Like Calls To Like

"We are alike," he said, "as no one else is, as no one else will ever be."
The truth of it rang through me. Like calls to like.
He held out his hand, and I stepped into his arms.
I cupped the back of his neck, feeling the silken brush of his hair on my fingertips. I knew Mal was watching. I needed him to turn away. I needed him to go. I tilted my face up to the Darkling's.
"My power is yours," I whispered.
Power flowed through me--the power of the stag, its strong heart beating in both our bodies, the life he'd taken, the life I tried to save. But I also felt the Darkling's power, the power of the Black Heretic, the power of the Fold.
Like calls to like. This time, I didn't fight. I let go of my fear, my guilt, my shame. There was darkness inside me. He had put it there, and I would no longer deny it. The volcra, the nichevo'ya, they were my monsters, all of them. And he was my monster, too.
"My power is yours," I repeated. His arms tightened around me. "And yours is mine," I whispered against his lips.
Mine.

What would have happened if Alina gave into the hunger and need for power? What if she was taken to the little palace instead of the tunnels in Siege and Storm?
Alina will learn that like calls to like. And so will the Darkling. Together the will learn together the true meaning of infinite power and that nothing is more infinite than the universe and the greed of man. This story starts at chapter twenty-three of Siege and Storm.