Scorned by Shadows (Kissed by Shadows Series, Book 4)

by Lola StVil

I bark out a laugh and shake my head.

  “You think I would have been mad at you if you’d taken Talon down? Trust me, I wouldn’t have been. I honestly think taking him out of the world would be doing the world a favor. It would be more an act of light than darkness,” I say.

  I don’t like the stone-cold tone of voice that is coming from me when I talk about Talon. It sounds robotic, barely me at all. Kane frowns in concern.

  “I know what you mean now. About the Meat Market changing you. While I was in there, I was so angry. I was angry at myself for not being able to stop myself from getting taken there. I was angry at the people who organized it and the people who paid for their services. I was angry at the whole world for allowing it to happen. I was ready to take down anyone and everyone. And then when I found out Talon was behind the whole thing, I was consumed by a need for revenge. I still am.”

  “Babe, listen to me. You have to let that feeling go, for your own sake. Look at what that anger burning inside did to me. It’s only since I found you that I’ve been able to move past it and feel anything other than pain and anger. I don’t want you to go down the path I went down. And take it from someone who’s been there—revenge might seem like a good idea, and you’ll feel better for a moment or two, but that’s it. All of those feelings will still be there.”

  “I’m not sure I can just let it go,” I admit.

  “Yeah. You can. You’re strong, baby. Stronger than I ever was. And you can let this go. I know you can. Look what you were willing to forgive Quinn for.”

  “That was different though. Quinn was acting up because she thought she had been wronged by us. Talon just acts up for the sake of it. I mean I don’t blame him for wanting revenge on the people who put him in that place, but he didn’t stop there, did he? Quinn deserved my forgiveness. Talon deserves a fate worse than death.”

  Kane shrugs.

  “No, he didn’t stop there. And he does deserve what’s coming to him. But revenge will hurt you more than it’ll hurt him.”

  I have a feeling Kane is trying to talk me out of this because he’s still planning on dealing with Talon himself. As much as I want Talon dead and gone, I can’t let Kane do that for me. I can’t let him open himself up to the darkness seizing him again.

  “Okay, then how about this. I’ll promise not to kill Talon if you promise the same.”

  Kane frowns but he nods his head.

  “Deal,” he says.

  We lapse into silence, each lost in our own thoughts. There is still one thing I don’t understand.

  “Kane, how did Talon get in here without anyone knowing? And why didn’t I even attempt to fight him off?”

  “You were already drugged when Talon got to you. And the person who drugged you let him in. We had a traitor in the house. Sadie was right; you were betrayed.”

  “But who?”

  “Tracey,” Kane says.

  My jaw clenches.

  “Tracey? But…but why?”

  “Quinn promised her a potion that would stop drug cravings altogether,” he says.

  “Quinn did? So she’s been in with them for a while then?”

  Kane nods.

  “Yeah. I guess it started before Quinn, ya know, turned. She was the one who gave up one of Regal’s hairs.”

  “Fucking bitch,” I breathe. “Saudia must be devastated.”

  “She is. She told Tracey she’s dead to her and she never wants to see her again.”

  I don’t get a chance to even begin to process how I feel about Tracey being a traitor or how I managed to miss it completely, as there’s a knock at my bedroom door. It’s not a light tap, it’s a loud, insistent knocking, and I’m instantly on high alert.

  “Come in,” I say as Kane and I frown at each other.

  Langston bursts in.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “Nothing. Atlas, the cube has appeared. We can find out what the next object will be.”

  Kane and I hurry to get ready and go to the living room. The team is already gathered there waiting for us.

  “How are you, Atlas?” Regal asks.

  “I’m fine. Really I am,” I say. “And before we start thinking about the object, I want to thank you all. Kane told me you had to go off to a dangerous island to get a unicorn hair to undo the Damler mask. It means a lot to me that you would all risk your lives like that for me.”

  “You would have done the same for us,” Langston says.

  “That’s not the point,” I say.

  “It’s exactly the point. We’re a team, Atlas. We have each other’s back,” she says.

