A sob of rage tore loose from her throat. “Release me!”

“You fear yourself a monster,” he said, his whisper booming in her ear. “It eats at you. You killed your father. You killed Tal. You have killed and killed, and you will kill again. The Unmaker.” His voice slid against her like a mouth in the dark. “And what if it’s true? We are all monsters, full of perversities and violence. At least you and I accept this and have the power and intelligence to do something with it.”

Rielle shook her head, struggling beneath the flat, hard press of his mind. One image rose to the surface, clung fast amid the chaos he was making of her thoughts: Eliana, falling to her knees in agony. Eliana, radiant in battle. Eliana, kissing her cheek.

“I may be a monster,” Rielle said, the words thick with pain, “but I am no longer yours.”

Corien’s shock was as clear and swift as if she had struck him.

“I have loved you,” he said hoarsely, “as I have never loved anyone. You know this. You feel this every time I look at you.”

The stone of the terrace was turning molten beneath Rielle’s fingers. She prayed it would suck her through and send her falling. Dirt and pebbles, flung by the wind, stung her cheeks. A storm was rising. Ten storms. The mountain shook beneath the castle, and the castle shook beneath their feet.

“Look at me.”

She did not. She watched the world ripple gold at her fingertips.

Corien grabbed her chin, forced her to look up at him. “Look at me!” he roared, and then he wrenched her up off the ground and captured her mouth in a bruising kiss.

His thoughts slithered in fast and locked into place inside her. He found the deepest hollows of her mind and settled there. His teeth caught her lip, bit hard. He sent her visions, memories. His bed in the Northern Reach, the furs askew, their bodies bare and flushed. That cave in Kirvaya where she had first kissed him. The warm safety of his arms after she had fled Âme de la Terre, heartbroken and furious. How he had crooned her name, pressed his lips to her hair.

She whimpered, clutching his sleeves. The sound emboldened him. He deepened his kiss, his hands tight around her skull, and she could feel him toying with her desires, stoking them. If she would not respond on her own, he would force her. If she would not see the truth of his words, he would remake her eyes so she never saw anything but what he allowed her.

And it would be easy, Rielle thought, to allow Corien this. In exchange, she would not have to touch anything that hurt her, or face the things she had done, or discover how to live in this world into which she did not quite fit. She could explore her power unfettered and care nothing for what she left in her wake.

She tried to pull back for air, reeling from his kisses, but he tightened his hold on her, yanked her close against him. His anger was a film of tar at the back of her mouth. She could not breathe; her head pulsed with white waves of pain. His grip became punishing, his nails digging into her flesh.

“Mine,” he sobbed against her mouth. “You’re mine, Rielle, and I’m yours. We understand each other. I can’t do this without you. And without me, you’ll be truly alone. They will never accept you. He will never accept you. They will spin new lies every day. They will smile to your face, and then, when the door has closed, they will whisper in fear of you and plot against you, and children will shudder at the mention of your name. You know this. Even him.” He shook her hard. “You know this.”

“Stop,” she gasped, her voice trapped in her throat. His mind slurred her thoughts. “Let go of me, please!”

“Never again, Rielle. Look at what you’ve made me do. I didn’t want this.” His mouth moved down her neck, his teeth scraping her skin. His presence was a fog in her mind, spreading fast. Soon, it would cover everything. She was helpless against him. When she reached for the empirium, her fingers met mud.

“Mine,” Corien murmured. His hand tightened around her throat.

As he moved back to her mouth, the birds shrieking at his back, she caught his little smile of triumph, the flash of his teeth.

She found a faint thread of strength and slammed her hands against his chest.

At once, his coat burst into flame. He lurched back from her, screaming, and tore it off. The white shirt beneath it was a wet field of red. Thin curls of smoke rose from his charred flesh.

His eyes flew to her, white with rage. She looked behind her, searching frantically for Eliana. Corien’s visions had vanished. No beetles, no tearing beasts. There she was, still fighting. Her hands blazing, her heels throwing sparks. Made of light, her daughter, and faltering not even once. What a fearless woman she had made.

Rielle laughed, choking on exhausted tears.

Behind her, Corien spat, “You are an abominable creature.” He grabbed a chunk of her hair and wrenched her to her feet. He stank of burnt flesh, and still he was beautiful, his cheekbones painted with soot, his lips flushed from heat and desire.

“I know this,” he said, “and I know every corner of your savage heart, your capacity for cruelty, your caprice, and yet I love you still. I would have you right here if you would let me. Fear you? I exalt you. Remember what I told you?” He laughed, tightening his grip on her hair. “You could burn me a thousand times, and I would still want you for my own.”

Rielle strained to hear the sounds of Eliana fighting. How beautiful they were, like every song she had ever known.

“I have loved you, Corien,” she said, breathless with pain, with a new, muddled understanding. Each of Eliana’s blazing strikes struck like a bell inside her, fighting to wash her tired mind clean. “I have trusted you. Part of me will always belong to you. But not all of me.” She stumbled on the weight of her tongue. “You saw that I was afraid and worked to keep me that way. You saw that I was lonely and reminded me of it every time I thought of leaving you.”

He laughed, stroking her cheek. “Listen to you. Queen of my heart. Is the pain making you delirious? Reject them, as you meant to, and I’ll take away everything that hurts you. Rielle.” Tears in his voice. “Please, do this for me.”

Rielle’s vision pulsed black. Corien’s hands were gentle at her throat, and yet she reached for her power and could not find it. That shove, that bloom of fire on his clothes—she could find nothing more. Her mind was full of him, and if there was anything left of herself, she could not see it. Somewhere, Audric was screaming for her, but it was no use. Corien was inside her, and he would never leave, not now.

The world spun, tossing her. She sagged against Corien’s bleeding chest, her eyes fluttering shut. What bliss, to let him hold her. He had promised he would take away the pain, that she would never be alone. Perhaps it was all right to believe him. Strange, that she could have thought otherwise.

Corien kissed her hair, her cheeks. “My love,” he whispered, a smile in his voice. “There you are. You’ve come back to me. Very good, Rielle.”