Her Dark Defenders: Breath of Air (The Darkness of Light Book 1)

by Nala Kingsley

  “That is because you are making it impossible to think!”

  “Am I? Am I that distracting?” he asked, stepping closer, narrowing the already close distance between us.

  I held up a finger to stop him. “No. You will not do this.”

  “Do what?” He took another step, now so close that I could smell him. The aroma of earth and burnt cinnamon washed over me.

  “Distract me.”

  “You already said that.”

  “Did I?” I asked, overwhelmed.

  No. I shouldn’t let him lower my hand. I shouldn’t let him lean down, and I most certainly shouldn’t let him—

  I backed away just before he could kiss me. “Are you a wizard?” I demanded, gripping his hand that had lowered mine. “What spell have you all cast on me?”

  Aman chuckled. “A wizard. Is that not a fairy tale? You have magic yourself, but you are not a wizard or witch.”

  “Of course not,” I said, trying not to feel embarrassed, “but I do feel as if you are bewitching me.”

  “A fairy cannot be bewitched unless she chooses to be.”

  I shut my eyes, trying to ground myself. “If I were to choose that, and I do not agree to that sentiment, but if I were, it would be a way to ignore my grief. It wouldn't be true."

  “Oh, Violet, how naïve you can be at times. You can long for a way to ignore your grief and still fall for me and the others too.”

  I inhaled sharply, shocked but perhaps also pleased somewhat. He knew. They all knew. Of course they did. Could they possibly accept that I had feelings for them all? But why would they be willing to share? How could that possibly work?

  “Anything and everything is possible. Never forget that,” Aman said, rubbing my cheek with his other hand.

  “How properly angelic of you.”

  He snorted. “If you say so.”

  “I do.” I smiled and kissed his cheek.

  “Tease,” he grumbled.

  I giggled. “Maybe a little.”

  “Maybe a lot.”

  I did enjoy Aman and his flirting. He was so much fun, but would he truly be willing to answer any question? Because I had one I was dying to ask, and if he refused, I might just have to start thinking about my dark defenders as dark because of their desire to keep me hidden away to the point of kidnapping instead of dark because of the sexual allure each of them posed to me.

  Chapter 18

  I screwed up my nerve and inhaled. “I do have one question for you. Well, a request.”

  “Anything.” Aman ran a hand through his blond hair and tilted his head, waiting.

  “You might not want to say anything until you know what I am going to ask,” I pointed out.

  “I would do anything for you. Why do you refuse to believe that?”

  “Because so far—”

  “Go on and make your request,” he said gently, squeezing my hand.

  “Will you take me to the castle?” I blurted. “I realize it might not be the safest, and maybe I should have asked before venturing out here, but I was afraid not one of you would be willing to take me. I was certain you would claim that I should stay here and wait until you determined that I could safely return, but…”

  “Do you think it’s worth the risk?” he asked.

  “Of another demon attack?” I bit my lower lip and then nodded.

  “Very well. I will take you.”

  My heart soared in my chest. “You will?”

  He just gave me a look. “I told you anything. I meant anything. Now, first, we must prepare.”

  “Prepare?”

  “If we do face demons, you will not be capable of defending yourself should we get separated, and I am certain that would be the demons’ first move.”

  “True,” I said slowly. I pulled my skirt aside to show him my hidden dagger.

  He chuckled. “You are so very brave.”

  “Or foolish.”

  “Come. Let us return to the cottage and properly prepare for a demon attack. Hopefully, this preparation will be for naught, but I think it best to be cautious.” He started to walk, tugging my hand so I would keep pace beside him.

  “Of course,” I said slowly. “You are not stalling, are you?”

  Aman halted and turned to stare at me. “Never. I would not do that. If you had your magic at full strength, we would leave and not even need your knife.”

  I nodded. “I suppose I was a little headstrong and even foolish to come here without one of you.”

  “Or even all of us.”

