Page 3 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

"The Eithne," the death god answered gently to my daughter while giving me a backwards look of annoyance, reading Emon and I’s exchange easily, setting him off balance and placing the game more in my favor, "is a place of solace where a soul is able to rest peacefully and live out their purest pleasures without the burden and strife the world of the living causes. "

“Wow,” Riella gasped, leaning eagerly forward, reaching out to the white sands, stretching Emon’s arm with her.

Captured by her stunning innocence and her swirling green gold eyes, I watched as she tracked the galaxies above, her long wild tendrils of blue black hair falling away from her cherubic face, her bronze skin shimmering in the twilight.

"Look." She pointed, her soft musical voice a command none of us could ignore.

Heads raised in unison, we all watched in stunning silence as hundreds of stars shot across the sky, raining colorful dust upon our upturned faces, falling silkily over our bodies in a sparkling shimmer.

Releasing her hold on Emon, Riella reached upwards, cupping her hands to gather the stardust with bright curiosity.

"Taste it, granddaughter," the death god coaxed her softly, sending more dust into her cupped hands.

Both Emon and I instantly latched onto her arms, shattering her enchantment and stopping her from leaning in to taste the stardust.

“No,” we both growled, glancing at each other with reluctant amusement before turning towards the laughing death god, fury igniting in our eyes.

In one second, I pictured a hundred different ways I could eliminate that smile off his face.

"I promise you it is safe, daughter. See," he said ignoring our glares, gathering some of his own glittering dust and licking it. "Mine tastes like strawberries and cream."

Riella squealed with excitement planting her face head first into the pile of dust before we could stop her.

“Riella,” I admonished but she could no longer hear me, squealing again and licking eagerly at her hands.

Catching Emon’s worried look, he sighed. “Our cub trusts far too easily for this world.”

Glancing down at her, she laughed loudly, looking up at me with her face smeared in stardust. “It tastes like dragon fruit!”

I released her arm when her tongue came dangerously close to slobbering my own body. “I know.”

“It will put her in more danger but—” his lips twitched watching her lap up the dust like a kitten, “I find I do not want her to be any other way, I want to protect this side of her—a side the fae lost a long time ago.”

Sighing softly, I whispered back in his mind. “Me too but she must learn, Emon. She may not always have us.”

Emon frowned but before he could answer, Riella shoved by him, reaching with enthusiastic hunger for more stardust, her other hand now entirely in her mouth.

Snorts and chuckles soon followed while she skipped around us all with her newest addiction.

Even the death god laughed softly, watching her with softness in his jeweled eyes that I wish I did not see. "As I said, this is Eithne,” his voice rumbled around us. “Everything here is meant to bring you joy and pleasure. Especially for my one and only granddaughter."

I pursed my lips with distaste and Emon growled low, reflecting my own thoughts. I couldn’t even tolerate him calling me daughter…let alone claiming my child that I had only learned was mine just days prior.

Asher snorted with amusement behind us. “Reminds me of the first time Daemon experienced pastries.”

Penina's eyes glittered, looking over her shoulder at me, winking. “That’s all we need, another pastry pinching royal.”

Emon snickered. “I am not entirely sure I can claim my cub’s sweet tooth origins, Nina.

I do believe her mother is far worse than I.

” A sudden smoldering gleam burned brightly in his eyes, ensnaring me just as easily as the stardust did with our daughter.

But unlike her, I needed no stardust to be fully addicted to my soulmate.

All he had to do was look at me like he was now and I’d succumb to my own selfish desires to possess him.

“You are covered in candied stardust my little umbra…

and it tastes just like you." He licked his lips for emphasis and I felt my legs weaken with his meaning.

"Don’t you dare clean up before we get a chance to be alone.

I plan to lap up the galaxies from your exquisite body and even then it won't compare to the real thing, so of course I will have to have that too.”

My legs gave way, unable to stay upright at the seductive purr Emon sent, enhanced by our new bond, I was unprepared for its magnitude. Multiple hands reached out to steady me and I hissed with embarrassed aggravation.

How could this shifter steal my very gravity with flowery words and a well timed purr when I was once the most feared being of Faerie?

“I’m fine.” My lips pressed together and I shook their hands off.

