"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."

"You became friends."

"Perhaps."

"More than friends?"

"Don't be a fool."

Hannah saw Valrus's gaze dart down. The fraudulent flush of life on his cheeks ached her heart. "You loved Mahlon, didn't you?"

Valrus snorted. "It doesn't matter what I felt for that wretch because the woman I had pledged my heart to was also visiting Mahlon when I was unaware."

He didn't look at her, but from his voice, she knew what she'd see in his eyes if he did: despair.

"Gawen fell in love with her, not by her choice, but she knew I loved her and reciprocated. In our own ways, we were playing her twisted tune." He laughed bitterly. "The most powerful men for a time, brought down by one woman."

Slowly, Valrus's gaze found hers, and seeing the depths of his anguish plain in his eyes made her breath hitch. "Evan might not look like Mahlon. He had ebony hair and blue eyes the colour of an evening sea, but you—you look just like Yvette."

Hannah shook her head, horrified. "No."

"Yes," Valrus said tiredly. "Yvette was your ancestor. Magic passes through families. And the power remembers even if its wielder does not. That's why I came to you."

"The necklace..."

"Was hers. That's why I was drawn to you as her ancestor. I've been trying to figure out since she cast that spell to put my spirit in the stone. Did she love me, thinking it was the only way to save my life, or hate me and wish for me to suffer for eternity?" Valrus shrugged. "I'll never know. I assume she died with Mahlon after they ran away together. His gift is with Evan now, which means... Mahlon's dead and passed his talent on to someone else or had children."

Valrus exhaled. "Yvette can rot for eternity, but Mahlon didn't know of her treachery. He had an irritatingly righteous heart... He'd have saved me from her knife, even if he was sworn to kill me. He was a fool. I would have stabbed him in the back, and he knew that, but he'd have done it anyway." Valrus smiled wistfully. "And he probably would have tried to repent me with his dying breaths."

Hannah gave him a sympathetic smile, and then, her expression fell with a deep inhale. "I'm sorry about Mahlon and what Yvette did to you, but I'm not her." Hannah's breath burned. The idea that Valrus kept her at arm's length for so long, all because her ancestor betrayed him a gazillion years ago, made her livid.

"Aren't you?" Valrus glared. "You forgot about our deal when Evan came into your life and tossed me in a lake even after I begged you for mercy."

Hannah winced. "I didn't betray you consciously. And fuck you—you deserved to be tossed! You tricked me into signing that phony contract and had me living in fear that you were going to take my soul."

"Because I didn't trust you."

"You do now?"

"No," Valrus replied, laughing a little.

"Then, why?"

"Because I need you."

"That's all? You expect me to trust you. After everything?"

Valrus scoffed. "You need me."

"No, I don't."

"You do," Valrus whispered, his palm sliding against hers. Before she could think to pull back, he had their fingers entangled. His stormy gaze stood out amongst the shadows. "If you're hoping to break that curse, I'm the only one who can help you. I cast the original spell."

"You never said what the spell was."

"I could explain every minute detail, but that would take hours. In short, I infused my magic into a blood ritual. The blood in question was from the first vampire. It wasn't hard to steal the vial from Mahlon's order of righteous assholes. The difficult aspect was sacrificing the countless lives required to awaken the blood. At that point, it was hundreds and hundreds of years old, stale and ruined."

"How many lives?" Hannah whispered, horrified.

Valrus's gaze was haunted. "Too many. They were enemies, but I thought the sacrifice was worth the cost." He looked at their fingers, intertwined. "The spell was cast. Gawen, from that point forward, was connected to the other side in ways that mortals couldn't perceive. He was the closest living being walking the earth to the original vampire."

She shivered.

"Do not ask me what drinking the blood of the first did to him except the voices," Valrus said, louring. "I don't know, but I do know he killed his family, his children and anyone else who questioned him. And ultimately, that power he relied on caused his death."

"This is all your fault," Hannah whispered harshly. "Everything that's happening to Reid is because of you."

"I thought I was ridding the world of a monster."