  We walked in silence for a few moments.

  “Aman, how did you know my parents?” I asked in a rush.

  “We hunted a white hart—”

  “Did you kill it?” I asked breathlessly.

  “No.” He glanced at me curiously and then chuckled. “You did not believe the one who already told you this.”

  “I was just looking for collaboration,” I insisted.

  “And was it collaborated?”

  “Yes,” I admitted.

  Another silenced fell. This time, he glanced over.

  “You truly were going to leave without saying goodbye? You were going to turn us aside?”

  “No,” I protested. “It was not like that at all.”

  “You were not taking into consideration our worries, worries you should also share.”

  “Yes, well, you must understand. I am the Fairy Queen. I cannot hide forever.”

  “And well I realize that, but, Violet, there is a time to fight and a time to recover and a time to prepare.”

  “I was hoping there would not be a fight.”

  “You and your naivety. Solo mentioned that you never received oral before.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, avoiding his gaze, certain my face was bright red. “Is that what that was called?” I murmured.

  “Yes. Have you ever placed your mouth on a man's cock?”

  “Yes.”

  “To the point that he ejaculated into your mouth?”

  I shivered with delight. This sounded positively erotic.

  “No,” I murmured. “You bring me to the fairy castle, and once all is well, I will make you ejaculate into my mouth.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  I grinned and brushed back a long strand of curl chestnut-colored hair. “Maybe it is a threat.”

  "You do not realize the effect you have on us, do you?" he groaned. He reached down and adjusted himself.

  “I think I am beginning to see.”

  We made our way back to the cottage, but to my surprise, Aman led us beyond, around to the back.

  "Some herbs are growing nearby that might help you to regain your magic faster," he said. "The rarer ones will bring you back to full strength immediately, but I do not know if we will be able to locate those."

  “Why haven’t you gotten me some of those herbs already?” I asked. “I apologize. I did not mean to sound ungrateful.”

  He chuckled. “You and your suspicions! We have included some into your food, but we have used up our stores. Some of the reason why we have disappeared, as you put it, from time to time is to fetch you clothes and more food. We do not normally live here."

  “Do you even have rooms at the cottage?” I asked.

  Aman winked at me, and my heart sped up. “I could give you a grand tour if you would like, but we might linger in one room.”

  “In Baxon’s bedroom?” I teased.

  “More like my room, or even more specifically, my bed.”

  “Hmm. Do you live like dwarves with your beds all lined up against a wall in a room?”

  “You watch too many human movies,” he grumbled.

  “So that is a no then?”

  “Yes, that is a no.”

  “Why do you seem upset?”

  “I’m not.” But his pace had certainly quickened.

  “Is it because I haven’t explored the house?” I was at a loss.

  He halted and stared at me, his gray eyes shockingly sorrow
ful. "You would have me return you to the castle, and then what will happen? You will not leave your castle again, not for any reason and certainly not for us. You will abandon us. You will forget about us. All we have done for you, and for what? So that you might return and be attacked again. The fairies were nearly overrun the first time. A second encounter might not have such a favorable result."

  “I would never—”

  “You claim you won’t forget, but you will. You are merely toying with us. At times, you can be angelic, naïve and innocent, but you can be a temptress, seductive as any she-devil, and you do not know the power you wield over us.”

  “I do not understand why I would have such power over you or the others,” I murmured. “I don’t understand. I truly don’t. I have been with others before, yes, but I cannot say that I loved any of them.”

  “What of us?” Aman asked, clearly strained.

  I gave a startled laugh. The way his face was all scrunched up as if he might cry amazed me. He was as handsome as ever, as strong and capable as ever, and yet, it seemed I was breaking his heart.

  “I… I do not want to love,” I murmured.

  “So you will only give into lust with us, nothing more.”

  I hesitated. “For now.”

