Golden Stair

by Jennifer Blackstream

  “I’ve offered you no violence and you nearly killed me,” he said, his voice tight with restraint. “Perhaps you’d like to reconsider how you’re speaking to me?” All traces of good humor melted from his face, leaving her with the blank stare he so rarely managed.

  “How did you even find this place?” she demanded. “Are the others coming as well? Did you lead them into this dimension?”

  “This dimension?” Adonis echoed. His shoulders drooped. He narrowed his eyes. “Others?”

  “Yes. How did you find it?”

  Adonis folded his arms across his chest and tilted his chin forward. “I was flying with an angel friend of mine and we…became separated.” He gestured at the debris around him, encompassing his own wounds as well. “As you can see, it was not intentional.”

  “You were flying with an angel?”

  Flying with, flying on. Semantics aren’t germane here. “Yes.”

  “You’re referring to the Angel of Death, adopted son of the king of Meropis.”

  Adopted? Angel of Death? Adonis penned a mental note to learn more about Patricio after he escaped his current predicament. If he escaped. He surveyed Ivy, the emotions he could see boiling just under the surface. Sun elementals were known for their lack of self-control nearly as much as their fire. If he could push her, it was possible she would slip up enough to allow him to escape. Of course, she might fry him too, but then what was life without risk?

  “The angel I was flying with was not Prince Patricio,” he corrected her. “Her name was Helena, and she was a delightful young lady who is probably wondering what happened to me.” Assuming she’s noticed I’m gone. Flighty woman, that Helena.

  “Don’t bother lying to me,” Ivy spat.

  Her gaze flickered over his body and she tilted her head in consideration. Adonis looked down and started when he discovered his body had healed to the point that the oozing burns of moments ago were just bright pink skin now. He continued to heal, so fast he could practically see it. He snatched up the teacup from where he’d set it down and sniffed the remains. It didn’t smell any different from any number of herbal teas he’d had in the past. Cherry bark, slippery elm, and a few other odds and ends. Wide-eyed, he found himself peering at her in a new light.

  “No one can get into this dimension except me and my mother,” she said firmly. “I don’t know how you got through the gateway, but you must have raped a lot of women to get that kind of power.”

  A split second later, Adonis was on his feet, his entire body straining against the magic of the circle. His muscles burned with desperation to get out of the spelled area, his vision clouded as the world seemed to narrow down to just the screeching harpy in front of him. Ivy shrieked and jerked backwards. Adonis’ teeth bit into his lower lip as his canines dropped. His wings flared out around him as he struggled to rein in his temper.

  “In my six-hundred years,” he choked, “I have never taken an unwilling woman.” His voice bled into a whine not unlike a wolf about to attack. His knees trembled as he pushed against the magic circle holding him, a voice inside him howling the need for vengeance, the conviction that he must make her take back her blasphemous accusation. “Not once, nor would I ever. Kill me if you’re going to, but know that I will not sit here and listen to you accuse me of such heinous crimes. Of the two of us, the only one who has demonstrated any thirst for violence is you.”

  Suddenly a pink light bobbed into his line of sight again. Instinctively, he jerked back, nearly going cross-eyed as he tried to focus on it. His lips parted as he realized it was the will o’ wisp that had caused him to fall into this blasted tower in the first place. Emotion radiated from the ball of light.

  Calm. Smooth waves of peace rolled over him, slowing the rush of blood in his veins and blunting the edge of his temper. Without meaning to, Adonis relaxed and stopped straining against the circle. Irritation ratcheted up his pulse as he realized the fey was using glamour on him. He gritted his teeth and slashed his claws through the air toward the fey, batting at it like one would swat an annoying insect. “Spare me your glamour,” he snarled. “I will deal with you later.”

  He turned his attention back to Ivy, pausing when he noticed all her attention was on the will o’ wisp. She wrapped her arms around her body, turning away from the fey even as her gaze remained locked on it.

  “What is that?”

  Adonis frowned. “It is a will o’ wisp. A member of the fey.”

  Ivy closed her eyes and raised her hands to her temples. The trembling in her hands and sudden rigidness in her spine piqued Adonis’ interest and he tilted his head, waiting for her to say more.

  “You’re lying,” she said quietly. “I told you, only my mother and I can get through the gateway to this dimension.”

  “You keep saying that,” Adonis muttered, “but I’m here. A will o’ wisp is here.” He shook his head. “The evidence is right in front of you, why do you keep insisting on something that you have to know isn’t true?”

  “I have the evidence of twenty years of not seeing another creature within sight of this tower. And my mother’s word.” She opened her eyes and tilted her chin up. “Unless of course you think I should take your word over that of my own mother?”

  Adonis bit back a curse. This woman had lost her mind. Another dimension? No creatures for twenty years? What was she—

  Suddenly something behind the woman caught Adonis’ eye. He looked past her to a row of paintings leaning against the wall beside the bookcase he’d crashed into. They were gruesome even in their beauty, vivid battle scenes filled with copper blood and ash skies. Adonis squinted and then his jaw dropped as he recognized some of the monstrous figures.

