Darkest Night: Mercenaries and Magic: A scorching enemies to lovers romance

by Alessa Thorn

  "It doesn't have to. Clearly, nothing about these fuckers is normal. Where you go, I follow," Athena said. There was no way she was leaving Kon's side. Everything was getting too weird.

  "There," Kon said, pointing to the rod.

  "Can't you just rip them out?" To Athena, they only looked like metal spikes with nothing attached to them.

  "No, don't touch them. Either the energy being generated through them will electrocute you or suck all of your energy into the spell and make you another kind of rod," Kon warned. Athena took an automatic step back from them.

  They followed the spikes, the hair on Athena's body rising as they were drawn deep into a maze of hedges. She had her daggers raised and ready. There was a strange smell in the air, not like opium but herbal and copper. Like blood and earth and burning ozone.

  "Stay close, something isn't…something is off," Kon said from the darkness in front of her. Fog seeped up from the ground around Athena's ankles, and she kicked at it.

  "Kon? What's with the fog?" she whispered. "Kon?" He was gone. Athena ran to catch up. "Kon? Where did you go? Iz? Can you hear me?" The comms in her ear were silent.

  Athena stopped and took a calming breath. It was just a damn hedge maze, and she had daggers that could cut her way out if she had to.

  Athena turned to do just that, but the wall of greenery already had an opening. She shook her head as if to clear it.

  What the fuck is in that fog?

  Athena went through the opening, checking around corners before turning them. She didn't call out for Kon. He was on his own and wouldn't want her giving her position away to Liddell or anyone else that might have been lurking.

  Like the horned demon that makes people crazy? She needed to stop thinking about that. Anything could be killed with a sharp enough dagger. This she knew.

  "Athena," a voice called softly.

  "Kon?"

  "Athena, this way," the reply came.

  Athena hurried through the maze, following Kon's voice, almost crashing over a statue to reach it. Fear and panic rushed through her.

  "Kon? Where are you?" she called, uncaring that she sounded like a scared little girl.

  "Athena, you're so close…." She ran faster and faster, her daggers slashing at the hedges and their reaching branches.

  There was a light burning up ahead, and she bolted towards it. She rounded a corner and stumbled into a circle of bright and glowing light. A man stood on a marble platform in a simple grey suit. He would've been in his fifties and had grey threaded into his brown hair.

  "Athena Edgeworth, it is an honor to meet you at last," he said in an elegant British accent.

  Athena raised a dagger to throw at him, but suddenly they were too hot to touch, and she dropped them with a cry of pain.

  "Now, now, my dear. There's no need for that," he tsked with a kind smile. "I don't want to hurt you."

  "Really? Because your kill squad in Istanbul says otherwise," she snarled.

  "I apologize for that. If I had known who you were, I would've gone about things differently. Come closer, and let me look at you. It's been so long."

  Athena didn't want to move, Kon's warning about being pulled into the spell echoing in her mind. Invisible hands gripped her legs, and she began to march like a demented puppet towards Liddell.

  Symbols made of blood and white candle wax were sketched on the marble around him. Small gold coins and objects were pressed in them, but she couldn't make out what they were.

  Athena stopped outside the circle. Whatever was happening inside of it was making Liddell glow softly.

  "The girl who survived the massacre. Who would've thought that you would return to us? Gadal will be so glad to hear that you are back where you belong," he said, looking her over with a pleased smile.

  "What are you talking about?" she whispered.

  Liddell tilted his head. "You don't remember? Oh, my dear girl. You are one of a kind to survive that level of magic. It all worked out so much better than we hoped. Join us, come back to your family."

  Athena stepped back. "Thanks, but I already have a family."

  "Athena! Get away from him!" Kon's voice cut through the air, his commanding timbre like a cold breeze blowing the fog out of her head.

  "Konstantius. I wondered where you had gotten to," Liddell replied, his smile vanishing. "You can still join us. If I had known who Athena was, I wouldn't have been so upset about you betraying me for her all these years. Now she's home where she belongs."

