Page 19 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

~Ariana~

Heads would roll.

I stormed across the far end of the estate’s gardens.

I had to pass through the ward slowly at this lesser-known spot so I didn’t alert my family. If I teleported in an aggressive burst, it would be like setting off a magical flare gun.

Even when Kai left to go to Arcanum Order, he had to clear it with one of my parents—so they’d know he was safe, and more importantly, to reassure them he wasn’t off doing something dangerous. Given his tendency to act unilaterally when a threat was near, they needed that peace of mind.

He had Grandfather’s support. In fact, Grandfather was covering for him—pretending they were working together and that he was personally mentoring Kai at his home. He was mentoring him… just through the clandestine operations of Arcanum Order.

I could barely contain my rage, harsh winds whipping all around me as a result, as I fought to contain my power when it wanted to unleash.

When it wanted to hurt and punish.

When it wanted to avenge.

It kept happening.

My men kept being harmed, both mentally and physically.

Nyx was suffering from memory bursts of being experimented on by Chimera Circle.

Kai was getting dangerously close to being forced into a duty he didn’t want—one he’d outgrown long ago. He was trapped. More than anyone outside the four of us knew.

I’d kept his secret for years. He barely even spoke of it himself. It was why he hated any mention of Maven Coven—not just because his parents were controlling, but because it ran deeper. Darker.

Borne from their helplessness after the Draco incident, Thomas and Louise Hunter had turned to dangerous magic. Desperate to ensure the strength and survival of their Coven, they’d performed a forbidden ritual—one that anchored their legacy to Kai before he was even born.

The result was an illegal enchantment that bound his magic to Maven Coven itself. If he refused the position of Head, he’d lose his power. If the Coven fell, so would he. It was a trap. One where their survival depended on him, and his power depended on them.

He couldn’t expose it, not without causing political chaos. His parents would face ruin. Maven Coven would be torn down. And in the supernatural world, it stood as one of the supposed pillars—an institution too entrenched in power to fall without major consequences.

And now there was also this!

Vorzyr had just conveyed what had happened to him while I’d been training with Cassius, just before Ketheron had emerged.

His parents had tortured him and tried to fucking murder him.

No!

They were mine.

My loves. My best friends. My new family.

No one harmed them.

No one!

And it was time the world learned that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I was just a few feet out from the edge of the ward when a wall of rose-gold magic shot up so suddenly that I slammed into it, the impact knocking me back several steps.

I stumbled, but managed to maintain my footing.

And then I spun to see Kai standing there, his magic live on either palm.

I glared.

“Stop,” he told me calmly, despite the intensity radiating off him.

“ You stop . Stop posturing. We both know that you won’t hurt me.”

“I don’t need to hurt you to prevent you from doing this. But I’d much rather you agree to stand down on your own.”

Damn him. “Don’t do that. Don’t use that.”

“Use what? Calm reasoning?”

“That sweetheart part of you.”

“You think I’m weaponizing it? I’m not, Ari. This is what you do to me, what you bring out in me. Cutting through my abrasive side and my harsher edge.” He took a careful step forward. “And I’ve come to love that you do. I know you have as well.”

“Kai—”

“I know that you’re pained. This anger… this overwhelming need to act and to fucking punish…

it’s rooted in your hurt for Vorzyr, for what was done to him, and what you know he’s lost in the fallout.

And it’s likely also nagging at you that this has happened because of his Celestial power—power like yours—a power that you’ve spent so much of your life being feared for. ”

“It’s also… I can’t do anything about what Nyx is suffering through. I can’t do anything about your situation. But I can do something about this.”

“Vorzyr is talking with Nyx now, somebody who understands the pain of being disowned by his parents for being different. He’s opening up about it because of you.

Because of your love for him and how you make it easy and safe to let go in your presence, something you do for us all.

That’s what he needs right now. You snuck out while he was immersed in that, but it won’t be long before he realizes you’ve gone.

If you’re in the Dracoryn Realm when that realization hits, can you imagine what he’ll do?

He’ll raze their kingdom to ash with dragon fire, Ari. ”

“I can’t just stand down. I can’t just do nothing.”

“That’s not what this is about. They won’t get away with this. There are things you don’t know, things already in place. And if you’ll just take a beat and come down from this rage, I’ll explain everything.”