  “That’s me,” he said softly. “And that’s Patricio,” he squinted, “though to be fair, he’s never looked like that in person.”

  Ivy straightened her spine, nodding a little too quickly. “Yes. Yes, that painting is of you and the dark angel from Meropis. You can see from the painting that my mother has told me the truth of you, the truth of what you really are. I captured you rather well, don’t you think?”

  Adonis shrugged. “I’m a demon, I’m not going to apologize for my appearance.” He pointed at the werewolf and the vampire wrestling around on the ground amidst blood and darker fluids. “But you got those two wrong. The King of Sanguenay is a brown wolf, not black.” He pointed to the other figure. “And the king of Dacia—if you’ll excuse the pun—wouldn’t be caught dead fighting his own battles. He would turn fresh vampires every night for breakfast if it meant keeping his own lily-white ass off the field.”

  “You focus on details, but the picture is still true,” Ivy declared. “My mother told me about the war going on outside our dimension. She fights in that war every day, and every day I have to sit here and wonder if she’ll come home.”

  The maiden’s voice broke and for a split second Adonis almost felt sorry for her. Whatever her delusions, the girl believed what she was saying. His wings drooped slightly as his anger bled away. The girl was obviously deluded. Punishing her for attacking him would serve no purpose, certainly not until he discovered who had been filling her head with such grisly lies. He eyed the circle of stones still holding him prisoner. If she wanted him dead, she would have let him burn to ashes. There was still a possibility that he could get out of this.

  “I don’t know what war you’re talking about,” he said finally. “Nysa has been at peace with Meropis, Dacia, Sanguenay, and Mu for decades. The last great war ended, though not so long ago that you shouldn’t remember it.” He eyed her again, searching her face for some sign of dishonesty. “You must be over a century old, yes?”

  Ivy jerked back. “I’m twenty. If I were over a century, I would be old and grey, are you daft?”

  “You’re a sun elemental,” Adonis returned. “You’ll be just as young and beautiful five hundred years from now.”

  “I am not an elemental!”

  Adonis shouted as Ivy’s body erupte
d into golden light. He fell to the ground as the energy bounced off the circle’s boundaries, protecting him from the heat if not the light. Black spots danced in front of his eyes and he cursed and blinked. After he could see again, he found Ivy crumpled on the floor, sobbing with her arms limp at her sides.

  Curiosity rose inside Adonis and he crept closer to the edge of the circle. He tucked his wings against his back as he settled into a comfortable sitting position as close as he could get to the crying woman. As the last vestiges of his rage left him, so did the adrenaline. His body grew heavier, tired. If he didn’t renew his pool of energy soon, he might not make it home…ever.

  Chapter Three

  Everywhere Ivy looked, the world had a blinding golden glow. Furniture, the sky, even the incubus curled up in the circle beamed like somehow the sun itself had leaked its radiance all over them. She could hardly see, could hardly think.

  He’d called her a sun elemental. It was ridiculous, impossible. And yet, now that the words were in her head, she couldn’t help but look at the sun. Its rays caressed her like an old friend, its soothing waves brushing against her skin as soft as a mother’s touch. She couldn’t deny that sunlight had always refreshed her, always revitalized her in a real, tangible way.

  But it couldn’t be true. Surely her mother would have told her—

  Her gaze zeroed in on the remains of the chair Adonis had fallen onto then darted up to the trapdoor in the roof. Her mother had built that for her. How many times had Dame Gothel guided Ivy to that chair, told her to sit in the sunlight? As if she knew…

  Ivy focused her attention to the broad ceiling of the main room of the tower.

  The crystals were full. Ivy held her breath, staring open-mouthed at the crystals that covered the ceiling, hanging like shining stalactites. Her mother had planted them there, telling Ivy they would be nurtured by the sunlight that shone in the tower. As each one absorbed the light and became a shining beacon of flame, Ivy harvested them and packed them for her mother to take into battle. Her mother claimed they helped to power her spells.

  Now they were all full.

  The ceiling was like a blanket of flames, a kaleidoscope of yellow, orange, red, and white burning fingers. A layer of power, if her mother was to be believed.

  Because of me. The epiphany fell like a lead weight onto Ivy’s shoulders as she remembered the brilliant bursts of light that had exploded from her body. There was no other explanation for the crystals. She had harvested some yesterday, she knew that only a few of them had sparkled—she certainly would have remembered if they had all mysteriously burst to life at once. Was the incubus right? Was she a sun elemental? Why hadn’t her mother told her?

  “I don’t envy you the thoughts you’re having.”

  In a daze, Ivy faced the incubus, her attention drawn by his voice. It had changed, grown smoother, almost physical like the slide of silk over skin. The rage of moments earlier had vanished, replaced by the seductive tones he’d used when he’d first arrived.

  Seductive.