  "The fuck she is. Athena is mine,” Kon snarled. He was starting to shimmer around the edges, and Athena wondered if she was high from the smoke. She backed away from Liddell, forcing her body to move towards Kon.

  "You will stay where you are," Liddell hissed, and the grass and earth rose to wrap around her feet and hold her. She struggled against it, kicking out and trying to free herself.

  Liddell swore. "God, you are so powerful and don't even realize it. I have the mana of thirty-nine people pulling through me right now, and you can still resist it. Gadal is going to be thrilled."

  "The fuck he is. I'm going to stick a dagger through him for what he did to my parents," Athena said, reaching for the khanjar at her back. She pulled it loose and started swiping at the grass and earth.

  "Your parents, what do you…you think they were at Pokrovskoye? You really don't remember, do you?" Liddell looked confused.

  Athena kicked out at the earth and freed her boots. She stumbled towards Kon. He was definitely glowing, and Athena remembered the day on his bed where he had been doing magic with the vine. The look in his eyes was pure murderous hate.

  "Do it, Kon, before he kills you!" she shouted as branches shot from the hedges and began to drag her back.

  Kon didn't hesitate, didn't give any last speech about who he was or why he wanted to kill Liddell. Athena couldn't feel magic like he could, but the invisible force that pulsed out of him was enough to knock her to her knees.

  She rolled onto her back as she was dragged by the hedge. She slashed out at the branches, but there were too many, and she was pulled up into the greenery.

  Kon was below her, walking towards Liddell who was still in his circle.

  Athena didn't know much about magic, but she knew daggers. She stopped cutting the hedges, kissed the flat of the blade that had been bought with love, and threw it.

  Liddell dodged reflexively, but the blade hit the marble at his feet. His shout of victory died on his lips. The tip of the dagger had knocked one of the golden medallions out of its wax. The circle was broken.

  Kon's smile was pure violence as he raised one hand towards Liddell and gripped the air. Liddell screamed, his hands scratching at his face and neck. All of the golden light around him vanished as Kon closed in on him.

  "Stop! I'll give you…whatever you want." Liddell screamed as he curled in on himself.

  The Basty of Istanbul didn't bargain.

  Kon gripped the man's face with his hands and pulled the literal life right out of him, his expression of hatred and nightmares the last thing Liddell was ever going to see. The man shrunk as his cells died, his body disintegrating until he was a husk.

  Kon shoved the body away from him with a shout. He was crackling with energy like a Tesla coil.

  "Kon…" Athena whispered, and his head snapped towards her. "Let the power go, aşkım." Kon's expression cleared, the murder leaving his face as he studied her.

  "Athena Edgeworth, did you just call me your love?" he asked, truly shocked. He looked down at his hands, small electrical snaps of power dancing off his skin. Kon dropped to the ground and buried his hands in the earth. Like he was a living lightning rod, Kon forced the magic into the ground with a shout of pain.

  "Kon!" Athena kicked and thrashed against the greenery holding her. Her arms and chest broke free, and she fell forward with a cry.

  Strong arms caught her and held on. "I have you, güzelim. I have you." Kon helped free her legs, and Athena pulled him close.

/>   "Don't ever scare me like that again," she snapped and kissed him. His hands buried in her hair and dragged her up against him. He tasted of lighting, and copper, and Kon.

  "You called me aşkım," he said against her lips. "You do know it means, 'my love.'"

  "That's what you're taking away from everything that just happened? Not that asshole recognizing me from Russia? Or that you finally got your revenge?" Athena demanded, shoving him away.

  Kon laughed, a big joyful sound. "God, you're a pain in the ass."

  "I am. Come on, Gandalf, we need to find the others."

  "This conversation isn't over, Athena Edgeworth."

  "It is for now," she said, her ears going red. She went to the marble slab and picked up her dagger. "Come to mommy, you beauty." She kissed it again and tossed it in the air.

  Kon was giving her an amused, besotted grin, and she flushed hotter.

  "Stop looking at me like that, Konstantius. What are we going to do with that?" she toed Liddell's shriveled body with her boot.