He gestured at the wild wind still whipping through the trees and now the storm clouds gathering overhead—all a result of my gathering power that was rolling through me dangerously in a fury.

“I swear it to you,” he spoke.

He dropped his hands, snuffing out his power before I’d even calmed.

It spoke volumes.

I sucked in a breath, then continued doing so, calming my breathing and tempering my rage.

After a few moments, the storm clouds parted, then even dissipated.

The wind calmed, then stilled entirely.

“Do you realize where we are?”

I frowned, then noticed the gazebo and the tree from the night of my party—landmarks I hadn’t seen since that infamous night.

The memory rolled over me with its every vivid detail.

I rounded some thick foliage and came upon a visual of the gazebo and the unwanted interlopers.

So much for assuming that some guests were just out here chilling and shooting the shit or something.

This was a whole lot more than that.

It stunned me into inaction.

It was Kai Hunter and Nyx Laryn, two Maven Academy students who were about to enter their fourth year like me.

There Kai, sorcerer extraordinaire, was still fully-clothed in the sleek black tailored suit I’d seen him in earlier, just his fly undone with his cock pulled through the opening and raging fucking hard as he stood behind Nyx who was completely naked.

He was hunched over, his head bowed and his eyes closed in rapture, his vibrant-blue hair falling forward as he humped the white wood of the gazebo, his cock moving rapid-fire back and forth over it and starting to slick the material.

Kai had his fingers hooked in Nyx’s open ass, and I jolted as he suddenly spat inside, causing Nyx to let out a long groan and wiggle in response.

Kai did it again and again until it was oozing inside.

And then he stuffed a finger in there, making Nyx cry out, before he then started seemingly stirring the dirty mixture, then shoving it in deeper and deeper.

“Cocksucker… yeah,” Nyx rasped, grinding back against Kai’s invading finger.

It was… depraved and demented… and it had my body heating.

I went to turn away, but Kai opened his hand that had been fisting one of Nyx’s black shimmering horns, and I watched his rose-gold magic glowing vibrantly as he grunted, “I can’t hold the spell steady and use another to magically lube my cock.

The pushback from you is too strong this time because you left it too long. ”

“Holding the spell is what matters. Don’t compromise that for anything.” Nyx’s voice was desperate as he added, “Please.”

“I won’t, sweetheart,” Kai vowed.

Nyx reached back and grasped his arm. “Besides, I want it raw right now. Need it hard. Need to feel you real rough. Give it to me. Fuck me up, wunderkind.”

“Fuck. Forget about the Incubus allure, you’re driving me fucking crazy even without that,” Kai grunted, a moment before he surged forward and his cock sank into Nyx’s ass, earning a delightful squeak of pleasure from him and a deep growl from Kai.

“Ungh… fuck my ass… ream my fucking hole!” Nyx started screaming out as he lost any and all composure and rammed back wildly.

Kai gave him what he wanted, pulling almost all the way out, then slamming back in hard, over and over again, jolting Nyx against the gazebo.

“Give me that glorious cock,” Kai uttered, before clamping his hand around Nyx’s length and jerking him off wildly, as he then began power-fucking into his ass like a man possessed.

Through it all, his other palm remained active with his magic.

I stepped back and turned to go for real this time, but in my haste and with the surprise of what I’d walked in on, I smacked into a tree behind me and a curse escaped me.

Kai swung his head and I gasped as his gaze clashed with mine.

His rhythm faltered only for a brief second, before he continued on fucking the shit out of Nyx, holding my gaze, his eyes darkening and a dangerous smirk playing on his lips.

Oh no.

Garnering Kai Hunter’s attention was never a good thing.

Especially not this kind.

The kind wherein I’d just borne witness to a private moment like this, of all things.

Worse than intruding on a fuck session that was clearly a secret between the two of them because nobody at the Academy knew this side to their friendship, was the fact that I’d just seen Kai using his magic illegally.

So, I did the only thing I could do.

I turned and disappeared into the forest.

As I stumbled through the brush in my stupid heels and far-too-long dress, my body shaking from the shock of what I’d just witnessed and the ramifications of it all, I heard a clear orgasmic cry from Nyx, followed by some grumbling from Kai.

Not a few seconds later, and a blast of rose-gold magic erupted in my path.

Then Kai Hunter materialized.

I jerked back and came to an ungraceful stop.