by Elle Cross
“But ghosts are dead,” I said it bluntly. Maybe he’d be able to understand that.
He shrugged. “True, but if you look at it from another perspective, they’re alive wherever they are, aren’t they? I mean, the concept of heaven is a prime example, is it not? Dead in this realm, alive in another.”
I opened my mouth then closed it. It made me think about the ghosts that showed up to my mother’s court. Did they want her to help them, but she just didn’t know how to help them? Were they drawn to her for some reason other than the fact that she was a sovereign over death?
He cocked his head at me. “Like, you were dead to your men, to your mother, when you ended up here in the Shadow Realm. Didn’t you say that…what did you call it?”
“The Fold.”
“Isn’t this place”—he gestured around— “the Fold’s version of hell?” He stretched out on the couch. “Pretty comfortable hell, don’tcha think?”
What was he trying to tell me? Had I truly died?
This confirmed that the Oracles hadn’t merely transported me from the Fold to the Shadow Realm. They had allowed me to die. The tingling sensation in my arm rose to a buzzing.
Clearly, I needed an actual straight answer from the Oracles and not just this misty-mirror bullshit they’d fed me.
For now, I shook my head to clear the cobwebs. “So let me get this straight. You want to what, help me find who’s been kidnapping Oracles?”
“No, I want to find only my sister; but our goals are found along the same path.”
The whispers in the shadowed corners of my mind told me that what he said was true.
“I want to help you.”
My men didn’t like that pronouncement. Even now, I felt a surging through the shared threads.
“But we will need to work out the details.” He nodded and there was something in his look and gesture.
I called on shadow again and anchored him in place. When I met his gaze, I knew. He was planning on leaving. Somehow these walls, this prison, couldn’t hold him.
But my will could.
I approached the cell. The men screamed through the bonds to stay back, but I ignored them.
Ranek wouldn’t do anything to harm me. Piss me off, yes. But not harm me.
I snaked my shadow threads to him, and wound them around his wrist. He looked at me curiously. I held out my hand, palm up in invitation. Tentatively he inched up to me, only once checking behind me to see how close my men were.
They were so close, the heat off their bodies formed a cocoon of warmth around me.
His right hand hovered over my left.
“Where did you think you were going, Ranek?” He twisted his hand to test the black ribbon of power holding him in place, connecting him to me. I ought to have had it wrap around his neck like a leash.
“What makes you think that I was going anywhere?”
I shrugged off his evasion. Not quite a lie, but not honest, that was for sure. “I don’t blame you. You’re a Vagari. You are used to the freedom of traveling wherever you want, whenever you want, is that right?”
“Yes.”
Then I got close, really close to the cell. He could have had my neck if he had wanted it. As it was, he could barely look me in the eye. “What am I to you, Ranek?”
He shook trying to resist the compulsion he was under.
“Come on, you can say it. You’ll feel better.”
“You’re my queen.”
That shifting and recognition inside my belly felt the truth in those words. I could touch him, delve deep inside his mind. Taste him. He wanted me to. All that power ready to spill into me.
If I bonded with him, he would be a lot easier to control. But I didn’t like controlling people. Who the fuck had the patience for that?
I wanted people in my court to be with me of their own choice. If he couldn’t commit enough to be a courtier and approach me as such, then he has no business being in my Inner Circle.
Besides that, I didn’t trust him. Not completely. And if I couldn’t trust him completely, I couldn’t trust him with the bonds that I help with my house and my Inner Circle.
And that was the shame, too. A Prince of Power. His powers would have provided balance and another strong arm in protecting my growing court. But he had been too long on his own away from the influence of any sovereign, let alone a queen, for his pride to consciously decide to yield his authority to anyone else.
Too bad.
I left a ring of shadow around his wrist, and walked away from him.
Karina
I sought the comfort of my room, which had turned into a massive en suite. My men followed me in, checking out how the house had accommodated itself to my wishes this time.
The bathroom was the same size as the bedroom, complete with a massive soaking tub that had a panoramic view of the grounds overlooking the lake. I sat at the edge of my tub, and started the water running as I thought about the man I had imprisoned in my new dungeons. The gleam of black around my wrist was a reminder that he was there.
I opened some of the jars that sat at the edge of the tub, sniffing them, and scooped generously from a couple. The water swirled gold and purple as it bubbled. Creamy sandalwood and violet wafted up with the steam, and the weight of what my next moves could be didn’t feel so heavy.
I stood up to remove my clothes, only to see that Enver was already shirtless. “May I?”
I nodded, and raised my arms so he could lift my shirt off. He unclasped my bra, too, and rolled the straps off my shoulders. I wound my hair up so that it wouldn’t get wet—it was so thick, it stayed wet for hours. He took advantage of my position to kiss each nipple while he worked the button of my jeans open.
I sighed. “You know, that’s not really helping.” I couldn’t quite get my hair knotted up the way I wanted it. West came up behind me, taking over. He had the top knot secure in no time and wrapped his long fingers around my throat, kissing the nape of my neck.
