Page 10

Chapter 10

T he next hour slid by slowly as Mari greeted her guests. Despite her fears, she was having a pleasant enough time. She didn’t get the opportunity to get out and be social nearly as much as she’d like. And this event was different enough from her father’s parties that the reflexive fear she’d felt when the idea had first been floated had eased substantially.

Almost everyone in attendance was a local, and she knew most of them already as she accepted their well-wishes and praise for the event. A notable exception was currently located two spots back.

She’d noticed Emil álvarez through a break in the line—an imposing figure with long gray hair tied back behind his head and a neatly kept full gray beard. He wore an elegant dark blue suit and expression of near boredom.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mari saw Pris take to her feet. She felt the other witch reach for the wards, drawing power down into herself. While she hadn’t noticed anything out of place yet, Mari echoed her readiness, searching the room in front of her for the source of danger as she chatted with one of their vendors.

It had to be álvarez. They didn’t know what his intentions had been with his request for an invitation. He ran exclusive casinos in Macau for extremely dangerous people. To this point, he had had no interests in Las Vegas, but that could change at any time. And that could place him at odds with them if he allied with one of the people who was trying to wrest control of the city away from them.

The person at the front of the line moved away from the dais, and Emil stepped forward into the space without missing a beat. He bowed slightly, meeting Mari’s eyes as he straightened. “Emil álvarez. I’m here to propose a partnership.”

“Mr. álvarez,” Mari said in her most pleasant voice. “I wasn’t aware that we were in the market for a partner.” She slowly released her magic back up into the wards, since he hadn’t made himself an obvious threat, and she didn’t want anyone around them to notice.

“Aren’t you?” The man’s smile was sharp and predatory when his gaze cut toward Pris. “Even more reason that you should take my meeting.”

Unless Mari missed her guess, he was sensitive to magic, because Pris was still holding onto hers, though the strain it required was evident in the way her hands clutched the railing in front of her until her knuckles went white.

Cisco took a single step forward, his gray wings flaring to make him look larger. “Then let’s go book a meeting and let this line keep moving.”

Emil broke eye contact with Pris and took in the towering gargoyle with an amused expression. “Sounds like a plan.” He nodded to Mari in farewell and then moved off with Cisco.

Once the line died down, Mari went to change into her dancing dress. She had to physically push Rio and Dante out of the privacy alcove when they tried to help, otherwise she would never have gotten out of the room.

Mari danced between Rio and Dante, letting them rub all over her until they were both feral with desire. Rio pulled her close to bump against him, baring his teeth in a wicked grin before releasing her again. Dante repeated the same possessive move, and they traded her back and forth for a while until she was panting to get one or both of them under her.

The entire time, she felt like they were being watched—which was ridiculous because everyone in the ballroom was watching the steamy show they were putting on. She twirled under Dante’s arm, stepping back into him so her ass brushed against him while she pulled Rio toward her by his tie.

I’ll admit, a silky-smooth voice spoke into her head, if I had known how delicious you would turn out to be, I would have killed your father the second I laid eyes on you and taken you for my own.

Her head snapped in the direction she knew the voice had originated from, though she had no idea how she knew. A stunning man dressed in a beautiful burgundy pinstripe suit with impossibly long silver hair and eyes that blazed with dark-blue flames sat alone at a table and stared at her.

When she focused on him, an irritating smirk curled his very bitable lips. That’s my clever girl.

A shiver tickled up her spine.

Rio looked down at her with concern when she stopped dancing. “You okay?”

She lifted her chin in the direction of the man she was certain had invaded her head. “Do you know who that is? I don’t recognize him from the invites.”

Rio followed her gaze. “No. Someone’s plus-one, maybe?”

Dante’s hand slid to wrap protectively around her from behind. “Definitely a demon.”

“I’m going to go talk to him.”

Oh yes, please do. He leaned back in his chair, his knees splaying out wide as if to welcome her between them.

Rio and Dante were at her back as she walked toward him. Her magic tingled under her skin when she approached. “How did you get in my head?”

He glanced over Rio and Dante and disregarded them immediately, his fiery gaze focusing in on her. “That’s the wrong question, duckling.” His voice was so deep and dark that she thought she heard the echoes of whispers after.

She ignored the condescending pet name for the moment. “What’s the right question?”

“How I’m in this room at all.” His lips quirked up at the corners. “I’m not on your guest list.”

