Hidden In Darkness (A Seven Realms Book Book 1)

by S. J. Stewart

  It wasn’t like she said no. She remembered saying yes more than once.

  Like Orren, she hadn’t quite known what was going on.

  “Not that I wouldn’t have slept with you. I mean— you’re beautiful. Andrei just goes on and on about how much he would like to— we would never just assume to— what I mean to say is that we’re not animals— sometimes Ridhor is literally an animal but even then—” He took a deep breath, pausing his rambling.

  Melas couldn’t help but smile. It was cute seeing him like this. The cool and collected Orren tripping over his words as he tried to apologize for something neither of them understood. “You’re not a creep. Is that what you’re trying to say?”

  “Yes.” He nodded slowly. “Precisely.”

  “Right.”

  His eyes widened slightly before he let out a breath she was sure he didn’t realize he was holding. “I honestly didn’t even think you knew about it until Ridhor mentioned it. It’s not something I’ve ever done before. I don’t dream. It’s not exactly like I can drift off to sleep without realizing it. Sleeping is like, a job.” He frowned, unsure if that was the right way to explain it. “I can’t just fall asleep, I have to punch in. Walk through the hallway leading to other dreamscapes. Decide where I want to be. I was lying there thinking about my sheets, then suddenly there you were. That’s never happened before. I didn’t know how to make sense of it.”

  Melas nodded slowly. “If it makes you feel any better I’m not sure how to make sense of any part of my life right now. All that makes sense to me is Zura. My need to protect her is stronger than my need to breathe.”

  “I know it’s not ideal— being here with us. It seems like every step I take with you is in the wrong direction. You should know I believe Ridhor is as protective of Zura as you are. I’ve known him a long time and we’ve been through a lot. He would gladly slit my throat if he thought I was going to do anything that would cause either of you harm.”

  Watching him for a moment, she nodded slowly. She got that impression from him too, which was why she was gradually letting him back in after shutting him out.

  Ridhor had this quiet strength that settled her in a way no one else could. Almost in the same way Orren managed to rile her up.

  She remembered the look in Orren’s eye as they all sat together the day he arrived here with the Pixies. “You were jealous of us. When you first came here with Cricket and Alette. There was something in your eyes as you watched the way Zura jumped around him. You were jealous we were taking your place.”

  He thought back to the moment she was talking about, lifting a brow slightly. “When I close myself off, no one can see underneath the mask I wear. I caught you looking at me that day and felt so naked. You were staring into the depths of me. It unnerved me.”

  She wondered why he was telling her this. Something about this whole conversation felt more personal than she expected from him. She wondered if Ridhor had spoken to him. Convinced him to drop his guise so she would be comfortable with him. Or if it was something he was just doing on his own, trying to earn her trust and comfort as his Berserker had.

  Leaning into the conversation, she admitted wanting to get a peek under his icy exterior. Maybe he was taking advantage of the dim lighting of her bedroom, the way she had wanted to take advantage of the dark that night in her room with Ridhor.

  Her cheeks flushed at the memory.

  Melas slept with Orren, though neither of them knew it was happening. Then, she dry-humped Ridhor. She went from having a non-existent sex life to practically having a reverse harem. Maybe it was something that happened when you were with beings from other realms. Without things like families and marriages, monogamy seemed kind of pointless.

  Cricket and Alette were mated though, so what the hell did she know.

  Orren’s silver eyes held hers for a moment before he let out a sigh. “It’s not often I feel jealousy. It was weird. I guess in a way I felt I had a connection to you. You came to me in my dreams, telling me to find you. Then, you appeared on my doorstep. Then, we—” He dropped his eyes from hers for a moment. “In a way you were mine, only to show up here and realize in just a few months Ridhor became a part of you and Zura in my place. I’ve never known him to let anyone in. It made me jealous of him for being with you, jealous of him for winning over Zura, and jealous of the pair of you for getting him to laugh in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. It’s like the three of you were something none of us thought was possible.”

  She held her breath. “What?”

  “A family.”

  They were a family for a little while.

  Ridhor had this way of making them both feel so safe and protected, they could drop their guard and be normal for a little while.

  With her guard down, she was dreaming, although she couldn’t be one hundred percent sure they were memories. She wanted to believe they were.

  The same man seemed to haunt her dreams.

  Faceless.

  Melas wondered what it meant.

  She debated talking to Orren about it. Something inside her wanted to talk to Ridhor first. He would ground her as she worked through her thoughts, and he always answered her with complete honestly. Orren often held things back, he liked to work through things on his own, keep pieces of the puzzle hidden until he felt they were ready for them.

  He was someone who existed in the dreamscape. He knew how to manipulate it. Maybe he would be the best person to talk to about dreams.

  As though reading her thoughts, he gestured to the book in her lap. “Is that doing anything to jog your memories?”

  “The book isn’t doing anything to jog my memories, as fascinating as I find it. I know you guys seem so sure Zura and I aren’t human but I have all this human knowledge. That only makes sense if I lived my life in that realm or at least part of it. All of this stuff just seems foreign to me, like I’m trying to learn a different language.” She frowned, tracing the cover of the book with her finger. “I had a dream. It only left me feeling more confused.”

