Eternity of Darkness (Divisa Huntress Book 3) Page 17

  It was the closest they could get us without Ashor acting as their guide.

  The bane stood about a hundred in front of us, roughly the length of a football field. Not a horrible distance for someone with demon speed.

  “Can you keep up?” Erlik asked just as color splashed back into the world, the phantom mist dissipating.

  Scowl lines formed on Apollo’s forehead. “This won’t be a leisurely stroll through the woods. And we can’t afford to rest.”

  Again I nodded, understanding it wasn’t a luxury we could allow, not with the queen and her men out there.

  Flanked on either side of me, Apollo and Erlik scoured the vicinity. Erlik’s eye with the scar twitched. “The king will find us once he’s swayed the Knights to fight for us,” he informed me.

  My demon ears picked up a faint thudding, like horses running. Or demons. A lot of demons. “How can you be so certain?”

  Erlik didn’t blink, didn’t hesitate as he responded, “Because he never fails, not when he sets his mind on a task.”

  I would just have to trust that Ashor wouldn’t get himself killed, just as he would have to trust me—that was if he didn’t kill me first for what I was about to do.

  We ran, dashing into the bane at full speed, Erlik in front, Apollo behind me. Branches lashed against my arms, thorns scraped over my cheeks, but I ignored each slice. My breathing quickened, sweat running down my back, but I didn’t stop.

  I didn’t falter, not even when the hounds howled.

  “They’ve picked up our scent,” Erlik said, smacking branch after branch in front of him as quickly as his feet pounded into the earth, weaving through the tangled chaos.

  “Good,” I panted, ducking. The branches behind me were dipped in my blood, leaving behind the perfect trail to follow. “Let’s keep them busy, give Ashor time.”

  “That’s not our order,” he replied in a cold tone, unwavering.

  “Do you always do everything he says?” I shot back, feeling Apollo’s stare on me, but he remained tight-lipped, not saying anything.

  “Yes” came Erlik’s clipped response.

  Clop, clop, clop. The demons drew closer, and as I risked a peek up through the knotted trees, darkness smeared over the sky like ink spreading in water, absorbing the churning funnel.

  “Not today.” I flicked my gaze back to the labyrinth sprawled out before me. “Besides, am I not his queen?”

  Erlik glanced over his shoulder, his eyes sharp and keen. “I don’t like where this is going.”

  I fixed him a look. “I’ll keep it simple. We want them to keep chasing us.”

  He snarled at me in return, but it was cut off as he came to a sudden halt, startling me. I didn’t have time to slow down and barreled straight into Erlik’s back, which was like hitting a brick wall.

  I groaned, wiggling my nose. Damn, that hurt. What the hell is he made of? Stone?

  Apollo managed to stop before running into me. Quick reflexes. His hand went to my waist, steadying me.

  “Well, if this isn’t a surprise,” a deep voice said that was not Apollo’s or Erlik’s, and all thoughts vanished.

  Except one.

  Fuck.

  12

  A string of F-bombs went off in my head as I scanned between the dense branches, my eyes desperate to find the source, and yet at the same time, I didn’t want to believe what I already knew. His voice wasn’t one easily forgotten.

  Apollo bristled behind me, the fingers at my waist tightening. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he whispered.

  Erlik took a step back, sandwiching me between the two of them. “Shit,” he cursed.

  We had been craftily caged in. Hellhounds crawled low under and over the bramble. Demons stalked through the dead trees, swords, spears, and horns cutting through the network of branches. And from the wooded shadows, my worst nightmare appeared. “Hello, little demon.”

  A chill rippled down my neck despite the humid air. “Soren.” His name was like acid on my tongue, painful and incited fresh fear. My fingers dug into Erlik’s back. Formulating a plan in your mind was one thing, but having it unfold could be frightening regardless of how brave you were.

  It was time I faced my nightmare.

  I would like to say he had gotten uglier from the last time I’d seen his face, but the truth of it was Ashor’s brother looked exactly the same—scarier perhaps, but still handsome in an evil, twisted way. Those wholly onyx eyes ran over me in leisurely delight as he prowled toward me, and my demon inside screamed, Run! Run! Run!

