by Aja James
And something else. Something soft yet determined. Bold and rebellious.
Primal and Possessive.
It made his heart pound, though he didn’t know what it meant. It felt as if a firestorm was blazing within his heart of stone, the flames throbbing and flaring, cracking the hard shell.
And then it made his heart soar, this feeling that Eveline speared into him, as if it would burst right out of his chest.
Ramses raised his face to the skies, clenched his fists and roared.
The mountain roared with him, shooting a geyser of red-hot lava from the center of the crater, engulfing the enemy jets and everything around them in molten flames.
*** *** *** ***
“Ten F-22 Raptors down the tube. I’ve already created an evidence trail citing a routine training gone wrong. The unexpected volcano eruption destroys all proof of foul play. The U.S. military will want recompense for the jets and personnel. I’ve initiated the wiring of funds.”
“A drop in the bucket,” Medusa said with a dismissive wave of her long-nailed hand.
“Pull up the footage again, this time with ground view, slow-motion.”
Her tech master did as she requested with nimble clicks of his fingers.
“Fascinating,” she murmured, staring fixedly at the Dark King’s last stand before he and the Pure Ones’ Seer were engulfed in flames and all of the video feeds cut out to static.
“Can’t you fix the imaging with direct satellite surveillance?”
“The afterburn and ashes cloud and distort all video feeds,” tech replied, pulling up aerial satellite images on two different monitors while the rest showed various angles of images triangulated from the ground.
True to his word, only mushrooming dark clouds could be seen on the screens that didn’t show static; the extreme heat from the volcano blast distorted all thermal imagery as well.
“I’ve never even heard of an Elemental as strong as he seems to be. I thought I had already possessed the strongest Elemental in the world—my Enlil,” she murmured almost to herself.
More fool you, the voice in her head taunted.
Silence, bitch!
You can call me all the names you want. Doesn’t change the fact that you made a mistake. First, in assuming that Lord Wind is unique in his Elemental powers. Second, in losing him.
“Shut up,” Medusa gritted.
“What?” the tech master started, thinking she was talking to him.
“Not you. Carry on. Once the video feeds are reestablished, alert me. Meanwhile, I have plans to make.”
She left the tech center and took the lift that carried her into the bowels of her fortress, several hundred feet below ground.
If that demonstration of power is any indication, the Dark King could be the strongest Earth Elemental in existence, while Lord Wind is Air. We must find the other two—Fire and Water. It does not bode well that our enemies, if the Dark King survives that eruption, have two Elementals in the same hive. Not only that, Maximus, Ramses’ Commander, is the spawn of the Tiger King.
“You are telling me things I already know,” Medusa muttered, rather like a rebellious child when the parent was lecturing her.
The New England Hive also has an alliance with the Pure Ones, the voice in her head continued, unperturbed.
The capture of the Seer and the gifting of her person to Ramses has not broken trust between the two sides. The Pure Ones also has significant strength in their court. The Great White Beast who trounced you—
“Shut up,” Medusa hissed, incensed at the reminder.
As well as the Destroyer and the Light Bringer.
She slowed her footsteps in consideration as she walked down a long, dimly-lit tunnel.
“What exactly is the Light Bringer, anyway? Inanna has the ability to see through any solid object and zoom her vision in and out like a microscope and a telescope, but what Gift does she have as the Light Bringer?”
That remains to be seen. The Scrolls and the Prophesies are sometimes impossible to interpret. Whatever her role is, we should not underestimate it.
Medusa reached her destination and flicked on overhead halogen lights.
Immediately the previously silent, cavernous space erupted in cacophony.
“Quiet,” she commanded softly.
And all was instantly eerie stillness again.
“It was your idea to bomb the mountain, not mine,” Medusa said, “I wanted to capture Ramses and the Eagle King to add to our army.”
You saw their powers. The mission would never have been successful. Just as it is futile to try to capture and convert Lord Wind again.
