by Meg Xuemei X
“He’ll know when we’re close to the leyline, right?” I asked. “Through our mating bond?”
“He can sense the bond even if he’s on the other side of the veil,” Max said. “He should be able to keep the portal open until we arrive.”
But his brows furrowed with deep worry.
“What if we’re already too late?” I said, my anxiety spearing the pit of my belly.
Somehow, I had a foreboding feeling that things would go awry.
“Stop worrying, Blossom,” Ash said. “We’re almost there.”
But all of us picked up speed.
“Thank you for sticking with me,” I said, guilt bleeding from me. I’d been making all the decisions for them and dragging them along with me. If the portal sealed and I got them stuck here, it was all on me.
“You’re our mate,” Ash said. “What wouldn’t we do for you?”
“But I don’t want to take advantage of you,” I protested.
Max’s large hand squeezed my small one. “It’s our privilege to be taken advantage of by you, doll. You should do that more often.”
Warmth swelled in my chest. It was such a good feeling knowing I was cherished.
We kept running. My tiger lagged several yards behind. He was so tired that he didn’t even bother chasing the black owl. The owl remained vigilant, gliding along with grace.
The landscape changed. Mist loomed in from ahead.
“Is that the leyline?” As I spoke, a light flashed from the magical compass on Max’s wrist.
All the arrows and needles inside were frozen in place.
“We’re here,” Max announced.
Ash let out a breath of relief. “We’ve reached the endpoint of the Underworld.”
My heart pounded in both excitement and nervousness.
We’d arrived. I was finally going home.
On either side of me, Max and Ash held my hands in theirs, and we advanced and entered the mist.
A vast expanse of water blocked our path. Lava bubbled in the depths of the dark, red lake. Steamy heat rose, slamming into our faces.
Ash and I stepped back a few paces automatically, but Max let go of my hand and remained where he was, his wings spreading and one of them shielding me.
“It’s a lake,” I said. Confusion wheeled into my head. “Where’s the leyline?”
I darted my eyes left, right, up, and down, seeking something unusual and significant, though I had no idea what a leyline should look like.
“A leyline looks like a large streak of light,” Ash said, stalking around the edge of the lake. “I don’t see it either. Merlin! Are you here? Answer me!”
Only the echo of bubbling lava answered us.
Ash balled his fists.
We waited.
“The fucker isn’t here,” Ash grated. “The druid went back on his word.”
“Maybe he hasn’t come yet?” I offered. “We should just wait here for however long we must.”
“Are you sure we came to the right spot, Max?” Ash asked after a few more seconds. “It’s your task to find the location where the leyline lies. This isn’t the time to fuck it up.”
“We are in the right place, but not at the right time,” Max said grimly. “Merlin was here. I can smell the residue of his earth magic. He opened the portal, waited, and then he left.” He sniffed deeply. “His magic residue is half a day old.”
Ash sniffed around, too, then he nodded at Max.
“The druid was here for days,” the fae prince said.
“We were late,” I said, my eyes downcast. “I’m sorry.”
If I hadn’t gone back for the women, we’d have made it. But how could I not go back for them and let them all be slaughtered? And my brother and Octavia were with them.
Yet guilt and sorrow still gnawed at me.
I had gotten my mates stuck with me in Hell for real. I had missed the chance to go home to see Mom and Dad. I might never see them again. And without the army I’d promised my women, we’d eventually all be slain by the demon hordes.
Killian came forward, rubbing my thigh as he sensed my bleak mood.
The black owl cried out dolefully above us before he landed on top of a tall branch, out of Killian’s reach, and watched us with eerie intensity. I bet even the bird was disappointed at me.
“You never need to feel sorry for anything, Blossom,” Ash said. “It’s Merlin’s fault. Why couldn’t the fucker wait a little longer? Or he should have waited for us to get here and then opened the portal.”
