sent by the gods to destroy everyone. But I had no idea what or who he was. He had neither the silver hair of the Dokkalfar nor the blond of the High Elves. Clearly, he wasn’t human—his size and all the inky magic made that clear. So what the Helheim was he?
Whatever he was, I’d caught his attention, and it sent jolts of fear through my nerve endings.
With his gaze locked on me, he raised his right index finger and began to cast a strange sort of magic.
Chapter 6
Marroc
With my index finger, I traced sowilo, the S-shaped rune for sun. It was hardly a spell, but even so, the curse roared in my veins. I gritted my teeth and forced my hand to keep moving. When I finished, the air glowed with light, and I could see at last.
From the cell across the hall, a female Night Elf stared at me, silver eyes wide as saucers.
There you are, little one.
She was the one who’d woken me from my sleep. Silver hair cascaded down her back, and her wide cheekbones shimmered faintly under the golden light, her eyebrows and eyelashes black as jet. Although she wore a furry jacket, I found my gaze sliding down to her body. She wore tight leather pants that showed off her shapely legs.
Once, long ago, lust for her body would have raged in me as I looked at her. Now, it was a different kind of desire. I wanted to drink her soul, to press my mouth against her neck and drain her completely. Hunger for her ripped through me. Every guard I’d drained in here had been dull, their souls as mediocre as their lives. For a thousand years, I’d been unfulfilled.
This one, this beauty across from me—her soul would taste divine.
Every one of my muscles went tense, and I gripped the bars. I couldn’t do it, though—couldn’t let myself get close enough to give in. Draining her soul would be a disaster for me—it would cost me my own life.
Because from here, I could feel what had happened. She wasn’t the owner of one soul, but two. When she’d stolen my golden ring, my soul had taken shelter within the thief, and she was now its vessel. That was what had woken me in my cell. And I had to do everything within my power to keep her safe—to keep my own soul alive.
She was the one living creature I could never kill.
But was that only because she had my soul? She was my mate, too. After all, that was what my spell had commanded: that my mate find the ring, even if she had no idea the part she played in my magic.
I could feel the mating bond, vaguely. A sense of protectiveness glowed, dull in my chest like a dying ember. Without the curse, it would have raged like a flame. Still, it was amazing that I could feel anything at all. I couldn’t love anymore, but I still felt something for her, dimly.
And yet fate had truly offered me a poisoned dish. The gods had doubly cursed me with this Night Elf. Once she knew who I really was, she’d hate me for eternity. She wouldn’t rest until I was dead. And possessing my soul as she did, fate had given her the means to kill me easily.
The elf had inched back when I’d revealed myself, but now she moved forward again, her slim fingers wrapping around the iron bars. She should have been terrified of me, but she looked curious.
Gold sparkled on one of her fingers. Even though I knew she carried my soul, my heart thrummed when I saw the familiar circlet. It was the ring I’d forged a thousand years ago, the vessel that had housed my soul for millennia.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
The moment I tried to speak, blood roared in my ears, and my skin burned as though a thousand suns shone upon it. The curse heated my blood, and the words died in my throat.
I let out a long, slow sigh, then stepped back into the depths of cell. Maybe not right now, but I’d get to her, one way or another.
Chapter 7
Ali
At least an hour of silence had passed since I’d been thrown into this cell, during which my strange prison friend had disappeared into the shadows. As he’d slunk back into the darkness, the aches in my body had returned.
Now, I couldn’t see him at all; inky darkness collected around him. Strangely,