“How do you know so much?”
She ducked her head. “Until a few moons ago, I worked in Brialla’s home as a kitchen maid. I heard plenty. My new master is kind.” Her eyes widened. “He will help you, I’m sure of it. Please, come with me.”
I hesitated for a moment, but only a moment. If what this female said was true, and my gut told me it was, then Daemon was in danger, and it was my fault. Bernie came first of course, but if there was some way I could help Daemon then I had to try.
“Okay, take me to your master.”
She smiled and then reached to caress the material of my suit. “Enchansa magic?”
I blinked dumbly at her.
She leaned in. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. The others can’t see you, not really.”
“What do you mean?”
It was her turn to do the blinking thing but this time in surprise. “You don’t know what you’re wearing?”
“A bodysuit?”
She shook her head. “My dear, that . . . bodysuit is woven with some of the most powerful magic that I’ve ever felt. It doesn’t just cover your body, it glamours you to look like a Hellion, while at the same time forcing people to avert their eyes. They see you, but they don’t see you, understand?”
I think I did. It explained why no one really paid me any attention here except . . . “How come you can see through it, if it’s such powerful magic?”
I wasn’t sure but I think she flushed. It was hard to tell, her skin was already so red.
“Come, we should get going, it’ll be nightfall in a few hours. If we are to rescue the abomination then we need to make a plan.” She turned to exit the abandoned hut.
“Don’t call him that!”
She glanced at me over her shoulder.
“His name is Daemon. You can call him Daemon.”
She smiled. “Come.”
I followed.
***
The ride was bumpy, uncomfortable, and humid. Lying under a tarp surrounded by woven baskets filled with sweet-smelling fruit wasn’t the smoothest ride, but Darma, my saviour, had explained that a permit was required to enter the city, and I didn’t have one. So I hunkered down and waited.
Finally, we came to a halt. I heard the murmur of voices, but couldn’t make out what was being said. Then came footsteps round the side of the cart. The cart tipped to the side. Someone was getting on. I tensed, suddenly afraid. What if Darma had lied? What if she’d brought me here as meat? Food for her noble master? Shit! I shifted into position, ready to fight if I had to, just as the tarp was ripped away, and I was blinded by the light. I raised an arm to shield my eyes.
“It’s small, isn’t it?” a male voice said.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Darma said in a hushed tone.
“Ah, yes, the enchanted suit.” He cocked his head. “So what does it look like?”
My eyes adjusted to the light, and I lowered my arm and met the male’s eyes. He was big, not Daemon big, but big nonetheless. His skin was inky black and polished to a shine, and his eyes were deep crimson and turned up at the corners, as was his mouth. He was smiling at me, but the action did little to soften his overall demeanour. The Hellion looked dangerous, smile or no. He was dressed in similar robes as Darma.
He held out his hand. “Come, you’re safe here.”
I glanced at Darma, who nodded slightly. I took his hand and he hauled me up.
“Master just returned from his hunt. I’ll take you to see him.”
Darma pouted. “Hey, I found her!”
The male chuckled. “You can come too if you want, chicklet.”
Once again, that deepening red in her cheeks, this time accompanied by a twinkle in her eyes. She was so crushing on this guy.
They continued to gaze at each other, and I cleared my throat.
The male ducked his head to hide a grin. “Yes, we should get going.” He jumped down off the cart and held out his hand to help me down.
I grinned at him before leaping off the cart and landing lightly on my feet.
He lifted a huge shoulder in a shrug.
I took in my surroundings. We were in some kind of enclosed courtyard. The ground was level, smooth, red slabs, and the walls around us were a lighter shade of red brick. Shrubs grew up against the walls in all shades of green. The contrast was startling, and I had to blink a few times to get accustomed to it. Two other carts were parked alongside the one I had ridden in.
The male allowed me a moment to assess my surroundings before glancing up toward the sky and frowning. “We need to hurry. Night may be falling sooner than anticipated.”
Darma sighed and I matched her frown.
What the hell did he mean? I was about to ask when he turned on his heel and headed off round the cart. Darma waved me along and I quickly followed.
I rounded the cart and got my first view of the back of the house. Well, house was an understatement. This abode looked like it could hold several families. It was huge. Four storeys tall made of black stone, it rose up into the red-misted blue sky like a titan.
I gulped as I followed the male Hellion through a door and into the building. I could feel Darma at my back as we passed through a kitchen so big it was half the size of the assembly room at Shelter. We passed copper pots and shiny knives, thick wooden work surfaces and one of those huge ovens similar to the one at Apocalypse. And then we were through into a dimly lit corridor, passing several closed doors, up two flights of stairs and into another corridor, this one bright and filled with light streaming in from the windows to my left. It dappled the grey stone floors and lit up the crystal light fixtures so they threw shards of light against the walls. It was beautiful and I was almost distracted by it, but then we were coming to a halt outside a set of double doors and Darma was shooting me excited glances. The male knocked on the door and waited a moment before pushing it open and entering.