  "He can feed the crows until we know the others are safe. Let's go back to the house and see who we can find. My comm is fried," Kon said, taking it out of his ear. He held out a hand towards her.

  Athena twisted her fingers around his and hung on tight.

  The house was eerily quiet when they made it to the back doors. Kon's skin felt like it had thousands of ants crawling under it, the echoing after effects of having so much magic running through him.

  "Dante! Over here!" Athena called, letting Kon go and hurrying to the other mercenary coming out of the woods. He was carrying a limp Leo in his arms, and Kon's stomach dropped.

  "Oh god, please tell me…."

  "He's not dead," Dante said. Kon went to help carry him, but Dante pulled back protectively. "It's fine. I got him."

  "Dante, the monsters…" Leo murmured.

  "There are no more monsters. We killed them," Dante said.

  Leo started speaking softly in Italian, and Kon grinned. "He's quoting poetry at you. Something about you eating his burning heart."

  "It's the La Vita Nuova," Athena said with a wicked smile. "He's quoting Dante Alighieri at you. He's your Beatrice."

  "Fuck off, Cub. He's off his tits. Help me get him inside," Dante grumbled.

  Kon opened a door into the house. "Let's find somewhere to see to his wounds."

  "We also have an orgy to break up," Athena reminded him.

  The back of Kon's skull tickled in awareness. "I don't know if that's going to be a problem." He couldn't feel any magic in the house like he had before.

  They left Dante and Leo in a bathroom on the second floor and tried to find their way back to the study and ceremonial room.

  Silas came through the front door, gun high. "Alright, Cub?"

  "One piece? Where's Iz?"

  "On her way to help with clean up. No one else was answering their comms."

  "Magic blew them out. Dante and Leo are upstairs. Both seem rough around the edges."

  Athena hugged Silas tight, and he lowered his gun. "What happened, Athena?"

  "Liddell knew me from Russia. Said Gadal was going to be happy I survived. That my parents weren't there…."

  "Shit. Okay. We'll deal with that later, little one. Let's sort out this clusterfuck first," Silas said, releasing her.

  Kon pointed to the study door. "We might need your help. I think things are going to be messy."

  "Lead the way," Silas said, his brows knitted in concern for Athena.

  "Here's hoping they have their pants back on," she muttered.

  Kon led the way, gun out but low. All of the rods that had been used to channel the magic were twisted and charred. They opened the door to the ceremony room, and the smell of cooked meat instantly hit them.

  "Fuck, I know that smell," Athena cursed.

  All the people that had been in the circle were dead. What was left of them was ashen bones and fat staining the floor.

  "God, what happened to them?" Silas asked, lowering his gun and staring about.

  "Magic," Kon replied. "Liddell used the mana they created from the ritual and then drained their energy too. The spell shattered when Athena disturbed his circle."

  "You mean…I did this?" Athena asked, her voice breaking.

  "No, güzelim. They were dead before that. Do you remember when Liddell said he had the power of thirty-nine people? He had already killed them. You just made the power bounce back and…fried them," Kon explained.

  Athena nodded and gave Silas a sudden bright grin. "Well, at least the clean-up is going to be easy."

  Kon stared at Athena, relief and love twisting in his heart. It was over with Liddell, but he never got his answers why he had killed his parents. In the end, those answers weren't as important as killing Liddell to keep Athena safe from him.

  Kon shook his head as Silas and Athena talked about being able to hose out the room. "Mercenaries."

  30

  Istanbul was warm for fall. Athena tried to imagine the terrible grey wet that London would be and smiled at her decision to move their operation. Not that Kon was going to give her the chance to run away back to London.

  "If you dare, I'll keep you tied to my bed," Kon had threatened. She had instantly tried to leave and had spent a pleasant afternoon with her face screaming into his mattress as he made good on his promise to tie her up.

  It had been two weeks since Edinburgh, and instead of the holiday they both wanted, they had to deal with the fallout of Liddell's death. Kon had boxed up Liddell's collection with Athena. They had organized it and the rest of his records and books to be shipped to Istanbul.

  And then Kon had burned Liddell's fine country mansion to the ground.

