Guardian's Redemption

by Marie Harte

  He wanted to kick himself. He was almost as bad as Darius, the least charming of his nephews. Needing the word ‘tact’ tattooed to his forehead, Darius often had to be reminded to consider others before he spoke. Yet he’d found a woman to love him.

  Arim only had the dream of a perfect love. Who could love a man with such Dark secrets, with a past as sullied as his family’s?

  An hour passed as Arim pondered Lexa’s strange state, as well as their inability to get along. They hadn’t even mentioned what had set them apart to begin with. Aggravated with his morose mood, Arim continued to ignore Lexa and stepped through the bedroom into the bathroom. He took a shower to revitalise himself. After finishing, he was pleasantly surprised to find a towel under the sink. He dried himself off and wrapped it around him. As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, the towel disappeared into Shadow.

  The Aellein bastard. Did Sava really think remaining naked with one another would solve all of Arim’s and Lexa’s troubles? Trust that idiot to think sex cures all. A look at Lexa’s naked and tied up body, however, had Arim rethinking the notion. The woman had a small yet curvy frame, with breasts that filled his palms and a waist he could span with one hand. That was to say nothing of the moist heat between her legs and the soft, firm ass begging to be ridden…

  His grumbling belly diverted him. He avoided Lexa’s intense stare by stomping back into the kitchen. The refrigerator, thankfully, was stocked with food. Minutes later, Arim stacked two plates of sandwiches, chips—his favourite creation in this mundane world—and carried two cans of cola.

  “About time you got back,” Lexa grumbled as he approached. He set the food on her dresser. Her face flushed and she continued to complain, but the sulky tone, and the fact that she couldn’t stop staring at him, buoyed his mood.

  “I have to go.” She nodded towards the bathroom.

  He leaned over to release her from the bonds holding her tight. Once free, Lexa suffered no burns. The Dark-hide only served as regular rope, whereas on him, the Dark-hide affected his skin with sores and burning cold. She scurried out of bed to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Sometime later, when he was halfway through his sandwich, Lexa reappeared looking refreshed and just as alluring as she had before she’d left.

  No doubt about it, Sava was on to something about nudity and forgetting the past, because all Arim could think about was getting inside of Lexa again, and the sooner the better.

  Clearing his throat, Arim tried to focus on assuaging his stomach’s hunger. “You know, I’ve never seen you look bad.” She blinked at him in surprise. “Well, just once. Taking a shot from those demons turned you a little green.” Not to mention seeing her covered in her family’s blood. But Arim thought it best not to mention that time.

  Like the girl he’d once known, Lexa flushed, embarrassed at the compliment. Arim found her contradictions intriguing.

  “You know beauty is a simple spell, and one every Dark Lord is born knowing.”

  He chased the sandwich with a drink and prodded her with her plate. When she began eating, he decided to question her with kid gloves, in the hope something would break free if he had the discipline to ask nicely. He fairly choked on the thought. “You weren’t born knowing spells, though, were you?”

  “No. I instinctively knew some things. That I was different than my mother and father—Muri and Esel. That Sercha couldn’t harness Dark energy like I could.” Her voice was soft, sad, irritating Arim that he couldn’t help caring. “I had to learn how to cast spells. And to walk in the Light.” She took a sip of her drink and paused as if thinking. “I could always grab hold of blue flame. Its coldness is a part of me.”

  A part, but not the whole of you. Arim dug into his chips and asked with a casualness he was far from feeling, “What was it like living on the Isle of Frigia?”

  She stared at him in surprise, no more astonished than he at his inquisitiveness. He’d always wondered, but had never had the opportunity to ask.

  He continued. “After…it happened, you disappeared. It wasn’t until years later that we learned you’d moved to Dark Lord lands—Malern, then to the Isle of Frigia. Where the Malinta Demons live,” he added in afterthought.

  She paled, and he knew he needed to follow up with questions about the demons. His instincts told him the truth would be vital to them both at some point.

