her. He was certain of that.
She couldn’t even bring herself to look at him.
Couldn’t bring herself to speak with him.
She always chose Marek when she had information to relay.
Never him.
She would never choose him.
Because she belonged to another.
She belonged to that man he kept seeing her with, the one the daemon Lisabeta had revealed to him in one of her illusions.
Her husband.
The darkest part of him snarled at that and shadows exploded around him, instantly killing the daemons nearest him. He felt nothing as he slaughtered those who remained, ripping through them with his claws and his shadows, drenching his hands in their black blood.
Until only silence remained.
No daemons on his senses.
No matter how fiercely he wished there were.
He spun the ring around his thumb with his index finger, staring at it as he reached into his pocket with his other hand.
As he withdrew the small black stone box.
He slid the lid open with his thumb and plucked a single black pill from it, snapped the box closed and stared at the tiny oval balanced between his thumb and index finger.
At the ring that encircled his thumb just below it.
A ring that caused him pain.
A pill that took it away.
Keras closed his eyes, shutting out the sight of that ring, and placed the pill on his tongue.
Swallowed it.
Fell onto his back in the middle of the carnage he had wrought and flicked his eyes open.
Stared at the stars as the chilling cold slowly crept through him.
As that tangle of unwanted emotions unravelled and dissipated.
Leaving nothing behind.
Leaving him empty.
Just the way he liked it.
Chapter 26
Cass walked in silence, numbed not only by the frigid cold of the white world around her but by the thought of what she had done, and what she was about to do. She kept her chin up and shoulders back, refusing to let the witches who were marching her towards the grim grey building ahead of her see her fear. Her guilt. Her despair.
Her destiny loomed in that featureless block-shaped building that had never resembled a factory as much as it did now as she approached it, a soulless place built for churning out witches, keeping her coven strong. One of the most powerful in the world.
Her thoughts and her heart were back in the Aegean with Daimon.
She was falling for him, and there was nothing she could do about it, and gods it was frightening. He wouldn’t understand why she was doing this, and he wouldn’t forgive her for hurting him as she had.
She was sorry for both of those things, but this was the only way.
It hurt though.
Had tears threatening to line her lashes as she marched forwards, the pain in her heart in danger of rending it in two.
For a moment, she had been swept up in a glorious dream, one where she was able to love someone and have a future of her own choosing.
“Come now, Cassandra,” Belle said beside her, that motherly tone grating and making Cass want to glare at her. “This is your home. It is time you remembered that.”
Cass looked at the building again. It wasn’t her home. That feeling beat deep in her aching heart.
Her home was back on that island, with Mister Milos.
She looked at the witches around her.
This wasn’t her family. Her family was in Tokyo, probably worrying about her. She wished she could have spoken to Mari before coming here, could have had the chance to explain things to her and to tell her that she would be home soon, back with her.
Back with Daimon.
The ache in her heart worsened to a deep throbbing pain and she lowered her eyes to the path someone had shovelled. Would he ever forgive her? Would he ever understand?
Belle’s hand clamped softly around her wrist, pulling her focus away from him. “Cassandra, this is your duty.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“You must fulfil it, as everyone does. There are no exceptions. What we do, we do for the greater good of the coven.” Belle’s eyes remained cold as she smiled, one Cass assumed was meant to be reassuring.
At close to eight hundred years old, Belle was one of the most powerful witches in the coven and one who ran it with only two other witches. The blonde had been in charge of Cass since the moment she had been born, had overseen her upbringing and education. Belle was the closest thing to a mother that Cass had.
But she still wanted to rebel, to flee into the endless white and hope