“That’s not possible.”

The fire in his eyes blazed brighter. “And yet, here I sit.”

She decided to play along just a little while longer, because something about this man intrigued her. “Fine. How is that possible?”

“Because your magic let me in.”

Ready to challenge him on that, she reached up into the wards, drew power down into herself, and then stretched it toward him. She meant to restrain him the way she’d done to others, but instead, her magic wrapped around him like a caress.

“Now you’re just flirting,” he said with a cocky smile.

“Okay, we’re done here,” Rio said, stepping forward.

Her magic sprang up into a shield that Rio ran into face-first. He slid her a questioning look, and she could only shrug. She had no idea what was happening, but she couldn’t claw her magic back for anything.

The silver-haired stranger chuckled. “That was unexpected.” You are a delight, he said into her head right after.

Mari felt the shimmering presence of Dohal behind her. His hands slid over her shoulders and pulled her back against him. “Ashdei,” he said in a menacing growl. “You’re not welcome here.”

The instant she heard his name, Mari flinched backward. This was the demon her father had hired to kindle her power—a Prince of the Hells.

The blue fire eyes flicked up to regard Dohal. “I’m welcome anywhere she is.”

“Why?” The question launched from her in a fearful rasp that she hated.

“Because of the contract between us,” he said lightly.

Cisco landed behind Ashdei and lunged to grab him, but once again her magic interceded. “What the fuck?” Cisco snarled, as tendrils of her power snaked around him, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Mortified, she shook her head. “I’m not doing it on purpose.”

“She’s hooked into the wards,” Dohal said in an annoyed tone. “You won’t be able to harm him without bringing down the house around us.”

Ashdei popped a canapé into his mouth. “I’m here to protect you.”

“I find that difficult to believe,” she said, her voice shaking.

“The Forest Lord is coming for him tonight.” Ashdei waved an idle hand toward Dohal. “Want to watch me scare him off?”

Dohal’s hands tightened around her shoulders. “The Old One comes?”

The bottom dropped out of Mari’s stomach. It was official, this party had been the worst idea.

Dusting off his hands, Ashdei stood. “He was never a subtle creature. I think he probably plans to just blow up the entire building, but I can’t let him do that since something so precious to me is here.” He smiled at her. “Let’s go meet him outside. Shall we?” He strolled toward the double doors that led out to the driveway without looking back.

Mari stood completely still, staring after him. “Is what he’s saying true?”

“Nothing he said was a lie,” Rio responded in a soft voice. “Although he is a demon, so who knows.”

She looked up at Dohal. “Should we go see if he’s right?”

“He would not let harm come to you right now, of that I am certain.”

“For the record, I hate everything about this,” Cisco grumbled as he walked by her toward the door.

When they joined him outside, Ashdei stood with his arms folded casually, as if there hadn’t been any doubt they would follow. He glanced up at the sky as if listening for something. A moment later, a distant peal of thunder rolled across the cloudless sky. “Ahh. Right on time.”

A line of clouds that looked like a storm front, but was moving improvably fast, tumbled toward them from out of nowhere.

Dark-blue fire, the same color as his eyes, erupted around Ashdei in a halo. He held out his left hand and a huge sword made of the same blue flame materialized in his grip. With a casual sweep of his right hand, a shield more potent with magic than she had ever seen sprang up around her and her group, but didn’t encompass him. In a blink, he expanded to his true form, tall and horned and clad in black armor that flickered with blue fire.

Ashdei took two slow steps forward to intercept as the clouds poured from the sky. Mari stepped back into the protection of Dohal’s arm that wrapped around her and pulled her in.

“Step aside, demon.” A sourceless voice like mountains tumbling down shook the ground under their feet.

Ashdei rested the giant sword over his shoulder and assumed a relaxed stance. “The Lords of Las Vegas are under my protection. So you can toddle off back to wherever you’ve been hiding for the last couple of centuries.” His voice was filled with the same confidence that radiated from him constantly.

A towering form coalesced from the thunderheads, fifteen feet high, with thick horns that sprung from his head like branches. His skin had the texture of gnarled bark, and his face was a featureless mask but for two holes that formed bottomless black eyes. In one immense hand, he held a crude spear that looked to be made out of the same wood as his body. “You aren’t supposed to intervene here. This is my realm.”

