Page 17

The deal was done. The Prince of Darkness and I were tethered now—our flesh tied eternally, his body to mine and mine to his. His pain was mine and mine his, as if we were one body.

How frightening, to know I’d never be able to hide something from him again, but on the flip side, I would be able to tell when he was keeping secrets, which Ashor did perpetually. Our emotions were a tangled mess, and I didn’t have the energy to try and decipher which ones were mine.

It didn’t matter. Our feelings seemed to mirror one other’s, a combination of supreme satisfaction—thanks to the mind-blowing sex—and dread. We had our night together. Now it was time to face what was coming.

We finally dragged ourselves out of bed an hour later, and after a quick use of the bathroom, we moseyed out into the common area to find breakfast had been left for us. Over a piece of toast and coffee, Ashor dropped the bomb I was avoiding. “You need to go back, luv.”

It was like he’d lit a fuse that went straight to my chest. Panic raced, making my heart pound. I leveled him a look and exhaled. “I’m not leaving without you.” We might never belong in each other’s world, but it was a problem we would have to work on, because after last night, I didn’t want to be apart. Just another hurdle to overcome. “Are you going to tell me what you planned to do?”

I cursed his lopsided grin as he replied over a cup of hot tea, “No.”

“Ashor,” I growled, feeling traces of his humor and trepidation skip within me. “You can’t allow your mother to kill the Queen of Envy,” I hiss-whispered.

A magnanimous brow lifted. “I didn’t realize you had an attachment to Verena.”

I snorted, taking a nibble from the corner of my toast. “I don’t. If I had it my way, I’d set the entire underworld ablaze and watch it burn to ash.”

“Such violence,” he purred in that wicked voice. “Your anger goes deep.” He rubbed at the center of his chest as if he could feel it burning there.

My lips tipped downward as I picked up a few crumbs that had fallen onto the table. “Your world hasn’t been nice to me. As children of demons, we’ve had very different upbringings.”

“Indeed,” he agreed. “But in the end, our purposes have aligned. We both want the same thing.”

“Do we?” I countered. “Because I’m not sure what you want or what your angle is. Why would you agree to take a blood oath to your mother, of all demons?”

“To redirect her focus, even if only for a short spell,” Ashor said.

“You traded one queen’s life for another.”

Ashor’s face was an unreadable mask, devoid of any feeling. “I did. And would do so again if it got you off my mother’s radar. My oath will give me what I need.”

I pulled up one of my legs onto the chair, taking another bite of toast. “And what is that?” I inquired.

“Time,” he replied simply.

I shook my head. “You’re keeping something from me.” A sly grin appeared on my lips as I brushed away a crumb. “I can feel it.”

Ashor frowned. “I have no choice but to fulfill my oath. If I don’t, my mother will come looking for me, and it would give her the perfect opportunity to take a crack at the mortal queen’s throne.”

The air got serious between us, my features turning grave. “You know I can’t let that happen.”

“I do, which is precisely why I can’t leave Gardeness,” he said, popping a piece of buttered and jam-covered bread into his mouth.

I wanted to spend the rest of the day bathing in the afterglow of being with Ashor, exploring our new bond, but it wasn’t possible, and I resented the underworld for taking that away from us. “I don’t like this,” I said. “It feels wrong.”

“It’s Hell, luv. Nothing about it feels right.”

Except you. I stared down into my coffee cup, wondering how the fuck I got myself in this mess. “Okay, so the plan is to prevent your mom from becoming a psychotic dictator by giving her the Queen of Envy.”

“Pretty much.”

“What the fuck, Ashor? Explain to me how that is helping, because, to me, it seems as if you are aiding your mother’s crusade.”

He set down his bread. “Which is exactly what she needs to believe. You’ve played this game before.”

My shoulders dropped as I exhaled. “It’s dangerous and might very well backfire. If she does gain power to the Kingdom of Envy, she will have more power than any other higher demon. Doesn’t that worry you?”

“I only have one worry, and she is standing in front of me,” he said gently.

I sighed, shaking my head. “You’re such an asshole.”

He bit back a chuckle, his violet eyes lingering over my lips. “The things you say with that mouth.”

“Don’t try and distract me.”

His pupils flared. “It is you who distracts me.”

“Good.” We shared a sizzling stare that made me want to combust. “So what’s our next move, princeling?”

Ashor was no longer grinning, but instead wearing a menacing frown. “Our? There is no us in this.”

I folded my arms, donning a scowl of my own right back at him. “You have another think coming if you think you are going to leave me behind. Again. I haven’t forgiven you for the first time. You don’t want to get on my bad side.”

“Lexi, can we not argue about everything?” he drawled. If the prince ever came close to rolling his eyes, this was it.

“Get used to it. This is what it’s like being mated to me.” My voice remained steady and sure. “You’re welcome.”

He ran a hand down his face, the shadow of hairs scratching over his skin. “I swear fate is testing me.”

“You can’t expect me to sit at home twiddling my thumbs not knowing what is going on, yet being able to feel your every emotion. If something happens…” Just the thought of him being harmed gutted me.

“It is true you aren’t safe anywhere, but down here, my mother will be able to hunt you down, use you to get to me. You will be giving her my one weakness. And I can’t promise that I will be able to get you out again.”

“I don’t want to be your weakness. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not helpless.” Especially now. There was something about our bond that was different. Ashor’s darkness was a part of me.

“Oh, I know just how lethal you can be.”

“I can’t sit here and do nothing,” I retorted. “I will find a way with or without you.”

Ashor swore low and viciously, and the first stirrings of victory fluttered within me. “If you insist on putting yourself in danger, you’re going to need your demon. Are you prepared to not just accept that part of yourself, but unleash it? Embrace it? You’re in the big leagues now.”