  Aman led me to a patch of land with a lot of trees. Herbs grew in the underbrush, and we gathered some, including the white snowdrops, the black phade that turned a beautiful purple once plucked, and the thick sugar bloom.

  “No gingercress," he muttered, disgusted. "Perhaps farther north."

  “Aman, why are you so certain I’ll forget about you all?” I asked.

  “Why wouldn’t you?”

  “I know every fairy. I have yet to find one to love. Maybe one day…”

  “You could pick one of us over the others?”

  I hesitated. “It’s not natural—”

  “Some might say that love isn’t natural. Love is for fools. It is for dreamers. It is an escape. It is a heady emotion that makes us prone to making mistakes, but it does not only have to be shared between two persons. You loved your parents, both your mother and father, yes?”

  “O-Of course,” I sputtered, uncertain where he was going with this.

  “Well, then, if you could love the two of them equally with a deep, abiding familial love, why can you not accept that you could grow to love four men equally?”

  “But why would any of you be happy with that?” I whispered. “I’m not enough for you all.”

  “My dear Violet, have you forgotten who you are? You are the Fairy Queen. Perhaps you are the one who is a wizard, bewitching us with your lovely brown hair and mesmerizing dark eyes, your curves, your laughter, your wit, your charm, your kisses… You have an aura, Violet that draws people to you. You're scared and confused. You're worried and grieving. We understand, we really do. It's… We know this won't be easy, but however you want us in your life, we will be here, waiting for you."

  “I don’t deserve you all.”

  “Why not?” he countered. “Shouldn’t we have a say in whom we wish to be with?”

  “But why me? Why do you all have such strong feelings for me? Surely you could find anyone else. Women must fall at your feet all the time.”

  “We see only you.”

  “But why?” I pressed.

  He pressed some of the herbs into my hands and nodded. Once I obliged and ate them, he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he started to admit, "It's not easy to say this, but—"

  The sound of shattered glass from the direction of the cottage silenced him. I shoved more of the herbs into my mouth. Ingestion was one of the fastest ways for the herbs to start to replenish one’s magic, but still, I would need time for the herbs to take effect.

  That did not mean I did not break out into a mad dash of a flight back to the cottage. Aman was right there with me, flying beside me. His wings were a brilliant shade of deep blood red at the top that faded to a lovely purple at the ends. Wings could come in a variety of sizes and colors, and I had seen none quite like his before.

  Aman landed at the back of the cottage and held out his hand to stop me from flying on by. He muttered a curse. “I worried about this,” he hissed.

  I whispered a curse of my own, and Aman grinned with appreciation, but the dark, worried glint lingered in his eyes.

  “I don’t hear anything,” I said hopefully.

  He shook his head ruefully. “They’re here. Stay behind me, and if I tell you to flee, you fly as far away as you can,” he said, his words dripping with desperation.

  “Fly where?” I asked, not wanting to think about leaving them, but I wasn’t ignorant to think that I might not have to flee again if this was the work of demons.

  “Do not worry. We will find you.”

  “My dark defenders,” I whispered.

  “Anywhere you go, we will find you.” Aman squeezed my hand, and then he released it, kicked down the cottage’s back door, and marched inside as if he were on the warpath. In a way, I supposed he was.

  Chapter 19

  My fingers clenched the handle of the blade so tightly my palm ached. Walking behind Aman wasn’t fun. His large form blocked too much of the cottage as he led me through the kitchen and then halted.

  “They’re—”

  The wall bulged, a terrible thud resounding, echoing, and then a huge hole opened. A demon grinned at us, flashing his terrible, sharp, overcrowded teeth. Even more horrifying was the sight of the bloodstained nature of those teeth.

  Aman launched into the air and plowed into the demon, knocking him back into the next room. I started forward, but the sudden lack of light from behind me forced me to whirl around. In the doorway stood another demon.

  He leered at me, lips closed. This demon was almost handsome, although his skin had a slight red tint to it. Twin horns grew on his head, and I half-expected to spy a tail.