I could tell that he had more than his shirt off his body.
I sank my fingers into Enver’s hair as he kissed down my body, scraping his teeth just under my breasts along my ribs, nipping the curve of my hip.
Sighing, I moved away from their addictive touch so I could wriggle out of my jeans. “So, tell me your thoughts. I know you’re dying to.” They took my safety seriously, and so I didn’t want to make a unilateral decision without them.
In unison, Enver and Havoc both said, “I do not like him.”
Havoc helped me into the tub so I wouldn’t slip. The water was perfect. I added more scoops of the fizzy bath stuff so there’d be bubbles.
West joined me first, followed by Havoc. They looked an intriguing pair, like my own Yin and Yang. Long platinum hair, short black hair. Pale moonlight skin, dusky tattooed skin. Cool and logical. Fiery and destructive. And I got to snuggle between the both of them.
“So, why don’t you like him?”
Havoc harrumphed like an old man. “He’s a little fucker, that’s why.” Shifting so I was between his legs, he worked out little knots in my back. I bit my lip from the pleasure of it. West moved so that he had a hold of my feet and massaged my arches.
Is it possible to orgasm from a massage?
My eyes flew open, West’s teasing smile lighting his eyes a happy violet.
“Honestly, my queen, he’s not that bad. Besides, our Prince can take him.”
At the mention of Enver, I locked gazes with him as he slipped into the tub to join us. “I asked Taran to be on watch.”
I almost pouted, but I knew that it was practical. One of them had to be on guard while there was an outsider here.
My face burned with an unexpected
blush, which I somehow felt like he could see, too.
Taran may not speak up often, but when he did it was with the timeless quality of trees and mountains. He not only took into account his own feelings or immediate need, but what would work out for us in the long-term.
West found a particularly tight knot of muscle on my calf and worked it out. “Exactly. It was different in the Fold, where we could see and feel everything.”
Really? That was news to me. I was all but numb there.
“It would do well for someone that is native here to be part of protection.”
Havoc grunted in grudging agreement. “The way he described ghosts and things, I wondered about that. Made me feel like we were blind and blunted, whereas he seems to still have an edge to cut out monsters that would harm Karina.” He brushed the tendrils of my hair off my neck.
For all those reasons, and the feeling that Raya had placed upon me, I concurred, “It won’t have to be forever, Enver. He just wants his sister. You could relate to that, right? Looking for someone?”
His jaw worked, the vein pulsed by his right eyebrow, but his touch was gentle as he brushed a stray hair behind my ear, thumb stroked over my cheekbone.
“Of course, my queen. He could be a help, and you can find what you seek in your dreams.”
Karina
I WANTED TO TRY a different section of the Promenade now, this time closer to Circle City’s Downtown. We had just eaten lunch. I avoided Ranek as much as possible, who kept staring at me like he needed to talk to me alone, though he could barely maintain eye contact with me.
Even more interesting since he was able to weather both Enver and West’s death glares with barely a sweat. He eventually would stop staring and being obvious that he wanted to speak to me privately. But he never stopped trying to catch my attention at least.
I knew it was petty, but I pretended I didn’t see him. There was something about him that just made me want to punch him in the face, much to Havoc’s amusement.
I gave the valet the ticket to pick up our SUV. I waited, zoning out while the men chatted. Which was how I missed seeing the van come barreling toward us until it jumped the curb, hurtling through the bistro tables outside. Thankfully the tables were empty.
Time slowed. The tables and chairs were still breaking apart in mid-air. Napkins and utensils fluttered and glinted in dazzling arcs. And, my Inner Circle stood as if immobilized.
The passenger side doors opened to darkness, and it was like something sucked me right into it. The van jolted off and time went back to normal. I turned in my seat, looking behind me. Panic and anger flooded our bonds until they were cut off abruptly.
I felt nothing. My chest tightened and it was hard to breathe. This was what it felt like growing up in the Nightmare Court: cold, searing panic every day of my life.
Enver and Ranek scrambled to catch up. Taran’s anger rumbled through the streets, destroying the pavement, causing the car to avoid random jut outs. West and Havoc dashed through shadow and light after me.
A maniacal kind of giggling finally penetrated my consciousness. It had been a little chortle of a sound that grew into a full, gleeful fit. I hadn’t realized that anyone else was in there. I turned slowly around in my seat to see a Wraith in a seat facing me.
Like the rest of his kind, he looked like a gentleman from merry old England complete with suit and top hat. The only difference was his skeletal face with its rictus grin and sharpened teeth. The pack of Hunters they controlled were always nearby. Most commanded Hell Hounds, but I’d seen all manner of pack hunters bend their wills to the Wraiths, especially Wraith Lords.
I had no doubt he had them even if he didn’t have any in the car.
“No worries, little queen. No one will find you here.”
He spoke. In complete sentences. That meant he was a Wraith Lord, and a powerful one at that. Lucky me.