Did that mean he was relenting? Images rose of Ashor in his full demon: glorious silky black wings, razor sharp canines, and the glowing eyes. Our human side prevented us from fully shifting into a demon like my mother or Kali. A Divisa’s transformation kept traits of their human side, but which traits differed for each of us. I was half afraid I’d grow horns.

I sucked on my lower lip, weighing the consequences. Giving in to the one thing I’d worked my entire life to suppress went against everything I stood for. I would essentially become the very thing I hunted.

Could I do that?

Would it make me a hypocrite?

What would my family think?

“Can you promise me that I will be able to shift back at will?” I asked.

He nodded. “With proper training and full acceptance, you will work together, not against one another. You won’t lose yourself, but you will gain something so powerful.”

I held his gaze, letting him feel the truth behind my words as I said, “I don’t want more power.”

He smiled crookedly. “That’s what everyone says until they’ve tasted it.”

“I have tasted it,” I informed him. My mind went to the dark flames. They frightened me, what I could do with them. My flames didn’t burn like Angel’s, but sucked the very life out of a person, soul and all.

Ashor tilted his head, regarding me in a way that made me feel as if he could see straight through all my barriers. “Seems someone has a secret of her own,” he mused.

No more secrets. Not anymore. That was part of the sacrifice of being mated. I took a gulp of my cooling tea and set the mug back onto the table and announced, “I have something to show you.”

A single dark brow inched up. “I’m intrigued.”

* * *

Summoning the unusual shadowy flames inside another queen’s home felt a bit… weird, and kind of naughty. “I don’t know how it works,” I started off explaining as I concentrated on that dark cloud inside me. “Sometimes it just happens.”

Ashor sat up straighter, watching me intently as I rapped my fingers on the table. “What just happens, luv?”

My eyes found his. “The flames.” And as if they heard me call their name, the darkness kindled inside me. I closed my eyes, centering all my attention on the growing seed in the heart of my chest, crumbs of darkness that cast themselves into my veins. My demon giggled with glee as the flames spread, and I fought to keep a handle on both before they spun out of my control. It took all my focus, my brows pinched together as I gripped the edge of the chair.

It was Ashor sucking in a breath that snapped me out from that inward place I’d gone.

I felt them before my eyes opened, the wintery chill the darkness emitted playing over my hand. My gaze landed immediately on Ashor, who was gaping at me with fascination. Sooty flames danced on each of my fingertips, their coldness tingling under my skin.

“Impressive,” he whispered, lifting a hand to run it through the fire as he reached across the table. The flames burned brighter and clung to him as he moved his fingers back and forth.

I swallowed. “You would think so.”

“The darkness troubles you,” he murmured.

More or less. Unlike him, I hadn’t grown up enwreathed in this kind of power. It was foreign and yet was like having a slice of Ashor with me at all times. If that even made sense. “How is this possible?” I asked.

He gazed at the flickering darkness another moment or two before responding. “Not everything in this world has rational answers. But,” he added, seeing I was about to protest, “if I had to hypothesize, a part of power adhered itself to you when your soul attached to mine and mine to yours.”

I lifted my hand, watching as the black flames left ribbons in the air. “Did you know that would happen?”

Ashor shrugged. “No. Not exactly.”

“What does that mean, not exactly?”

“I’ve heard rumors it was possible. But seeing as I’ve never been mated before, I didn’t know for sure.”

“I can’t control them.”

“Hmm. That is a problem.” He laid his hands over mine, closing them into fists. “I can help you with that,” he murmured, and when he released my hands, the flames were gone.

So many thoughts swam in my head. One I gravitated to over and over again. Another I ignored. “Okay,” I agreed. “If you teach me how to shift, how to control the flames, I’m willing to learn.” If this was how I protected my family, saved Ashor, then I was willing to give in to my dark side.

He lifted my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “I suggest you don’t show our host that little trick.”

I snatched my hand back. “I wasn’t planning on it.” Needing to do something with my hands, I reached for the carafe of hot water and refilled my cup, seeping a little sack of black tea into mug—just as the door burst open and two demons with spears darkened the doorway.

Ashor groaned at the disruption.

“The queen will see you now,” one of them announced, flashing a row of decayed teeth. Hell needed a dentist.

Wonderful. I threw back my mug of tea, needing the caffeine jolt, and prepared myself. Coffee would have been better, but I’d take whatever I could get at this point.

Perhaps slamming the tea had been a bad idea. As I got to my feet, it sloshed around in my stomach. I walked by the demons, following Ashor out of the room. One of the bastards grabbed a piece of my hair, his forked tongue darting out and licking the blonde lock.

I was going to be sick.

Halting my steps, I whirled to face the nasty culprit, yanking my hair out from his grasp and giving him my best what-the-fuck face. “Touch me again, and I cut off your—”

Crack.

The demon’s head lolled to the side, his clear wings that seconds ago had been fluttering with excitement falling flat. I blinked. The pair of hands encircling the demon’s neck released him, and the beast collapsed onto the floor.

Ashor had snapped his neck.

“Ready, luv?” he asked, turning toward me as if nothing happened. As if he hadn’t just attacked one of Verena’s guards. He held out an arm to escort me, a storm churning in his eyes.

Oh, he was pissed.

I couldn’t imagine what he would have done to the demon if the asshole had done something worse. A terrifying thought.

Without saying a word, I slipped my hand through his elbow.

“Have someone clean up the trash before we return,” Ashor instructed the other demon.

What would Verena say about this? The demon wasn’t dead, just indisposed until his body healed, but still….