I swallowed hard, feeling the lump in my throat grow less. “But you’ve killed people before,” I said, knowing the problem wasn’t tonight but a history of belonging to Piscary and having to carry out his will.

Kisten leaned back though his hands never left mine. “I killed my first person when I was eighteen.”

Oh God. I tried to pull away, but he gently tightened his grip. “You need to hear this,” he said. “If you want to walk away, I want you to know the truth so you don’t come back. And if you stay, then it’s not because you made a decision based on too little information.”

Steeling myself, I looked at his eyes, gauging them sincere, and perhaps carrying a hint of guilt and past hurt. “You’ve done this before,” I whispered, feeling afraid. I was one in a string of women. They had all left. Maybe they were smarter than me.

He nodded, his eyes closing briefly. “I’m tired of being hurt, Rachel. I’m a nice guy who just happened to kill his first person at eighteen.”

I swallowed, taking my hands back under the pretense of tucking my hair behind an ear. Kisten felt me draw away and turned to look out the front window, placing his hands back on the wheel. I had told him not to make my decisions for me; I suppose I deserved every sordid detail. Stomach twisting, I said, “Go on.”

Kisten stared at nothing as the traffic passed, accentuating the point of stillness in the car. “I killed my second about a year later,” he said, his voice flat. “She was an accident. I managed to keep from ending anyone else’s life again until last year when—”

I watched him as he took a breath and exhaled. My muscles trembled, waiting for it.

“God, I’m sorry, Rachel,” he whispered. “I swore I’d try to never have to kill anyone again. Maybe that’s why Piscary doesn’t want me as his scion now. He wants someone to share the experience, and I won’t do it. He was the one who actually killed them, but I was there. I helped. I held them down, kept them busy while he gleefully butchered them one by one. That they deserved it hardly seems justification anymore. Not with the way he did it.”

“Kisten?” I said hesitantly, pulse fast.

He turned, and I froze, trying not to be frightened. His eyes had gone black in the memory. “That feeling of pure domination is a twisted, addictive high,” he said, the lost hunger in his voice chilling me. “It took me a long time to learn how to let go of that so I could remember the inhuman savagery of it, hidden by the jolt of pure adrenaline. I lost myself with Piscary’s thoughts and strength flooding me, but I know how to wield it now, Rachel. I can be both his scion and a just person. I can be his enforcer and a gentle lover. I know I can walk the balance. He’s punishing me right now, but he’ll take me back. And when he does, I’ll be ready.”