Selene blinked, caught off guard.
"What Iām telling you isnāt about
forgiveness."
Eira shook her head, eyes gleaming with dark understanding. "Itās about not carrying that weight
alone
.
Because you donāt have to."
The words hung heavy between them, thicker than the shadows cloaking Selene.
"Why do you think Phei challenged Marcus directly?" Eira asked quietly. "Why do you think heās willing to do
anything
ā cross any line, pay any price ā to make that bastard pay?"
"Because heāsā"
"Heāll go to any length for
your
justice," Eira cut in, voice hardening like tempered steel. "Heāll kill Marcus himself if he has to. So why the hell are you trying to shoulder all the revenge and corruption by yourself?
Why risk
losing
the last pieces of yourself when you have someone who
wants
to share that darkness with you?"
Selene trembled.
A small shudder rolled through her, making the shadows flicker and dance like dying candle flames in a cruel wind.
Eira reached out and placed a small hand on her shoulder, grounding her with surprising strength.
"Also,"
she continued, tone shifting to something more practical and ruthless, "you know you still canāt kill a Legacy yet. Because of
your connection to Phei
, killing Marcus would be the same as him doing it himself.
"And I already warned you what the consequences of that would be."
Selene nodded slowly. The trembling eased slightly beneath Eiraās touch.
"What about the others?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Eira gave a careless shrug, popping the lollipop back into her mouth for a moment before speaking around it.
"Theyāre just pests. Whether you kill them or not, they donāt carry enough weight or the
fate
to matter." A small, dangerous smile curved her lips. "Or corrupt you much. Show them
no mercy
. Consider it training. After youāre done playing with the small fry... come back to my Masterās side like his woman
you are.
"
Seleneās whole body convulsed.
Not a small tremor this time ā a full, violent shudder that made the shadows around her scatter wildly before rushing back to reform, again and again, as if something monstrous inside her was clawing to break free.
"I
canātā"
Her voice cracked and shattered completely.
"Iām... Iām
dirtyā"
Dark tears ā thick, liquid night ā streamed down her cheeks, hidden beneath layers of living shadow. Violet eyes that had once been warm and full of light now glistened with something far more broken.
"That bastard touched me and Iāmā I canāt let Phei see me like this... Iām
filthy
ā"
It was moments like these that made Eira wish she could drag Marcus Heavenchild into the Eternal Prison herself.
She would subject him to every torture she had endured... and then invent brand new ones just for him. Make him suffer for centuries, except worse ā because at least her own tormentors had never pretended to be anything but monsters.
Marcus had worn the smiling face of a prince while committing the worst kind of sins.
Eira sighed softly.
"Selene." Her voice turned gentle now. Patient. Almost kind. "You realize youāre still a
complete virgin,
right?"
The shadows surrounding Selene went
very, very still.
"Marcus tried to rape you. But he
failed
."
Eira held her gaze steady, crystalline eyes piercing straight through the layers of protective darkness surrounding Selene.
"Only his filthy Angelic power managed to ripple through you ā tearing at your insides, clashing violently with your
Eternal Shadow Bloodline,
messing you up internally before he even pushed in and killed you." She let the brutal truth sink in.
"He still thinks he succeeded. He didnāt. Your bloodline protected your purity from his pathetic, worthless cock. And in return...
it left him a broken
cripple."
Seleneās breath hitched sharply.
"Youāre still
intact,
Selene. Completely
untouched."
Eira squeezed her shoulder with surprising strength. "Iāve told you this before. I know trauma doesnāt give a damn about facts ā it lives in the body and grips the mind. But the truth is still the truth."
She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to something raw and viciously satisfied.
"His Angelic bloodline tried to force itself inside you... and your Shadow bloodline
bit back
ā hard. Now heāll never know what a real pussy feels like with a cock that canāt even get hard!" A dark, gleeful edge sharpened her words.
"Thatās what the bastard gets for trying to force himself on the protected woman of a Cosmic Dragon."
Eiraās tone softened again, almost gentle.
"Every last trace of his disgusting Angelic power ā every filthy residual of that power he left inside you ā was completely burned away by the Seed during your awakening. Your bloodline purged it. There is
nothing
of him left in you."
Her voice turned tender, almost maternal.
"So why do you still think youāre dirty?"
Eira smiled from the back seat as Phei drove through the glittering streets toward Amberās place.
Pieces were slowly sliding into place.
With Seleneās return from the grave, the slow reveal of Legacy secrets, and the growing cracks spiderwebbing through foundations that had stood unchallenged for generations... her Master was inching closer and closer to the
final stage.
The moment when every thread he had carefully woven would finally pull tight, and the web would snap shut around everyone who had ever dared wrong him or his women.
This trip was going to bring even more pieces together.
Only a few people remained to wait for now. A few final players who needed to fall into position before he could move as one unstoppable force ā a single, inevitable
entity
with all of them at his side.
One of those pieces still lay
frozen in an ice bed
, waiting.
The last of two women he didnāt yet know he would see again.
Eiraās smile widened, sharp and knowing.
Hurry up, little
Phoenix,
she thought with dark affection.
Rise from the ashes. Let every wound be
reborn
flawlessly. And cleanse the filth from his path.
****
She flickered effortlessly from the back seat to the passenger side, materializing beside Phei with the casual grace of a being who never bothered with doors or seatbelts.
"You realize the death of Chief Morrison has shifted quite a few pieces on the board, right?"
Phei nodded, eyes fixed on the road.
"Yes."
"And you realize Kyleās family is only buying time? That arrest was nothing more than a temporary setback for their precious golden boy."
Another calm nod. "Thatās exactly what Maya said. Iād be shocked if they let him rot in there for more than two nights after Morrisonās death."
Eira studied his profile ā the hard set of his jaw, the dangerous calm in his eyes.
"That means you have to make a decision before they pull him out.
No?"
Phei smiled, slow and cold.
"I know." His hands stayed relaxed on the wheel, utterly steady. "But
no
ā
I donāt have to make any decision.
It was never really a
choice.
There were never any options to begin with." He glanced at her, eyes gleaming with quiet certainty.
"And even if there were... Iād still choose the same thing."
Eira smirked, satisfaction radiating from her crystalline form like dark starlight.
"Thatās the spirit." She leaned back, wings shimmering faintly. "So
tonight?"
Phei nodded once, decisive.
"Tonight."
He smiled ā a sharp, predatory curve of the lips that promised blood and finality.