by Scott, Helen
Stained Souls
The Salsang Chronicles Part V
Serena Akeroyd
Helen Scott
Copyright © 2019 by Helen Scott & Serena Akeroyd
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
Contents
1. Marcella
2. Marcella
3. Barclay
4. Raven
5. Darius
6. Darius
7. Keiran
8. Rhys
9. Arthur
10. Marcella
Epilogue
Authors’ Note
Also by Serena Akeroyd
Also by Helen Scott
1
Marcella
Blinding white light was all I remembered from those moments the Lady had robbed from me. That, and the sense of nothingness that had overtaken me. I felt adrift. Bereft. Utterly alone. And I hated every moment of it.
The light wasn’t warm and cozy either. There was no soft summer sun gently warming me there. Oh, no. This light was cold and harsh, like taking sandpaper to my bare skin while standing naked in the Antarctic.
The weightlessness was even worse though. It felt like I’d been cut off from everything I knew, even my own body, and I was just left, a floating consciousness, with nothing and no one to help tether me to the real world. All sense of my mates was gone. The low hum of their emotions, which was a constant background noise in my head, was quiet.
I had no concept of time in this state. No way to determine if I’d been floating like this for an hour or a week. My thoughts kept circling back on themselves as I tried to figure out what was going on. It was only when I felt something jerk at my consciousness that time seemed to restart.
When my eyes, my actual, physical eyes opened, I saw my mates looking at me like I’d sprouted a second head. Everything that had happened suddenly rushed back to me. The council. The Cavalry. The Reapers. It was all there in my mind, like it had been waiting for me.
“The Lady’s coming again,” I stated, trying to pass along my sense of urgency, and the terror that flowed through my veins at the idea of her retaking control of my body and kicking my mind out to wherever the hell I’d been. Before I could elaborate, though, the darkness sucked me down once more.
Blackness enveloped me. In contrast to the light, where I’d been petrified, frozen with my terror, now I felt soothed, welcomed even, but I still knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t my own mind. I felt cut off from everything again, although my memories were still there and my thoughts didn’t feel so disjointed.
Hello little one, a masculine voice with a strange accent murmured in the dark.
So, not the Lady. Someone else. What the hell? What was it with these fuckers thinking they could take over my mind like this? Maker, I was so tired of being held captive in my own consciousness.
Hello? I questioned warily.
You are an interesting one. A child of the light and the dark. A hushed murmur of interest echoed inside me. A child born of my descendants, at least. When did that happen? Naughty children. Never could keep their undergarments up. The apple doesn’t fall from the tree, the voice muttered with a low laugh.
That laughter lulled me, made me think I was safe until I was blasted with an intense pain that was a hundred times worse than when Arthur had been scanning me, or whatever it was he’d done to me back on Westbrook grounds. But that flash of agony was there one moment and gone the next, like I’d just been electrocuted or something. My mind ached, which wasn’t something I thought could happen, but it was the only way I could describe the out-of-body experience I was having.
The words finally hit home then. Sense tumbling back to me as I tentatively asked, Merlin?
You are astute, aren’t you?
Why aren’t you trying to kill me? The thought had formed before I could censor myself, and in this case, it seemed like as soon as I had thought it, it was out there for him to discover.
A deep chuckle sounded in my mind. Convinced you I was evil, did they? The worst thing on the face of the planet? Well, I’m not. At least, no more than Her, but I sense you already know that. What happened, my little flower? Did the wonderful, blissful, light-filled Lady of the Lake hurt you? Merlin inquired, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
I didn’t want to answer him, didn’t want to think about what had happened and those awful moments where the Lady had controlled me, kicking me out of my own mind until I was nothing, not even an entity, everything swallowed up by the awesomeness of her powers.
I’ve been trapped in a prison made out of trees for the last however many centuries. You’re the first I’ve been able to reach, and I can only do so now because something happened with the Lady that weakened my prison. Although, what I’d really like to know is how she got out of hers? Merlin seemed to drift off into his own thoughts for a while, which gave me a moment to calm the hell down, and try and figure out what was going on. Right now, I didn’t trust either of them. They both seemed to be up to no good with their own selfish intentions at the fore.
She hurt me. She overtook my body, wiped me from existence, and only my mate brought me back to life. Perhaps that is what weakened her powers—his twisting back the hands of the clock.
You have a time walker for a mate? How fortunate considering the Lady’s actions.
I scoffed. Don’t make out you wouldn’t do the same if it served you. Before he could demure, try to sell me whatever BS he had on hand, I stated, Tell me, Maker, why you’ve deigned to grace me with your presence.
Sassy. I like it. He paused, and I felt him mentally sigh before there was a sense of pleading coming from him. You are one of the few who can free me from my prison. If you wish for the threat to be removed against you, then free me, and I will see to the Lady’s demise. After, I will gladly let you kill me. I have been stuck in this hole for too long and my mind is not what it used to be.
