“You have the audacity to judge?” He laughed, as cold and bitter as the wind kicking up behind us. “Look me in the eyes and tell me that everything you did in Blackmoon Bay to defeat the hunters and the Darkwinter fae, to save your home, to protect your sisters… Look me in the eyes and tell me it was morally just. That you took the high roadeverytime, even when your enemies had sunk so low you could scarcely contemplate the depths of their depravity. And if you can do that, if you can truly convince me, then and only then will I allow you to condemn me for suggesting something so many completely fucked-up shades of wrong there isn’t even a word for it.”
I blew out a ragged breath, wishing so badly I could tell him off. Tell him he didn’t know me, didn’t know what I’d done. That I couldneverdo what he was suggesting, not even to save the people I loved.
But I couldn’t tell him those things, because they simply weren’t true.
And once again, my silence was my answer.
Keradoc shook his head, scoffing. “Morals. Nothing but pretty jewels afforded by the privileged few whose safe, perfect lives are kept that way because there are still those of us willing to bathe in blood. And we do it for them again and again. Gladly. Because deep down,weknow the truth—a truth discovered from living a life that was forced upon us rather than a life we bought.” He took a step closer and backed me up against the wall, caging me against it with his arms, his gaze sweeping down to my mouth, then back up to my eyes. In a deep, deadly-calm voice that rolled across my skin like water, he said, “When Death knocks upon the door, Haley Barnes, morals are the first thing we offer to trade for just one more precious heartbeat, one more precious breath. And you of all people cannot tell me otherwise, for Iknowyou’ve stood at the threshold and made that very bargain yourself.”
My heart slammed against my ribs like a fist trying to punch free. His words stripped me bare, left me exposed, turned me inside out until every last one of my nerves burned with an unquenchable fire that can only come when someone truly sees you—the darkness, the blackness, the worst of the worst—and doesn’t turn away.
I lifted my hand to his face, wanting so badly—so inexplicably—to touch him. To feel his skin against mine, to feel our connection and know without any more words or arguments that it was real. That it was unbreakable, even in a place as twisted and corrupt as Midnight.
Even ifwewere twisted and corrupt ourselves.
But the moment my palm skimmed along his jaw, he hissed, jerking his head away from my touch.
My heart faltered. “Keradoc, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
He grabbed my wrist, yanking me close once more. The wind screamed against me from behind, blowing my hair into his face, into his mouth, but still he didn’t release me. Didn’t drop his penetrating violet gaze, a new rage burning in his eyes, his grip almost painfully tight.
For a minute I worried he might try to steal another kiss.
Or worse… that he wouldn’t.
But before I could talk myself out of those dangerous thoughts, he brought my wrist to his chest and shoved a tiny silver key into the lock on the dampener cuff. The metal burned hot for an instant, shining the same bright gold as his magick, then fell away, the heavy iron hitting the ground with a clink.
“What… what are you doing?” I breathed, my voice swallowed by the wind, by the intensity of the moment, by his very presence.
“It was never my intention to dim your fire, little thief.” Keradoc offered a sad smile, all that fire and fury receding in a blink. “Only to save myself from being hurt by it. But it seems I’ve failed in both endeavors.”
Failed? What is he talking about?
“How could I possibly be a threat to you?” I asked. “How could I hurt you?”
He shook his head, a soft laugh slipping free, and suddenly I felt like the dumbest woman in the realm.
“Keradoc, it isn’t—”
He pressed his thumb to my lips, sending another spark of awareness straight to my core, where it inconveniently smoldered for him all over again.
“You have a choice to make,” he said softly. “And all I ask is that you give it due consideration before making it.”
“What choice?”
“Accompany me on the journey to the Razorback Mountains to bargain with the feral fae who dwell there. Or remain behind the wall, continuing to practice your summoning spells. Regardless of what happens with the nobles, I’m still counting on you to devise that ritual against the Darkwinter forces.”
“You… You’re really giving me a choice in this?”
“For what it’s worth, yes. I am. But I think we both know the truth.” He brushed his fingertips along my cheekbone, the soft touch making me gasp. When he drew his hand back, his fingers curled around the stem of a single black rose, the bud closed tight. “You’ve already made your choice.”
I took the flower and brought it to my nose, closing my eyes and inhaling its scent. It was sweeter than the red roses of home, with a lingering spiciness that reminded me of the magick here. The darkness.
And it called to that thing inside me, that wild, unnamed buzzing, the potent mix of my blood and magick—the blood and magick of all who came before me—and I knew he was right. I wouldn’t turn my back on him. Wouldn’t turn my back on Midnight. On its people.
My people,a distant voice echoed.
And in my grasp, the black rose unfurled to a lush, full bloom.