  Orren nodded, leaning closer in his chair. Waiting on bated breath for her to tell him about it. Before she could fight against the urge, she did.

  “In my dream, there’s a man. I can’t see his face or anything though.” She bit down on her lower lip, her eyes becoming unfocused as she remembered the dream. “Everything else is there. He seemed so familiar but his face is missing. A blank space. It was before Zura because I’m alone with him.”

  Lifting his hands, he moved them closer to her face. “May I? If I touch you I can go into your dreamscape and maybe try to make sense of it.”

  Melas shook her head, moving back on the couch and putting more space between them. “Aren’t you worried I might mark you like I did your Oracle?”

  “Marking me would only prevent me from talking to others about you. I have no intention of doing that anyway.”

  “It would also hide anything you saw from you, which would defeat the whole purpose of you trying to help me. You’d likely go mad knowing you have the answers but can’t access them. You’ve got the kind of Type A personality that would cause you to explode if that happened.”

  Orren lifted a brow at her. “I have no idea what that means.”

  She chuckled. “Of course you don’t. Just another reason why I’m almost positive I’m human.”

  “You’ll be disappointed after all of this if you do turn out to be human.” He teased her.

  He was right.

  After all the time she spent with the three of them and all she was learning about the other realms, she couldn’t help feel the Mortal Realm would be lacking. This world was one of adventure and endless possibilities. They made movies in hopes of making people imagine worlds like these existed.

  She was living it.

  Sharing a beautiful Icelandic cottage with a Vampire, a Berserker, and an Incubus while the Northern Lights danced behind them. An Elf sought them out so he could live out his fantasy of ruling t
he seven realms, at least that is what Ridhor said he would be doing all this for. While her daughter had playdates with Nightmares and Pixies popped in now and again.

  Becoming a part of the Mortal Realm after all this would pale in comparison.

  Maybe she was some weird species, a mutt, crossbred between different realms who lived in the Mortal Realm so she wouldn’t be discovered. At this point, she wouldn’t doubt any possibilities, no matter how strange.

  Orren held his hands out to her again. Another silent offer.

  She thought about it before slowly nodding. “At your own risk.” She whispered.

  Nodding, he touched a hand to her temple.

  She watched him as his brow furrowed. Heat spread from his fingertip across her temple. She wondered for a moment if she should close her eyes to help this along. Surely, if she had to he would have told her.

  Watching his face while his eyes were closed felt like she was the only person at the dinner table with their eyes open while everyone around her prayed. It was an odd feeling, like she was doing something she wasn’t supposed to. She took in the deep brown of his skin, the broad nostrils, the line of his brows. Even with the crease of concentration between them, he looked exposed. Her eyes ate their fill while they could without his intense gaze looking back at her.

  Sighing, she let her fingers trace along the edges of the book in her lap. She let her ears focus on the slow intake and exhale of Zura’s breath behind her as she slept.

  Orren’s eyes snapped open. His face suddenly inches from hers as his silver eyes bore into her own. “That’s impossible.”

  That was a phrase she heard a lot from the guys. She was beginning to think none of them knew the definition of the word. For all the things they claimed to be impossible, she and Zura existed proving they weren’t. She tried not to roll her eyes at him as he stared at her. “What is it now?”

  “You don’t have a dreamscape.”

  Melas frowned, shaking her head. “But I dream. I dream all the time. How can I not have a dreamscape if I can dream?”

  He lifted his shoulders. “The only beings I have ever known to not have a dreamscape I can access are beings of The Veil.”

  “Like the Oracle?”

  “I can’t access them while in The Veil, but even Ela has a dreamscape.” Orren frowned. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

  She made a mental note to go back and read through the chapters on The Veil. Each realm had so many beings, it was hard to sort through them all. The Veil the only realm no other beings could travel to. You either belonged there or you didn’t. The beings in The Veil also had control over the beings in all the other realms in some way. Whether it was through sleep like the Sandmen, through your actions like Karma and Justice, through your relationships like Cupids or Hope. It was probably one of the reasons why Fate, the ruler of that realm was so feared. If she so decided, she could destroy you with all the beings she reigned over.

  Having all the knowledge she did of the Mortal Realm, it didn’t make sense she would be from The Veil.

  What would someone from The Veil be doing living outside their realm?

  26

  MELAS

  Silence surrounded them, so thick and thorough the only sound she could hear was her slow and steady breathing mirrored by slightly shorter breaths.

  Complete silence was usually a comfort. It offered her nerves a reprieve from being wound so tight, and her mind a break from being on high alert. Silence meant she didn’t have to find the source of every noise, identify it, figure out its threat level.

  This silence was eerie.

  Ridhor’s house was usually filled with quiet murmuring. The sound of the coffee maker brewing, the sound of quiet conversation, footsteps as the guys tried to move through the house quietly, in hopes they wouldn’t be heard and interrupt their sleep.

  Nothing.

  It was just— silent.

  Her eyes snapped open.

