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Oh, but I did.
So I showed him. My terror and desire. The rage I felt at his betrayal. How I was still spiraling down the rabbit hole he’d shoved me into. The sickening fear of what he might do to a child I bore. What Titania might do. I threw all my thoughts and emotions at Rogue, fierce and as loud as I could make it.
He threw back his head and howled to the sky. Despair, yes. It raked cold claws through my heart.
Spikes of ebony lines crawled up his chest, over his neck and spread across his face like a virus.
His hand clenched convulsively on my throat and I scrabbled at it, suddenly desperate for air. Through the crack of the surf, another wet splitting noise filled my ears. The sound of bones snapping, the sickening snap of flesh rending.
Rogue’s howl of pain sharpened into true anguish, physical and emotional. I felt it more keenly than if it happened to me.
His hand released and I fell to the chill sand, staring up in utter horror as Rogue’s body bent back into a crescent, splitting open in a spray of midnight blood.
Glossy black, the blood fountained impossibly up, arcing to fall on the sand. Rogue’s body collapsed back, shredded and empty, more blood than any body could hold, creating a grotesque rainbow, gathering, coalescing into a shape.
Until, shining in the moonlight, the Dog crouched with me on the sand, the shattered remnants of Rogue and the silver sword between us. My heart shattered, too.
Amber eyes shone.
He cocked his head at me, that square head massive in the moonlight. He stood, stretching, languid as a cat, and paced to me. The smell of bloody flesh caught his attention, and he paused to sniff at the fleshy bits that had been Rogue.
“Goddammit, no!”
The snarl burst out of me and I found myself launching at the Dog. In fury, I slammed into it. Rage at myself for not seeing the truth. At Rogue for not telling me. We rolled on the sand, snarling and grappling. Its growls mixed with the surf. I shrieked and pounded its hot sleek hide.
A wild thing.
Cold saltwater hit me, swamped my lungs. The Dog was abruptly gone and I struggled to hold on to the sand. Singing filled my ears, far off in the distance. The waves tugged at my dress, begging me to come out to sea. The old passions of infinite souls poured through me. So easy to go, to fall under and away. Succumb to the cold waters of the despair that had dragged Rogue under.
All my fault.
The sharp grains of sand bit under my nails as I crawled out of the water.
A chill breeze hit me. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The clouds dashing around the sky gathered together, competing to hide the moon.
Dark streaks of blood marred my arms and breasts where the Dog’s fangs had snagged me. The fragile spaghetti straps of my dress had snapped. Too much strain. I tugged at the soaked bodice, managing to wrestle it back in place somewhat. The salt stung in my wounds.
I crawled up the sand, sodden hair in snarled threads around my face. I found Rogue’s body. Impossibly rent. A small keening noise escaped me. And I’d thought he was indestructible. Had counted on it, somewhere deep inside. But I’d turned out to be his weakness. I wondered why he hadn’t carried out his threat to kill me. The Dog crouched over him. Guardian. Crosser of boundaries. Would he escort Rogue’s spirit to yet another realm? Or was Rogue in there, somewhere, trapped by his own subconscious?
The wind tugged at my wet dress, slapping the soaked tendrils of my hair against my stinging skin. This world was just as real as the one I’d left. More real, in many ways. Just as Rogue connected with me more vividly, more viscerally than any man I’d known. Surely that meant something.
It couldn’t be too late.
I stared down the Dog. Oh no. I had no intention of losing now.
Or, maybe losing was what it took to win.
Chapter 35
In Which I Find a Way to Surrender
‡
“Lady Sorceress—don’t move.”
I sagged at the sound of Liam’s voice behind me. A miracle that he wasn’t dead already, but he would get himself killed for sure now.
The Dog turned, growled, eyes bleeding into red. He bared his teeth, flashing in the night.