  She looked away, trying to get a grip on her hormones and the completely incomprehensible fact that she did not find him frightening—not at all. Bit by bit, she slid her gaze back to the circle.

  Her mother had told her about the demon many times. Ivy had painted him more than once. And it wasn’t that the details were wrong, per se. Somehow they just…came together differently in real life. His broad shoulders were well-rounded with thick muscles, tapering down a smooth, hairless chest to a solid waist. She swallowed hard and jerked her gaze away before she could look any lower. As it was, her cheeks were burning hot enough to make her thoughts plain for the demon to see.

  He sat inside the circle, dark eyes intense as he scrutinized her. His skin appeared completely healed, free from the hideous burns she’d inflicted on him. Goosebumps erupted on her flesh as she remembered the way he’d screamed, the scent of burning flesh that had filled the room after that first burst of light had shot from her body. Even the memory sickened her and she quickly shoved it away before the taste of bile rising in her throat could grow worse.

  “How do you know what I’m thinking?” she said aloud, trying to distract herself from her thoughts.

  “I don’t. But the pain on your face is clear. Do you want to talk about it?”

  A harsh laugh burst from Ivy’s lips. “Do I want to talk about it? With you?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t see anyone else here.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “They must be having trouble finding this special pocket dimension that only you and your mother can find.”

  Ivy clenched her hands into fists, nails digging into her palms. “Do not mock me,” she ground out. “I don’t know how you found this place, but if I were you, I’d be thinking about what’s going to happen to you now that you’re here.”

  Adonis waved, brushing aside her threat. “If you were going to kill me, you would have done it already. Obviously you want me around for some other reason.” He rolled onto his back, reached his arms over his head, and stretched like a lazy tomcat, bowing his naked body out slightly.

  Ivy cursed herself for zeroing in on the muscular planes of his chest, following the faint dusting of hair down the sculpted lines of his stomach…and lower. Heat burned her cheeks, and this time it had nothing to do with the sun—magic or otherwise. She sputtered for a moment before she could make her voice work.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she groused finally. “Do you really think you can manipulate me that easily? You think you can just wave your—” The burn in her cheeks grew hotter and she clenched her teeth as Adonis raised his head, staring at her with renewed interest.

  “Go ahead, you can say it,” he teased.

  “It’s not too late for me to throw you over the balcony,” she growled out through gritted teeth.

  “I’ll bet you couldn’t even drag me to the balcony,” Adonis retorted.

  An image of her trying to haul the incubus across the floor filled her mind. She imagined she could feel his warm skin against hers, the solid muscle of his body against her palms…

  She took a step forward. Something flickered in the incubus’ eyes and he leaned forward. There was something eager about his body language and it sent a tingle down her spine. The sensation ripped her out of her daze and she scowled.

  “Attempt to enthrall me again, demon, and I’ll make you wish I’d thrown you over the balcony,” she threatened.

  Adonis propped his chin up on his hand. “I wasn’t trying to enthrall you.” He gave her a sly smile. “If you were attracted to me, it must be my magnetic personality.”

  He tilted his hips and Ivy looked down before she could stop herself. His flesh twitched under her gaze and she jerked her attention away to avoid embarrassing herself any further. “Stop it,” she snapped.

  The incubus pouted and flipped onto his stomach. “You’re awfully cruel to me considering we’ve only just met.”

  Crossing her arms across her chest like a physical shield, Ivy steeled herself against the wounded look on his face. He would not fool her into letting her guard down. She’d almost killed him. Even if he wasn’t the monster her mother claimed he was, no one was that easy going.

  “I don’t have to have met you personally,” she said evenly. “Your reputation precedes you.”

  Adonis smirked. “I highly doubt you’ve heard any complaints.”

  Ivy put a hand to her forehead. “You are beyond arrogant. You think because you’re a handsome prince you can waltz in here and I’ll believe every word you say, do whatever you want. My mother leaves every morning to go fight in the Great War. I see her wounds, I heal her. I have to wash her blood from my skin and hear her moans as she fights to overcome the damage caused by you and the greedy kings who think more of land than of people. If you think you can smile at me and gain my goodwill, then you are sadly mistaken.”

  He grinned. “You think I’m a handsome prince?”

  Fury sizzled along Ivy’s nerve
s along with a desperate desire to wipe that smug satisfaction off his face. “I think you’re a rapist and a monster, just like my mother says you are,” Ivy whispered.

  For a split second, Adonis’ eyes flared, two burning coals in a face as dark as pitch. Then a moment later that image was gone. Ivy held her breath, waiting for him to yell, to try and defend himself. When she’d insinuated he was a rapist earlier, he’d flown into a rage. Now he just sat there and stared at her. Minutes dragged by and still he remained silent. Ivy bit the inside of her cheek to distract herself. The fighting she could handle, the fighting felt right. But the silence… The silence gave her mind way too much time to wander. A dangerous situation when faced with an incubus and no chaperone.