"You're a monster! You sacrificed countless people to save yourself!"

Valrus's gaze was fierce. "You did the same to save your lover. Don't look at me and claim you're righteous. The only difference between us is that you've kept the pretty colour of your eyes. Gawen's spell was what did it, just so you know. There's always a possibility the dark magic will be too much and smear your soul."

Hannah tugged at her hand, but the fingers tightened. She could have slapped him or shoved him away, but she didn't, whispering, "Why don't I just smash you? All you bring me is misery." Her chest rose quickly. "I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"I want to," Hannah whispered miserably. "Why can't I?"

"You're drawn to me as I'm drawn to you, Hannah." Screw him for saying her name in such a sexy, low voice. "That's why the necklace keeps finding you. I'll help you find a way to break that curse. I don't know of one, but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. I'll help you learn magic, and we'll decimate your enemies and save your loved ones. Then you can live your perfect little life with Evan, pretending you want safe when we both know differently."

Hannah wasn't dumb enough not to think he'd want something in return for helping her. "What do you want? Your help is never free."

"In return, you'll continue to search for a way to get me out of this necklace. And I only ask you to tell me the truth."

Hannah couldn't refuse. But he was going in that box the moment she sniffed him scheming. "Fine. One truth. That's all I'm agreeing to."

Valrus stood and pulled her with him, keeping her hand tightly clasped. "Do you love me?"

Her heart seized. She had no reason to tell this man her feelings. She should lie and tell him she despised him for what he has put her through. But she couldn't because he was staring into her eyes earnestly, and she was a hopeless fool—and had been for four long years of longing.

"Yes," Hannah snapped. "I love you."

Valrus pulled her towards him. She fell against him, felt his chest rise against hers, and saw his heated smile, made unnerving by the clinging shadows.

She yanked herself away with a glare. But she didn't get far because a hand snatched hers and dragged her deeper into the darkness, past looming evergreen trees.

She stumbled, beyond irritated that Valrus walked backwards and never once faltered. It was as if he knew where every tree trunk had grown and where the rocks waiting to trip him were.

"I'm—"

Their fingers slipped together again, intertwining. Hannah's mind was racing, so she didn't react to the hand that slid from her face to grip her hair, dragging her closer.

His mouth pressed against hers, kissing her fiercely, awashing her every coherent thought in a rocky sea of conflicting emotions.

She didn't have time to decide on whether she was going to punch him, knee him, or reciprocate the kiss because soft fingers curled around her neck. He shoved her against a nearby tree trunk.

She gasped against his mouth.

"No," Hannah gasped, but her fingers slid through his soft hair despite her protest.

Valrus whispered hotly, "He'll never be enough for you."

Kane.

The thought of him brought her reality crashing down. She shoved Valrus's shoulders. He didn't go far, but enough for her breath to calm.

His silver eyes, dark with lust, met hers, curious, and mercifully, his wicked mouth wasn't trying to devour her anymore.

"Evan will never know," Valrus said huskily, gripping her fingers. "That's what's keeping you from giving yourself to me. Him. Isn't he?"

He moved closer, pushing her against the tree trunk with his body. Her eyes closed briefly, clawing for her resilience to withstand this demon.

Rain began to rattle the trees.

"It's raining," Hannah muttered dumbly. "I should go inside."

Fingertips pressed against her lips. They slid into her mouth to rest against her tongue, halting her words and hitching her breath.

She debated chewing his fingers off. But found that she couldn't do anything except stare into his eyes and try not to lose herself in the storminess beckoning her closer.

"There's a reason you keep coming back to me," Valrus said gruffly.

She doesn't know where she found the strength, but her hands settled on his shoulders and shoved.

He stumbled back.

For a moment, they stared at each other, breathing heavily.

Then, he was on her, stealing her mouth in a fierce kiss.

Turning her face away, she gasped, "Leave."

She heard his breath hitch, and then, he was gone.

The falling rain began to batter the forest and her. She made no move to leave, slumping against the tree trunk and breathing heavily.

She cursed herself for feeling disappointed.