“Except it’s not. You were banished, and that left a vacancy.” Ashdei grinned. “One that I am more than happy to fill when the proper sort of invitation materializes.” He slid a knowing glance toward Mari that made her skin crawl.

Cisco growled and stepped forward until Mari gripped his wrist to hold him next to her. There was no telling what would happen if he left the shield. After a moment of tortured indecision, he relented.

“That creature owes me oceans of blood.” The Forest Lord pointed directly at Dohal without looking his way. “And I intend to collect it. Very slowly.”

Mari barely halted the aggressive reaction of her magic to the threat to someone who was hers. Inside her, she felt the goddess coil herself tightly in readiness to spring. Teeth clenched, she managed to rein in both of them before they did anything rash.

“I said you can’t have him today,” Ashdei said with a growl that shook the windows of the manor behind them. “I’ll let you know if I change my mind and withdraw my protection.” He turned toward them in a clear dismissal of the Forest Lord.

The Old One raised his hand to rake his fingers across his own chest, tearing into bark and flesh all the way down to the bone. Glowing green blood poured from the wounds, and he shrieked with a horrible sound that made Mari cover her ears. With a concussive blast of magic that she felt rock against the shield that covered them, he vanished.

Ashdei rolled his eyes. “Well, that was dramatic.”

“Why are you protecting us? What do you want?” Mari asked as soon as she found her voice again.

“I would have thought that was obvious.” He glanced over her with appreciation. “You.”

“You can’t have me.” This time it was fury that shook her voice. How dare he do what he had done to her and then return years later to lay claim to her?

He removed the shield around them with a clenching of his fist. “It just proves how little you understand about yourself that you think that.”

Cisco sprang at him, wings flared, and fangs bared.

Mariana seethed when once again her magic moved to intercede between them before she could stop it. Her gargoyle was caught in a trap he couldn’t escape, and she had put him there.

“Motherfucker!” she screamed in frustration. “Why does that keep happening?”

Ashdei aimed an evil smile Cisco’s way. “I suspect that she would consider an attack on one of you an attack on her, so I’ll let your terrible manners go, just this once.” He returned his attention to Mari, all charm again. “You should ask the gorgeous creature that lives inside you that question, duckling. She and I had the most interesting conversation the night we met.”

“We didn’t meet ,” Mari spat. “You assaulted me when I was a child.”

Anger sharpened his features. It was the first time he had worn an expression that wasn’t bored amusement. “I consummated a ritual and sealed a contract with a creature older than the land we’re standing on. There was no child present.” He tilted his head, unsettling his perfect hair. “You were locked up tight as a drum somewhere inside.”

She sent a panicked glance Cisco’s way. His face looked bleak. “I put you to sleep with my magic.”

“You said you took my memories of it.”

“I did. But the time when I put you out is black, as if you were asleep. Because you were.”

Mari sent her awareness inward, seeking to confront the goddess about what had happened that night. It was never a conversation with her, more like an exchange.

When the goddess responded, she was smug. She’d done what she needed to—to protect Mari, and to protect Dohal, who she had known was under Las Vegas all along. But it was clear in the…affection she had for Ashdei that whatever had happened between them had been consensual, even pleasant.

Mari snarled in frustration. “It was my body . Even if she agreed.”

At that, the goddess bristled. The body belonged to both of them. It had since the moment of the first ritual which had brought them into being–together inside one flesh. And the goddess had willingly shared that flesh with the demon in front of them. As far as she was concerned, there had been no transgression.

“I take it from the look on your face right now that she doesn’t agree with that assessment?” Ashdei offered her a flat smile. “It must be confusing for you. I am sorry for that. I thought at the time that your absence was something she had done to assume control. I see now that was not the case.”

“Get out of here,” she growled. Though she was mightily angry, her magic didn’t stir at all. Her power understood at some base level that he was no threat to her.

Ashdei dipped his head. “Just so you’re aware. Our agreement was one of mutual protection. I protect you and you protect me. It’s a soul contract. Unbreakable, unless I act to harm you.” His eyes passed over the men around her. “Your sense of you is larger than I anticipated, but still valid nonetheless.”

“She said get out,” Cisco shouted, straining at the cage of her magic, but it held fast.

“I’ll see you soon.” Ashdei turned around with a cheeky wave and disappeared in a burst of blue fire.

The instant he was gone, her magic dropped, and Cisco moved toward her. She held up a hand to stop whatever he was going to say and turned toward Dohal. “How did you know about the magic?”

