by A. K. Koonce
We’re not little girls anymore. If I could change our lives into simplicity, I would. But I can’t. We have to live with the mistakes we’ve made.
And the heavy guilt turning in my stomach feels like a prediction of what’s to come.
“You should go, Violence.” Her gaze trails across my appearance. “If you stay, you’ll get hurt.” It isn’t a sweet kindness in her tone. It’s a blunt threat.
“Amandria, you need to think about whatever it is you’re about to do.”
Her laughter spews from her mouth like crackling embers. She’s a terrifying picture of beauty when she smiles.
I notice the way her fingers arch against her palm, and power bows between her slender fingers. I feel it hiss against the air, sparking with energy. She’s powerful. We both are in our own right. We’ve never tested who was stronger, but I have a feeling we’re about to find out.
The golden mass of color snaps into her fingertips and she hurls the force of energy right at me. The hilt of Link’s sword is in my hands in an instant, and I slash the blade up just in time to disperse the energy into a puff of glittering air. I stalk around her, and I can feel the three men behind me watching every single step I take. Wide eyes are focused solely on me.
None of them move though. This is my war. The book of Severed Souls may be what started all of this, but my terrible family is the source of everything in this moment.
With a heavy gust of wind, I shove down on her. She stumbles back from me, and I cock my head at the simple misstep as if I’m the not one who caused it. My spine holds perfect posture as I saunter around her, tingling energy swirls all through me, demanding release. I keep a close hold on it as I wait for her next move.
“Your little wind manipulation is impressive, sister.” Another arching of her fingers gives her away. “Can it do this?” As she grips another fist full of magic, my fingers tighten on the hilt, prepared for her strike, but she turns at the last second.
In a flash, that beautiful glittering magic strikes through the air. It collides with a burst of streaming colors as it hits hard against Nollix’s chest. Pain grips my heart as his hands cover the wound, and his sweet features shift from aggression to shock. His lips part as he stares down at the black circle burnt into his shirt, charring his flesh. Gasps of short, panicked breaths make his chest rise and fall in rapid waves. Link grips his friends arm as the half Demon starts to stumble, dropping his sword.
A mixture of fear and rage like I’ve never felt before rips through my chest. The breeze shifts so abruptly it pulls the air right from my lungs and clashes hard against the thin woman before me. I shove, and shove, and shove until she’s balancing once more at the edge of that glittering mass of souls. Fear strikes across her soft features. Just as I give one more final push, Jeriko bursts into apparition. The sparkling dust settles his form just behind my sister and he lets the light of the souls wash over his face like he’s breathing it all in. The intimate way he holds her against him makes me wonder how much he really cares about her. If he loved her, would he really let her risk her life for all of this?
“Do the spell, my love.” The scarred side of his face nuzzles into her hair as he whispers sweetly to her. My attention flickers to Nollix and he lies on his back, his eyes shift over the charred wound that’s smoking as it heals slowly. I only spare a second to check on him before I’m focused on the two Fae in front of me. “Release the souls and we’ll take what’s ours,” Jeriko murmurs.
Amandria’s breathing is this quick pace like she’s stunned I almost killed her.
He lifts his hand and there between his index finger and thumb is a folded and crinkled page of paper. The tattered edges and crisp page makes me tense. The scrawling ink from the other side bleeds through, and I just know what it is.
It’s the last remaining page of the book of Severed Souls.
My jaw clenches, and before I can stop myself, my body tears apart into sparkling particles. I swirl recklessly through the air, and I don’t reappear into a solid form until my palms are flat against her shoulders, pushing her toward the cylinder of souls. Jeriko’s fist connects hard with my jaw, and he shoves my sister forcefully aside until she hits the ground. Pain stings through mouth but it’s an afterthought because lashing out at him is more important. Before my magic even surfaces, he slams me down into the dirt and the blade in my hand tumbles away.
