my arms as I staggered. Even when I’d righted myself, he didn’t let go.
“I saw you born,” I said, my head still spinning.
“Created.”
“Created, yes.” I nodded. That was definitely the word for it. “The darkness felt so good. It was amazing.”
He made a low noise in his throat, as if unsure of how to respond.
“Is that was it feels like for you?” I prodded.
He hesitated before speaking. “Not amazing, no. The only thing that feels amazing is…”
“What? What were you going to say?”
“You.”
I swallowed hard, unable to believe it. “The darkness really doesn’t feel good to you?”
“It feels like…nothing. Like the pain goes, and I am left with nothing.”
Left with nothing.
It sounded awful, but compared to the pain I’d felt, it was probably pretty good.
I remembered now, feeling the light inside him. It had fought to come to the surface, fought so hard it had hurt. It had torn me apart inside. I gasped at the memory, clutching my stomach. The only thing that had made me feel better was leaning into the darkness, embracing it. “You’ve already fallen to the dark.”
“There was nothing to fall to. I was made of it.”
“It can’t be the only way.”
“It is.” His hands tightened on my arms, but not painfully. “I owe it everything.”
I looked up at him, desperate. “You don’t owe it anything. It keeps you here, bound. Alone.”
“I’m not alone.”
Hades
I stared down at Seraphia.
Alone.
She thought I was alone.
And maybe I had been. But with her here, it was like those long years had never existed. Like she’d opened a window and let in the light. Just being with her filled me with such a warmth and joy that it made my head spin.
She looked up at me with such…emotion in her eyes. I couldn’t identify it all, but there was something compelling about it. Something good.
It was the strangest feeling, but I liked it. She changed everything just by being here.
And she’d almost died. I’d finished my swim and walked back into the room right as she’d fallen into the pit. The memory still made fear lance through me, sharp and pure.
I’d almost lost her.
A world without Seraphia was no world at all.
I realized, for the briefest moment, that I wasn’t thinking of my end goal or why I needed her. I was thinking just of her. Of how I wanted to spend every moment with her. And I’d almost lost that.
The urge to be close to her—to kiss her—grew so strong that I couldn’t resist. Whatever concerns I’d had before, whatever I’d been trying to avoid, didn’t matter in the face of all this. My resistance stood no chance in the face of her.
I bent my head and captured her lips with my own.
She made a startled sound of pleasure, then wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me like the world was ending. She tasted so sweet that I could have forgone food for eternity if I could kiss her instead.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me, leaning into the feel of her. She was so slight yet strong, and I reveled in the soft curves of her form.
She plunged her hands into my hair, and I groaned, wanting more of her. Wanting to lay her down and feast on her. She tasted divine, all sweetness and light. I couldn’t get enough of her as I devoured her mouth, holding her tight against me.
When the voice of the darkness whispered inside my head, I was almost able to ignore it.
You are fracturing.
I didn’t care.
But Seraphia seemed to hear as well.
She jerked back, eyes wide. “What was that?”
Breathing hard, I stared down at her. It took a few moments for my mind to return to sanity.
The darkness had spoken.
Near her.
Fear shot through me.