Eternity of Darkness (Divisa Huntress Book 3) Page 3

  “You should rest while you can,” he suggested in a deep lull that made my eyes heavier.

  “Are you compelling me?” I asked, finally succumbing to the persistent yawn. At times like this, I envied Ashor’s ability to function without sleep. I wasn’t all too keen about closing my eyes, where the nightmares waited for me.

  I’d only just fallen asleep when something pulled me back awake. Voices. Low and hushed. Who was here? And why? I wanted them to go away.

  Shifting, I reached for Ashor, intending to tell him to banish whoever interrupted our sleep, but the prince was no longer underneath me. My eyes popped open the second I realized he was gone from the chair, instantly alarmed.

  Instinct had me surging to my feet, and before I gathered my bearings, I whirled around, my leg swinging out at the presence behind me that was not my mate. My foot connected with hard flesh, catching the demon in the side.

  A long groan left his lips, but otherwise, the demon hardly flinched. And he wasn’t alone. As I braced myself for a fight, I glanced at the faces of three other demons. Four total.

  Recognition broke through the foggy remains of sleep as I blinked.

  The Wild Hunt once again gathered in our bedroom.

  2

  My mate’s chuckle came from across the room where the hearth still burned. Knowing he was close eased the sudden tension that had risen like the wind inside me. I lowered my leg, staring into the slightly amused, slightly annoyed face of Apollo, a single brow raised. “Why is the Wild Hunt in our bedroom?” I inquired.

  “Your mate just hit me,” Apollo stated as if I hadn’t asked a question at all. He was the younger-looking member of the Hunt. His reddish-brown hair flopped over one of his gold eyes as he stared at me.

  Ashor grinned in wicked delight, the side of his head resting against his hand as he watched me with amusement. “I know. Isn’t she marvelous?”

  I wasn’t sure the Wild Hunt shared his opinion of me. They seemed… wary and guarded, which I found absurd. Then again, perhaps not. The Wild Hunt and I hadn’t had very many interactions, and they were loyal to Ashor. They didn’t know me, other than the fact that I was their leader’s mate, which I guessed wasn’t enough to ease their minds.

  Something else struck me as off about them. They weren’t their usual astral ghostly forms when Ashor summoned them. They stood in all their full demon glory. Had they come after hearing of his status change?

  “Marvelous isn’t the first word that comes to mind,” Beck mumbled, shooting me a side-eyed glare.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, letting the demon know I wasn’t the least bit intimidated. “Is this going to be a common occurrence? Them showing up in our bedroom?” I cocked a brow at my mate.

  The corner of Ashor’s mouth twitched, clearly entertained, yet I found nothing funny about this situation. What if we’d been naked and they just showed up?

  Ashor lifted a brow at me in return, and I could only assume the prick was in my head again.

  Get out, I warned, giving him a tight grin.

  “Lexi, go back to sleep. Everything is fine,” he placated, dropping the hand that had been propping up the side of his face.

  I rolled my eyes. As if I could go back to sleep now. “Why are they here? Has something happened in the Court of Darkness?”

  A sharp coldness radiated from the Hunt at my question. I was once again ignored.

  “We came as soon as we received your summons,” Erlik addressed Ashor with a slight bow of his head.

  I studied Erlik. His sharp jawline, tiny stubbles of hair on his chin. The scar that ran down his left eye, giving him a dangerous yet sexy appearance. Not Ashor sexy, but still, in each of their own ways, the demons of the Wild Hunt were attractive. They all shared the same eerie gold eyes that I knew firsthand shifted to a blazing red on the nights they hunted in my world.

  “And my mother?” Ashor inquired, holding out his hand to me. He wanted me at his side. What I couldn’t figure out was if he didn’t trust the Wild Hunt around me, or was it that he didn’t trust me around them?

  Sparing the demon I’d kicked, Apollo, a quick glance, I walked the few steps to Ashor, putting my hand in his.

