Page 42 of Blood Court (Cursed Darkness #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

LYSITHEA

“Which means?” I ask, wiggling on the bed as I pull my joggers up. Once again, I’m full of cum. That just seems to be the way my life is right now. I’m glad Dathan came to me. I’m glad Verik and Evren joined us. This plan was fucking stupid. Who are we trying to kid with this?

“Brute fucking force,” Verik says.

“And how do you think that will go?” Dathan asks, stashing his dick and leaping off the bed. He moves across the room to the bathroom and flicks on the shower.

“Easily,” Verik says. “We combine our power and force the gate into existence.”

“The lore said—” I start, but he cuts me off.

“Fuck the lore. We are the lore.”

“Are we?” Dathan asks, taking my hand and leading me to the shower. He helps me strip off and helps me in. He closes the shower door and leans against the sink. “How do you figure?”

“We are going to rewrite everything. We are not powerless. We are the opposite. We are the four who can make or break this. I say we break it and rebuild it our way. I am done being fucked about by these creatures. Aren’t you?”

I open the shower door and peek out. “Yes.” Dathan pushes me back under the spray.

“Finish,” he orders, his voice low. I wash quickly, the water sluicing over me and down the drain. When I step out, he wraps a towel around me, his touch possessive.

“So what? We summon the Warden for a trial?” I ask carefully, still not sure how Verik intends to accomplish this feat.

He shakes his head. “No, that won’t work. We need to create it, bring it forth. We use our magic to bring it to us. I can create any door, anywhere, any fucking time, as long as there is a pathway. That entire Court is a pathway.”

“That dampens our magic somehow, though,” Dathan points out, and I nod. There was definite dampening on both occasions.

Verik turns to Evren with a smile that looks kind of evil. It makes my pussy twitch.

“That’s where you come in,” he says.

Evren gives him a questioning stare.

“Water magic dampens magic. Clue’s in the word. So Evren freezes the dampening spell, giving us back our full power to annihilate this gate out of existence.”

“Wow, okay, that could work?” I ask Evren.

He nods with a shrug.

“And then we enter the Midnight Spire to gain access to the Sovereign Forge. Do you think we will be on a clock? Will the opposition know?”

“Probably,” Dathan says. “Let’s assume everything is on a clock.”

“Okay,” I say, the single word feeling heavy with decision. “When do we do this?”

Verik’s grin is pure, unholy glee. “Now.”

Of course. No more waiting. No more strategy sessions. Just action. It feels right. It feels like us.

“Right,” Dathan says, pushing off the sink. “Let’s go kill a fucking gate.”

Evren nods, a silent promise of cold death for whatever stands in our way. The air in my room crackles with our combined power, a storm waiting to be unleashed. The failed lie, the pain of separation, it all feels distant now. This is our truth. The four of us against everything.

I pull on a fresh black dress, not even bothering with underwear.

What’s the point? My hands are steady. The fear is gone, replaced by a cold, hard certainty.

Aeliana wanted a utopia of brutal truth.

I’ll give her one. The truth that we are the most dangerous thing in this realm, and we’re done playing by anyone else’s rules.

“Where?” I ask Verik, sitting down, to lace my boots.

“Where the magic is strongest,” he says. “The Ossuary Tower.”

I nod and stand up. Evren moves into my personal space, running his hand over my arse, a small smile on his lips.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going commando,” I giggle.

“Too right,” Verik says. “That way, we can fuck on the ashes of the Warden without anything getting in our way.”

I shiver at his words and follow them out of my room, the broken door a testament to our failed plan.

A small part of me thrills at the idea of fucking on the Warden’s ashes.

A bigger part is terrified we’re about to get ourselves killed.

But this feels right. No more lies. No more pretending to be something we’re not.

Just us, against whatever this realm throws at us.

The walk to the Ossuary Tower is a silent declaration of war. The gargoyles on their perches turn their heads to watch us go, their stone faces unreadable. DarkHallow’s halls lead the way, knowing where we are going and sensing our intent.