“You fucking bitch. I always knew I’d get to kill you someday.” With strength ripping through him, he heaves me from the ground just to throw me down, my back arching against the edge of the earth, my head tilting up into the blinding shades of swirling souls. The energy of the souls pulls at something within me. It hurts as if they’re trying to pull the life right out of me. A ringing sound fills my ears as hundreds of translucent souls fly past me, swirling down into the nothingness like water down a drain.
Jeriko’s big hands clamp around my throat as he holds me there for just a moment. The air clamps within my lungs, and I can’t manage a breath as he tightens his hold against my throat. My fingers dig into his forearms, but I can’t reach the air around me, it’s as if the breeze doesn’t fully exist anymore.
I often considered how I’d kill Jeriko. I never really thought he’d ever accomplish killing me.
How stupid of me to think I was so invincible. My lashes flutter, and I refuse to let go without a fight. I kick and claw at him, but it happens very suddenly when he releases me. I nearly fall right into the dark emptiness below when and a hand pulls at mine, pulling me away from the bright lights.
When I exit the mass energy of souls, I come face to face with Cameron. His hand pushes down my arm as he kneels down to look at me.
Two men are fighting just a few feet away and their quick, deadly strikes makes more panic rise up within me. Link slices his blade down on Jeriko, and Jeriko bursts into a flurry of black energy, twirling in the air before touching down right in front of his friend once again. A smile tears at his features in a disturbing way. In a flash, his fist connects hard with Link’s jaw, but Link lashes out once more with his blade, and it slashes into Jeriko’s bicep, spilling dark blood down the length of his arm.
And it only makes him smile more.
Amandria stares down at me with wide eyes.
Wide and innocent eyes.
“Amandria, you can walk away.” I stand slowly and attempt a single step closer to her. She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t react at all as I take another slow step toward her. What did she feel when she was teetering there at the edge of death? “Let me take you home.”
Her gaze snaps to me, and still that fearful look is in her gaze. It’s like she’s had a run-in with death and is just now realizing that it’s real.
“Let’s go back to your kingdom.” I choose my words so carefully.
Her kingdom. Hers.
“You really think I could go back?”
Yes. She could go back. But for the love of everything good, do not let anyone else from my family on that damn throne. Please.
“Of course, you can, Am.” My tone is this quiet and reassuring sound even though my attention keeps drifting toward Link who’s fighting off a man twice his size.
I can fix this. I can fix all of this. Right now.
Just extend the olive branch a little further.
“Come home with me.” I offer my hand to her. I call a truce right here in the middle of the Underworld.
Because she’s my sister.
Her thin fingers rise just slightly, and so hesitantly, she lifts her hand out to me.
It’s over.
It’s all over.
Big hands snatch around her delicate throat and he shoves her away from me. One hand lingers lightly against her neck while the other holds tightly to her wrist at her side. “We’re here for a reason, love.” Jeriko’s hard voice is low and his words are spoken quickly. “Let’s not lose sight of the souls. You know how powerful we’d both feel with those souls.”
“I’m goin
g home.” Her voice is nothing more than a shriek as she looks back at me from over his massive shoulder.
“Get the fucking souls, Amandria.”
My power crackles through my veins as his words bark down on her. Magic whips through the air, and it pulls at the ends of her pretty hair as I take a single step closer to Jeriko.
“Let her go.” The words bite out through my clenched teeth, and he turns slowly to me.
That dangerous smile slashes across his face, and he looks from me to her. His lips slam against hers and the forced affection confuses me for just a moment.
Until he tightens his grip on her throat and thrusts her hard right into the golden center of the souls. Her feet stumble beneath her, but I know the moment the earth slips away from her. A scream that sounds like fear come to life rips through the air, but then …
Silence follows.
And she’s gone.
I’m still staring after her when his hand grips my shirt and he tosses me away from him just like he did her. My feet teeter against the ledge, my body engulfed in the gleaming colors, threatening to bring me down to whatever awaits below as I hang on as tight as I can to his hand.