“It doesn’t work that way and you know it,” Max said. “Timing is everything. He had to set the timeline, especially since we can’t communicate with him. He told us that he’d tear open the leyline the moment all three of the mating icons were activated. He gave us a week to get to the portal. It took tremendous power and everything Merlin had to even open the leyline to the Underworld. No one had ever done it and no one could do it again.”
“So he just abandoned us in this shithole?” Ash accused.
My fae mate was a hothead who usually let his emotions dominate his reason before he cooled off.
“Let’s see if he left any message,” Max said. “That’s the least he could do.” He bellowed toward the lake, “Druid, answer us!”
The bubbling sound from the depths of the lake grew louder, then the mist suddenly lifted around us. An image of swirling light rose from the lake to the surface of the water.
“He sent a fucking hologram to greet us?” Ash hissed.
In the hologram stood a dark-skinned, handsome man in a white robe. He looked more like an elegant scholar than a warrior, yet pure power resonated in the air even from his image.
Max told me that Merlin was one of the most powerful magic users on Earth, or probably in any universe. He was called the First Druid for a reason, and he was rumored to be a demigod.
Merlin’s intense gaze locked on me. I stepped a pace toward him as if I couldn’t help it and was unable to resist the deep hunger, loneliness, and longing in his violet eyes. I needed to erase the profound sorrow in them and offer him whatever I had.
The image rippled as all of us waited for it to say something.
“The prick had the last laugh,” Ash spat, breaking the silence. “While we’re stuck here, he’s drinking fine wine on his luxury balcony and studying his manicured fingernails.”
“You’re never good at profiling, Winter Prince,” Merlin’s image said.
I blinked in surprise. The druid’s image could not only talk, it could also interact in real time. Only a very powerful wizard could do that.
“Merlin,” Max greeted.
“You should have held the leyline open for one more day, druid,” Ash grated, icy steam puffing out of his lips. “We’re here, and you failed to do your job.”
Merlin glanced at the fae prince coolly before focusing on me again. I wondered if his true self could see me through the eyes of his holographic image.
“Ayanna,” Merlin whispered, and my name sounded so intimate on his tongue that I blushed. It was as if he’d said my name thousands of times before he even met me. “I’m sorry my timing was off. It took great effort to open the portal to the Underworld. I worked on opening the leyline as soon as I sensed the activation of the first icon.”
I willed my flush to recede and hoped that Merlin’s image couldn’t detect it. The first icon was the mark of the mating bond between Elijah and me. It had been activated when the archangel claimed me in his bath chamber.
“As soon as I sensed that the second and third icons flared into power as you mated with your other mates,” Merlin continued, “I unlocked the leyline. I waited here for days until I could no longer hold it open. I’m sorry I can’t reopen it for you, no matter what help and powers I can get. I failed you, and now none of you can come to the surface this way anymore.”
“You’re sorry?” Ash hissed, veins jumping on his temples. “You’re fucking sorry? It’s our asses down here, not you, asshole. I don�
��t give a fuck that you caused Max and me this inconvenience. But you doomed your own mate.”
Merlin dropped his gaze to the ground before lifting it as if it weighed tons and fixing his eyes on me again. “I doomed you, my own mate, before you were born.”
My heart fluttered, then skipped a beat.
Max and Ash had told me that I was kidnapped and smuggled into the Underworld when I was a baby and Bas was only a small boy. They’d vowed to knife the one who had brought such misfortune to my parents and me.
“My magical image can’t last long, even with me on the other side of the veil to boost the power,” Merlin said. “I’ll give you a brief back story, and Max and Ash can fill you in later.”
I tried to look for the unseen veil that separated our two worlds to no avail. The lava churned to the surface, disturbing Merlin’s image of light, which flickered before struggling to remain steady.
Merlin took a deep breath to compose himself.
“During the War of Heaven and Earth,” he continued, “Dark Lord Atlas was defeated by High Prince Seth. Seth and his fae queen mate, who is Prince Ash’s half-sister, shattered Atlas’s essence. Before they could kill him, the dark lord escaped. A part of his power was left behind and infused into his bloodline—the unborn granddaughter—your mother. To resurrect the Dark Lord, he requires all his power back. So his loyal followers were hunting Freyja—your mother.
