Crystal gave some torment, others Power, and still others an exchange. She liked to think of it as an exchange: her beauty for his power. She was his bride, his wife, and, in part, his mother. She carried his body to the farthest corners of the city and touched the hearts of its most forgotten creatures with it. She cradled him in her tender hands.

She remembered with horror the time when she first met him—when she pressed her whole body against him and drew his soul into her heart.