The Dark City Chronicles ⁓ Book Three
The apocalypse looms ever closer! Steamy romance, heart-stopping action, seductive vampires, magic that defies nature, sprinkles of dark-humor, and, as always, the everlasting bonds of friendship.
Hannah's strug...
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"Yes, I believed him mad until he began to take counsel from these voices. He nearly annihilated the mages standing against him."
Valrus took a deep breath and reached out, hooking his fingers in the chain around her neck. The stone pendant swung between them.
"Before you ask me, no, I didn't feel regret, not at the time. I thought giving Gawen that power ensured that fate would not cut my life short."
"Do you regret it now?" Hannah asked warily.
Valrus's gaze darkened. "Every day that I have to suffer in that necklace. It was a lie. The witch of a woman who told me I was to die at the hands of the mages who had sworn their loyalty to me had schemed to rid herself of the two men that she believed kept her from what she desired. She was the one Gawen was in love with. I didn't know the truth until I was in the midst of treachery, dying."
He yanked the necklace.
Hannah was tugged forward, having to tip her head back with his angry breath on her face, and her chest rose raggedly. She was close enough to see the faint scar on his jawline and see the speckles of brown in his gaze that had been swallowed so long ago by silver.
"Evan might not look the same as the man who had his gift in my time, but he has the same self-righteous attitude and tenacity that borders insanity. He would kill mages who dabbled in dark magic, claiming it was his duty. He hunted me down for decades. I was the only one who survived him. He didn't have the pride to allow someone to escape him."
"Maybe he thought you had to be stopped."
"Possibly." Valrus scoffed. Hannah was surprised that the trees around them didn't burst into flames with how much fiery anger he held in his gaze. "When I hear Evan spew his bullshit about what is right, even though he has never had to sully his hands with innocent blood to save hundreds, all I hear is Mahlon."
Hannah swallowed. The necklace dug into her neck painfully, but she didn't dare move when Valrus gave off such menace.
However, her mouth had other thoughts, and she snapped, "You hated Mahlon? Then why did you kiss Kane?"
"Shut your mouth before I forget why I need you."
"I was there, remember? You didn't want to kill Kane...Mahlon. They aren't the same person, but you don't see that. To you, they are."
"You kissed him," Valrus snarled.
"You were in my body. You felt it all, too."
Valrus glared. "It was the only way to ensure he wouldn't sense something was amiss. I intended to kill him, but he was more perceptive than I anticipated." He tightened his hold on the necklace, causing her to grit her teeth. "Now, be a good girl and drop it."
"Fine," Hannah huffed, even though the good girl had made her stomach clench with an emotion far from anger.
Valrus slowly let go of the necklace. After a long silence, he said, "The only way to stop Mahlon was to capture him. So I did, for years. I kept him in my dungeon and watched him grow weak. I should have let him rot, not visited him, or spoken to him as if he was more than a mindless pawn of his order."