“When they brought the Sváva reaper army upon your mother and nearly killed your father, her power awoke. She took on Atlas’s army with the assistance of Seth’s force. Atlas’s generals were all killed, except for Cain, who fled to the Underworld, where no one could follow and hunt him down.
“Cain isn’t without connections on the surface. Many of his men are hiding on Earth. He also allied with a few powerful Dragonian nobles who covet your father’s throne. Atlas’s loyal followers failed to take your mother, so they turned their attention to her offspring. They’ll try everything in their power to capture you and send you to Atlas. Once your great-grandfather, the notorious power absorber, gets his evil hands on you, he’ll drain your magic until you’re but a shell. If Atlas succeeds, war will break out in every corner of the universe, and billions will be slaughtered or enslaved, and planets will be blasted to bits. Earth will be among the targeted planets. I saw it happen in my vision. I saw the Sváva reapers take you and Atlas harvest you until you’re left with nothing.
“Your parents are powerful, but you were a defenseless baby. Your enemies would have eventually gotten to you. There’s also a prophecy about you knocking down Hell’s gate. After Cain stumbled into the Underworld, he wasn’t able to leave the realm. No one escapes Hell, as it’s meant to be a one-way trip. He heard about the prophecy, though, and his followers are turning over every stone to hunt you. He is more than desperate to find you and use you to open the Hell Gate and escape it. And then he’ll deliver you to Atlas. I can’t allow that vision to come to pass. I can’t allow them to kidnap you and make you their pawn and final sacrifice in their war game.”
A painful silence filled my head before I broke it.
“So you played God,” I drawled. “You had me taken away from my parents and my kingdom and sent me to Hell to be raised as a slave.”
Max sucked in a breath, wrapping his arm around my waist, his wing coming around as if he needed to shield me from his blood-bond brother.
“Asshole, it was you all along,” Ash snarled, pointing his finger at Merlin’s image. “You’re dead, druid. You’re dead when I find you.”
Pain filled Merlin’s eyes, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was shaking with rage.
“I had to carry this burden alone,” Merlin said. “I had to hide you in Hell.”
I balled my fists. “It’s not your call as to how to handle my path, druid. You had no right to rob me of my childhood and birthright.” Tears streamed down my face as I thought of my adopted father’s death, Sebastian’s desperation, our decades of living in hunger, fear, and slavery, and my biological parents’ heartbreak.
“You could have told my parents about your twisted visions,” I said. “So they could prepare and guard me well. They’re king and queen. They’d have enough people to protect me!”
“They wouldn’t be able to shield you,” Merlin sighed. “It was the hardest thing for me to do—to send my mate to be a slave in Hell. But only by hiding you under the enemy’s nose would you be safe. When I was certain the vision had passed and there’d be a different outcome, I sent your other mates to fetch you and bring you home.”
“The outcome is we’re now all stuck here, fucker,” Ash snarled.
“All three of them are my beloved mates,” I said. “But not you. You’ve proved unworthy, so I denounce you right here, right now.”
He looked at me as if I had struck him with the worst curse. Then he nodded in grief and defeat.
“I don’t deserve you, Ayanna,” he admitted.
“Did you also put some dark spells on me to bind my power and make my life more difficult in Hell?” I asked harshly, remembering how defenseless I’d felt before my power had awoken.
“I couldn’t afford to risk you being discovered in the Underworld,” said Merlin. “Or all our efforts to preserve you would be in vain. The condition was that only when you mated with your true mates would your power awaken.”
“Despite your brilliant plans, I could have died young here like most people,” I said with venom. “Both my brother and I could have died as children. You have no fucking idea how hard it is to survive as a slave in Hell. And you had to drag my brother down here with me. You could have spared him.”
