Darker Side of Worlds (Guardians Book 2) (The Guardians Series)

by Lexi Ostrow

  “I shouldn’t have been mad at you the other night. It wasn’t fair. You asked me to trust you, to see the power you offered me.” He gave a sharp laugh. “I saw it all right. Boy, oh, boy, did I see it, feel it and taste it. I don’t know if I could handle doing it a second time. No matter how useful it might be.”

  “There was nothing in that sentence that indicated you think I’m evil and forced you to do it.”

  His arms unwound from around her body, and she frowned. “No, this time I let the darkness in. It’s why we’re no good for one another. You may be more than you seem, but so am I. I will always be the boy struggling for acceptance. Struggling to make people suffer to make me feel better about my childhood.”

  “Then embrace that, Dale.”

  There was no energy in his words. “I can’t, Breena. But I don’t think I can quit you either.” He looked down at her as if he had something more to say, but when he didn’t continue, she didn’t push.

  “Then let me try and be what you need me to be. I’ve grown up in a war. I see death and torture as means to victory, as ways of protection. But there’s something I felt without you Dale, when you ran away. I felt alone.”

  Saying words was so much easier than she’d imagined. For two days, she’d done nothing but feel as if her world was suddenly a little bit darker without him. She wouldn’t call what they had anything more powerful than attraction, but she wasn’t going to lie about wanting to be with him. Also, after what her father had done, she thought perhaps she was the one who needed to change and embrace a different style of life. After she ensured Dale helped in the war to save her sister from losing her purity.

  “I felt it too, Breena. I swear to you I did, but I can’t have you here right now. I lied to someone very close to me, and if I’m with you, it only reminds me of what I’ve done. I need a little more time to cope with my actions, alone.”

  Tears pricked behind her eyes, even if he was saying he wanted her as his Guardian, or at least that’s what she thought he was saying. “And me?”

  “Will you be there, waiting, even if I take forever to be okay?”

  She laughed softly, “You don’t have forever. You only have until you’re twenty-seven.”

  A crooked smile crept onto his lips. “Well, yes, that’s true.”

  She sighed when he didn’t move closer to her, she wanted him too. Suddenly, the doorway opened behind him, to her room, not Megara’s. The small victory fueled her desire to fix things with herself. She was as broken as he was, and if could mend himself, she would try to do the same for him.

  “Please, Breena. Just go.”

  He sounded so conflicted, and that was the push she needed to leave. Half of her believed it was a trick to get her to leave. The other half clung to the hope and care she saw as he watched her walk past him. Nothing had ever felt so final as she walked through the doorway, but she knew she could trust him.

  As it closed, she turned and looked out her own doorway into the castle halls. “Father, I will see that Dale helps us. And then I will show you what happens when you double-cross those you make to be your weapon.” She spoke to the air but knew her father would somehow hear her message, even if it wasn’t until she was betraying him.

  He wasn’t certain what he expected to find as he blew the door off its hinges and barged in to face his brother. However, it certainly wasn’t what he was met with. His brother was sitting casually on his black leather sofa, topless and with some fruity looking cocktail in his hand. He had the nerve to slowly bring the fucking drink up for a sip as the door blasted off.

  “Looks like someone just got the latest memo.”

  His brother’s voice didn’t often send chills through him, but it did this time. He growled, and his brother laughed. The fact that not only wasn’t he broken and bleeding from Huracan, but that he was laughing, sent a murderous streak through him. “Why haven’t you been punished?”

  The grin widened, and he leaned further back into his couch. “I didn’t break any rules, Brother.”

  “You interfered,” his words were barely a growl through clenched teeth.

  “Ah, but not quite. You interfered first. You’re the reason Dale even considered keeping Nessa around. You’re also the reason why your side stands a chance against mine.”

  “If not Dale, it would have been Ciara.”

  “Wrong, big brother. Your little Word Speaker was ready to jump ship before you offered her a choice. You’re just too hung up on how perfect she was to realize it.”

  A low growl pulled from his throat. His mistake with Ciara would never leave him, but he knew, when the time came, if he could pull her back out of that world, she and Stryder would fight for him.

  “That doesn’t change that you gave Dale a loophole.” He felt the color drain from his face in that moment as realization washed over him. “How did you give Dale a loophole?”

  “Huracan didn’t just punish you for what you did. He came to me with a way to make things right. Honestly, Brother, did you think when you cheated with that pathetic excuse for a Word Speaker, that he wouldn’t tip the scales? I haven’t needed to do anything truly devious in months, I miss it.”

  It had never occurred to him that Huracan would step in and help one side over the other. In fact, he’d been fairly certain the God had no abilities as far as everything was concerned, which meant, either the God had lied, or his brother was. For once, his money wasn’t on his brother.

  “I can tell because you have that fucking satisfying look on your face is right now. I mean, honestly, you came to me for the first time in almost a century, broke my door pretending to be some badass, and got a reality check bigger than the Guardians do. Cheers to you, Brother. Cheers to you.”