  Athena's phone rang, and she hurried to answer it. "What's up, Zeus?"

  Silas, Iz, and Dante had taken over Kon's old apartment in Laleli while they worked on finding Gadal. Silas especially had been edgy ever since she told him about what Liddell had said about Russia and all he had implied about Athena. Gadal would go down, and then she would get her holiday.

  Leo had gotten himself an apartment close by in Ayakapı and still wasn't willing to talk to anyone about Scotland. No one would push him either because Dante was still acting like a guard dog whenever someone brought it up.

  "Izabella and I are coming over in an hour. The first lot of Liddell's collection is going to be arriving at the docks. Make sure you got pants on," Silas replied.

  "I will, I promise. Bring me something good to eat. Kon's had his nose buried in books all day, and I'm starving," Athena complained, staring into the empty fridge.

  Silas's laughed. "You know you could actually try and cook something for yourself."

  "I could, but Kon is better at it than me, and if you're already on your way over…."

  "Okay, you win. We'll be there soon for a brainstorming session and to help with the crates."

  "You're the best dad that anyone could ever find in a forest," Athena said.

  "And don't you forget it."

  Athena hung up just in time to see Kon emerge from his office. His hair was ruffled from his hands running through it, a habit he had when he was really into whatever he was reading.

  He grinned at her, and her chest exploded into happy butterflies. She still hated that he could do that to her.

  "Was that Silas?" he asked.

  "Yes, he'll be here in an hour along with the first of Liddell's stuff."

  Kon's smile turned deviant. "Excellent. We have plenty of time for me to give you this." He brought his hand out from behind his back, and Athena's brain fizzed with delight.

  She bit her lip. "For me?"

  "Something I picked up last time I was in Milan. I thought you might like it," Kon offered her the dagger.

  "Ohhh, it's so pretty," Athena hummed, studying the fine engravings on the hilt. "Hmm, sixteenth-century Milanese."

  "The man who sold it to me claimed it was made for one of the Dukes of Urbino," Kon replied.


  Athena moved closer to him. "And now it's going to be used for removing buttons."

  Before Kon could stop her, she slid the knife in the top space of his shirt and slid the blade down in one smooth move. Buttons and thread fell to the floor.

  "Look at that, still sharp," she mused.

  Kon's eyes darkened. "I liked this shirt, güzelim."

  "And?" Athena said with a slight rise of her shoulder. Kon took a step toward her, but the tip of her new dagger halted his progress.

  She mused, "This dagger is so well balanced, I could probably carve my name in cursive on your chest." The tip of the dagger went lower to the button of his jeans which joined the rest on the floor at his feet. "Oops."

  "Be careful that dagger doesn't slip any lower,” Kon warned. He disarmed her with a quick move and sent the dagger sailing through the air to bury into the corkboards of information that they had kept up.

  "Lost your dagger so soon? You must be getting slow," Kon said. His wicked smile slipped as Athena's leg shot out and knocked the back of his knees. He went down with a curse, and Athena ran up the stairs laughing.

  Kon caught her as she reached the bedroom, tackling her to the red and blue woven carpets. Kon pinned her on her stomach and straddled her ass, strong hands holding her arms down.

  "You're in a fine mood this afternoon. Is it because I wasn't paying enough attention to you?" he purred in her ear. When she didn't reply, he ran his stubbled chin up her bare neck. Athena kept her mouth shut, fighting the urge to throw him off.

  "Obstinate as always. If you want my dick in you, you only need to say the magic words," Kon said. His hand went underneath her to undo the clasp on her pants.

  Athena squirmed as his palm dipped down to rub her pussy. The hand was gone seconds later, and she let out an involuntary mutter of disapproval.

  Kon gripping the back of her tank top and tore it. "A shirt for a shirt, Edgeworth." He unclipped her bra and ran his hot tongue up her spine.

  "Kon," she murmured, her skin breaking out in goosebumps. "We should…the bed is just there."

  Kon lifted her hips up and pulled her pants down her ass. "You wanted to cut things and run. You're going to get fucked where you fall. You know the rules."