“So how exactly would that give me no worries?”
He tilted his head. “I guess it wouldn’t.”
“Where are we going?”
“Down-town!” he answered, singing an entire verse of the song, Downtown to me.
I blinked. I must be dreaming again.
“Come now, little queen. You didn’t think that we would not move on that bounty that’s on your pretty little head? Especially when you make for such an easy opportunity here in the open.”
So I did have a bounty on my head. I repeated my thought out loud.
He actually laughed. “Oh, my cute little queen. Of course you have a bounty. Why would you not? Sent by Oracles, daughter to the Queen of Nightmares and Death, Sister to Winter, a Death Hand by her own right being a Brightling and Queen of Shadows. I mean really. Does there need to be a reason?”
“So long as you’re paid, right?”
He touched his nose and pointed at me at the same time. “You will surely fetch a high price at the River STX.”
I screwed up my face. He said it like sticks or Styxx. “Wait, do you mean like literal river sticks like beavers use to make dams, or like that river in Greek Mythology?”
He laughed uproariously, slapping his leg. “Oh my! Dear Queen, you are a hoot!”
I decided that I hated Wraith Lords. They were way more overbearing than the common Wraiths. More gabby that was for sure.
“No, this is ‘S-T-X’,” he spelled out the letters for me, “and once upon a time, it stood for Soul Transfer Exchange. You know, all those silly stories of people trading their souls for all manner of reasons, some completely stupid, am I right?” He sighed, brushing his skeletal fingers through non-existent hair. “Now it is any kind of exchange, you see. Coin, or souls, or queens, what have you, in exchange for whatever your heart desires.”
Evidently, I would fetch a high price.
He kept talking to me, laughing hysterically every now and again.
He didn’t even see the car barreling down the streets toward us. I braced for impact a second before steel connected with steel and T-boned the van despite the fact that it was supposed to be outside of the Shadow Realm’s veil.
A high-pitched tone squealed in my ear. I blinked the fuzzy from me. The guy was dead. I hoped that he hadn’t been able to survive with a beam driven through his torso, but creatures surprised me.
I heard weird sounds echo outside of the car. They were the subsonic whistles of predators come calling. Before I had time to assess whether it would be better for me to get out of the car or stay, the crunching of metal sounded as my door swung open.
Ranek was there, hand over my mouth as if I would scream. He placed a finger over his mouth.
Faint snuffling. Clattering hooves. Whispering wings. Hunters. Lots of them.
We needed out of there.
He helped me out of the bent car in near silence, then hoisted me over his shoulder. I swallowed hard so that nausea wouldn’t overtake me. He bolted to the tree line in the perimeter of the square.
The van had been stopped in the literal middle of the city, just outside of their monument they erected that indicated the very middle of the city. Even with their dulled senses, the Shades constructed their city streets along leylines and shadow paths. Just a few paces from that circle was the Crossroads hub we had come through on.
And from all directions surrounding it, packs of Hell Hounds fanned out with their Wraith masters. The atmosphere was thick with unspent power rising in the air.
I wished I knew what Ranek was thinking. If he was a Prince of Straits, he should be able to walk us out of here. Although, with all of these Wraith Lords, they would just follow us wherever we went.
Ranek concentrated and then exhaled slowly. “We should be fine for now, though they don’t seem to be leaving the area qu
ickly enough.”
“What did you do?” I kept my voice soft, just in case.
“I bent light. We’re protected, but if we move at all, they’ll see the shimmer line.”
Cold shivers trickled down my back at the thought of all those packs of Hell Hounds pouncing on us at the same time.
“What we need is to get them out of here, find someone to chase.”
I looked at my hand. Jets of shadow wouldn’t quite help here. What they were looking for was me. I didn’t have my men here, nor were there any ghosts standing in as shields.
And yet…when I wrapped Ranek in my shadows he was basically like a weird looking mummy. Why couldn’t I make something that looked like me?
A shadow of myself? Was that even possible?
“I have an idea.”
I cupped my hands and concentrated. There were bits of black, but not enough to convince these Wraiths that it looked anything like me.
Ranek caught on to what I was trying to do.
“Use me.”
“For what? To wrap you?”
“No, for power.”
I didn’t think I heard him right. “Are you offering me your power, Prince?”
“Use me. Please.”
“Well, we don’t share a bond, how in the hell are we going to share power?”
He rolled his eyes and stared at me meaningfully.
Oh for fuck’s sake.
I swallowed hard. If I shared a bond with him, he’d be able to have access to me and to a little bit of my Inner Circle.
But we couldn’t stay here all day.
“No blood or flesh. You offered, so I accept. My payment in kind would be the distraction to get us both to safety.”
He pierced me with his steel gaze. “Done.”
Without preamble, I rose up to my tip toes, and pressed my lips on his. I was a little rough with him in my desperation, but he was surprisingly gentle. His hands cradled my head and back, holding me close.
