Page 1

Ithought I had known pain before, felt the sting of loss, but nothing compared to being separated from Ashor—my mate. It was a constant ache that ate away deep within me like a nasty parasite resistant to any cure. A disease I had to learn to live with or the darkness of his loss would consume me.

Perhaps I had always been broken, always had a slice of darkness. Perhaps that was why Ashor was my match in every way possible. I might never get the chance to know.

Blood blanketed my fingers, dribbling thick and warm down my arms. White-hot pain lanced at my back, and I felt the skin break, mangled and oozing. The sharp metallic taste assaulted my nostrils and coated the back of my throat. I nearly gagged on it.

“Again,” a silky voice ordered.

I cringed at the sound of Kali’s voice—the Queen of Darkness. It made me want to behead her, and not a clean cut either. I wanted the bitch to feel every inch I sawed off her head, slowly and painfully, horns and all.

It was a night I could never forget. I was back in the Hall of Darkness, but it was me who was flogged by darkness, slashed over and over again—not Ashor.

Coward. Weak. Liar. Coward. Weak. Liar.

The demons within the court chanted. They moved in, their shouting growing louder as they closed in around me. They pinched my skin. Nibbled on my flesh. Pulled at my hair. Sliced at my body with their razor-tipped nails. Tore at my clothes, leaving me exposed and defenseless. The torture was endless, morphing from one torment to the next, each as horrible as the last.

It was not until I woke in the dead of the night, drenched in sweat and trembling, that the misery subsided. Well, not really. It was always there. Memories were not easy to forget, especially traumatic ones. But it was during those early mornings when the moon passed the torch to day that I realized these nightmares weren’t mine.

They were Ashor’s.

And that was so much worse, knowing that my nightmares were his reality.

It had to end.

I had to stop it.

There was no other choice. He might be a demon prince, and my feelings about him were confusing and neurotic, but he had saved me.

He was mine.

If only I had an idea of the challenges I would face, or the impact my bond to the Prince of Darkness would have on the future of worlds, not just mine or his, but those beyond both the mortal and the underworld.

Releasing Ashor from the clutches of Hell might come at a high price, one I was not sure either of us could live with. But could we live without each other?