  He was running toward his brother before he even knew what had come over him. The anger had fizzled over so much quicker than he’d been able to handle, and his body slammed into his brothers. Though he crashed to the floor, his brother remained standing. His brow furrowed, and he launched himself across the space again. He lowered his head, intending to slam it into his brother, and ran right past him once more.

  He felt the familiar coolness of a breeze blowing across the back of his neck, and he froze. His brother, however, just kept on drinking. Fucking moron. Without another attempt at his brother, he dropped to his knees and bowed his head. Huracan was there, and he would be worshipped.

  The voice echoed all around them, and he wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint the God in the small breeze if he’d wanted too.

  “You two have come a long way, you have lived many lives, and you avoided severe conflict with one another until now. Rules were broken along the way, and I turned my eyes the other way. My attention is no longer diverted. The prophecy will come when it is ready. The fighting between you two serves no purpose other than a pissing match between dogs. It will stop. I have stopped it.”

  He winced at the comparison to dogs and noticed that, while Huracan was punishing them, his voice sounded much as it had the day he had first come to them, like an elder of their village and not an all-powerful deity of creation.

  “You have both committed atrocities in the name of this war, and I am tired of telling you that you cannot kill one another now. Therefore, there is no need for the attacking and the fighting. So, when I feel you are done behaving in a manner that befits a playpen of sorts, I’ll remove the warding. For now, you’ll find the ability to touch one another in any form, magical or physical, is gone.”

  He shifted his eyes toward his brother at the word now, if he’d heard, he wasn’t fazed by it. He felt the breeze and saw a swirl of papers on his brother’s counter, and then they dropped to floor like falling leaves.

  “He’s gone.”

  His brother’s dead eyes locked on him, and the silver swirled and changed into a deep gold. His breath caught in his throat. As far as he knew, that wasn’t normal.

  “I can see the sliver of curiosity building in you, Brother. You always were so predic
table. I knew that Huracan was going to do that. I was informed when he handed me the books. Dale was meant to fight on my side, and he was going to offer the boy the ability to choose this side once more, without external influence. Believe it or not, he truly cares for Breena. He would have found his way to the darkness again if you hadn’t shoved Ciara at him.”

  “So, what you’re telling me is, I’m being played against by all parties?” his voice was barely human sounding, anger laced every word.

  “What I’m telling you is, last night, I killed a Word Speaker and took my old name back. Not the one we were born with, of course, who wants that name in this century? The names we chose at the dawn of this little adventure of ours. And with that name, came all the power that it held.”

  The process of choosing their names had been violent and vital. But the name they’d chosen when they stepped into their roles had been filled with something more. It had been their rebirth as demigods, that’s how he thought of them at least. If his brother had restored his former name, the power he could wield was deadly.

  His brother grinned and laughed loudly. “What, no welcome back Demus? No hello to your little brother?” Demus’ eyes swirled deeper in terms of color, and his grin was so horrid enough to make skin crawl. “Do you want to know what the best part in all of this is? There’s not a damn thing you can do with knowing my name. All you can do is sit back and wait because we both know you’re not going to tell me your name, and you’re not going to kill anyone to create a binding new one.” Demus dropped back into the couch and tossed his arms on top of it behind him, lounging.

  Fury was rolling off him in waves. He could feel it. His brother was too cocky. Regardless of Huracan’s advance warning, the only reason his brother would have told him his name was if he was certain he would win.

  “And what makes you so certain I believe you’ve done what you say?”

  “Aside from the dramatic as hell hesitations you keep having, you mean? Simple, Dale has killed with Breena’s power. He went to your little ex-Word Speaker, and when he came back, he went straight to Breena’s world. Despite having killed while he was there, he’s been with her since.”

  “Again, how do I know you’re not lying?”

  “Simple. You know that you can’t see into Breena’s world because she’s one of mine, and you know what you saw happen the time before last when she was in the real world. You wouldn’t have come barging in here if you weren’t doubting your new super weapon. By the way, the doubt should be killing you right now because, from where I’m sitting, his side has been picked.”

  Everything faded around him. Sound, light, everything was just gone. He and his brother were standing in the space in between, the section where the world was a solid white, covered in swirls of color. It was the only place where they could step into the other world’s to do their job as the war heads. If his brother had taken them there, Dale might be in trouble.

  He’d failed them all. After thousands of years, he had taken pity on two of his Word Speakers rather than risk losing at least Ciara to his brother. Yet, he had lost anyway. If his brother controlled Dale and the war happened, they were all doomed on his side. None would be able to rival everything Dale could do, none currently awakened as Word Speakers at least. His brother would have the demons he controlled and a Word Speaker to rival them all.

  This must be why he fought so desperately to steal Ciara, to kill her when it failed.

  His brother’s side was unfortunately stronger, evil seemed to power things better than good. So, without Ciara and Dale, he had no idea how his side stood a chance.

  Huracan’s visit was utterly forgotten as he lifted his hand in his brother’s direction. Magic pulsed above his palm, magic that no one could see because it was pure energy. With a snarl, he shoved his hands in his brother’s direction. His eyes grew wide as the energy magic slammed into the wall and caused the swirling patterns to vibrate and open to reveal Hayley to him once more. He was too busy staring at her form as she worked with vials of blood to notice the energy ball bouncing around the space.