“Enlil is mine. He will always be mine, no matter what he thinks, where he hides. And so is Tal-Telal.”
The voice in her head remained loudly silent, obviously disagreeing, but choosing not to argue.
Let’s prioritize, shall we? With the Snake King eliminated, the Eagle King potentially killed in this battle, we still have the Tiger King with his small band of misfits in the Yukon Territory and two Elementals to search and recruit, assuming Ramses perished in the blast.
“Do you think he might have survived?”
I have a feeling we should not write him off just yet. He called forth the eruption. He is part of the earth, and the earth will protect him accordingly. I cannot vouch for the others.
Medusa shrugged.
“I have plenty to keep the Dark King busy if he somehow finds his way back to his throne. Now that I know what he is, and the extent of his powers, I will adjust my plans as needed.”
Your Creature is still with the Pure Ones. It could reveal our plans.
“It doesn’t know everything. And even if it guessed what it doesn’t know and divulges the information, no one can stop the wheels in motion.”
Medusa looked around her in the gigantic chamber.
“And besides, we have our army.”
Before her, held in individual steel cages, were dozens of soulless monsters of all Kinds—Pure Ones, Dark Ones, man-made beasts, some looking more human, some more like animals.
Directly in front of her, in a cell all his own, was a slightly larger cage than the others, for it held her army’s General—
The Pure Ones’ turned Paladin.
“I think it’s time for this one to go on a new mission,” she murmured, stopping before his cell, looking into his blank, black eyes.
What do you have in mind?
“Wait and see,” was all Medusa said.
And her blood-red lips curled into a serpent smile.
*** *** *** ***
“Eveline, wake up.”
She didn’t want to wake up. She was quite comfortable where she was, cocooned within a toasty embrace, a very hard, satin-covered pillow beneath her cheek.
“Little sprite…”
She wrinkled her nose at the nickname, though hearing it in that husky deep voice didn’t bother her as much as it did before. Perhaps because the emotions with which the words were said were different now. It sounded like an endearment.
“Baby…open those beautiful gray eyes and look at me.”
Her eyelashes fluttered at that lovely entreaty.
Goodness, if that same voice told her to resurrect herself after dying, walk through Tartarus to return to the living, she’d find a way to do it just to hear the low, raspy timbre of it again.
On a deep inhale, she peeled her eyes slightly open, blinking up at her Mate’s sinfully gorgeous face. Which was covered entirely in soot. But that just made the whiteness of his beautiful grin all the more blinding.
“There you are. It’s time to go home.”
Eveline sighed, but didn’t say anything, tucking her own face into the hollow of Ramses’ throat.
She inhaled deeply, breathing him in. Though his scent had a burnt edge to it, the intoxicating male musk beneath calmed her, filling her weary body with a contented languor.
“I can carry you both down the mountain, but I don’t have the stren
gth to fly us all back. We’ll have to travel to the Cove by traditional means when we’re on the ground.”
That was Rhys talking. Eveline had closed her eyes again, but she could tell by his voice. She burrowed further into Ramses’ heat, though he already held her tightly in his arms.
Skin on skin. She loved that feeling. It must mean they were naked.
Why were they naked?
Probably because all their clothes had been incinerated in the volcanic blast. Blessedly, she didn’t remember much of that ordeal.
And why didn’t it bother her at all that Rhys was also present despite their nakedness?
Eveline shrugged slightly, just a barely-there shift of her shoulders. Ramses held her so closely he covered up all the naughty bits. She couldn’t complain.
“What about the Eagle King?” her magnificent Mate uttered low, and she felt the vibrations of his words through his chest.
Oh, right, whatever happened to that eagle-man? Eveline was curious enough to stay awake for the answer.
“I didn’t see anyone else when I came up here. I just know that when the volcano was rumbling to erupt, I was able to transform again. Just as I exited the cavern, I saw the plume of lava and ash explode into the air. I tried to fly up, I knew you were there, but it was all I could do to avoid the flaming debris the volcano spewed.”