Retaliating at the smug look he delivered, I sent him my own image of exactly how I would want him as he lapped the stardust from my body. Naked, on his knees, peering up at me while I threaded my hands tightly in his hair, a sharp command on my lips. " Lick.”

Gasps sent everyone stumbling and reaching for one another this time, except for Riella who was still skipping happily collecting her dragon fruit flavored stars.

Tyr's laughter suddenly boomed in the twilight sky, doubling over in his mirth and Penina covered her mouth with a giggle, her deep brown eyes glittering back at me, while the others around us cleared their throats and looked away.

Suddenly nervous watching them, I licked my lips whispering. "Goddess please tell me I didn't say that out loud?" This day was getting far worse, evidently I was a kaleidoscope of emotions and lacked control.

The death god whirled on me then, his beautiful pale face constricted with darkness and disapproval.

“Might I suggest you learn to use your soulmate bond appropriately, daughter," he hissed.

"You did not say it out loud, rather you projected it to all of our minds.

You'll thank me for sparing your daughter of such imagery before it reached her too!”

My eyes widened with dread before the world suddenly blurred and I blinked into Emon's burning gold eyes, blazing with heat and full of fierce devoted love.

I looked away with embarrassment coloring my cheeks.

“Don’t,” he purred, tilting my chin up to meet the swirling desire in his eyes.

“Don’t you dare be ashamed, Remnant Dark.

You have no idea how sexy that just was.

Claiming me for all to know, even if it was an accident.

I wouldn't care if the whole universe knew that this is how you bring me happily to my knees, a king, kneeling to worship you.” Kissing my lips softly, he groaned, swiping his tongue across them again.

“Fuck, the glory of the stars taste good on you, little umbra.”

I sighed. "You cannot mean that, shifter. My lack of control is a weakness we cannot afford." I was quickly becoming a liability.

He growled low and gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his stern resolve.

"Then we will get stronger at it, but know this my love.

Our bond is no weakness, it is our truest strength.

" Kissing me again, he stepped away with a mischievous shrug.

"A strength that now your father knows the true meaning of. "

“Indeed, is that what this little show is about?” boomed the death god. "You are mistaken if you think I'll allow this in my realm, shifter king."

Emon didn't bother to turn around to look at the death god, his eyes watching my reaction with feral intensity while I attempted to peer around him, seeing our family circling Shea with a precise formation.

The shifters had transformed, the elementals were poised with their power flowing around them, including Bane who had lightning flashing in his ice blue eyes. Riella sat confusedly perched on Asher’s shaggy wolf, her stardust forgotten.

“I don't give a fuck if this is your realm, Shea. I’ve had enough of you and your fucking games. I have listened to you stake your claim as the father of my mate without permission, call her chickadee without her consent, ignore her demands on why you have brought us here, laughed at the protection she provided her daughter, and now you dare to chastise her as if she is a faeling to scold. As far as I am concerned, you are fucking lucky you’re still standing.

” Claws unsheathed from his hands, Emon continued to watch me as his golden eyes burned brightly with power.

“My mate and our queen may be patient with your disrespect, but I sure as goddess fuck am not, it is time to give us the answers we seek death god. "

Shea snorted but I did not hear his retort, one word ringing in my ears, loudly bouncing around in my head. “Queen…” I breathed.

“Queen of the shifter fae.” Emon stepped closer, cupping my face, his burning warmth spreading all the way to my toes. "It's also part of my baggage, little umbra."

I leaned into his hand, not knowing what to say.

Sardonic laughter that sent chills down my spine erupted from the death god. “Queen? You insult my daughter, shifter king. She is more than your puny crown can hold, she’s a goddess. Goddess of The Well of Souls.”

Emon turned, fangs bared.

Dark shadows shifted across the death god's face. "I tire of this."

A swift flick of his hand had the white sands circling around us and within its granular swirl, and white hooded warriors rose from its depths. At the same time shadows from the cosmos above descended, their dark purpose obvious and I wasn’t about to watch it happen—not again.

Stepping past my growling soulmate, I had but moments to study his manipulation of the shadows before I stretched my hands out, my heart thudding in my chest.

I could do this.

The darkness would respond, they had to respond, my newfound family depended on it…I depended on it.

I shot the death god a glare, “This is not just your world anymore,” I whispered, wrenching the night sky from his hold and taking back control of my life.