so, I couldn’t have let them have control of my body. If they’d have brought me back, I‘d have been hidden in Rand’s shimmer. You’d never have found me.”
“I found you because you have the scent of the princess all over your body. You reek of her.”
She said nothing. Maybe he didn’t even remember the conversation he’d had with Brasque. Surely it’d been tortured away.
“Now I understand how you could take so much damage. When Strad pummeled you, you took what would have killed a human. And healed like you were guzzling my blood in secret.”
“When I regain my power, I’ll be stronger than five berserkers.” There was pride and anger in his smile. “If he were here—”
“But he’s not,” she said, cutting him off.
He opened his mouth, then hesitated. “Strad is not completely human either. But you knew that, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t fucking know anything.”
“You do,” he disagreed. “You also know I wasn’t the only one who deceived you. I didn’t tell you everything, but neither did he.”
“His secrets are his own. And maybe he doesn’t even know what he is or where he comes from.”
“Is that why you don’t hate me? Because you believe I’m entitled to my secrets?”
“You used your secrets to manipulate me. Strad didn’t.”
“Maybe.”
She had to change the subject. The berserker’s very name brought her pain. “How did you know I’d come here?”
“I had faith. You were meant for this world and it was time. You were coming.”
She rubbed her temples.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “The one thing you can believe in all of this is that I fell for you. If you believe nothing else, believe that.”
She did. She really did.
But still…
“You don’t even know what love is. You just needed me to help you rule Skyll.”
“I’m tired of being a slave, Rune. I want to be a fucking king.”
She said nothing.
“What is this, then, this thing I feel?” He slid his hand toward her and once more gripped her fingers.
“Need, desire, obsession, addiction?”
“That about covers it.”
“Someone once told me that is love.”
“Then I love you, Rune Alexander.”
She squeezed his fingers, trying to reconcile the pitiful, blind, beaten man with the Owen she’d known. “Dammit, Owen.”
“I don’t deserve your help, but I need it, Rune. I need you to do something for me.”
“Kill the shimmer lords, become queen, and ask you to rule Skyll with me?” Her sarcasm might have been more effective had her voice not wobbled.
“That would be worth every pain I’ve ever suffered,” he admitted. “But that’s not what I want to ask of you.”
She took a deep breath, inhaling the freshness left by the cleansing rain and the quick storm.
She was pretty sure she didn’t want to know his request. “Ask.”
“I need my eyes. You’re the only person who can get them back.”
She opened her mouth, stunned. “You mean…the fuck do you mean?”
“Brasque took my eyes. He’ll keep them somewhere secure. I don’t know where.” He turned toward her and squeezed her wrist. “Get them back for me, Rune. If I stay blind, I’ll lose my fucking mind.”
“Owen, what the hell are you?”
He grinned, sort of. “You’ve been asked that a time or two, haven’t you?”
“Yeah. And I hated it.”
“Because you didn’t know what the hell you were. Not exactly.”
“And you don’t know what you are?”
“Not exactly.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
“What’s your answer?”
She was silent for a long, long moment. “I have to kill Damascus before I do anything else. After that…I have to get this fucking cure to my people. And the only way to do that is by going back. Lex is dying, Owen, and that’s…”
She widened her eyes as it hit her, suddenly and violently. “That’s because of you. You murdered so many Others. You…you did that. You’ve killed Lex.” She put her fist to her mouth. “My God. You killed Lex.”
He said nothing but put his hat back on, hiding his eyeless sockets beneath its low brim.
She could feel his devastation.
There wasn’t anything he could say to justify his horrific actions.
But he tried. “If you hadn’t come here, Damascus would have won. Even you can’t imagine the hell existence would have become. Worse than this. Worse than anything.” He turned to her then, and she could see no lies on his face or in his voice. “There would have been no hope, Rune. I knew you would succeed. Some people have died and that was a sacrifice that had to be made. Defeating Damascus will be worth those deaths.” And finally, his voice