  He watched as it slammed into his brother and Demus hit the floor—the wall had ultimately attacked him so Huracan’s spell to prevent them from harming each other worked. He had a second’s warning before the ball was visible. But it wasn’t enough time and it connected with his head. He felt as the energy from the rouge ball overwhelmed him and his vision blacked out.

  Chapter Fifteen

  She twisted her hair around her fingers and sighed. “Is this what falling for someone does to you?” she asked no one in particular.

  She’d been barred to her room and only her room since she’d returned two days before and had gone after her father for the senseless attack on Dale. She’d immediately raced to him and accused him of treason, which had been foolish given the situation with Dale was not one of the Fae court and he was king.

  It had been almost eerie the way he’d told her he had of course gone behind her back. The light in his eyes had seemed almost evil. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Leather Jacket had done something more, despite the fact that she was working as quickly as she could.

  When the smoke cleared, she was going to have to pick a side, and, while Megara and the clan came first, she didn’t think she had it in her to force any of her traits on Dale. He didn’t want to be a killer, he didn’t want to be dark. She was yet to see enough of his power to ascertain if he could handle himself. If he could, and he could maintain his footing on what he believed to be the side of good, why not let him fight there? It wasn’t too long ago that she’d been convinced Leather Jacket would be the winner, and her father. The two would do whatever it took, but her father’s mistake of not trusting her, had opened her eyes to something.

  Her father’s mistake had been in underestimating her. She couldn’t help but think that Leather Jacket was underestimating the other side. He seemed to think all he needed was Dale, but what if Dale on his side wasn’t enough?

  “He has to fight for the side he wants to be on.”

  She knew the words would mean she would have to change. But hadn’t she already? She’d stepped up to her father, failure that it had been. She’d fought, but not killed, the warriors attacking Dale, and she was slowly admitting to herself how much she truly cared about the human.

  “Baby steps, Breena. Baby steps.”

  The silence in the room was deafening. She wished she could talk to Megara about all that had happened, but her sister and Sontan hadn’t been anywhere in the castle since she had come back. They’d never been close, especially after her betrothed had come into the picture. She and Sontan had slept together on a number of occasions, never seriously, but she knew how much he hated the fact that her sister could find out. Close or not, she had always protected her sister from everything. Breena was ready to talk to her about all the things Megara didn’t know were going on around her. That way Breena could focus now on protecting Dale, on being the Guardian she signed up to be.

  Her breath caught in her throat as the space just in front of her actual bedroom door began to shimmer. She didn’t dare to breathe; her eyes could be playing a trick on her after all. The shimmer began to swirl faster and faster until it revealed Dale’s sleek white leather couch and, of course, Dale.

  She could see that he had just gotten out of the shower, and her whole body woke up at the sight of him. His dark brown t-shirt clung to his chest and outlined the muscles that lay beneath. His gray sweats were a horrible match and were so baggy she almost frowned. She liked his legs. His eyes were a deep green, and his red hair was slightly slicked back and not hanging in his eyes. What threw her off was his glasses were missing. She hadn’t realized how they blocked the full color of his eyes until then.

  Dale took just enough steps to pass through the doorway. She watched as it swirled to a close after a few seconds, and then returned her gaze to his. He wasn’t breathing heavy, but his entire body looked locked in tension.

  �
�Dale?”

  “Breena, we need to talk. I need to talk.” He took a step forward, and it looked as if he was going to collapse on the floor.

  She bolted upright and was at his side, tugging him toward the bed. “Dale, what’s wrong? Wouldn’t I have heard an attack? Wouldn’t I have known?” She could hear the fear lacing her words, and she worried why it wouldn’t have worked, if she was still his Guardian.

  “Oh, it’s nothing related to this,” He barked out a cruel sounding laugh. “Well, unless you count that my head has been so far up my ass with this last minute rule notification that I fucked my normal life over.”

  She raised a brow, she’d heard bitter from him prior, but this didn’t have the same self-loathing tone behind it. “I’m not certain I follow.”

  “I was fired. Me, one of the best programmers in the industry, fired.” His eyes almost seemed to glow a darker green. “Well, fuck them, I started a company once before, I can do it again. I have a nice condo, and they can go to hell.”

  His job. She wasn’t certain what it was he did because every time she’d asked the day in the forest on his world, he’d told her it wasn’t important. It sure sounded important now though.

  Dale leaned forward to kiss her, and she smelled it then, the alcohol. It may be weaker than Elixir, but Fae could still get inebriated from it. His lips brushed hers, and she felt her whole body tingle. She’d thought about so many things over the past two days, but the main one had been about how much she missed his touch.

  She didn’t even know if he knew what he was doing. She pulled back as his hands began to lace in her hair. “Dale, you’re drunk.”

  He shook his head. “If only. I had a few shots, got in the shower and came to you. I’m ruining everything, Breena. Absolutely everything. So we need to get our situation figured out. A week to go, tick tock, tick tock.”