Pain rips through my chest once more. It hurts as the glittering souls pull at something within me. On a shrieking gasp, the souls and dark energy my father injected into me start to swirl out of me in ominous inky waves. They trickle out and into the unknown. A weight lifts from my chest the moment they’re gone, and I blink hard at the tingling feel of it.
I feel lighter. More alive.
One way or another, Jeriko will get these souls. As long as he’s alive, he’ll try to find a way to steal away the darkest souls of the Underworld.
And I can’t let that happen. With all my strength, I pull him in. His boots stumble, and a little, manic part of me relishes in the fear on his face as he falls inside. His big body falls quickly past me, and my feet slip off of the ledge finally. My heart freefalls with too much fear of what awaits me in the next few seconds.
Until a warm hand grips mine at the last moment. As I stand here on the edge of living, he pulls me back to him.
Lavender eyes shine down into mine, and he hugs me hard against his body like he’ll never let me go. Because he’s always been there for me.
Right from the start.
Chapter Nineteen
The Virgin
Cameron
Exhaustion tears at her every step of the way back.
“You guys know your way now. Just do your particle magic and get out of here. I’ll meet you on the surface.” My palm trails down the inside of her arm. We’re just past the bizarre Underworld village. The last house is just up ahead and then we have at least a two-day walk to make it back where we started.
“We’re not leaving you in the Underworld. Stop suggesting it, Warlock.” Nollix doesn’t look at me as he saunters ahead.
Well, fuck my little heart, it’s almost like he cares too much to leave me behind. A smirk curves my lips, and when I look down into her tired amber eyes, she’s smiling as well.
“Let’s stay the night here. If we can find a Carcass Creature in the morning, it’ll take less than a day to get back.” Link nods to the building; the one with the shattered front window and unhinged door.
What an ominous little abode.
Nollix pulls his blade and heads toward the shack. The hole burnt into his shirt is still flaking off pieces of ash, but he walks around as if he wasn’t just nearly unconscious hours ago. Linkin follows after him, his blade flashing pale colors of light along the ground as he goes. My fingers slip into hers as we walk up the crumbling front steps. My arm tenses against hers, my spine stiffening as I start to wonder if the house is truly empty.
Tantra could still be waiting to eat me slowly for all I know.
I shove the door closed the best I can, and the two of us stand there staring at the empty room. It’s smaller than the other house. A sink and refrigerator line one side of the room while a bathtub rests in the corner of the other, and I guess somewhere in between is supposed to be the living room, but there isn’t one single piece of furniture. Link walks through the door directly across from us and Nollix follows after him.
“There’s a hole in the floor where it looks like the toilet once was if anyone is interested.”
I cock a brow him. This is it? This is where we’re staying the night; in a one room, toiletless shack?
Nice.
My gaze skims across the dusty boards. The broken boards. The missing boards. There’s enough space for the four of us. Really, she needs her rest. Anything is better than nothing.
“I’ll take first watch.” My hand’s still held in hers, and my gaze shifts between Nollix and Link. They pass each other a skeptical look, and I hate how much anticipation is swarming through my chest right now. Like I want their acceptance in some way.
Link takes a single step closer to me, and he pauses there, letting me wait it out for whatever it is he’s about to say. But he doesn’t say anything. He raises his hand until the hilt of his special little Wild Hunt sword is extended to me. The lighting of the blade illuminates the darkness between us, and I can’t help but hesitates for a moment before taking it from his hand.
This is what a peace offering feels like, huh?
Shit, it took them long enough.
***
The crimson sky runs on for miles and miles until it bleeds right into the dark clay. I’ve stared out the window near the door for so long I can’t really make out what’s earth and what’s sky now. I peer back at the three of them. Link sleeps with his arm propped under his blonde hair, and Vi curls around him, using his shoulder like a pillow as they try to find comfort on the hard floors. Nollix lies in the claw foot tub. He only fell asleep about twenty minutes ago while the other two have been out for hours. He tried to stay up, his eyes seemingly refusing to close on this dangerous world.
