To the Cruel Gods

Kleos disregards every rule, all common sense that dictates she shouldn't trust me. I'm a dark sorcerer, comfortable with murder, torture, and not entirely opposed to world domination. She's the sweetheart of Highvale. We make no sense. I can't say I care. Our city. Our families. Our entire world. It doesn't matter what I'll have to destroy to keep her. They told her I was bad news from the start. She should have listened.

In the old days, they outright murdered people . . . things like me. Now they simply seek to control us. The Council of Elders has determined every aspect of my life from my first breath. What I'd study, my job, who I'd eventually marry. That was all their decision. But when I woke up covered in runes designed to enslave me, I stopped submitting to the will of others. I wasn't supposed to set foot down in the undercity. Someone like me shouldn't associate with dark sorcerers. Especially those who look, smell, and taste like Lucian, the most dangerous man alive.