Ethon sat in the darkness of Nick's spare room. The daytime light was sealed away for his protection.

He was supposed to be sleeping.

A fickle thing, sleep.

His mind raced with memories, thoughts, emotions.

Rose needed him, and once again he was hesitant out of his own fears. What kind of a man did that to a woman? To the woman that he knew he was falling in love with?

Still, the commitment of it slowed him down.

Did he want to protect her. Hell yes.

Was he ready for marriage? Well… uh… that was kind of sudden. And the whole bonding thing with a succubus that he was in a relationship with sure as hell sounded like a more committed version of marriage.

What would happen if the relationship didn't work out? Could he tie Rose to him, bonded, forced under his command in a way, an eternity of her being trapped with him? Would she grow to hate him?

His thoughts were paused when there was a knock at his door.

Ethon wasn't surprised to see Nick on the other side. Though, honestly, he would have prefered it to be Rose.

"If you are going to even think of this plan, then figure out if you can trust her first." Nick growled. "If you can't be honest with her, to her face instead of your freaky dreams, then there is no chance of any relationship and bonding will only make everything worse."

"Stay out of my head." A furious tick worked in the Greek hunter's jaw.

Without missing a beat, Nick glared at him. "I've been trying to sleep. You are stressing out too damn loud. So go, the fuck, to sleep. Deal with your shit there. Tonight, either tell her the truth for real or give it up. Don't string her along."

Moments later, Ethon fell into bed, sleep finally over taking him. He was only vaguely was aware that Nick was the one forcing him into the needed slumber.

It hadn't taken long before Ethon's dreams merged with Rose's. He watched the scene as she fought some daimons who had ambushed her. The Dark-Hunter leaned against the wall and watched her. She was impressive for a human. Of course, most Blood Rites Squires were.

He flinched when she was thrown into a wall with a fist around her throat. It was a dream. He repeated the reminder in his head. Whatever was happening, it was a dream, most likely a memory and she had managed to survive so far. She would be alright.

"Where are your pals?" One tall blond leaned in to question.

Rosslyn's head of natural brown curls carried highlights of purple instead of the blue that Ethon was more familiar with. She looked quite a bit younger as well. The girl smirked in the face of the danger before her. "I can't believe you even have to ask."

"What does that mean?" Another daimon asked.

"It means that we were here all along, dumbass." A well muscled man stepped around the end of the alley. Ethon recognized him, Liam. A Welsh Dark-Hunter stationed in London.

The daimon who held Rose grinned. "You were bait then? I suppose it works since we planned to use you as bait anyway. Now we don't need you."

His fist squeezed her throat tighter until she kicked him in the leg with the steel stiletto heel of her boot. The puncture released his grip enough for her to breath and she jammed her arm up to drive into the bastards nose with the blunt part of her lower palm.

Liam and a few others dispatched with the remaining daimons, yet Rose only focused on the one at her feet. Had he been human, he would have been dead already. However, being a daimon had some advantages with healing. So, he moaned as his body tried to recover from the bone fragments that had been forced into his skull.

Rose remained calm as she knelt down, her fingers pulling a dagger from her boot as she moved. Cold eyes watched the man below her. "I hear that Desiderius is hunting in New Orleans."

Her words were soft enough others probably couldn't hear, however, in the dream, he could make it out just enough. And fuck, Ethon did not like the look in her face or the implications of that statement at all. He knew she could kill, but could she have done worse? Torture? To go after one of the most dangerous daimons the Dark-Hunters had faced.

The daimon spit blood at her.

"Such a shame." She chided. "I would have let you live to give him a message for me if you were willing to cooperate. But as you won't…" Her dagger dropped into the daimon below her. Nothing remained but golden dust.

"You know love, you won't win many friends like that." Liam chuckled.

Her shoulders shrugged, though she didn't say anything.

"Rosslyn!" An angry voice carried from the front of the alley. "What have I told you about that shit?" He roared.

She arched a brow. "Leave my past for Acheron and the Dark Hunters." She finally replied as she stood up.

