No matter how hard they tried, they could never bring him under full heel. And so the balance between good and evil had been maintained.

Until now.

Nick was a very different beast. No one knew why, but he was much, much stronger than his predecessors. He, alone, could tip the balance into the dark gods’ favor and allow them to finally defeat the Kalosum, and forever extinguish the side of light in the world of man.

Worse, something was going to realign in the future that would bring Braith home. Something that would make Nick snap and side with her against the world. Together, they would bring about Armageddon.

No one knew what would cause that, either.

Not even Ambrose.

But it was coming.

All they knew for a fact was that Noir and Azura were hell-bent on claiming Nick as soon as possible.… That if they were to lay hands on him, he’d be in worse shape than Xev, and he’d never again know freedom.

Never again be human.

Yet there was also a prophecy that said Nick was the only Malachai who could change and become a force for good. If they could find a way to anchor him to the Kalosum, they could forever alter the course of history.

It was all up to him, and him alone. But it was something much easier said than done since the Malachai was born of pure wroth and hatred—born of violence to do violence. His nature was to harm and spew venom. To kill and to maim. Kindness and love didn’t come easy to him. None before Nick held any understanding of those words. The only reason Nick did was because of his saintly mother.

Should he ever lose her …

Everything would come undone. He would lose himself to the darkness and become the soulless Malachai. An unfeeling, invincible killing machine.

Kody laughed nervously as she faced Xev. “Sheez. No wonder Caleb was so nervous about you being free.”

Nick frowned. “What do you mean?”

She released a deep breath. “Don’t you see, Nick? Xev’s one of the keys to unleash Noir and Azura. It’s what makes his being free so dangerous. So long as Xev remains in this dimension, you’re just one step closer to being the very thing you don’t want to become. He’s not just a god. He’s a key.”

Maybe, but throwing Xev into a pit and locking him there to be abused when he’d done nothing to deserve it didn’t seem like the way to redemption, either. To him, that lack of regard for someone else’s life and well-being was more in line to becoming the Malachai than his stupidity in taking a chance on someone who appeared to need kindness, even though everyone said he shouldn’t.

So long as this act of charity only bit Nick on the butt, and not someone he cared for, he could live with the consequences. He didn’t want to be that guy who let other people make up his mind for him.