Corrupted: An Epic Dragons and Immortals Romantic Fantasy (Fallen Emrys Chronicles Book 1) E.E. Everly (best biographies to read .TXT) 📖

ways I extracted information, not knowing Lord Siarl and I fed her false intelligence. On the inside, I had a soft spot for her. Because I was near her always, I became aware of her weaknesses. No man thought she carried any. But I learned a horrid truth. She was being controlled. A far greater might made her do the abominable things she’d done to gain rule over her realm.”

“How do you know she didn’t want to do the things she did? I don’t believe a person is without agency. Even when tied in chains, there’s always a choice.”

“I believe you’re right. I didn’t see her true nature at first. I felt compassion for her plight. One day I barged in on the empress having a conversation with someone I assumed was her dragon. She was arguing. As I listened, I realized she was begging, pleading for mercy. She was weeping on the floor. I couldn’t bear it. I swept into the room and knelt beside her. Desperate to be consoled, she threw herself into my arms because she trusted me.

“She told me she was the Vessel, that she did things for her master. Sometimes she regretted them. If she failed, he punished her. During her confession, she stiffened and pulled away. She became her hardened self again. But I knew. I was privy to her lapse.”

“Sounds like a hormonal malfunction.”

Caedryn’s eyebrows quirked. “Are you belittling your sex?”

“I’m a woman. I know how we are. Sometimes we feel as though the world’s ending when our turmoil is inescapable. Come on, Caedryn, you saw me when I arrived. I would have bared my soul to you. I was desperate for relief.”

He laughed. “You don’t remember half the things you said to me, do you?”

I shook my head.

“Emotions are dangerous. You don’t need to be a woman to be overwhelmed by them. As an emrys, as a half-emrys, we’re particularly swayed. They’re stronger to us. We feel more deeply than mortals. We hate with greater intensity. We love more completely. We’re ever confused by each and every inkling that surges inside us.” Caedryn locked eyes with me, as if reminding me of the meltdown that blew apart his study and of his internal scars that caused him to quiver in terror.

I shut my mouth. No, he was reminding me of my impulse to climb into his bed. He thought I did it because I had feelings for him. I most certainly did not have the inklings he spoke of.

He continued. “Ever since the day I consoled her, the empress looked at me differently. I looked at her differently. In my heart, I vowed to free her. After some digging, I learned that becoming the Vessel was the only way.”

“The Vessel? What is that?”

“The Dark Master’s vessel. Whoever is the Vessel becomes the Dark Master’s hands on Bryn. The physical hands to do what he cannot in his eternal prison.”

I didn’t understand. I thought back to the story of the Creator and his brother. “This Dark Master, this is what we call Cysgod?”

“Yes. His power is in the empress.”

“Oh.” The horror. She’d be indestructible.

“When I tried to take her power, she exiled me.”

“You? You tried to take it? Why would you do that?”

“I had grown close enough to the empress that I knew the secrets of the chamber where the Dark Master dwelt. She caught me in the passage. Captured me. She thought I was taking the power for myself. She couldn’t understand, or rather, she refused to understand my motives. And power was more important than what I offered her.”

What he offered her? “But you’d become the Vessel. You’d be filled with evil. Why would you want to become this?” I narrowed my eyes. “You’re leaving something out.”

Caedryn turned and stared out the window. “That’s all you need to know.”

I scoffed. “This sounds like another pity story, the prequel to the exile story you told me.”

He rounded on me, ablaze with anger. “Does my pathetic tale make you pity me? Is that where your compassion came from? I don’t need you mopping my forehead!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Caedryn’s eyes darkened. “That’s exactly what you meant. I’m baring my soul, and you believe I want pity. That’s how the emrys are, aren’t they? Full of empathy.”

“No.” I held my hands up as I backed away from his penetrating gaze. Somewhere inside, his accusation stung. I tried not to choke as Aneirin’s face swam in my mind, as I thought of how I’d reacted to his pity.

“I don’t want your pity. This has never been about pity! Don’t you hear the warning in my voice! Don’t you understand that I’m trying to protect you from danger?”

His warning? He was absurd. “Danger? DANGER! I’m not in danger from you. You can’t hurt me. You don’t have to push me away.”

“It’s inevitable.”

He was insane—prodding, poking, niggling for a reaction from me so he had an excuse for becoming defensive and lashing out.

I yelled in his face. “You can be left to your own devices! Rage through the night for all I care. Throw up walls like before. I don’t want to see your torments.”

“I offered you a place to start over. That’s all. But you unearthed a hole in my heart-center that you feel the sudden desire to fill. There’s nothing but a black pit. Blackness, Niawen! I won’t relinquish my darkness. It’s too much of a part of me.”

“You don’t have to suffer.”

“I’ve suffered for centuries.”

“So this talk of a clean slate is rubbish. You don’t believe you can change, so why would you think I could heal?”

“I don’t want your light to be dimmed. That’s why I gave you purpose. Your light is healing, but for a while, we were the same. I thought the darkness would give