“You needed him,” said Merlin. “I was selfish, but I knew you’d need him.”
All I wanted was to strike him, even though he looked haunted and broken. And he had no right to look that way. My brother and I were his victims!
The demigod druid had no idea how his betrayal cut me bone deep.
“You wanted to save lives, but you ruined lives instead,” I said icily. “And you don’t get to decide whose lives to ruin and whose lives to save. I’m now forever stuck in Hell. I accept that, since it’s been my life all along. But it shouldn’t be Max’s and Ash’s lot in life, too. It’s even worse for Elijah. Don’t you know how Hell can affect an archangel? He’s turning into an archdemon because you sent him down here for a hopeless rescue!”
“Ayanna,” Merlin murmured regretfully.
“Just fuck off,” I said and threw up my hands. A trace of my red lightning struck his image. It flickered twice before vanishing altogether.
I was done with his excuses for the fucking greater good.
The hope of returning home to see my parents and bringing back a mighty army to save my people shattered to pieces, leaving me feeling gutted.
“Your anger is righteous and justified, love,” Max said, “but we need information from Merlin. Maybe there’s another way to get out of here.”
“There’s no other way,” Ash said, his voice steely. “That bastard explained to us the whole deal when he revealed that our mate was in the Underworld.”
“Merlin? Show yourself again,” Max demanded.
A spark of dim light flashed a few times, intending to form a shape above the lake, but it fizzled out, then it disappeared.
Then it was all silence, except for the lava churning in the deep, dark red water.
“Merlin doesn’t have enough power to maintain the hologram,” Max said. “We’re on our own now.”
“We don’t need him,” I said, shaking. “We’re done here.”
Ash swept his gaze over the terrain and nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”
A slight burn throbbed on my inner forearm. The icon of rose gold that was supposed to be my connection to Merlin turned completely dark.
CHAPTER 6
__________________
We passed the expanse of dried grass and once again faced the barren hills that divided Tartarus and Fiery. Our only path lay ahead
—going to Nightingale and joining forces with the Thorn Rose rebels.
We’d fight until the end.
Yet I couldn’t bear to picture the disappointed looks on the women’s faces. I’d promised them an army but returned empty-handed. I offered them hope, then took it away, just as Merlin had done to us.
Ash pulled me into his arms until my shuddering ceased.
“You have us, Blossom,” he said. “Max and I will always be with you.”
He’d also acknowledged that we had lost both Elijah and Merlin.
“Our mate needs a break,” Max said, brushing his knuckles across my cheek.
He pulled a blanket out of a backpack and spread it over a patch of dried grass by a bush.
Ash scooped me up and carried me to the blanket. He sat down with me on his lap. I clung to him, needing his warmth and solidity to expel the coldness in my bones at Merlin’s betrayal. My mind was still in turmoil, cursing Merlin for thinking he knew better, for dictating my path and changing my fate. He’d ruined my parents’ and brother’s lives as well.
I clutched the collar of Ash’s leather jacket as I sobbed into it.
“Baby, everything will be fine,” Ash said. “Max and I are down here with you. We’ll try our best to provide for you, and we’ll protect you with our last breath.”
The demons would never stop hunting us, and the war would be upon us soon.
Max ran his hand in a small circle on my back to comfort me. “You have us, doll.”
I wouldn’t know how to continue without them. I was so grateful that they were with me, yet at the same time, guilt and sadness crashed into me for getting them trapped in Hell.
I lifted my gaze to Ash’s gorgeous face, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. Ash leaned in and licked my tears away. Then he pulled back to look at me, raw need and lust burning in his ice blue eyes, mirroring mine.
Mating fever roared, no longer tolerating being pushed aside again and again, and now our rage and grief and desperation fueled the fever.
Our lips crashed together. Pain radiated to my face as our teeth clanged against each other. The pain didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was my soul-deep need for my mates. And right now, I needed their massive cocks in me. I needed them to fuck me into oblivion.
