"That is how I started." he replied, watching her keenly as she moved closer, head moving into her touch in a familiar gesture unconnected to the alien expression she stared into.

"Rage is an instrument of the Darkness." he went on, running his fingers through her hair again. "Bloodlust...it can kill. So his power draws him inward to heal. That's when we come out." He paused, tilting his head again. "Consider me...a convergence of the men he has been. All the worst of them wrapped into one. I have been all three, I know all they know."

He paused, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "And the one who took this word from you is not the first your husband has wanted to kill."