Darma nudged me in the small of my back. Reminding myself that this noble could be my key to helping Daemon, I squared my shoulders and stepped over the threshold into a room bathed in sunlight. The windows took up the whole of the wall before me. A monstrosity of a bed sat to my left, and in the centre of the room, stood a man, tall and built, his back to me as he shrugged on a jacket. His legs were clad in tight trousers, calves encased in leather boots. The male Hellion whispered in his ear, and I watched the noble’s shoulders tense a fraction. The Hellion stepped back and to the side.
For some reason, my heart was pounding in my chest. I told myself that it was anxiety about whether this noble would help me or not, but my gut told me I was fooling myself. The heart pounding wasn’t due to anxiety. I’d been in some pretty dicey situations in the past and I’d managed to keep a level head, a level heartbeat. This was something else, something . . . The noble turned to face me and I locked eyes with him. Hazel eyes . . . eyes that crinkled in confusion. Eyes I knew, lips I knew. A face I cared for, but the body . . . how could this be?
“Take off the suit,” he said. His tone was soft, yet undeniably male.
Could I be mistaken? I swallowed and reached for the zipper on the suit, hidden so neatly it was almost invisible.
I began to pull it down slowly, watching as the noble’s chest rose and fell rapidly, watching as his fists clenched in anticipation.
I kept my gaze fixed on his as I pulled the zip all the way down, as I slipped the hood off my head, revealing my hair, and shrugged the fabric off my shoulders, allowing it to pool at my feet before I leaned down to tug my feet free. A tingle ran over my skin.
His eyes lit up, his lips curved in that slow burn smile I was so familiar with and I knew.
“Ash.”
“Bernie?”
And then we were moving across the room that suddenly felt way too big. We met in the middle and paused, suddenly unsure how to greet each other. I felt a wave of shyness wash over me as he drank me in. This was Bernadette, but not Bernadette. The name Bernie seemed more apt now because, unles
s I was somehow mistaken, she had been changed.
“You came for me.”
I nodded, my throat tight with emotion.
She shook her head, and then I was being lifted off my feet and enveloped in a huge bear hug.
I returned it with fervour, my eyes stinging with relief. I’d found her . . . or should I be calling her him?
Bernie set me back on my feet gently, her eyes roving over my face, travelling down the column of my throat and over my bare skin. I realised I was dressed only in my bra and knickers.
Her gaze heated and my cheeks grew warm. I ducked my head.
“So do I refer to you as a he now?”
Bernie’s lips twitched. “I’d like that.”
“You got a shirt I can borrow?”
“Sure.” His voice sounded thicker. He wanted me. I could feel his desire zinging off my skin, and I liked it. But this was Bernie, my friend. Yeah, she’d done amazing things to me with her tongue and, yeah, I thought she was kinda hot, but I wasn’t into girls, not really, and now she was a he . . . a man. This was so confusing. I needed a shirt.
I lifted my chin. “Shirt?”
Bernie blinked and stepped back. “Of course.”
Darma stepped up and held out a robe for me to slip into. It was long, falling almost to my ankles. I had to roll up the sleeves.
Bernie moved in again, his body so close it stole my breath. He locked eyes with me as he reached around me for the robe ties and knotted them around my waist. His fingers lingered against my hips. I could feel them like a brand through the silken fabric of the voluminous robe.
My mouth went dry, my heartbeat kicked up a notch, and I know he felt it too because those hazel eyes of his, Bernadette’s eyes, grew dark with need. I couldn’t deal with this right now, so I broke eye contact.
“We have a lot to talk about,” I said.
His hands slid off my hips as he inched back. “Yes, we do. Darma, prepare a room for our guest.”
The two Hellions bowed out of the room, leaving me alone with Bernadette.
“How?” I asked.
Bernie sighed. “A lot of time has passed since we were separated, Ash.”
“Like a week, if that!”
His brows shot up. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Time passes differently here in Inferna. It has its own rules. For me it’s been several years since I last saw you.” He reached for my face, but stopped mere centimeters from my skin. He dropped his hand. “There were so many times that I thought I must have imagined you. That you were nothing but a dream I once had, that our world, Earth, was nothing but a nightmare.”
“Nightmare? How can you call our home that? Sure, it’s not the most comfortable place, but we were free, safe. You were taken by Traders and brought to one of the most dangerous realms of the Tri-realms. They said they were going to sell you for sex or meat.”
He swept out his arm. “Look around you, Ash. Does it look like I’m in any danger?”
“No, but what the hell happened to you?” I glanced down the length of his very male body.
His lips curled in a smile that was more seduction that humour. “You don’t like it? Maybe you need to see a little more of it before you make up your mind.” He reached for the buttons of his jacket and I held up my hand.
“No!”
He chuckled, low and deep, the vibration tugging at something deep inside me.
