Eleanor would be free of me making further mistakes.

The world would be free of my entitlement and black and white rules.

Looking down at my bleeding brother, I accepted our joint end.

I chose a fate far more fitting for a man like me and let the burnout wash over me. I was tired. So, so fucking tired. It was almost a relief to stop trying. And besides, thanks to Tritec, I was most likely dead anyway—whether I chose such a finale or not.

“I’ve made my choice, Drake. Just like you stole pieces from me, I refuse to keep on living with them gone. I was kidding myself to think I could heal. That Eleanor was the cure I needed. A devil cannot change his colours...not after he’s embraced such a calling—not when we are true brothers and share the same sickness and sadism.”

I ran my hands through his bloody hair. “But don’t worry, brother. My time is short so you won’t suffer too long. When I feel my heart failing, I’ll come back for you. We can die together...just like we were raised together.”

Standing, I bowed at the creatures who’d formed a semi-circle around Drake and the fire. “Guard him. Nibble some more if you get hungry.”

A lone wolf howl made Drake’s eyeless sockets weep.

I looked one last time at the most horrific thing I’d done.

I waited for regret, for shame, for some barometer of right and wrong to tell me I’d gone too far.

But just like I was empty, I was grateful too.

Grateful that Drake was dealt with.

Soon, I would be dealt with.

And the circle of life for two monsters would be complete.

But before that happened...

Before I took my last inhale and accepted my encroaching death, I had a goddess I wanted to make love to one last time. A woman to adore and a queen who wore a priceless crown.

A crown that needed one last jewel to be complete.

It needed my heart because she was the one and only owner of it.

She could cut it from my chest and chisel it into a diamond because only in her care could it be redeemed.

Tucking up my wings, I inhaled a sharp breath.

I didn’t have another sedative to knock me out of this fantasy.

But I did have a thrice broken leg just waiting to black me out if I put full pressure on it.

Gritting my fangs, I stepped forward.

I walked in the illusion.

I tripped in real life.

My bones fractured further.

My ankle shattered.

My toes cracked.

I passed out and left the realm of myth.

Chapter Nine

I LOST HIM.

In the inky blackness of fake slumber, I felt a severing of our bond.

A decision I couldn’t undo.

A finality I couldn’t stop.

I sat at the bottom of a pit. A pit with no walls to climb and no air to breathe. Dark and dismal, it kept me far away from the light of consciousness.

I couldn’t wake up.

Couldn’t move.

I screamed.

No one heard me.

I tried to climb.

I fell back down.

I begged Sully not to leave me.

Only darkness replied.

Chapter Ten

DARKNESS HAD DESCENDED BEFORE I gained consciousness.

I woke on the Oriental silk rug that my father had bought in Taiwan after buying the copyrights to an anti-aging serum made of rhino horn—one I obliterated from my pharmaceuticals the moment I took power.

Lights had come on automatically and snow fell softly outside—worlds away from my crystal sand and swaying palms.

No birds flew, making my heart pang for two parrots that’d been a part of my life for so many years.

That hurt.

So fucking much.

I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to Pika or Skittles. I wouldn’t be able to explain to them why I never came home.

Home.

I had no heirs. No one to bequeath my islands and fortunes to.

I struggled into a slouched sitting position, careful not to twinge my leg.

My gaze fell on Eleanor. She lay across the room in a foetal pose. Her arms wrapped tight around her knees as if she dreamed of horrors. Her hair covered her shoulders like a coffee blanket, tendrils hiding her nipples and cleavage.

Her.

She was my heir.

She and Cal would inherit it all because they were the purest people I knew.

My to-do list before death had just increased.

Time is running out.

If you want her one last time...you better hurry.

Looking past Eleanor to Drake, I curled my fists. Still locked in the illusion, he sat stiff on the couch he’d tied Eleanor too. Sweat ran in rivulets off him, staining the embroidered settee with wetness. His skin was so white, his veins stood out like the wiring of a machine, criss-crossing blue veins and red arteries.

He panted short, tight breaths as if he fully believed he had no lungs to inflate.

He moaned and thrashed, his eyes tightly closed.

Blood trickled from his nose and ears, symptoms of his brain suffering aneurysms from what I’d done to him inside our shared hallucination.

Seeing him whole after watching his avatar be devoured made my need to hurt him billow again. I might have torn apart his mind. I might have turned him into a vegetable that he’d always mocked and reduced him to something I could uproot from my gardens in Lebah, but his body was still whole.

No bones had been broken; no physical punishment delivered.

Had I done enough? Or should I hurt his body as well as his soul?

A knock sounded, wrenching my head to the closed double doors. “Mr. Sinclair...Sullivan, not Drake. You alive?”

“Ye—” I choked and coughed, my voice returning to that of a mortal man instead of a fanged monster. “Yes, I’m alive. It’s done. I require your services.”

The door cracked open, and the leader of the mercenaries, hired from a firm I’d used in the past, entered. His black hair was slicked back, his goatee trim and precise, just like his aim. “What can we do?”

Two men trailed after him, staying back for commands.

Still on the floor, not willing to risk passing out again, I pointed past the Euphoria boxes to the defib on the couch beside Drake. “Do you know how to use one of those?”

The leader stepped closer, holstering his weapon when he saw Drake weaving and moaning, another trickle of blood seeping from his ears.

His lips twisted in disgust, a quick flicker of wariness at me for what I’d done, before he glanced at the medical bag and nodded. “The travel defibrillator. Yes, I was in the Army as a medic. I’m aware of how they work.”

“Good.” Holding out my hand, I barked, “Help me up.”

The leader marched to me, gritting his teeth against my proximity as he hauled me up onto one leg and passed me the cane from the floor. He shot a look at naked Eleanor sleeping on the carpet and back to nude Drake drooling with the occasional hiccupping sob. “What happened?”

“Nothing that didn’t need to happen.” Curling my hand around the smooth ball of the cane, I ordered, “Hook him up to the defib. Have one of your men sit beside him. The moment he shows signs of falling asleep, zap him. I want him to stay awake until I say so, got it?”

The leader nodded respectfully with a fair dose of wariness. “Consider it done.”

With the help of my cane, I limped toward Eleanor. Her skin puckered with goosebumps, and even in a drugged sleep, she shivered.