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“There is a small window after a person's been bitten. Think of it like venom. You can suck it out, but it isn’t always guaranteed to work, and sometimes it can backfire if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“What do you mean?”
“The person removing the darkness can also become infected. It’s happened before.” His eyes fell, and his voice sounded pained, as if he knew who it happened to, but I didn’t pry.
“When Matthias and his followers turned on Selene, she cursed them to suffer an eternity of their own lust for power, endlessly hungering for flesh but unable to be satisfied by it.”
That would explain why they always looked so emaciated, the sickly appearance that sank deep into their bones. Their very appearance was cursed.
“So, the darkling I saw in Cole’s memory is Matthias' daughter born again?" Damien nodded in response. "Why would Marcus side with them?”
“He resents Selene for Vivienne’s loss as much as he resents me. It isn’t rational, but as I explained, things change when one of our kind loses a mate. He turned his back not only on our kind when he left, but on Selene as well. I didn’t know he’d sided with the darklings though. I thought he was simply a deserter.”
“Will I learn how to use Skia?”
He hesitated a moment, his eyes drifting from mine. “You will eventually, but I want to be absolutely sure you’re ready for that. It’s one of the more dangerous abilities to master. I’m worried about how you’ll handle it as a human. Let’s see how you handle the others first.”
After hearing what happened to Matthias and his followers, it made sense why it was such a dangerous ability. The thought of what I could do if I lost control of a power like that was enough to make me ill.
Everything was making more sense. I’d always felt that there were similarities between Damien's magic and the darklings. It was because they were born of the same dark magic.
It was late in the afternoon when we got back to the house. We had trained self-defense for another hour before moving on to learning how to predict an opponent’s moves using Nous. I’d struggled severely with that. It was difficult to focus on reading Damien’s mind while keeping track of my own movements. I may have fallen on my ass more times than I cared to admit, but I was satisfied with how far I’d come.
I glanced at the text I’d gotten from Kat.
‘Sorry I’ve been quiet. I’ve been working every day after classes. The teachers have been assigning stupid amounts of work. So, it’s been taking up my free time. Sorry! XOXO!’
I smiled, texting her back.
‘It’s okay. We can plan something soon.’
I set my phone down, palms pressing into the counter as I waited for the water to boil for my tea. My heart raced in my chest, Kat’s text not enough to distract me.
A sense of uneasiness had begun to grow in the pit of my stomach from the moment we left the training facility. The time was nearing when the female immortal, who served Damien, would come. I hadn’t been able to mentally prepare myself for it, though all the time in the world might not have been enough for me to ready myself.
With each passing hour, nausea built in the pit of my stomach. Everything about this situation went against some strange instinct within me. Was this my past lives fighting what was coming? No matter how much I didn’t want to do this, I had to ignore it. This was necessary.
The tea kettle whistled, and I lifted it off the stove, pouring the hot water over the tea infuser in my cup. I needed to chill out; I couldn’t be having these thoughts now.
The sun set outside the kitchen window, the last light leaking over the mountain tops in the distance. My drying curls hung over my shoulders, and I was dressed in clean clothes. The weight of the dagger Damien gifted me felt new as it sat strapped to my thigh, tucked into its leather holster.
I needed to get used to wearing it, so it only made sense to wear it every chance I got. The sooner I could fight, the sooner I could be at Damien’s side, fighting beside him, instead of staying behind and worrying until I made myself sick.
The doorbell rang and my spine straightened as I turned to look toward the hall. Damien appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. “Are you ready for this?”
“No.” My eyes fell. “But it has to happen.”
Damien stopped me as I went to walk past him, his hands grabbing hold of my arm. “Don’t think I feel anything for this female,mea luna.”
“I know... It’s just—” I couldn’t say anymore, fearful I might say something I would regret. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Damien raked his fingers through his hair but didn’t speak as he took lead toward the front door. This wasn’t going to be easy for either of us, I knew it.
It’ll be over soon. Just shut up and deal.My nerves heightened as I heard the door open as Damien welcomed the guest inside.
She was perfectly poised as she walked through the doorway and lowered her head, bowing to Damien before lifting herself back up.
Her neck was elegant and long, sun-kissed bronze skin that looked more genetic than attained blending beautifully with her golden-brown hair. Her face so closely resembled Marcus’ mate Vivienne that they could be sisters. I wondered if she might come from the same family.
