Page 43 of Dominion

Sometimes to destroy a monster, you had to be a part of its inner circle. With no one exactly knowing where my father was, I knew that they would need someone from the inside. Someone close to him. Someone Judah trusted.

And where do you go when you’ve lost your way? Home.

I had to go back to Winworth, back into that serpent’s nest, where I belonged. I didn’t deserve happiness or lightness in my life, but Skylar and Ash did. I just hoped Casimir would be able to give it to them.

I hoped he would be able to give them everything I couldn’t.

“Dylan?” Cillian’s voice stopped me in my tracks, in the middle of the staircase, and I swallowed the ball of nerves lodged in my throat before I turned around. I saw him standing in the middle of the hallway, looking up at me.

His eyes betrayed the concern he carried for all three of us, and I felt a pang of guilt going through me. He was just another person who was plagued with worry over me, over everything that was happening. It wasn’t fair anymore, dragging all these innocent people into this mess.

Into the mess I could fix.

“Where are you going?” he asked, coming closer to the staircase. “Are you okay?”

No, not even close, but I couldn’t show it. I couldn’t voice it out loud for fear that they would try to stop me from doing what needed to be done.

“Yeah,” I answered, keeping my voice neutral, careful not to betray the turmoil inside my very soul. “I’m just going to the room to get something. Where have you been?”

It was obvious he had just come from outside, judging by the jacket he wore and the bag I couldn’t recognize. “Are you going somewhere?”

“No,” he shook his head. “More like?—”

“Dylan?” another voice piped up. When I looked at the front door, I saw Sebastian, Ash’s younger brother, standing there with a bright smile on his face. We didn’t get a chance to talk too much before the events back in Emercroft Lake, but it was obvious Ash cared about him. It was obvious that this kid deserved a better life than any of us had.

“Hey, Sebastian,” I said, standing in the same spot. “You just get here?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “Cillian picked me up. He thought?—”

“I thought it would do you all good if everyone was at the same place,” Cillian finished for him, still eyeing me up. Cillian Nightingale wasn’t an idiot, and sometimes it felt as if he could see through us even when we tried to hide everything we felt.

I also knew that he’d gone through things in his life he didn’t want to talk about, which, I guess, in a way, I could understand. We all had our own battles to fight, and no matter how many people you had around you, it often felt as if you were the only one who could do those things.

“I’m just happy to be back,” Sebastian said, smiling in that carefree way, and the thought struck me—I had no idea when the last time for me was that I smiled that way. I had no idea when Skylar or Ash had smiled like that.

Maybe never. Maybe a long time ago, hidden in the memories I couldn’t quite recall. Maybe before the madness took over our lives.

There were a thousand maybes filling my mind, but the fact was—we weren’t happy. I wanted them all to smile again. I wanted to see happiness in their eyes, and as an idea struck me, I knew that Cillian would be the person to go to.

Just one last time.

One last good memory before I burned it all to the ground.

“Kill…” I took a step down, feeling hopeful for the first time since we came back from the Red Manor. “I do need to talk to you.”

Sebastian looked at me, then at Cillian, and walked slowly toward the center of the hallway. “I’ll find Ash. It was good seeing you, Dylan.”

“You too, kid.” You too. Ash and Skylar had people who loved them no matter what, and my decision only became easier. I knew that they would have those same people to help them when I wasn’t here anymore.

Sebastian disappeared through the door leading toward the back porch, and I forced myself not to think about the way Ash had stared at Casimir. Instead, I looked back at Cillian whose eyes were already firmly plastered on me, reading every action, every little movement, as I walked down toward him.

“Relax, Kill.” I chuckled, or at least I tried to, but it sounded more broken than I intended it to. Cillian noticed. I mean, there weren’t many things he didn’t notice, but I didn’t want him to notice the cracks in my soul or the emptiness in my heart. I didn’t want him to realize I was up to something. “I’m not gonna do anything stupid.” Yet. “I just need your help.”

“What’s up?” he immediately asked, arching his left eyebrow. “I highly doubt you’re about to ask me about the weather outside, given that you haven’t gone out in weeks.”

“No.” I smiled. “I’m not gonna ask you about the weather, but it does have something to do with the outside world.”

Cillian leaned against the wall, looking me up and down, frowning the entire time. “You need to eat more,” he said out of the blue.

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