We are deposited right outside the Ossuary Tower.

The air inside is cold and profoundly still.

Silently, we make our way up the stairs to the top room.

The room where the trapdoor opened, the room where Evren and I were forced into intimacy but then chose it anyway, the room of the first trial.

Verik is right. This is the place we need to be.

“Right,” Verik says, his voice echoing in the bone-white chamber.

He walks to the centre of the room, standing directly over where the trapdoor opened up in the solid stone.

“This has to be a nexus point. A weak spot between here and elsewhere. I’m going to rip a hole in it.

Evren, be ready for the backlash. Dathan, you keep anything nasty that comes through busy.

Thea, love, you’re the power source.” He holds his hand out.

I smile at him and his endearment, and I move closer, placing my hand in his. He grips my fingers tightly, crushing the bones together.

Verik’s eyes close. “Ready?”

“Ready,” I reply.

Hellfire bleeds from his pores, not hot and destructive, but controlled.

It pools on the floor, sinking into the cold stone floor where the trap door was.

He crouches down, bringing me with him, and I kneel next to him as he traces the fingers of his free hand over the cracks in the stone.

Hellfire flares up underneath them, and I feel him tug on my power.

I gasp as it’s a rush that sends my arousal for him rocketing into the stratosphere.

He opens his eyes and turns his head to smile seductively. “Oh, you like that, do you?”

“Focus,” I bite out, but there’s no heat in it. The raw power flowing from me into him is an intoxicating drug. It’s better than sex. Almost.

“Spoilsport,” he murmurs, but turns back to the job at hand.

The stone floor groans, the cracks widening under the pressure of our magic. The hellfire sinks deeper, peeling back the layers of reality, creating a doorway where there is none. The air in the cold room heats up, growing heavy with moisture as the two temperatures collide.

The sound of crumbling stone grates on my nerves as a shimmering tear in the air appears above the glowing cracks.

“Evren,” Verik says calmly. “You need to get in front of this.”

“Ready,” he whispers.

A wave of absolute cold washes from him, colliding with the heat from Verik. It starts to rain, a soft drizzle at first, but then more intense as the two powers clash.

The tear in reality widens, ripping open with a sound like tearing silk.

It’s no longer a shimmer but a gaping wound in the stone.

It’s a swirling vortex of colourless light.

The rain becomes a downpour, soaking us to the skin.

My dress clings to me, but the heat from the hellfire turns the water to steam where it touches Verik.

The power drain is immense. It feels like he’s pulling my soul out through my hand, but it’s a shared act, a violent, intimate creation. I hum as my magic merges with his, a chaotic harmony that makes the bones of the tower vibrate.

The doorway opens suddenly, and we drop as the stone beneath our feet gives way. Verik grips my hand tighter as we fall, Dathan and Evren joining us as we tumble through the oppressive dark.

We hit the deck hard, and I groan as my bones rattle, but Evren is on his feet faster than lightning, casting a frost spell that freezes the water magic that dampens our powers.

The Blood Court trembles with rage, but there is nothing it can do.

Evren is faster, more powerful, and it succumbs within seconds.

The shaking stops. The air around us is filled with frozen raindrops, showing the extent of the dampening spell.

“Wow,” I say, getting to my feet and staring at the tiny icicles. “Well done.”

Evren snorts and rolls his eyes.

“Don’t be modest,” Verik says, clapping him on the back. “You did good.”

“Okay, but now we are here, we need to get the Warden here,” Dathan says. “Congratulations after we defeat that fucker.”

“Agreed,” I say and turn to Verik. “You ready for another go?”

“What is the meaning of this?” the Court’s snake hisses at us, slithering over, faster than the eye can follow.

“We’re taking over this operation with our full powers,” I state, taking Dathan’s hand. “Show him what a real nightmare looks like?”

Dathan gripped my fingers, giving the snake a vicious sneer. “With pleasure.”