He took a step closer to Wesley, until his magic felt like oil in the air. “I chose you,” he said. “When you were young and unaware of your power. I nurtured all of the sparks inside of you and soon you’ll repay me for that. Soon you’ll see that I’m the only family you’ve ever had. I’m the only one who understands the things inside your heart.”

Wesley’s jaw clenched, teeth grinding together with such force that he felt like his bones were shaking. The fact that a man like Ashwood saw kinship in Wesley made him want to be sick, and the worst part was Wesley had nobody to blame but himself, because he had fed into that, carefully nurturing his reputation as an evil bastard and doing whatever it took to rise to the top and stay in the Kingpin’s good graces.

Including sacrificing Zekia.

But that was then and this was now.

Now, despite what the Kingpin wanted, Wesley wasn’t scared that one day his promises would sound too pretty to ignore and all the horrors that had happened would start to look like a means to an end. That without Tavia, or even the likes of Saxony and Karam, to balance Wesley out, the worst parts of him would rise to the surface.

Maybe once, it would have been possible.

Maybe in another lifetime, or if everything Wesley loved wasn’t hanging in the balance. But now, here, in this place, Wesley could never side with someone like Dante Ashwood. Not when he could see the city he loved withering in the cold dead of night.

Wesley had only stuck around this long to see if he could pull Zekia from the old man’s clutches, but he knew now that it was too late. Too much had happened, and Wesley being here only made her want to stay more.

It was time to go and if Zekia wouldn’t come, then he’d do what he had done all those years ago.

Wesley would leave her behind to rot.

9

TAVIA

The moon was high and there were monsters lurking beyond the forest.

Tavia had seen her fair share of evil and heard her fair share of whispers, but there was something different in the wind tonight, and as it swayed through the tree branches it almost sounded like a croon. It sounded like death.

She patrolled a lot, mostly out of habit from nights spent wandering the streets as a busker in search of people to sell the Kingpin’s darkest magic to. Tavia was restless and she wasn’t used to sitting still, or standing around doing nothing.

Especially at night.