  She took another long drag on her soda. “Malern is nothing at all like Tanselm. Lots of Dark Lords concerned only with themselves and what you can do for them. The beasts of the Dark aren’t very friendly, though they love the taste of wraith.” She smiled with cool satisfaction. “I started my ‘new life’ in Malern with Ini, my biological mother.” Her voice evened and she continued to talk, much to his surprise. Even more shocking, she maintained eye contact, her gaze both dispassionate and slightly challenging, as if daring him to pity her.

  “I know about Ini.”

  She laughed, a hard grating sound that bothered him. “You don’t know anything. That woman made ‘Sin Garu look like a Church brother, all kindness and Light.

  “Ini found me and beat me to make up for leaving her as a babe. She had it in her warped mind that I’d wilfully walked away at three months of age.” Lexa snorted. “Most Dark Lords aren’t really as bad as ‘Sin Garu. They’re just selfish creatures out to satisfy their own needs at the expense of everyone around them. Ini… She was a twisted soul. The things she did to B’alen and ‘Sin Garu…”

  “And you?” Arim guessed, his voice low.

  “She wasn’t anything like Muri. No warmth or compassion. Just ice-cold vengeance for anyone who stepped in her way, blood relation or not.” Lexa gave him a lopsided smile. “I took her lessons to heart. I used my brothers and turned them against one another. B’alen’s vanity was his downfall. ‘Sin Garu’s single-mindedness will be his.”

  “Why does he lust after Tanselm so much?” Arim had to know.

  “Because you have it.”

  “Me? What do I have to do with this?”

  Lexa pushed aside her half-eaten plate, which Arim happily helped himself to. “Do you really want to know?”

  He nodded, half expecting her not to say any more since he’d admitted such.

  “Believe it or not, it’s pretty simple. Remember when we attended University, in the very first weeks of schooling?”

  Arim recalled it clearly. The first day of classes he’d seen Lexa…and fallen instantly in love. “The four of us used to spend a lot of time together. You and me, Sava and Kirsch.”

  “And ‘Sin Garu.”

  Arim stared at her, and then it clicked. “That sullen blond? He looked like a man fully grown. By the Light, he was an obnoxious fhel. Always taunting me, always trying to get your attention.” He saw the cruel male in his mind’s eye. “That was ‘Sin Garu?”

  “Ini pushed to have him enrolled in University. At that time, the scholastic board was all in favour of including as many colours and bands of Light as they could to better educate their students. Apparently, ‘Sin Garu knew who I was, though I hadn’t a clue. Male Dark Lords mature much faster than others their own age. He was only a few years younger than me, but he looked like a grown man. Larger. Meaner.” She shook her head. “When I chose you over him, he took the rejection to heart and complained about it to Ini. Like the good Dark Lord she was, she beat him for feeling inferior. Ini festered his competitive nature to destroy and take what he wanted.”

  “Which was you.”

  She looked discomfited and comprehension dawned.

  “You don’t mean…”

  “‘Sin Garu wanted me…sexually. Dark Lords have no laws governing sexual liaisons. From what I’ve seen, it’s fairly common for Dark Lords to bed their own before finding ‘cleaner’ lines.”

  “Hell, Blue.” Arim could only shake his head, sick to his stomach that she’d left Tanselm to live in that kind of environment. “You didn’t, ah, that is, no one ever forced you to…”

  “No.” She adamantly
shook her head. “Luckily for me, Ini didn’t subscribe to incest. She definitely didn’t approve of her son lusting after her daughter, and she tore strips off him for thinking it. She turned his lust into anger using you as his target. It didn’t help that every time he met you after seeing us together, you bested him and rubbed his nose in it. You were so strong, even then.”

  “He was a piece of fhel, what could I do?” Arim’s heart warmed, unaccountably pleased that she remembered him as such a strong, capable male. “So you’re basically telling me ‘Sin Garu wants Tanselm because I have it? Or rather, because the land chose me to serve her?”

  “His obsession started that way, yes. But Tanselm is a force beyond compare, as you well know. With Tanselm in his control, ‘Sin Garu could conceivably launch attacks on any outlying worlds of magic, to include the mundane worlds, taking them with ease. He’s bent on universal domination. Aided by the speed with which he recreates his Netharat out of dead and decaying parts, it’s a wonder you Light Bringers have held out as long as you have. You still play by the rules. ‘Sin Garu doesn’t.”

