"Get your hands off me!" Selena screamed, her voice cracking as she clawed at the wrist that held her.
Cane didn't even blink. He tightened his grip, the skin of his palm feeling like cold iron against her wrist. He leaned in, his breath ghosting over her ear, smelling of ozone and something ancient.
"Still screaming, Selena?" he whispered, the voice no longer the one she'd once loved. It was deeper, jagged, like glass grinding together. "I remember you liked it when I was quiet. When I just took whatever you gave me."
He jerked her forward, dragging her across the obsidian floor of the Void Realm. The transition from the blinding white marble of the Luminis Temple to this suffocating darkness had happened in a heartbeat. Now, the only light came from the pulsing, violet veins of the ground beneath them.
"Cane, please—" she gasped, tripping over the hem of her white silk robes. The fabric, once a symbol of her purity, was already staining black from the Void's touch. "This is madness. You're... you're not him. What did you do to yourself?"
Cane stopped abruptly. He spun her around, slamming her back against a jagged spire of void-rock. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs. He didn't let go. Instead, he stepped into her space, his chest nearly brushing hers. He was taller now, or maybe it was just the way he carried himself—like he owned every atom of the air they were breathing.
"What did I do?" Cane chuckled, a low, dangerous sound. He reached up, his fingers tracing the line of her jaw with a terrifyingly light touch. "I did what you told me to do, Saintess. I went into the dark. I let it eat me. And then, I decided to eat it back."
Selena shivered, her eyes darting to the void-shadows swirling around his boots. "You were supposed to be purified. The ritual... it was for your own soul."
"My soul?" Cane's hand shifted, his thumb pressing hard against her lower lip, forcing it down. "You didn't want to save my soul. You wanted a clean slate. A blank spot in your history where a weak boy used to be. But here's the problem with the Void, Selena: it doesn't erase. It remembers. And it's very, very hungry."
"Let me go," she whispered, though her body was betraying her, trembling not just from fear, but from the suffocating pressure of his aura. "The Temple will come for you. The Paladins—"
"The Paladins are currently staring at a hole in their floor where their precious Saintess used to be," Cane interrupted. He leaned closer, his eyes glowing with a faint, predatory violet light. "Do you think they're coming to save you? Or are they wondering why the Void didn't take you with me?"
Selena's face went pale. "I never wanted this. I did it for the city. For the Light."
"The Light is a lie told by people too scared to look at their own shadows," Cane said. He suddenly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up into his eyes. "And now, you're in my shadow. My domain. My rules."
He stepped back just an inch, but the tension didn't break. The silence of the Void was heavy, pressing against their eardrums.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice small. "Revenge? You've already taken me from my home."
"Revenge is for people who still care about the past," Cane replied. He began to pace around her, like a wolf circling a wounded deer. "I don't want your apology. I don't want your tears. I want a contract."
Selena frowned. "A contract?"
"You're a Saintess. You know how the world works. Power for power. Life for life," Cane said, stopping behind her. She could feel the sudden drop in temperature as he moved closer. "You're going to be my anchor. This realm is unstable, and my connection to the physical world is... leaky. I need a light-source to keep the Void from collapsing on itself. You're the brightest bulb in Luminis."
"I won't help you destroy the city," she snapped, a flicker of her old authority returning.
"Oh, I'm not asking for your help, sweetheart," Cane whispered. He suddenly reached out, his hand gripping the back of her neck, pulling her head back. "I'm demanding your submission. Here is the deal: You sign the Void Pact. You give me a tether to the waking world. In exchange, I don't let the nightmares here peel the skin off your bones while you sleep."
Selena gasped, trying to twist away. "You're a monster."
"Your monster," he corrected. "The one you made with a little bit of prayer and a whole lot of betrayal."
He released her and stepped away, waving a hand. A scroll of shimmering, oily black parchment materialized in the air between them. The ink wasn't ink—it was moving, swirling like trapped smoke.
"Sign it. In blood. Or I'll just leave you here and see how long it takes for the whispers to drive you insane," Cane said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion.
Selena looked at the scroll, then at the endless, oppressive dark surrounding them. There was no exit. No light. Just this man who used to look at her with puppy-dog eyes and now looked at her like she was a piece of fruit he was deciding whether to peel or crush.
"And if I sign?" she asked. "What then?"
"Then you're mine," Cane said. "Not as a wife. Not as a lover. As a possession. You'll do what I say, go where I tell you, and when I decide it's time to go back to Luminis and burn that temple to the ground, you'll be the one holding the matches."
Selena's breath hitched. "You wouldn't..."
"Try me," he said.
She reached out, her fingers trembling as she touched the parchment. The moment her skin made contact, the scroll hissed. A sharp prick pierced her fingertip, and a drop of crimson blood was instantly sucked into the black ink. The parchment flared with a violent purple light, and a brand—a jagged, void-eye symbol—burned itself into the skin of her collarbone.
Selena screamed, clutching her chest as the mark seared into her.
Cane watched her with a cold, satisfied expression. He didn't move to help her. He just watched her collapse to her knees, gasping for air.
"There," he said, the scroll vanishing. "Now we're officially bound. You feel that? That tug in your chest? That's me. Whenever I want you, wherever you are, you'll feel me pulling."