  “The Fairy Queen,” he murmured as if his words could caress me. Indeed, I did feel a strange pull to him.

  An incubus. I had heard about them, those male demons who were desperate to have sex and impregnate women even though they were all infertile. That, of course, did not stop them. They would take the form of a she-demon, fuck a male, steal his semen, turn it into their own, and then impregnate the next female they fucked. I did not even want to think about what those babies might look like or grow up to be.

  I shrugged and crooked my finger so he would come closer. “Fairy Queen, yes,” I purred.

  He stalked over to me, very much like a predator ready to pounce on his prey. The demon yanked me close to him, ready to rip my dress off, but I sliced the knife across his neck so deep that I hit bone. Blood gushed, spraying out and coating my face and dress.

  The incubus staggered backward and slipped on the blood.

  "Fairy Queen and Demon Slayer." I kicked him, so he rolled onto his back and stabbed him through the eye. He twitched and then lay still.

  Trembling, I wiped the blood from the blade on his shirt.

  “Violet!” Marlo rushed over to my side, rasping my shoulders, taking note of the blood. “Are you hurt?”

  “I am—”

  He pushed me to the side, his hand touching the chest of a demon I swore hadn’t been there a moment ago. Somehow, the demon was flung backward and slammed against the ceiling. Smoke formed above Marlo’s palm, quickly taking a solid shape, ice, a long icicle. As the demon regained its footing, Marlo launched the icicle into the spear and impaled the demon against the wall. Dark smoke sizzled, and the scent of burning flesh seared my nose. Yes, ice could burn.

  “How many more demons are there?” I asked. “Are the others okay?”

  “You shouldn’t have returned here,” Marlo said grimly. “It isn’t safe.”

  “If it’s not safe for me, it’s not safe for you,” I said stubbornly.

  “A little help here,” Baxon called. He sounded like he might be in my bedroom.

  “Can’t handle the pressure?” Marlo jested.
>
  He rushed through the kitchen to the hallway and halted. I had to fly to lift myself high enough to see why he had stopped. No less than five demons were blocking the way to my room.

  Marlo cracked his knuckles. “Violet, you might want to—”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  “I was going to say move back,” he said with a grim chuckle.

  A brilliant light flared from Marlo's palms. He held his hands, so the bottoms touched, the fingers of one pointed to the ceiling, the other the floor. The orb of light grew and grew and then exploded forward. The demons all collapsed, but they slowly lumbered back to their feet.

  The first one sliced with his hand, his fingers turning into claws before my eyes. Marlo caught his wrist, bent it awkwardly, and a loud snapping sound left me wincing. The demon let out a roar and went to slam his back into Marlo’s face, only Marlo slammed him into the wall by gripping the back of his neck. The demon slumped to the ground, not moving.

  The next demon opened his mouth, and I spied flames burning deep in the back of his throat. Before he could expel his fire, I threw my knife and dared to use a little of my magic to guide wind and force the blade to bury deep into the back of the demon’s throat. With a gurgle, he went down.

  “You aren’t armed now, are you?” Marlo asked grimly.

  "Not exactly," I admitted.

  Marlo dashed forward, reached into the demon’s throat, yanked out the blade, and brought up the weapon in time to slam the knife up through the bottom of another demon’s chin. The demon collapsed on top of him, and Marlo shoved him aside.

  Before either of us could react, Solo stood behind the last two demons as they tumbled to the ground. He turned over his hands and dropped their hearts.

  I gasped, and Solo shrugged.

  "They would've done the same to us if given a chance." He glowered at Marlo. "Why is she still here? It's not safe for her!"

  Thudding and a grunt had me flying above the bodies and past the men. I lowered only so I could reach the doorknob and threw open the door.

  Baxon was fighting off six demons, a pile of at least ten already on the floor. Baxon was covered in blood, and he damn well nearly took a demon’s head off, snapping his neck.