  “Is that why you’ve helped us? Because you’re afraid if you don’t, he’ll take you when he conquers everyone else?” Arim felt sick mentioning such a possibility.

  “Partly. Mostly it’s because, aside from my family, Tanselm gave me what no one ever has.” That said, Lexa seemed to come to her senses and closed herself off.

  They finished eating and drinking in silence. When Arim stood to gather their dishes, he asked the question she’d hinted at answering. “What did Tanselm give you that no one ever has?”

  Lexa considered him for a moment, then sighed and turned away. “Something you wouldn’t understand. Unconditional, lasting love.”

  Chapter Seven

  Tanselm, the northern territory

  Darius Storm threw another fireball at an encroaching wraith. The monster screeched and combusted into ashes, floating over fifty or more Netharat. “You know, Cadmus. When you asked us to come for a visit, I thought it was for a relaxing supper, just the four of us. A small breather to recoup from the nuttiness of the past few days.” He focused his gaze and flame shot up in a wall in front of the large trees protecting the huddling farmers and their families on the edge of the northern kingdom.

  Whips of tree roots thundered out of the ground at Cadmus’s command, tearing through Netharat Djinn as the enemy hacked at Tanselm’s foliage.

  “Truly,” Marcus rasped as he forced a tide of water towards the red, gelatinous Nocumat, creatures only their Shadren brethren, the Aellei, could control, and only then somewhat. “I gave up my wife’s very creative company for a night with you three. I had no intention of spending my time battling this filth.”

  “Blame me later,” Cadmus snarled as he sent a ton of Tanselm’s earth crashing over more wraiths streaming through a dimensional portal in the sky. Streams of red and putrid, glowing yellow surrounded the large black haze. Like a disease, ‘Sin Garu’s Netharat had surprised the Light Bringers with a sudden appearance in waves that looked to have no end in sight.

  “Why are they here, now?” Aerolus asked as he stood with his brothers, his hands waving, stirring up winds that swept the enemy back towards the gate through which they’d entered. “Why would ‘Sin Garu’s legion attack here, tonight? Just a coincidence we happened to visit, or something more?”

  The brothers continued to fight, most of their sorcerers working to protect the Light Bringers without magic in the valley. Yet for all their efforts, the Netharat appeared to be gaining. Suddenly, the enemy slowed. Many of them began a retreat towards their portal while the others continued to engage in battle. Darius opened his senses, wishing he had the same ties to Tanselm Cadmus seemed to have.

  “Cadmus?”

  “I don’t know why they’re leaving.” Cadmus frowned at the scene before them. “Tanselm senses nothing amiss but our current battle, no sign of ‘Sin Garu at all.”

  “We’re here to help,” Jonas shouted as he and dozens of Sarqua Djinn appeared several feet away in the valley alongside the Netharat. They fought like demons, slaughtering their enemy kin while Darius and the others continued to fight. During a lull, Darius saw that most of the enemy Djinn had fallen. A few ice wraiths and several Nocumat dotted Tanselm’s fields, but that was all.

  Darius stared at their ally Djinn in fascination, taken with the people more energy than flesh. Jonas and the others looked almost like spirits, their white, pulsating bodies masses of energy that looked manlike, surrounded by black flames of pure Darkness. Even from his vantage atop the hill some fifty feet away, Darius could feel the pull of Dark tugging at his Light within.

  Jonas disappeared and reappeared a few paces from the Royal Four, still burning in truth—his natural state. “We have them on the run. Do you want survivors? Or would you rather we sent the lot of them back through the gateway?” The light where his mouth should have been curled in a grin. Inwardly, Darius flinched, a little spooked by the Darkling—not that he’d ever admit it aloud.

  “Push them back,” Marcus said.

  “Kill them all,” Darius disagreed.

  “Let them go. We have enough dead,” Aerolus stated calmly and began muttering under his breath. His affai suddenly appeared. A petite Aellei with hair so white it gleamed. Her soft skin looked so pure, she appeared an angel with the eyes of a devil. Alandra stirred Darius’s instincts to protect, even though he knew of her incredible power…and danger. Full of mischief and wit, Alandra was a true match for his brother, a man with a subtle sense of humour and depth of power only a true creature of magic could withstand.