  “We haven’t seen the queen,” Beck replied once I was safely at Ashor’s side, although my mate continued his almost lazy posture leaning against the hearth. Beck was the tallest of the group, excluding Ashor. His white hair curled in disarray, which on some guys might have aged them, yet on Beck, it had the opposite effect. His youthful face looked no more than twenty-five.

  “We took our departure before she returned,” Draven informed.

  Ashor slipped his hand out of mine, winding his arm around my waist instead. “It is probably better that way,” he said, shifting me so I was just a fraction of an inch in front of him, allowing me to relax my back into his chest. However, I didn’t know how at ease I could be with the four demons in our room. Technically Verena’s room. Ashor might be king, but it would take a lot more than a crown and a single night for this space to feel like it belonged to him.

  “Can’t she just command them back once she realizes they’re gone?” I asked. It seemed like a logical assumption. The queen wouldn’t willingly hand over four vital demons of her court. They reported to the prince, but Kali was ultimately their queen.

  A muscle flinched in Beck’s jaw at my question. “She could,” he admitted, but from the sound of his voice, he thought it was unlikely. Or maybe she had more pressing matters than to wonder what the Wild Hunt was up to.

  Ashor’s fingers tightened at my hip. “And she will try.”

  I turned my head to the side so I could see part of his face. “You plan to stop her?”

  His jaw clenched. “For now, we’ve agreed that they will disregard her summons.”

  A chill went through me, and I was grateful that the fire still burned, not that it did a ton to curb the internal frost. “Can they do that?”

  “For a time,” Ashor confirmed. “Not indefinitely, but we don’t need eternity, just until our next move.”

  “What is our next move?” Draven asked gruffly, which was his normal tone, as he scratched his long, scruffy beard.

  “For now, guard Lexi and the castle. No one comes or leaves without my say,” Ashor responded plainly.

  “Wait, what?” I interrupted before Draven could say anything else. I turned to fully face Ashor.

  “I need them here for your protection,” he replied as if he failed to see why this alarmed me.

  “Mine? Why?” I balked. “You know I am capable of taking care of myself.”

  Ashor’s face revealed nothing as he gazed down at me. “True, you do possess acute skills, but I’m king now, and that title puts a target on us both. Every hungry demon in Hell will use you to weaken me, even within my court. No one can be trusted except those in this room. Do you understand?”

  My lips formed a thin line, but I nodded, not thrilled at the idea of being guarded by the Hunt, but I also understood this was an area Ashor wouldn’t budge on. His resolve trickled through our bond.

  “Wouldn’t it be prudent to send her back to her world, out of immediate danger?” Apollo suggested.

  I steeled my spine, prepared to kick Apollo again if he continued to suggest I leave.

  Ashor’s violet eyes were dazzling in the glow of his eternal flames. “Perhaps, if I could be assured of her safety. The problem lies in that I can’t trust anyone.” Everyone the prince relied on was in this room or gone.

  “What of her family?” Erlik asked. “They seem capable enough considering she is related to the Queen of Inferno.”

  Right. Angel.

  Not happening. “I won’t risk my family. This is my mess. I refuse to involve them,” I protested, putting my foot down. Especially because my best friend was pregnant. I would do nothing to harm that little baby. Just the opposite. I’d give my life to protect him or her.

  Straightening, Ashor rejected the suggestion as he said, “It won’t be eno
ugh. My mother will only bring her back, and the last thing I need is the queen to get her hands on my mate. You protect Lexi at all costs. Is that clear? Even above my life.”

  Apollo’s nostrils flared at the order. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t seem pleased with Ashor’s command.

  I slept very little, and I wasn’t sure Ashor slept at all, but unlike him, I didn’t wake up looking like I’d spent the night at the spa. I cursed his name in the bathroom mirror after getting a glimpse of myself. The hot shower only managed to make the dark circles under my eyes puffier. This part of being half-human sucked. If I was my mother, I could just vanish the bags and the bloodshot veins right out of my eyes.

  Hell, I could change my entire appearance with nothing but a blink or twitch of my nose. Honestly, I didn’t know the logistics of how my mother changed forms. I never cared to ask, seeing as Kira and I didn’t exactly have a wonderful mother-daughter relationship. Had she heard about her queen?