“I didn’t know the details. I’m very attuned to your magic and could see how it was reacting to protect him, and I knew you weren’t doing it.”

“You didn’t know about the contract with the goddess?”

He stared straight into her eyes as he answered, “No. I would have told you.”

“She implied that she did it to protect you, long before I knew who you were. How did she know?”

“I assume because she could feel the link between us. I had never met her before I met you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“There’s something else there. Something she didn’t want me to find out.” Saints, how she hated that there were things about herself she still didn’t understand.

“I don’t know what it could be. I’ve told you everything I’m aware of.”

She pivoted to Cisco and took a cleansing breath. “The memories of that day. There’s nothing of the time when I was asleep?”

He shook his head, looking upset. “I didn’t know when I put you out that there was anyone else inside you. And I told you before that at the time I thought it was just another aspect of you. I didn’t realize that she was someone else, and that she could…” He stopped and ran a hand through his hair. “I fucked up, and I can’t even say that I’m sorry because I’d do it all again, Mari, to spare you that.”

She resisted the urge to pull him into a hug because she needed to finish this conversation first, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to feel about the answers. “You saw the whole thing?” She swallowed. “Their time together.”

He looked like he would rather be anywhere else right now. “Yes.”

“Did I seem like I objected during the ritual? Did I scream? Say no?”

Cisco frowned. “No. You didn’t scream or fight him. I thought they might have drugged you at the time.”

“Why did you think that?” She steeled herself for the answer she guessed was coming.

He looked away, unable to meet her eyes. “Because you made noises like you were enjoying it.”

Mari reached out to take his arm and pulled him into a hug. He didn’t put his arms around her. “It wasn’t your fault, okay?” she said fiercely. “You were a kid too, and you were doing what you thought I needed. I’m not mad about that.”

He nodded against her and finally wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him delicately. “So what do we do now?”

She looked around at each of them in turn. “Nobody attacks him. I don’t know if the deal-breaking clause goes both ways, but we can’t risk it.”

She waited for them all to agree before she continued, “And when he shows up again, I don’t want anyone taunting him either. As sick to my stomach as it makes me to admit, right now we need his protection more than he needs ours.”

Why had Ashdei made that deal? Was there something he was afraid of? It seemed strange that a creature of his strength might need her protection. He’d scared the Old One away just by standing there.

Rio sighed. “Do we really think that guy had a serious consent conversation with the goddess? In a way that she understood?”

Mari shook her head. “I don’t know, but she’s not mad about what happened. So until such time as she feels like sharing more, or we find a way to unlock her memories of that time, we’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

There were groans and grumbles from the men around her. “I don’t like it either, but it seems like the goddess was a willing participant. I need to talk to Willow about soul contracts. Maybe there’s some loophole in there we can use.”

Dohal placed his hand on the back of her neck, warm and reassuring. “I am sorry that I am the reason you to have to tolerate him.”

“I would tolerate a lot more to keep you safe.” She smiled up at him. “He can’t hurt us as long as he wants my protection. Let’s focus on that.”

“What is it we think he needs protection from?” Cisco asked.

“That’s what we have to figure out. Because if we end up on the bad side of that, we might be no better off.”

“There isn’t much that could threaten one such as him,” Dohal said in a low murmur.

“Could you?” Mari asked, voice filled with uncertainty.

He met her eyes. “No, but you might.”

She stepped back, stunned. “What?”

“The amount of magic you used to free me was gigantic, bavi.”

“But that wasn’t me.”

“I’m not so sure anymore.” Dohal’s tone was gentle.

“ Your magic protected him, Mari,” Cisco added. “Not the goddess’s.”

She hadn’t considered the implications of that yet. What did it mean that her magic was bound by a contract that the goddess had made? More than that, that her magic actively moved to protect him. “It acted like it does for any of you when I feel like you’re in danger,” she said after a few awkward moments of silence. “Like he was mine.”

Dante’s forehead furrowed with concern. “Did you feel like he was yours?”

“I don’t know. But there was something familiar. I don’t know how to describe it.” She reached up to touch her throat. “When he spoke in my head, I knew exactly where he was, but it was more like I’d known all along. Like I was waiting for him, maybe.” And she had thought, more than once, how attractive he was despite having every reason to be afraid of him once his name had been revealed.

She didn’t have any idea what it all meant. There was so much more going on than she’d realized, and all of it felt dangerous.