And now peace and quiet are all I have while I stare out at the Underworld for what I hope is the last time I ever see this place. This had better be the last day.
Unless I keep fucking my life up, and, then, you know, I might find myself here again someday. My attention shifts back to Vi’s pretty face. I trail along the soft curve of her cheek, the long, dark lashes that flutter against her perfect golden complexion.
Fuck, I better get my life together.
I want her. I want a future. With. Her.
And I’ll do whatever it takes to make her happy.
As if she can hear my pathetic thoughts, her eyelids part. Shining eyes lock onto mine the moment they open. Silence presses between us, and it takes her a moment to slip away from Link. The boards separating her from me make sure to announce her every step, giving a cry every few seconds that might wake the other two men.
I’m okay with how things are between the four of us. She loves them. She loved them first. But fuck, she loves me too.
And that’s all that seems to register in my mind.
It doesn’t mean I don’t want her alone though. I want her alone so bad it hurts.
Her arm skims against mine as she looks out the window. She studies the horizon for a long few seconds before bringing her gaze back to me.
She should go back to bed. She should get some sleep. She must be tired still.
There’s all these comforting words I want to say to her, but not a single one slips from my mouth. Instead, I lean into her. A smile presses to her lips just before my lips press there too. Her fingers fist into the bottom of my shirt, skimming along my lower stomach before she pulls me closer. Soft hair tangles through my fingers as I deepen the kiss.
Neither of us speak. There’s nothing left to say, and I’ve waited the entire time I’ve known her for this moment. So I’m not going to fuck it up with my words.
Not this time.
Her small body aligns with mine, and I close every inch of space between us until her back hits the wall. My palm presses above her head, grounding us as we both lose ours
elves with every slow flick of our tongues.
When her fingers drift lower, my muscles tense beneath her touch until her palm slips beneath my jeans entirely. The incredible feel of her hand wrapping around my cock has my hands exploring down her body. The soft curves of her beautiful body trembles beneath my fingertips, and I take my time teasing her skin. My palm slips beneath her shirt, trailing up her ribs before brushing lighting over her nipple, circling before palming her breast entirely.
Fuck, she feels good.
She gasps against my lips as I take my time even though her pace quickens as she strokes faster down my shaft. I quiet the groan within my chest as my cock starts to throb with each move she makes.
My boots shift against the flooring, and I pull back from her before it becomes too much. Her lips part with confusion, but I don’t give her time to speak as I start to unbutton her jeans. The warm color of her eyes watches me intently as I lower myself. My lips press a slow trail down her abdomen. I trace my tongue down her soft body, and I finally do what I’ve wanted to do to her for days. The sound of her jeans hitting the floor makes my heart pound harder. It takes me less than a second to pull them and her boots away.
Once more my lips brush along the curve of her hip. Then to the span of bronze skin beneath her navel. And down her pubic bone until her fingers fist into my hair, and I can’t help but look up at her as I kneel between her thighs.
I’m a virgin. I’ve heard her fuck them, and I literally know what I’m up against here. It’s a lot of pressure on me. I’m not going to lie, it’s slightly terrifying that I might not live up to expectations. I can’t be the least qualified man in her life. I just can’t.
I’m a virgin.
But my mouth fucking isn’t.
With steady hands, I hold her in place, my fingers digging into her skin. My breath along her thighs has her shifting in place, rubbing herself just slightly to ease that anticipating ache that I know she feels. My lips press slowly to the soft skin of her thigh, inches away from where I really want to be. Another slow kiss skims just half an inch higher. My thumbs rub slow circles over her hips before my palm slips down to the underside of her leg and her breath shakes as I lift her foot to my shoulder.