  Despite my mother being banished from her court for twenty-five years to work on Earth and suck the souls from humans, Kira didn’t seem to hold any grudge against her queen. In fact, I got the impression that my mother respected her, cared for Verena even.

  This was one of those times I wished that Kira was around for those motherly chats we never had. I could use a friendly face in Hell, someone else on my side other than Ashor, because right now, it felt like it was the two of us against the underworld.

  Since Ashor was king, did that mean my mother’s banishment contract had been broken?

  Had all oaths Verena made been severed with her final death?

  Shit.

  What did that mean?

  More trouble we didn’t need would be my guess.

  Hanging up my towel, I walked out of the bathroom, finding Ashor waiting for me. “Two more minutes and I was about to kick the door in.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re lucky I don’t have any makeup or a hairdryer here. You’d still be waiting.” Damp golden hair hung over my shoulders.

  He smirked, but sincerity laced his voice as he said, “Would you like me to acquire those items?”

  It was tempting. He had no idea how much, or maybe he did thanks to his direct link to my emotions. As someone who spent every cent she ever obtained on clothes, makeup, and shoes, I enjoyed looking and feeling pretty, particularly in designer brands. “I’ll be fine. You have more important things to be concerned with.” I would give up all the frills in the world if it meant my family and Ashor were protected.

  His fingers threaded through a tangle of my damp hair. “Your happiness is also important to me, nearly as vital as your safety.” Ashor was dressed casually today, but still in his preferred all-black. His demon marks peeked out from the collar of his shirt.

  The prince/king—I still couldn’t bring myself to think of him as a king—had a slew of duties waiting for him. A change of leadership brought buckets of responsibility, even in Hell. How Ashor handled the court over the next few days would determine the kind of king the demons could expect. In the underworld, nothing was given.

  I didn’t know what I anticipated as we walked down the corridor—disorder perhaps, confusion—but the normal bustle of the castle, like nothing happened, took me aback. No one spared us more than a brief glance, but all bowed or lowered their heads at Ashor, though even that was normal. He’d been a prince, after all.

  Not even the arrival of the Wild Hunt within the Court of Envy drew curious gazes. Perhaps the demons here already anticipated their king summoning them to his side, or maybe very little surprised them. Regardless, I found the lack of interest weird.

  As we stepped outside into the lush courtyard, Ashor cracked his neck, closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them, his eyes were rimmed crimson, and his black wings sprouted behind him. He stretched them out, letting the feathers flutter all the way open before settling behind him. I’d seen Ashor summon his demon on more than one occasion, but it never failed to awe me.

  My fingers itched to touch the velvety feathers. “Where are we going?” I asked at the sight of those impressive wings. If he brought out the wings, it meant we were going somewhere far or somewhere we couldn’t get on foot.

  “We need to meet with a few colleagues outside of the castle,” he informed.

  Cryptic as ever. My gaze continued to linger on the shiny feathers, and I stepped to the side, reaching out to trail the tips of my fingers down the rippled edge of one wing.

  Ashor shuddered. “Be careful, luv, or you’ll make us late.” His arm snaked around my waist, pulling me to his chest.

  “Would that be a bad thing?” I murmured, peeking up at him from under my lashes, something impish sparkling in them.

  “Minx.” He chuckled before he shot us up into the air.

  We flew over the castle, following the River Styx until we reached a small cottage nestled at the edge of the court. Ashor took us down, landing on a soft patch of mossy ground covered in pine needles. The air had grown thicker with heat the closer we flew to the border, the wind whistling, blowing a scorching heat over my cheeks, and the longer I listened to the sound, the more certain I was that it was cries and pleas I heard being carried in the breeze. “What’s on the other side?” I asked, staring at the shimmering woods that seemed to stretch for eternity past the outskirts of Gardeness. Like a blistering desert, the air between us and the beyond rippled like a heat wave.

  Ashor shoved his hands into his pockets. “The Court of Inferno.”