"Then obey the order." He snapped.

"Yes father." Oh, well that explained the anger from the man. Though Ethon wasn't quite sure what to make of him. He let his daughter work as bait for daimons, fight them, and only got angry when she appeared to search for the monster from her past.

A monster from her past… the thought floated around Ethon's mind. She had true monster's in her past. Now she faced a whole new bunch. And she placed her trust in men who were just as bad.

The gods only knew what Nick truly was. He was dangerous.

And himself…

Fuck it.

Nick was right. There was no point in even thinking about any future if he couldn't trust her.

They both needed to know the truth.

Could she handle his truth? He was about to find out.

"Rose?"

Her head snapped up to look at him, finally realizing he was there.

Ethon couldn't handle the silence that hung between them. "You know he was right, you were too emotionally invested to take on Desiderius alone."

"It's the past, I don't need your assurances. The psycho is dead. Twice from what I heard. I've moved on."

The former prince nodded. "You are a stronger woman than most give you credit for. Even your father."

"A little wishy-washy there prince charming?"

Ethon grinned. "No. He saw your strength in fighting skill, yet worried about the rest of you. He lost one child, and lived through the damage that Desiderius caused to his wife and oldest child. I can understand his fear. And knowing you, seeing the look on your face as you asked that daimon about Desiderius, your father was very right to be concerned. However, I still think you were far stronger than he realized. To face your fears and work through them in ways that he didn't know about. To test yourself with Nick, to seek someone for support with Otto, to ever have given an asshole like me a chance."

"And what is the purpose of this pep talk?" Her head tilted.

A long slow breath worked its way past his lips. "I'm hoping you will have enough strength to surprise me once again."

Rose waited. Her mind bounced between all of the possibilities of what he was up to. As comfortable and accepting as she had become with him, she could sense his unease. And it made her defensive. She remembered their conversations in the waking world. Talking about Baron Samedi, bonding, and more. Was he thinking of trying to have sex again? Surprisingly, her dreams were the only place that her lust didn't drive her absolutely crazy.

Black eyes bored into her blue-green. "I'm going to try to trust you with the darkest parts of me."

Her breath froze.

"If you don't run screaming or absolutely hate me after this, then maybe we could work toward other options."

She could see the nervous fear in his eyes. This was huge. The ultimate disclosure. The foundation toward true, intimate trust.

The scene shifted around them and Rose returned to her more contemporary image. As much as he liked her natural hair color, he missed the black and blue when it was gone. Those were the colors that he had claimed as his Rose.

She looked around at an ancient war camp. Around them were the tents and warriors of an army. However, below her was a beaten pile of flesh that she barely recognized as Ethon Stark.

He was stripped naked, covered in bruises and blood. Hands and feet were tied together and chained down to the ground in front of the whole camp. Unable to anything more than roll to one side or the other. However, it was his face that made her cringe. Swollen and gasping for breath.

"This is when you were captured by the Spartans?" She asked. Her voice barely a breath.

All he could do was nod.

Ethon controlled time, showed her how long it took him to heal. His conversations with Iairos made her gasp, yet he continued. He sped the images to show her his first week of captivity. Being left under the harsh summer sun, chained to the ground where he could be beaten, raped, even urinated on by anyone in the camp.

Rose cried out in gut wrenching sobs as Iairos ordered his teeth to be removed for further humiliation and other's pleasure.

Ethon stopped everything and shifted the dream to blackness. He held her, healed and whole, his body welcomed her arms as they grasped onto him. The feel of her comforted him in ways that he would never be able to explain. The fact that she wasn't disgusted by him… yet.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry." She hiccupped.

Ethon cupped her face. "You didn't do this."

"But you shouldn't have to relive it because of me." His trauma triggered some of her own fears and memories. The horror. The pain.

The prince looked down at her, unsure if she was ready for more. Terrified that he would cause her more harm by being honest. "Rose, that was only the beginning."

"Oh gods." She tightened her arms and buried her face in his neck. "You had said that you were held captive for two months. Did they… the whole time?"

She could feel his head nod.