“It’s not funny!”
He sobered. “I’m sorry, of course it isn’t. Come, let’s sit and I’ll tell you everything.” He led me over to a sofa and we took a seat.
He angled his body toward mine and began to speak.
“It feels like a dream now. In the early days, I prayed that you would come for me, and then I prayed that you wouldn’t. It wasn’t great to begin with. I was sold to a male noble, who liked to inflict pain. If not for the kindness of his noble wife, I’m sure I would have broken within the first few months. She kept my spirits up. She tended to my wounds and counselled me, and eventually, we became secret lovers. I belonged to him for almost two years and then he died. I was suddenly free. My lover said I could leave, go back to my people, wherever I wanted, but I found I no longer wanted to leave. I realised I could have her, that I had the chance to be happy with the woman I loved, and so I stayed.”
“Where is she? This woman?”
“She died last year. Infernans age differently than us. They retain a youthful appearance for most of their lengthy existence, it’s only when they decide to die that they begin to age. I noticed her aging before my eyes, and there was nothing I could do to change her mind. She told me that she’d been alive for centuries, that she was tired, ready to rest, and that I’d given her the most glorious years of her life. She said that she could go fully satisfied.” He sat back and looked about the room. “She left me everything. Hera was a powerful woman. She left me her estate and her seat on the Infernan council.” He chuckled. “There was some uproar about that, I can tell you, but as she’d never created an heir, she adopted me as such and used her quota of Aether on me. She changed me, giving me this gift, the body that I’d always known I should have been born with.”
I didn’t know what to say, but I knew there was more to this story than he was telling me. He. So weird but so right.
“So what do I call you?”
“Bernie, of course, like you always have.” That smile again. “You came to find me.” This time, when he reached for my face he didn’t pull away again. He caressed my cheek with the back of his hand, so gently and with such longing it made my heart ache.
I couldn’t help but return his smile. If Bernadette had been striking as a female then as a male she was stunning.
“I came to find you, yes. Daemon, a . . . a friend brought me, but now he’s in trouble and I’m hoping you can help me.”
“Tell me everything.”
And so I did.
When I finished, Bernie pressed his lips together. “It won’t be easy. Brialla is used to getting what she wants. If she’s taken Daemon, then she’s reasserted her ownership over your friend.” He caught his bottom lip between his teeth, his eyes narrowing in thought. “I doubt any amount of gold would persuade her to sell. Aether, on the other hand, may persuade her. Unfortunately, there is little of that to go round at the moment. The mines are shut due to the Shadow problem. Inferna is in crisis and . . .” His eyes widened and his gaze dropped to my hands.
I looked down at the ink that decorated my skin. I had the power to save Daemon, and yet I couldn’t quell the unease that crept up my spine. Daemon had told me not to reveal my ability to anyone, but I’d told Bernie because, well, it was Bernie, and now I had to face the fact that I had the power to save Daemon, but to do so, I’d have to expose myself as a valuable commodity.
“No.” Bernie shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I thought you had influence. Surely you can protect me from Brialla.”
Something dark and uneasy passed over his features, too fast to decipher. “I was talking about the Shadows. The mines are crawling with them. It’s too dangerous.”
“Daemon was worried that the nobles may try and keep me here if they found out what I could do.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
I cocked my head and studied him. “Look at you, all macho and shit.”
He grinned. “You have no idea.” He leaned in, his lips hovering above mine. Our breath mingled enticingly and I felt myself sway toward him but caught myself just in time. I pulled back, confused and flustered by my reaction toward him. I needed to focus on the task at hand and worry about this . . . other stuff, later.
I cleared my throat. “So what do we do now?”
Bernie sat back and studied me. “First we get you some appropriate clothing, and then we pay Brialla a visit. The invite I received to a gathering makes perfect sense now. She wants to show off her new toy, or old toy, depending on how you look at it.” He sto
od and moved toward a rope hanging from the ceiling by the bed and tugged on it twice. “The good thing is that there are bound to be other nobles there. It’ll make it harder for her to ignore our offer.”
I looked down at my hands again. “More nobles to try and claim me?”
“I won’t let that happen. You’re my guest and under my protection. Nobles can be sadistic bastards, but they operate on strict etiquette, and attempting to claim another noble’s guest is considered the height of impoliteness.”
“Noble? Is that what you are now?”
He moved back toward me and knelt at my feet. “Yes, I guess I am.” He took my hands. “But I’m still me, the Bernie who was, who is, your friend.”
I looked deep into those hazel eyes and saw my reflection staring back at me.
He squeezed my hands gently and then raised them to his lips, dropping a kiss on my knuckles.
There was a rap on the door.
“Enter!” He didn’t take his eyes off me.
I felt my cheeks flush under his attention.
The door opened and the male Hellion stepped in.
“Valma, we’re going to need some clothes for our guest, clothes that befit a gathering.”
Shadow Reaper Page 21