  His lips curved with corrupt satisfaction. “In the flesh.” He spread his arms out in a flashy manner. “I assume my dear brother isn’t far away. Shame on him for letting you wander from his side. And how unlike him to be careless of what he deems so very precious.” He tsked disapprovingly.

  Demon after demon stepped out of the trees, closing in around them. Soren had a small army at his command, far too many for the three of us to fight alone. Erlik tensed, readying for the impending fight. A sword appeared in both his hands, gleaming bright in the dim bane. My face paled, realizing the depths of our situation. I didn’t want either Apollo or Erlik to get hurt because of me.

  I had to do something.

  But Apollo was a step ahead of me.

  My initial terror turned to two seconds of rage, then back to fear. It was an effort to keep my knees from buckling, but then I felt something cool slide into the back of my boot. It was a feeling I recognized, one I missed. Steel against flesh. Keeping fuckface’s attention on me and not Apollo sneaking me a weapon, I did what I did best: taunted the asshole. “Don’t you have anything better to do than stalk me?”

  Soren dragged a hand through his midnight hair. “I’m not here for you, but… I’m thinking you might be the better prize.” My flicker of fear earned me a wolfish grin.

  “You can try, of course. But I won’t make it easy,” I replied, keeping my eyes centered on Soren as I stepped slightly out of Erlik’s shadow.

  His arm swung out to stop me from going farther. “I can’t protect you if you throw yourself into the path of danger,” Erlik gritted through his teeth, his glowing amber eyes darting everywhere at once, calculating our odds.

  They weren’t good.

  We all knew it.

  So why prolong the evitable?

  This ended the same way no matter what. And at what cost?

  Their lives?

  No! I refused to let them give up their souls for me.

  “You are to protect the king,” I told him, lifting my chin. “Those are your orders. No matter what happens to me.”

  A flicker of surprise. Then it was gone as if I hadn’t spoken the order at all.

  But Apollo… he understood. Stepping back, he lifted the sword in his hand. “Until we meet again.”

  “Apollo!” Erlik hissed. “What are you doing? Stand your ground and fight, for Hell’s sake.”

  “That’s what I’m doing.” He winked at me. Apollo spun, sword raised, and lunged. Fighting in a maze of weeds, thorns, and interconnecting tree limbs was a skill acquired on another level. Not only did you have to keep track of the enemy and your surroundings but also your next move. If you spun the wrong way or turned too fast, you’d smack into a tree or get a thornbush in the thigh.

  It made footwork difficult, and half the time Erlik and Apollo swung their blades, they ended up hitting a section of branches before reaching their target.

  Still, they were impressive fighters.

  Soren wanted me to run. I could see it in his gleaming black eyes. He longed to chase. So I gave him what he hungered for—the hunter pursuing his prey.

  Come on, asshole. Come get me, my eyes beckoned.

  Soren went straight for me, just as I predicted he would. I didn’t make it too difficult to catch me, but not too easy. That would have been out of character and would have made the demon prince suspicious.

  Steel clashed against steel. Wolves snarled and snapped. And death reve
rberated in the air.

  The sounds of the battle become nothing but background noise. My concentration solely went to the shield I kept intact and fighting. It wavered, my power almost depleting, but I held on, knowing I only had minutes left perhaps until my ward would fall, and Ashor…

  He would know everything.

  I couldn’t let that happen, not yet.

  “Seize her,” Soren ordered, making his little minions do the dirty work after failing to capture me on his own.

  Instinct made me fight, even if it was hopeless. I wouldn’t make taking me prisoner a simple task. If I could hold him here for just a little longer, Ashor would find me, but was that the best course of action?

  Hands grabbed at me, nails digging into my flesh, scratching at my hands and neck. My adrenaline was too hyped to feel anything other than the impulse to fight back, but I stopped fighting. It went against every survival skill in my bones, but I forced myself to stop thrashing, to lower my arms, and keep my feet on the ground.

