It was cold, crisp and clear. The moon was a crescent, standing out perfectly against the cloudless sky. The perfect late-October night.

And I was standing in a graveyard.

At my feet was the stone sarcophagus which marked the family plot. The word DUNCAN had long since been carved out of the marble coffin over which a weeping marble angel had stood watch for six decades.

Why an angel would ever weep over my father’s death was well beyond me, but Mother had insisted. I could remember imagining the angel weeping tears of joy at the knowledge he was no longer walking the planet. A theory I had never shared with the rest of my family.

Mother was there, too, having been placed alongside her husband earlier in the day. The dirt was still mounded over the new grave. I dropped a handful of flowers and hoped she wouldn’t be able to see what I was about to do, wherever she was.

I had never quite decided if I believed in an afterlife. I hoped for my sake there wasn’t one, or I was in for an eternity of anguish. I would deserve every moment of it.

The pack was bulky, but my jacket zipped neatly over it.

I hoped my brother’s eyes would be too full of lying, murdering tears to notice the difference.

“Do you think he’ll come?” Vanessa had asked before I left the penthouse.

She had clutched my jacket, fingers curling into desperate claws.

I did think so at the moment, and I still did as I stood there waiting for him.

He would come. Nothing could keep him away.

A figure approached in the darkness, joining me on the hill which overlooked the rest of the cemetery.

“She would like being up here,” Dominic murmured, looking out over the other graves and mausoleums, then at the city in the distance. “She can look down on everyone else.”

“Yes. It suits her. I think that was part of the reason she chose this plot.” I caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye.

Dressed to kill, as always. I would’ve been disappointed otherwise. His long, black coat fluttered in the breeze which ruffled his hair as he turned to look at me.

“I suppose you’ve come for a reason other than paying your respects,” he observed.

“Isn’t that reason enough? I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to her before you ended her life.”

He didn’t bother denying it. “She was suffering. You saw for yourself.”

“You’re so damned predictable.” I faced him, hands on my hips. “Why don’t you try being a little less predictable for once? That is exactly what I thought you’d argue.”

“It’s the truth.”

“It’s a convenient truth you tell yourself to soothe your guilt. Yes, she was suffering, but that wasn’t why you did it. Try being honest for the first time, while you still can.”

His shoulders fell when the truth of my words sank in. For a moment, he was my brother. Not the twisted, sick, corrupted sorcerer. Not the vicious, hateful monster. My twin. My first friend and first enemy.

“I didn’t want her to know.”

Finally, the truth.

“I understand that.” It didn’t make me feel better, but I did understand. “And I think she would’ve understood it, too. Just like she would understand what I have to do now.”

“What do you have to do?”

I unzipped my jacket and held it open so he could see the C4 strapped to my waist.

Vanessa had been too upset before letting me leave to notice the extra thickness under the leather. She never would’ve let me leave if she had.

“I have to kill us both.”

“You’re insane.”

“Maybe. Maybe I’ve always been.” I slid the detonator from my pocket and held it up for his examination. “If you try any magic to kill me before I press this button, you’ll set off the explosives yourself. So, it’s really up to either you or me when we die.”

He shook his head, falling back a step.

He had imagined multiple scenarios—that was how his mind worked—but none of them involved me doing this.

“Why would you…?”

“Because you came here with the intention of killing me. You can’t stand the reminder of what you’ve done, and you can’t live with the possibility of my telling the clan about it. It will be much easier for you with me out of the way. The thing is, I would be fine with that.”

He scowled. “Be serious.”

“You don’t think this is me being serious?” I asked, almost laughing at how ridiculous he sounded. “I don’t know how much more serious I could possibly be.”

“You don’t want me to kill you, or else you wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. Where did you even get your hands on that?”

“You’d be surprised what a person can purchase when they’re determined enough. That’s beside the point. And I meant it when I said I want you to kill me.” I moved closer to him, and took pleasure in the way his eyes widened. The sadist in me hadn’t completely faded away. “I’m not sure I want to live with the memory of what I’ve done. I’m not sure I deserve to live. You would be doing me a mercy, just like you tell yourself you did for her.” I jerked my head in the direction of the grave.

“So why go to all this trouble, as I asked?”

“I can’t let you hurt anyone I care about when I’m gone.”

Understanding touched his features, and he went back to being the cold, imperious sorcerer I recognized. “I see. This is all for her. You think you love her, don’t you?”

“Perhaps I do.”

“You’re weak.”

“Perhaps I am.”

“You always were.”

“I don’t disagree with you. Do you think these accusations will hurt me?” I asked with a smile. “You can’t hurt me anymore. I’m beyond that point. And I understand why you can’t comprehend what I’m doing now. You always considered love a weakness.”

“It is. It makes us do stupid things. Case in point.”

“This is the smartest thing I’ve ever done. The smartest and the best.” I held up the detonator. “I hope you’ve made peace with your life, because it’s about to end.”

The snap of a twig caused us both to look toward a large, gnarled tree a few dozen feet away.

From behind it stepped a hulking figure, cloaked in darkness.

Even though I couldn’t make out the face, I already knew the shape. He’d only tried to kill me several times.

Holden.

My heart sank.

Because if he was there…

“Gentry? What do you think you’re doing?” Vanessa stepped out beside him.

She didn’t know she had just ruined everything I’d barely managed to convince myself to do.

It was difficult enough to kill myself, but knowing I was leaving her had made the decision ten times harder. I couldn’t do it with her there.

Dominic’s laughter rang through the cold air. “Oh, my goodness. This just got interesting.”