The notion was tempting, but… Why does she even want me?
You hold both the light and dark in your body. You are a Descendant, somehow born of one of her children and of mine, too. This means you are capable of much. Only an entity such as yourself can hold her form. She will ever be a threat to you. For as long as you roam the earth, she will find a way to follow you for you hold the key to her taking a corporeal shape once more.
Knowledge was power, and understanding why the Lady was doing what she was, should have made me feel better, but with understanding came more terror. If he was right then, no way around it, I was fucked. Still, Merlin wasn’t exactly a trustworthy source… Why should I believe a single word you’re saying?
If you swear a blood oath to free me, then I will tell you how to prevent the Lady from hurting you again.
The idea was tempting. Was I being naive to think that maybe he actually wanted to die? I couldn’t imagine spending centuries trapped in a prison while the whole world forgot about you, or at least the truth of you, and moved on. He was older than anyone in existence, except maybe the Lady, but no one knew how old she was, or if they did, they weren’t telling.
Preventing her from stealing my body and expelling my soul was a temptation I couldn’t hide from. The prospect of returning to those moments where I’d been nothing made me freeze up inside. It was worse than death. With death, there was a release. A sweet freedom. There, there’d been an endless vacuum I’d been
sucked inside. A prison like no other, with no barriers, no cage, just a bleak expanse of nothingness.
I quivered at the memory. You can tell me how to stop her from taking my body, from possessing me?
Ah, I see she’s up to her old tricks again. That, I can most definitely help you with. She’s done this year after year whenever her DNA happens to clash with mine, and some poor being gets powerful enough to hold her while also being capable of releasing me. Before it can happen, she swoops in and blasts them out of existence. Sad, really. None of them were guilty of anything, well, that’s probably not true, but I doubt they really deserved that kind of end. Especially when it doesn’t work. Their forms can’t hold her for long… such a waste.
His thoughts seemed to trail off again and I was left wondering one thing, so I asked, How do you know all this?
Hmm?
How are you in the ‘know’ if you’re stuck inside a tree?
Oh. The trees tell me. Well, everything tells me really. I did sire the Mother of Druids, not to mention the other three, after all. Those powers came from somewhere, if you see what I mean. He released a disapproving grunt. Maybe you’re not as astute as I thought?
Maybe you’re not as powerful as I thought? I snarked back at him.
Affronted, he snarled, I assure you, I am. In fact, I’m powerful enough that I could stop her if I was free.
Maker, could I say no? Could I walk away from this knowing the Lady was biding her time, ready and waiting to swoop in? It just felt like I was making a deal with the Devil, and considering Merlin was technically that for our kind, that didn’t exactly load me up with confidence.
But the terror gripped a firm hold on me once more, and I whispered, Fine. I give you my word that we will try and free you, so long as you provide me with the location of your prison and provide me with the means with which prevent the Lady of the Lake from possessing me.
A blood oath, please, Merlin replied, sounding bored with me now that I’d agreed.
How am I supposed to do that when I don’t even have a body, or at least control my body, right now? I demanded. I have no blood to give.
It’s all about intention, little one. If you intend to give me your blood oath, then I will receive it. It’s as simple as that.
Okay. I summoned the utter compliance I felt when I had given a blood oath when I’d been inducted into Westbrook and promised, I will try and free you so long as I know where your prison is and am able to avert possession by the Lady of the Lake. Good enough for you?
Perfect, he declared, before going quiet for a while. It was long enough that I was actually worried he wasn’t going to tell me what I needed to know to keep my oath. It was no skin off my nose if he didn’t tell me, because then the oath would be void. Naturally, there’d be no consequences to breaking it if he was the reason for it. I was certain they’d be dire for me if the tables were turned.
Plus, this silence was different to the nothingness the Lady had brought me to. It was warm and safe, and made me question everything I knew about Merlin and the Lady. If she was dark and he was light, then what the fuck was even happening? Because up was down once more, and nothing was making sense.
Fuck, I was so damn tired of nothing making sense.
Eventually, his voice sounded again, rupturing my thoughts, but it was different this time, as though he was farther away than before.
You’ll find my prison where the sun sets over water and the sea rises to meet you. The isle beyond Land’s End.
As for how you prevent the Lady from possessing you again, simply call your darkness forth. There is just as much of me in you as there is her. With a little effort you can prevent her from overpowering my essence.
Before I could ask any questions or demand any further clarification, he was gone. I was left with nothing but the darkness, without even a whisper of his presence, and yet I found I still wasn’t scared. From what Merlin had just said, the darkness was my ally. I needed to embrace my darkness now more than ever if I had any hope of holding off the Lady.