  My gaze sought out Soren’s. “Are you too cowardly to come and get me yourself?”

  He laughed. “You and I will have our moment, little demon.”

  Darkness crawled over me so very differently than Ashor’s. This was like a centipede, cockroaches, and hairy spiders wriggling under my clothes. The urge to slap at them, fling them off my shirt rose up like a scream in my throat, but my hands were pinned behind me, the demons holding me snickering at my expense.

  I didn’t care.

  My time for revenge would come.

  And when it did, not even one of them would laugh.

  Erlik ran his blade through another demon, fighting his way toward me, but as soon as he cut one down, three more were in his way. The number multiplied like they were little gremlins who had eaten after midnight. I could see in his gold eyes that he would get himself killed to stop Soren from taking me. Determination of a warrior radiated in the set of his jaw.

  Then there was Apollo, who Erlik, if he had a second to notice, would see was, in a subtle way, aiding my abduction.

  My captors wasted no time dragging me deeper into the bane. It was easy to lose yourself in the mazy mess but not so easy to kidnap someone. Soren used his dark magic to cloak our presence, blending us in with the shadows.

  Erlik screamed my name, but I was already shrouded in darkness and mist, Soren’s chuckle a crude whisper in my ear. The whizzing of steel through the air faded, as did the thumping of bodies falling to the brush. Erlik and Apollo still fought, still sought to protect me, but I was out of their reach.

  Soren’s spindly fingers dug into the back of my neck as a handful of his demons held me. He forced me to look at him. “This seemed a little too easy. Do I have you to thank?”

  I swallowed. Perhaps my acting skills could use some polishing. Had Soren seen through my ruse, or was he pulling at straws? I spit in the prick’s face. “Fuck you.”

  He laughed, manic and full of excitement that terrorized me. “I had planned to take you straight to my mother, but…” His fingers unfolded from my neck, and he touched the tip of his nail against my cheek, piercing the skin so a bead of blood surfaced. “I think a little detour might be more fun. Unpredictable. It will give us that overdue bonding experience, sister.”

  Nothing brotherly shone in his black eyes. Nothing but evil and cruelty lived in the colorless depths of his gaze. They said the eyes were a window to the soul. Looking at Soren, it was clear he didn’t have a soul. Did that mean he couldn’t be killed? Unlike Ashor and me, Soren didn’t have an ounce of human in him. He had been born from darkness and a creature of another world—an abomination.

  My throat dried up at the idea of being alone with Soren. Of all the ways I could find myself captured by the Court of Darkness, this had been the worst-case scenario. “Are you sure you want to risk your mother’s wrath? She’s here, isn’t she?” A smug smile spread on my lips. It took all my strength to keep them from trembling. “I find it highly unlikely that she would have entrusted you to do something as important as recruiting the Knights of Inferno.”

  Soren hissed.

  Snap.

  My eyes flicked down at the sudden heaviness of my feet and hands. That weight hit me in the chest at the sight of the cuffs shackled around my wrists and ankles. Soren didn’t need to inform me that they were infused with magic. I could feel the power in them, tingling at my hands and feet.

  He angled his head to the side, flashing the scar that ran down the length of his face. “Just in case you harbor any ideas of escape, little demon.”

  Both my human and demon survival instincts were clawing within me. “You better hope I don’t get out of these cuffs, because if I do, I will kill you,” I promised coolly. It was one I meant to keep. Once I was free of the shackles, I would find a way to end him, soul or not.

  “You and I are going to have so much fun.” Like a tornado made of night, Soren’s power swept us up and out of the bane. He didn’t have wings like Ashor, but Soren had other methods of moving through Hell quickly.

  When the twister stopped and the smoke cleared, I was shaking. We were no longer within the bane but just outside the gate, Hell’s Mist curling at our feet. Two demons hauled me atop a horse, strong arms securing around my waist to the point of pain.

  “Hang on, little demon. I’d hate for you to fall off and break your neck,” Soren murmured in my ear, his pointed teeth scraping across cartilage. His warning contradicted the tone in which it was delivered. Ashor’s little brother would very much enjoy it if I injured myself. More so if it was by his hand.