  “Having said that, if you feel like you owe us one or anything, I’m always open to food or alcohol,” Perry says.

  Langston shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

  “How many pizzas would it take to get you to sit quietly for a day?”

  “There aren’t that many in the world.” He grins.

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “Did Kane tell you about Tracey?” Saudia asks quietly.

  I nod.

  “Yes. Saudia, I’m so sorry,” I say.

  She looks at me, her face confused.

  “You’re sorry?”

  “Well yeah. I know you love her and I can’t even begin to imagine how much it must have hurt you to learn the truth about her.”

  “I know she made some bad choices along the way, but if I’d thought for even a second she was capable of something like that, I never would have brought her here.”

  “I know,” I tell her.

  I go to her and hug her.

  “Atlas, I need you to know that I had no idea what she was doing. I know that sounds hard to believe but—”

  “None of us suspected her, Saudia,” I say, cutting her off. “And I didn’t think you knew about it for even a second.”

  It’s true. Saudia might have bad taste in women, but she’s no traitor. Saudia smiles at me gratefully.

  “Let’s see what ridiculous location we’re running off to next then, huh?” I say.

  “Yeah, because being in danger of death at any moment will be such a novelty for us.” Perry laughs.

  I reach out and touch the golden cube. It instantly begins to hum with energy. I pull my hand back as it slowly rises into the air above the table where it’s set. It spins a few times and then breaks apart. The pieces dart around the room, whirling around our heads and up to the ceiling and back again. They make one final lap of the room, and they come together to show us a golden apple.

  “That doesn’t seem so bad,” Regal says.

  “No. I mean we have apples in the kitchen somewhere. We can just spray one gold and use that, right?” Perry says.

  I give him a look, and he laughs.

  “What? It was Regal who said it didn’t look so bad. So I figured it was just a standard apple rather than the Golden Apple of Discord.”

  “The Golden Apple of what now?” I say.

  “Discord,” Perry repeats. “Don’t ask me what exactly it is or where we’ll find it. I just remember seeing a picture of it and reading something about a curse or something.”

  A curse? Well, that’s just great.

  I turn to Kane.

  “Do you think Pest will know more about it?”

  He nods.

  “I’d be surprised if he doesn’t. I’ll give him a call.”

  Kane leaves the room to make his call. The team falls into an uncomfortable silence, and I realize it’s because of me. No one is looking at me.

  “Guys?” I say. “What is it?”

  “Umm, nothing,” Perry mutters.

  “Come on,” I say. “What happened to that whole ‘we’re a team’ thing? If something’s wrong, just say it.”

  “Did they rape you?” Langston blurts out.

  “Jesus Christ! Langston, you can’t just come out and ask someone that,” Regal yells. “Do you lack all respect whatsoever?”

  “It’s fine,” I tell him. “No. They didn’t. I
guess I was lucky in a sense. I got roughed up a bit because one of those perverts got too close and I kicked him in the balls. After that, I guess they figured I was more trouble than I was worth.”

  I don’t tell them about my starring role in the peep show, or about the way the guards demeaned me. They don’t need to know about any of that.

  Regal gets up and crosses to my side. He sits down next to me and wraps me in his arms.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay, Atlas. I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to you,” he says against my hair.

  There’s a coughing sound from behind him, and Kane stands there. Regal gets back up and returns to his seat without a word. Kane sits back down beside me. He doesn’t comment on Regal holding me, but he does make a show of taking my hand in his.

  “Pest is on his way,” Kane says.

  “Let’s hope he hurries up before Regal can start whispering more sweet nothings to Atlas. Oh, Atlas. I love you, Atlas,” Perry mocks.

  He makes kissing sounds.

  “Fuck off, Perry,” Regal hisses.

  “Ooh did I touch a nerve? I bet you’d like to touch one of Atlas’s nerves, wouldn’t you?” Perry goes on. “Do you think it would be worth an ass whoopin’ from Kane?”