  No panic or fear was urging her movements. Instead, she was filled with a calm surrounding every inch of her. This was who she was, what she was meant for. As much as she enjoyed the quiet routine of living with Ridhor, her soul would never forget its old routine.

  The fight to survive by any means necessary.

  Her eyes shot up above her. They met a pair of emerald eyes looking down at her from the treehouse bed. The bond between them so intricate and deep, a look was all she needed to communicate with her.

  Stay here. Stay hidden.

  Her response was a quick nod before Zura quietly moved back into her treehouse, not making a single sound to break through the silence enveloping the entirety of the house.

  A jolt of deja vu went through her for a moment. It froze her for a moment before she remembered her purpose.

  Throwing her feet to the ground, she quickly crossed the room and pulled the door slightly ajar. Quiet in her movements. Her black eyes scanned the hallway.

  The hallway was lit by the sunlight, streaming in through the large windows at both ends of the hall. The other doors lining the hallway were closed. Stepping out of Zura’s room, she closed the door behind her. Her bare feet moved across the floor, every step calculated and hushed. Her senses on high alert as they took in everything.

  When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the first scent hit her.

  A metallic scent laced with masculine spice.

  Andrei.

  She should take a moment to wonder what was going on, but she wasn’t wired that way. The threat hung in the air, taunting her. She was unable to do anything but react to it, defend herself against any threat, even ones she thought she knew.

  Reaching her hands into the shadow, she felt the corner of the wall. Concentrating on his scent, she fisted her fingers. The shadows became heavy in her hands, coming to life in her grip until her fingers were wound in the black cotton of Andrei’s shirt. Gripping hard, she spun around, throwing him over her shoulder and to the ground in front of her.

  Astonishment flashed across his face before his hands came up, blocking her strike to his chest. He threw his weight, flipping back to his feet quicker than humanly possible. His stance was low, his arms out as he prepared for her.

  Not one to wait around, she lashed out, knowing she had to be fast. Andrei was fast, so she had to be faster. Her hand whipped out, connecting hard with his chest. He staggered back, surprise glinting in his eyes again before a look of determination took over.

  His leg shot out, slicing through the air towards her belly.

  Wrapping her hands around his ankle, she used his momentum to tug him forward towards her. Her elbow connected hard with his cheek before she swung him towards the wall.

  Andrei crashed into a table. The vase shattering on the floor as the wood splintered and he landed in a heap on the wreckage.

  Chamomile and sandalwood.

  Clenching her fist, she threw it out beside her.

  A grunt sounded as her fist connected with Orren’s chest. His hand came up to cover where her blow struck him before he was rushing forward again.

  Her mind was focused on the fight, but underneath that focus was uncertainty. As much as she hated to admit it, there was a slight feeling of betrayal. She knew these guys. Maybe not as well as she knew Ridhor, but enough to think they wouldn’t stage an attack on her.

  She couldn’t figure out the why of it.

  Kicking a foot out, it connected hard with Andrei’s chest, preventing him from getting back to his feet as she turned to Orren. Her fists were fast and she was fuelled, despite being asleep only moments before. She landed two jabs to his stomach before wrapping her hand around the back of his neck, leaping in the air and driving her knees into his chest. She hit him twice in the face before they hit the ground.

  Woods fresh with pine.

  No.

  Rolling forward, she evaded the massive arms that would have wrapped around her waist, pulling her off Orren.

  Whirling around, she looked at the three men, stand
ing there in the space between the living room and the bottom of the steps. Andrei’s dark brown hair, which was usually perfect with every strand in place, was a mess around his head, the brown of his cheek a deep red where she hit him. A piece of the porcelain vase from the table was jutting out from his side as his breath heaved. “Fuck, she’s fast.”

  Orren moved his tongue over his bottom lip, swollen and split. His thumb traced the line of his jaw as he got to his feet. “And strong.”

  Her eyes met Ridhor’s and they flashed with an emotion she couldn’t quite identify. He quickly cast his eyes to the floor, his wide chest expanding when he took another deep breath and stalked towards her.

  Three to one.

  This was nothing, she reminded herself. She faced far worse odds before and would likely face more in the future. Whether she’d gone up against an Incubus, a Berserker and a Vampire, she couldn’t say, but what they were meant nothing. The only thing that mattered was they were a threat, and Zura was upstairs.

  There was a flurry of movement as they all moved towards her. They were trying to overwhelm her, moving all at once.

  Time slowed.

  She saw Andrei’s arm coming, his hand opened to grab hold of her wrist. She didn’t know what the plan was, she didn’t care. Pulling the blade from her waistband, she grabbed his arm. The blade came up, her hand wrapped around the hilt as she slammed it into his side, once, twice, three times before pulling him past her and kicking her foot out to hit him right where she stabbed him. He flew past her, the force of her kick sending him to trip on the steps and land half on the steps and half on the floor.

  One moment he was there, the next he was gone.

  Melas’ eyes scanned the shadows in the room.

  Where they stood, the windows lit up the open space. There weren’t many places he could hide. Her gaze zeroed in on the spot behind the stairs. It was the only place dark enough, she told herself. That’s where he was.

  Orren was behind her.

  She punched out but his hands came up between them.