  The second Soren’s magic wrapped around me, whisking me away, I had lost the precious hold on my mental shield. “You better fly if you don’t want to lose your head. He’s almost here,” I warned. Not entirely true, but I wanted to spur Soren into haste. Ashor was indeed searching for me, but the army his mother had brought with her provided just enough distraction.

  Soren’s eyes lifted upward, catching the wave of darkness that swept in our direction, combating against the queen’s. “Ah, my brother. He will be so lost without you.”

  I jerked my face away from his, no longer able to stand his cold breath on the back of my neck. “Assuming you can get to the gate before he finds us, what will you do when you’re face-to-face with the King of Envy?”

  He yanked on the reins, pointing his horse toward Hell’s Mist. “Are you concerned about me?”

  I snorted. “Don’t be delusional. If you fell dead right now at my feet, I wouldn’t look back.”

  “Why are you being so amicable? It’s not like you.” Suspicion laced his tone.

  I fumbled with the cuffs on my wrists, testing them for weaknesses. I didn’t believe I would find any, but I had to do something to occupy my mind. “I have my reasons,” I muttered, keeping my gaze straight ahead.

  “And I look forward to drawing them out of you.” He spurred his horse forward.

  I told myself not to look back, to only look forward.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” my demon asked. “It’s not too late to turn back.”

  The answer came quickly, but that didn't mean it was easy. I had so much to lose if I sat and did nothing, yet so much to gain if I could give my mate an advantage we desperately needed.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered through our connection.

  “Lexi! No!”

  His response tore at my heart, but it was too late. Soren made the leap through Hell’s Mist, the heavy fog swarming us.

  13

  I didn’t fight Soren. I didn’t throw myself off his horse or slam the back of my head into his nose. That isn’t to say I didn’t think about doing those things and so much more. The numerous ways I could hurt the demon straddled behind me were all that occupied my thoughts as we galloped like the wind through the mist.

  Soren’s horse moved with purpose, never hesitating on his path.

  “If you don’t keep your wandering hands still, I will cut them off,” I snarled, cl
utching the reins.

  The hand inching over my hip paused dangerously close to parts only my mate could touch. “Tell me, when will I ever get the chance to have you chained, alone, and at my mercy?”

  “Never again,” I seethed, my breath expelling vehemently with the single vow. Being ravished by a demon considered twisted and wrong by other demons was not on the agenda. If he tried anything, I would… well, I didn’t know what I would do.

  This whole stupid plan was contingent on me getting to the Fortress. I needed to be close to the queen, as close as I could get.

  Did I plan to kill her?

  I didn’t know how many times I’d sworn to kill her, but each time had been a promise to myself, to my family, to Cayden, to Ashor. And I planned to make good on that vow.

  This was the only way Ashor became free.

  Did I understand the consequences if I succeeded? Or worse, if I failed?

  Yes, and yet I wasn’t deterred.

  I would sacrifice my life, my soul for those I loved.

  The fingers spanning the front of my hips and splaying over my lower belly dug in, the tips of his nails biting into my skin. “I can’t wait to break that shining spirit of yours, little demon.” As if just his mere presence wasn’t sickening enough, Soren ran his forked tongue over the side of my cheek.

  A shudder of revulsion rolled through me, and my stomach pitched, threatening to upheave the small amount of food in my stomach.

  I fought through the wave of nausea, and just when I could breathe again, hooves slammed into the ground behind us. I grinned. “Can you feel him breathing down your neck?” I asked, provoking him.

  But it wasn’t Ashor who chased after us, despite what I made Soren believe. I knew it wasn’t him, no matter how much a piece of me wanted it to be. Yes, this had been my choice. I put myself in this situation, but being rescued by Ashor had become a default, something I expected.

  Soren glanced over his shoulder, searching through the mist for the approaching trespasser, someone who dared get in his way. Was it Erlik? Or perhaps it was Draven or Beck? No. Then I would have felt Ashor, and he was still in the Court of Inferno, threatening to flatten every mountain in the kingdom.