With that in mind, I let any semblance of a shield, mental or otherwise, drop. Everything rushed at me all at once. And by everything, I meant the cloud of darkness my brain seemed to be snuggled in. This was warm in a strange way, giving me an almost bone-deep relaxation… not that I felt connected to my body at all.
As soon as that thought resonated, the sensation of being surrounded came to mind, just not in a bad way, but in a way that made me feel safe. Like I was being embraced by the only people who could ever make me feel warm inside—my men.
I’d only experienced it a few times in my life, and only ever with my mates, but I loved it, and the darkness Merlin had left me in wasn’t as empty as I had first thought. It was full of power, a rich blackness that twisted among the shadows with the tiniest bit of light here and there, and it all seemed to be surging into my body, being absorbed by my skin as though I was a towel and it was water.
Power flowed through my veins like I was an ocean, and the darkness and shadows, a myriad of colors, were rivers rushing to meet me—blues, purples, violets, even some emerald and ruby here and there. The blackness that had been surrounding me was suddenly so much more, and it was all there for me to see—I only had to look.
Feeling more energized and more alive than I had in a long time, I recognized it was all thanks to whatever this darkness was.
Part of me knew I should be skeptical of where it came from and how exactly I was meant to use it to counter the light, but in that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care. I had a tool that had been presented to me and I wasn’t about to waste it, so I welcomed every last drop that filled my body.
And with that acceptance, suddenly, sensation was there again. Everything was there waiting for me—my fingers, toes, my mouth, my breasts, my pussy, my bonds with my mates—and it all ached to be used and appreciated. I planned to do just that, but I had to wake up first and convince my guys that everything was okay. A job that was going to be a lot harder than it sounded. It felt like so much had happened since I last felt their touch.
Cade’s connection flickered to life inside me as I sought out his bond for his internal clock and confirmed my suspicions. As soon as his was in place, the others all followed, and I heard grunts and surprised noises all around me. They were there, waiting for me to come back to them, something I’d give my last breath trying to do.
My eyes flickered open and I found myself lying on the couch with the guys surrounding me, watching me with concerned eyes. For a moment, all I could think about was how my crazy heart surged with love for them. These six men were my everything, and without them I may as well be lost to the darkness or the light, it wouldn’t matter which.
When I didn’t immediately speak, their faces all contorted with worry. But I was just absorbing them, absorbing the love that they felt for me, a fuck up, a creature so weird that a Goddess wanted my body.
There were a thousand things I wanted to tell them. A thousand words of love I needed to share, but they weren’t what fell from my lips.
Love had to wait.
Our safety was what mattered most at that moment.
“I know where to find Merlin’s prison.”
❖
Darius
“Thank fuck!” I hissed the second I sensed that Marcella was awake, but the relief flooding me was like the Niagara Falls tumbling into a pint glass. It overwhelmed me until I was certain if I stood and moved over to her, my knees would buckle and I’d be left slumped on the floor, staring at her from the ground.
Where I should be.
On bended fucking knee as I apologized and appealed for her forgiveness.
It was my fault we’d gone to the council, and my fault they’d treated the brotherhood so poorly.
Dealing with the leaders of our people was like dealing with a nest of vipers, and though that was an excuse, it was also the truth. You had to handle them a certain way or not at all, and I’d gone about my ordina
ry path, manipulating here and there as I went, when I should have surged forth with a show of strength.
My mate was a Descendant.
She had the Cavalry and Reapers flittering around her like worried parakeets as they tried to figure out her role now that the Sires were awake.
My woman was no ordinary mate.
Around me the brothers stirred to life, and it was Barclay, with his shifter speed, who reached her first.
In seconds, she moved from flat on her back to being nestled in his arms. She wasn’t just being hugged either, she was hugging in return.
The words falling from her lips weren’t too earth-shattering, considering we’d realized Merlin might be our only way out, but as always, someone was talking to Marcella and literally going over our heads.
In this instance, I had to believe it was the Maker himself.
Which put Marcella on a direct line with no less than the Lady, the Maker, and two of the Sires themselves.
My mate, did she but know it, was walking royalty.
Staggering to my feet, I approached the bed and almost collapsed against the mattress.
The Lady had taken over Marcella’s body, and though Cade had wound back the hands of time, there’d been no way of knowing whether Marcella would be returned to us whole and hale, or if the Lady would be looking at us from our woman’s beautiful eyes.
As it was, I knew she was my true mate because of the way she clung to Barclay. Even though, deep down, I sensed the blood connecting us, it was her response to him that reassured me the most.
Shifters were considered the lowest of the low in our society, and I had no reason to believe that that hierarchy didn’t extend to the Sires of the species themselves. But the Lady would never have clung to a Shifter salsang like Marcella was. Our woman was back.