Ramses grunted.
Eveline interpreted that to mean he was glad Rhys wasn’t severely injured. She was relieved to hear it as well.
“When I found you,” the Chosen warrior continued, “I thought at first that you were a rock, a large boulder of obsidian, actually. And then you moved slightly, revealing the Keeper on the inside.”
Ramses had protected her with his own body. Eveline remembered. He’d curled himself all around her like an impenetrable shield.
“There was no one else?”
“While you took care of the Keeper, I scanned the entire crater from above, as well as on the ground. I detected no one else. But…”
“But?” Ramses prompted.
“I can feel him,” Rhys said. “I don’t know how, and I can’t pinpoint his location. But he is near. And he is alive.”
“Good,” Eveline croaked without opening her eyes.
Immediately, the arms around her tightened, squeezing her so forcefully she almost couldn’t breathe. But that was all right, because she squeezed him back just as hard, hanging onto his neck like a militant, needy spider monkey.
“Little sprite—”
“I like the other name better,” she inserted, keeping her eyes closed. “But you can call me that when we’re alone. Take me home, Alend.”
And so he did.
*** *** *** ***
Four Days Later.
Eveline sat with Grace, Clara and Ava sipping hot chocolate (Eveline), wine (Clara and Grace), and bubble milk tea (Ava) in Clara’s apartment.
Ariel and Anastasia were in residence as well, but they hung out more with the males than with the other females. Probably because they were warriors.
Ryu was back from his mission abroad, so Ava returned to the Cove as well to join her husband. The men were out somewhere—Eli, Devlin, and even Ryu, though he said he only went for Kane’s sake, because Devlin was his favorite uncle, and the boy rather hero-worshipped Eli. Ryu, however, still had reservations about his sire.
Annie knelt in front of the coffee table, drawing on a giant sketch pad as she often liked to do, while the women chatted.
“And then what did he do?” Ava asked, eyes rounded.
From her visits to the Pure Ones’ Shield to work with Rain on medical research, Ava and Eveline were already friendly acquaintances. Now that Eveline was staying at the Cove for the duration, Ava warmed up to her even more. But then, Ava was an open, affable, tender-hearted woman. And so was Clara. Grace was…different. Though she didn’t show it, deep down, Eveline could tell that she was loyal and kind.
Eveline was catching her up on how she came to be at the Cove, her temporary role as the New England Hive’s librarian, and her recent adventure to the American Falls, then to Mount St. Helens for the ultimate, victorious showdown.
“He sent these boulders into the sky like they weighed nothing!” Eveline exclaimed, well into the spirit of the retelling.
“He didn’t even lift anything, just willed it, I guess. And suddenly, the rocks were striking back at the attack jets and explosions were happening left and right!”
She tried to gesticulate the scene by wildly flailing her arms and hands, nearly knocking over her chocolate in the process.
The other women oohed and ahhed at appropriate moments, riveted by her descriptions.
“And then he made the volcano erupt? A freaking volcano?!” Ava cried, bouncing excitedly on her sofa seat.
“Pppooooooggghhhhhuuuu,” Eveline added her own sound effects and flung her arms out to mimic the magnitude of the event.
She didn’t know what it was about these three women. She was more herself with them than she ever was with her Pure comrades back at the Shield. Or perhaps it was Eveline who had changed.
“How could you have survived that? How could anyone?” Clara asked, slightly breathless.
“Ramses protected me,” Eveline said with no small amount of pride, her chest inflating involuntarily. “He shielded me with his own body.”
“Which he can turn to stone?” Grace said, more like a statement, less like a question.
“That’s my assumption. I didn’t feel a thing.”
She grimaced slightly with chagrin.
“Well, I rather speedily passed out from the magnitude of the situation, so that helped.”
“You say your touch added to his strength?” this question came from Ava.