  “It’s you who’ll be getting an ass whoopin’ if you don’t shut the fuck up,” Kane snaps at Perry.

  “See, that’s what Regal wants you to do. And then while you’re distracted, boom. He and Atlas are making a baby.”

  “Perry, seriously, enough,” Regal says with a hard glare in Perry’s direction.

  He looks like he’s ready to kill Perry, and I don’t think Kane is too far from feeling the same. Regal relaxes when Perry holds his hands up in surrender.

  “I just gave her a hug,” Regal says. “It’s not my fault if no one wants to hug you.”

  “Everyone wants to hug me. I’m just very selective about who I allow to do it,” Perry says.

  “You mean I’m not good enough to hug you?” I say quietly with mock tears.

  “What? No! I didn’t mean…” Perry flounders.

  I can’t keep the laugh in any longer.

  “Oh, that’s mean,” Perry says, shaking his head and laughing.

  “Well, look at you all having yourself a little party,” Pest says as he enters the loft.

  “And now the guest of honor is here to ruin it with tales of us being torn to shreds by some Hell creature or another,” Saudia says.

  “The joys of being the one with the brain,” Pest says.

  “Pest, how’s Sadie?” I ask.

  “She’s fine. Back to her old self. Only a whole lot happier than I’ve seen her in a long time. So whatever happens on this mission of yours, don’t get yourself killed, Kane, alright?”

  “Strangely enough, I wasn’t planning on it,” Kane says.

  “What do you know about this apple then?” I ask Pest.

  He sits down and begins to tell us the story of the apple.

  “It’s not just any old apple. It’s a very powerful object containing a dark curse, one that can only be overcome by the purest of hearts. The Golden Apple of Discord was owned originally by the Greek Goddess Eris.

  “When Eris was shunned from attending a wedding by Zeus, she was enraged and vowed revenge in whatever form she could get it. She turned up at the wedding against Zeus’s orders with the golden apple, telling the guests it was intended as a prize for the fairest of them all. What she failed to tell the guests was that the apple was cursed. The winner would be named the fairest of them all, and along with it, she would become irresistible to men, making her the sole object of all men’s desire and a pawn to his every desire.

  “The goddesses, of course, all wanted to be proclaimed the fairest of them all, and they threw themselves into completing a series of tasks and puzzles set out by Eris. There was cheating, backstabbing, the works, but eventually, Aphrodite won the apple and was crowned the fairest of them all.

  “Of course Aphrodite was used to unwanted male attention, and she had her ways of dealing with it. She had no idea of the power within the apple, and unaware of its dark curse, Aphrodite later gifted the apple to one of her loyal subjects. Without the goddess’s power to contain the curse, the apple began to affect the woman’s life as she was pursued by hordes of men. While at first, she welcomed the attention, the curse grew stronger, and the woman found herself becoming afraid of the men’s advances and what they might do to her if she continued to spurn them.

  “She cast the apple out with the trash, and for a while, the apple was gone. But it was later found by Queen Grimhilde. The queen was an ugly woman, twisted with hatred, and as such, her stepdaughter, Princess Snow, was named the fairest of them all because she was true of heart.

  “This angered the queen, and she became determined to kill the girl. She gave her the golden apple, telling her that it was a gift rather than explaining the truth—that the girl had been named the fairest of them all. She infused the apple with her own poison, unaware that such a dark curse as the one already cast upon the apple would be more than enough to ruin the girl’s life. When the girl ate the apple, she fell into a deep sleep, and the queen was happy.

  “The story of Princess Snow’s fate spread through the land, and it eventually fell upon the ears of Prince Charming, a noble prince who made it his mission to save the princess. He visited a powerful witch, who gave him an antidote to the poison.

  “When Princess Snow awoke after being given the antidote to Queen Grimhilde’s poison, the curse took full effect upon her as the golden apple lay with her, and Prince Charming was filled with an urge to have her. He fought the urge, disgusted with himself, and ran from the princess. Unaware of his reason for fleeing from her, she vowed that she would find him and thank him for saving her life.