  “Purie, control your kin, would you?” Aerolus nodded at the Nocumat breaking through the Dark bands of energy the Djinn threw at them.

  “For you, anything.” She blew him a kiss and laughed, then gripped the charm around her neck and vanished, only to appear beside a few languishing Nocumat.

  “I thought you took that charm away.” Darius had yet to figure Aerolus out before the enemy distracted him again. With another fire blast, he contained a mass of wraiths streaming towards Alandra.

  “Yeah. With that charm she can disappear whenever you piss her off,” Cadmus muttered as he shoved more dirt at escaping wraiths. “Wish I had a charm to take away from Ellie. Unfortunately, she now understands how to harness the Dark within her.”

  Darius wondered what it was like to be married to a Darkling, though Ellie was in fact part xiantope, like his own wife. Thoughts of Samantha made him grin. She’d be pissed as hell when she learned what she’d missed tonight. Thankfully, Arim’s ploy to keep her and Tessa with his mother was a success. Though Darius could tell Samantha was tiring of remaining inside the kingdom, her presence was working wonders on his mother, who lately looked better than ever.

  “Darius, get your head in the game and fry some Netharat,” Marcus yelled as a sudden blast of blue flame sent the four of them and Jonas scattering.

  Regaining his feet, Darius caught sight of four unusual looking ice wraiths. They were a new hybrid of some kind. Longer than the typical wraiths they normally dealt with, these four had a bluish tint to their skin. Their mouths were surprisingly devoid of teeth.

  “Fuck.” Jonas threw himself in front of Cadmus. He absorbed a ball of blue flame as if it were water and shot bands of energy into the nearest creature. It shrieked and struck back, fully engaged with Jonas when a rush of Djinn appeared out of nowhere.

  “Friend of foe?” Marcus yelled.

  Jonas glanced over, still entangled with the blue-skinned wraith. “Friend,” he and Aerolus—who had some magical way to tell the damned difference—shouted.

  Personally, Darius thought the best thing to do was shoot first and ask questions later, because he still wasn’t sure about the changes Tanselm had recently undergone. He continued his assault on the enemy with his brothers, even as his mind wandered elsewhere, compartmentalising the battle.

  Marriage to a xiantope, even his cherished Samantha, had n
ot been on his agenda when they’d ventured into Earth a year ago. He’d wanted nothing more than to return to Tanselm to defend his people. That and hunt down the evil that had killed his father and the other Storm Lords—his uncles, aunts and cousins—leaving him and his brothers the last Storm Lords in existence.

  On Earth, he and Marcus had found the brides Arim and his mother had intended them to find, strong women with enough magic to control their elemental power. Aerolus and Cadmus, his two troublemaking siblings, just had to marry equally provocative females. Not that Darius didn’t appreciate both women, but Alandra was an Aellei, and that race was a royal pain the ass. Ellie was a gem, but her father was leader of the Sarqua Djinn, an arrogant dick at the best of times. Darius didn’t understand how Cadmus could stand the guy. Knowing his brother, Cadmus probably got a kick out of irritating Ethim just by being his son by marriage.

  A loud shriek caught his attention. Darius, with his brothers, concentrated their efforts on the Nocumat now surrounding Alandra.

  The flare in the grey sky grew considerably smaller as Darius, his brothers and the Sarqua Djinn worked in tandem to overcome the enemy. Bit by bit the fallen were absorbed into Tanselm’s grasses and earth, their Darkness feeding Tanselm’s supposed need for balance.

  Darius still didn’t buy into that crap, but Aerolus and their mother spouted it so often it was becoming second nature just to nod and agree. Anything to shut Aerolus up, at least.

  “Finally,” Alandra said from behind Aerolus, appearing in a wink of light. “I have to admit, the Nocumat ‘Sin Garu’s recruiting are too young for this kind of play.”

  “Play?” Marcus stared at her in horror. “I was almost eaten by one of those things. And I can tell you there was nothing playful about it.”

  Obviously Marcus hadn’t forgotten his last run-in with ‘Sin Garu and an overly hungry Nocumat. Not that Darius could blame him. He couldn’t imagine being swallowed whole by a blob of red, living goo.