  Angel’s court.

  “Explains the uncomfortable heat,” I muttered. Beads of sweat already gathered on the back of my neck. At this rate, my hair would never dry, although flying had helped evaporate some of the dampness.

  He indicated with a jerk of his head toward the cottage. “They’re waiting inside.”

  Designed to be part of the landscape—or perhaps it looked that way because no one maintained the home—the cottage’s exterior was hidden with overgrown weeds, ivy, tall grass, and tree branches so that anyone passing by might miss it entirely. I had a feeling that was the point, to be concealed, forgotten.

  Nodding, I followed Ashor’s unhurried strides as he went to the arched wooden door. A branch snapped from somewhere in the woods, and my head turned at the sound. It hadn’t been close but still close enough for my demon ears to pick up. “Why are we meeting so far from the castle? Is it safe?” I asked, my body tight with alertness.

  Ashor’s hand paused on the knob shaped like a leaf, eyes narrowing as he skimmed the woods surrounding the area. “Nowhere is safe, but at least here the walls don’t have ears and eyes to spy.”

  “Whose house is this?”

  “A friend’s,” he replied, opening the dusty door.

  I sneezed as I walked through the cloud of dirt and grime that scattered off the doorway, sprinkling over my head. Either this house hadn't been used in years, decades even, or the demon who lived here never cleaned a day in their miserable existence in Hell.

  Waving a hand in front of my face to clear the haze, I stepped into the main room. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Erlik, Draven, Apollo, and Beck already seated at a rickety rectangular table. Blowing out a breath, I said to Ashor, “They are your colleagues?”

  “I was being creative.” He pulled out a chair for me at the table and waited until I was situated before he sat at the head. Chairs scraped across the uneven floorboards as the Wild Hunt stood for their prince.

  I tried not to be humbled by their respect. It was a reminder of just how important my mate was.

  “Did you canvas the area?” Ashor asked once everyone was back in their seats. Sparsely furnished, the cottage only had the bare necessities: an old table, a worn couch, and lots and lots of dust.

  “We could find none of Verena’s subjects this far west of the castle,” Draven responded, his gold eyes bright in the dim cottage. “They still patrol these woods, but the heavier artillery is closer to the gate and the border to the Court of Darkness
.”

  Made sense after what happened, and Verena, knowing Kali would come, had increased security at the Court of Darkness borders.

  “Good.” Ashor nodded, dropping his hands on top of the table. “What is discussed here doesn’t leave this cottage. It stays between us and isn’t spoken of again until directed by me.”

  One by one, the Hunt placed a single hand onto the table palm side down, kicking up another puff of dust. The four of them all had a similar demon mark etched into their flesh—their oath to Ashor. He remained a picture of seriousness, even as four sets of eyes shifted to me expectantly.

  Did they want me to take an oath as well? Did they doubt my loyalty to their prince?

  “She’s my mate,” Ashor replied with a heavy sigh as if he shouldn’t have to explain such matters to them.

  “Not fully,” Apollo pointed out, his head angled to the side as he continued to watch me carefully.

  What he said was true. Ashor and I had only completed two of three components that made the Triplici—an ancient bond that linked our souls, bodies, and hearts. The prince and I were already soulbound and bodybound, which left the heartbond—an integral element of being in love.

  For some the most important part, but being mated didn’t automatically make you fall in love with a person. The emotion ran deeper than that. For the connection to solidify, we had to feel the emotion—truly mean it with our hearts. Anyone would think it would be easy for us to complete the last link in our bond, for wouldn’t it be natural after the intimacy we shared? It was a stronger connection than most would ever experience. But for me, it was no simple matter.

  Was I in love with Ashor? Was it possible to be his mate without loving him?

  I swore never to give my heart to another again, for then it could never be broken. That feeling, that gut-wrenching pain, it was detrimental.

  I might not be certain that I could ever give Ashor my heart, but I did care about him greatly. I couldn’t live without him. He was a part of me. I’d die to protect him, and Ashor felt the same.