  “The prince ran from her, afraid of what he might do. He happened upon an imp who told him of the curse of the golden apple. He explained that the apple must be buried in a land far away to neutralize the curse and gave him a magic bean which would allow him to travel between the realms and bury the apple safely.

  “Prince Charming knew it was his duty to rid his realm of such an evil object, and he found Princess Snow and continued to fight the urge to possess her. He told her everything he had learned, and she agreed to help him. Together, they stepped through the portal created by the magic bean and came to our land. They went to the furthest reaches of the land in the wilds of Antarctica to bury the apple.

  “As they buried the apple, Prince Charming could no longer fight his desire for Princess Snow, and he kissed her. She melted into his kiss, and the apple began to glow.

  “The imp had lied to them. Only the power of true love could stop the curse of the apple, and their kiss was what broke the curse, rendering the apple harmless. Princess Snow and Prince Charming, unaware of this, still buried the apple. And with no way to return to their homeland, they lived out a long and happy life on Earth and the apple remained buried and still lies there to this day.

  “Eris learned of the fate of her apple, and although she couldn’t find it, she had a link to her original magic, and she issued another curse—anyone who happened upon the golden apple would have their heart immediately blacken and die. With one exception. A couple who are united in true love could safely retrieve the apple and break the curse and Eris’s link to the apple once and for all.

  “To break the curse, the couple must each take a bite of the apple, and if their love is true, they will live, and the curse will be broken. If their love isn’t true, they will be tortured by Eris’s curse for all eternity, their hearts gradually withering away until they die broken and alone, only to be delivered to Hades, where they will spend all eternity being tortured by their greatest fears.”

  The team is all looking at me in horror as Pest finishes the story, and it slowly dawns on me why.

  If the apple determines our love is not true, then we will die, the mission will fail, and Arken will let the whole worl
d burn.

  I swallow so hard I feel like everyone in the room will hear me. Don’t get me wrong. I know I love Kane and I know he loves me. If it was some sort of a loyalty test we had to take, then I would be completely confident we would pass it with flying colors. Even if it were an “are you in love?” test I know we’d be fine.

  But a test of true love is a big deal. I feel as though Kane is my one true love and when I think of my future, I see Kane right there beside me. But things change. I mean this time last year, Regal would have said Quinn was his true love. This time last week, Saudia would have said Tracey was her one true love. And look how those things turned out.

  What if Kane and I aren’t soul mates? I mean it’s such a subjective thing. For all we know, the universe could have a plan for us that starts out with each other and ends up somewhere completely different.

  I don’t even want to think about that. Somehow, thinking the universe plans on pulling Kane and I apart worries me way more than the thought of failing the test. Perhaps that should tell me that actually, this test will be easy for us.

  “How is that fair?” Perry says, breaking the silence that’s fallen over the room.

  “How is any of this fair?” I ask.

  “Well, yeah I know, but this one really takes the cake. I mean what if you and Kane hadn’t found each other? The mission states that the last Seeker must find the objects. It doesn’t state that she has to be in love to get them.”

  “Actually, it states that the last Seeker must retrieve the objects. There are no qualifying criteria. It’s well known that the Seeker will have a team to help her, so there’s nothing explicitly banning Arken from choosing something like this where another person is involved. And let’s be honest, nothing about the guy makes you think he’d stay away from the gray area. The guy loves a good loophole,” Kane says.

  “It’s part of the test,” Langston says quietly.

  “Huh?” I say.

  She nods her head, excited now as her idea comes together.

  “It’s part of the test,” she says again. “Arken must have figured out by now that you’re pretty much a force to be reckoned with, Atlas. And he must also have seen the strength of the love you and Kane have. I mean come on. Kane was Keysu, and he walked away from that for you at the risk of death. Arken isn’t doing this because he thinks your love isn’t strong enough for you to get the apple. He’s doing it because he thinks your own self-doubt will stop you from doing this successfully. He’s trying to tear you and Kane apart, knowing if he succeeds in that, you won’t be able to get the apple.”