Eveline nodded.
“I’m relatively certain this is the case. I could feel tremendous power coursing through him, starting from where I touched him to spread throughout the rest of his body. He was hard before—like a rock. But then his body became steel. And his skin, even beneath his clothes, felt scalding hot.”
“This reminds me of Eli,” Clara said thoughtfully. “I thought I lost him when he was battling Medusa’s assassins and took a barrage of vampire-killers into his body. Then, there was the explosion that decimated everything within its blast. But he came back to me days later. I dreamed of him…”
Her breaths hitched in memory, and Grace awkwardly placed her hand on top of Clara’s for a brief moment in comfort before retracting the touch.
“He came back to me,” Clara whispered, her eyes blazing with passion and love for her husband.
Then she looked to Ava, Eveline and Grace.
“He said I saved him. He said that our joining…” here, she blushed prettily, making freckles pop out like a rash of sparks upon her peaches and cream complexion.
“He said our joining bound us together. As long as I had my fire, he was my air. And together we burned. We drew strength from each other.”
“Utterly fascinating,” Ava said, eyes owl-like. “I would love to get a samp—”
“Ava!” Clara admonished. “Stop trying to dissect us for experiments!”
Ava arched an eyebrow at her.
“I’m not asking to cut off limbs, for heaven’s sake. I’d just like to take a little blood.”
As a super-human geneticist, her own immortality the result of an experiment, Ava was known for going around collecting everyone’s blood samples. Thus far, she’d talked all the inhabitants of the Cove into contributing to her DNA database, except for the Dark King, Maximus and Eli’s family (because the male was extremely suspicious and protective).
“I’m just glad I could help him,” Eveline said, turning back to the topic at hand. “My magic wasn’t obeying me. Maybe I wasn’t concentrating hard enough. Maybe I was too scared. I simply prayed we would survive in one piece. I wish I could have done something more, like make those jets crash into the mountain or…”
“Eveline, you did good,” Clara said stau
nchly in support of her friend. “I’m sure you gave Ramses strength in the heat of battle. And you can’t argue with the result.”
Eveline nodded. She was very, very grateful for being alive, healthy and whole. Even more so, she was thankful that Ramses was the same.
“So…” Ava began, then stalled her comment with a slurp of bubble tea.
Eveline looked at her in question.
“What’s going on between you and Ramses?”
Eveline’s shoulders noticeably drooped.
“I’m not sure,” she murmured.
“But you’re staying here at the Cove indefinitely, right?” Grace asked.
Eveline sipped her hot chocolate, looking away.
“You’re also sleeping in his bed,” Ava noted. “Everyone knows this.”
Eveline’s cheeks heated uncomfortably.
Clara patted her back sympathetically.
“Do you care for him, Eveline? It’s clear as day that the Dark King is smitten with you.”
“Smitten, you say?” Eveline ventured.
She really couldn’t tell.
On the journey back to the Cove, Ramses had been all business, understandably, since they didn’t know what other enemies lurked around every corner. He always kept her close, within arm’s length, and he always held her when she dozed.
Once they returned to the Cove, he installed her in his own chambers. She’d gone to her apartment the first day, crashed on top of the bedspread in a deadweight of exhaustion, but woke up in his bed at night.
The next day, she did the same thing, after spending the whole night in the library, trying to make sense of what she’d learned in the scrolls, and again woke up in his arms, in his bed. After that, she went directly to his chambers when she remembered to sleep. And she always woke up dressed in the same clothes she wore the night before, with Ramses’ big, beautiful, naked body wrapped snugly around her. As if she were wearing him too.
Eveline really enjoyed waking up this way.
But aside from the sleeping arrangements, Ramses hadn’t touched her.
He’d gone about his kingly business just as she’d gone about her Keeper business, their paths never crossing during waking hours. As far as she knew, he hadn’t taken her blood since their return. She didn’t even know if he was fully healed by now.