It was awful.

Her past was for an hour that felt like eternity. Nothing as brutal or as long as what he had suffered. No wonder he had such a difficult time telling anyone about that.

"Rose… I…" He paused as he took a breath. "I showed you that so that you would understand. At least I hope that you would understand."

"Understand what? You are a victim, like me. But you moved on. None of this makes you the monster you see yourself as." She pulled back to look at him, however his eyes refused to meet hers.

"I wish it were that simple." He whispered. His chest was tight and his heart raced in fear of what he was going to show her.

He would lose her. He knew it.

"I can't do this." He started to lift her out of his lap, to pull away from her.

Rosslyn wasn't about to let him run again. Not after he opened up so much. But the absolute fear in his face told her that showing her his abuse was not the deep darkness that he hated so much.

Then she understood.

After her assault, she hid inside of herself for a long time. The anger, the fear, the desire to hurt others for her abuse boiled and brewed. In her mind, she knew that her mother wasn't to blame. However, she was there. Unconscious. She did nothing to protect her daughter. Her father was a soldier of sorts, he should have protected her.

Rose had wanted comfort, protection. Yet, she blamed them. She hated men. She hated Dark-Hunters and Squires. Mostly, she hated daimons. She blamed them all for how she had been hurt.

It took her a long time to work her way out of that rage. The quiet boiling rage. Hiding in her room, she avoided them all. And when they forced her out, she exploded.

The only thing that saved anyone from her fury was the fact that they were all highly skilled fighters and she was still a little girl.

Otto had been the only one to reach her. A teenager. Not yet a man to be feared. Not old enough to be a Squire. However, one of the family. He knew the dangers. He knew the horrors.

He had become her rock, the strength from which she was able to pull herself out of the mud that threatened to drown her. Otto had become her salvation.

As Rose watched the emotions flicker across Ethon's face, she knew the truth he was terrified to admit. "You lashed out."

His eyes closed at her words. Those three words were an immense understatement.

Warm hands cupped his face as she climbed closer to him. "Ethon, you don't need to show me. I understand." Her voice was soft and soothing. It pulled at him in ways he never expected.

"You don't understand. What I did… it was wrong. Horribly wrong."

Rose ran her fingers over the lines of his face. Tears pricked her eyes for his pain.

"Then answer me this…" She started. "When you lashed out, were you in complete control and making rational decisions?"

He shook his head. No, he was in blind rage.

"Then, I don't care what you did." She stated and his eyes snapped open.

How? How could she say that? She has no idea…

"Damn it Ethon Stark. You listen to me. My experience may not have been the same, but it was enough like yours for me to understand. The anger, the rage, the pain and fear; emotions brewing and combining like some chemistry lab making the ultimate chemical bomb. And when that goes off…" She shook her head. "My own mother wouldn't live in the same house with me for two years after my experiences. Partially out of grief and guilt. Mostly because I had no control. My anger held no sense of logic. I tried to hurt anyone that reminded me of the past and she was there through the whole damn thing."

Ethon drew a ragged breath.

"So, the darkness that we unleashed out of the pain of the past is just that, in the past." Rose slid her thumb over his cheek. "I don't care if you took great joy in ripping those bastards into rice sized pieces and danced in their entrails. I don't care if you lost yourself in the need to make them pay in every way possible. I only care that you found a way past it. That you found yourself once again. That you don't continue to let that darkness haunt you in the present."

"Never again after that day." He whispered. "Even in my heaviest battle rage and bloodlust, I only fight those that deserve it. Never would I harm the innocent again."

Her arms slid around him and held him tight. "After everything you went through, only one day of darkness is a miracle and speaks volumes of your strength. You are a far better man than you allow yourself to believe. I could never judge you for doing what I tried to do in my own past. The only difference between us was that you were a trained war leader and I was a child who couldn't do as much damage."

His arms wrapped around her as he shattered. She didn't run. She didn't hate him. She held him. Knowing the truth. She still held him.

And for the first time since Samia had left him, tears flowed in hope instead of self hatred.