“She’s not an ex,” Allistair said. I frowned.
“But she kissed him. Moira said she tried to again—”
“When you are close with someone it’s not uncommon to kiss them here. She took it a step too far, though, and I didn’t see the second time. I was too busy looking for you.” My breath hitched and I tried to smother it with a cough, but the look in his eyes said it all.
“How much did you see?” He seamlessly missed the roots and underbrush as we walked, even while watching every expression that crossed my face.
“I saw you threaten Sin. Care to tell me how long you’ve known her?” My teeth sank into my bottom lip as I looked away. Two fingers grasped my chin turning my face back to him.
“A while,” I found myself saying. “She came to me in Portland.”
His lips slipped ajar as an understanding settled over him. “She’s the one that saved you from the Seelie.” It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t treat it as one.
“Amongst other things.” I wasn’t trying to be purposely evasive, but I wasn’t sure where the rune would come into play and prevent me from speaking. It was better to be vague than have him stumble upon something I couldn’t tell him about and have another one of those damn coughing spells.
“She’s dangerous, Ruby—”
“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped, harsher than I intended. My mouth closed as his fingers slipped from my chin. Running a hand down my face, I sighed deeply. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be an asshole here.”
“You’re under a lot of pressure. I get it, and I even get why you might have kept this to yourself. Julian is prone to jumping the gun when it comes to you.” We both looked to where the Horseman of Death rode atop Rhiannon. “Just be careful with Sinumpa. Nothing with her is easy, or free.”
“Speaking from personal experience?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he answered, turning his gaze to the ground in front of us. Avoiding mine.
“She was the girl, wasn’t she?” I asked softly. His muscles went tense. “The one you loved?”
“Thought I loved. It wasn’t the same.” I wanted to ask him the same as what, but I wasn’t ready for the answer to that yet. If he said what I thought he was implying, it would be awkward when I didn’t say it back. Not until this was all over.
“But that was her?”
“Yes.”
We fell silent as I thought about that. Sin was the only woman in all of his life that he felt anything for besides me. I suppose that was when I ought to feel jealous, or at least territorial. But unlike Iona—who was playing with fire—Sin wasn’t driving wedges. On the contrary, I wouldn’t have known at all if he hadn’t seen us together.
When it came to whatever happened between them, I didn’t really feel any which way about it. They’d both clearly moved on and his straight forwardness left me at ease.
“I’ll be careful. I promise.”
He nodded. “I trust you, Ruby. I just don’t trust her.”
“Will you keep this between me and you?” I rolled my shoulder back and slipped one arm around his waist as we walked.
“For now.” His knuckles brushed softly down my side in an intimate gesture. My blood heated, and not because of the exertion. “Julian would lose his shit if he knew you two were in contact, but there’s not exactly anything we can do. You’re your own person, and even if we wanted to keep you from Sin, she would find a way.” He sighed, sounding far closer to his age than usual. “Just know that if you get in too deep with her that I’m here.”
My eyes closed as I turned and placed a soft kiss against his chest. “Thank you.”
“Always, little succubus.”
I smiled, feeling truly content despite where we were headed.
Even going into Hell could be a pleasant experience if you had your people with you.
Then the excited cries rang out into the night as Moira came doubling back into view. “We’re here,” she said as she projected her voice to me through the crowd.
I looked beyond her and the thin slip of trees to the mouth of the tunnel that led underground. The warm fuzzy feeling in my chest dissipated.
This was it.
“Ready to find out why no one wants to live in the Garden?” Allistair chuckled.
No, I couldn’t say that I did. But unfortunately for me, Iona had the answers I needed. “Let’s go,” I said with more enthusiasm than I felt.
My gut had kept me alive this long, maybe it would keep us alive a little longer.
Chapter 10
Never had I been so wrong.
The very rockface itself seemed to be acting as an oven trying to broil me alive. While Allistair insisted it was always this way, Laran and Julian were speculating that it was worse than usual, but at least underground no one had to fear that they’d burn from the flames. In some ways, it was similar to the portal since it was made of the same stone, and like the portal—it was downright uncomfortable. With millions of pounds of rock surrounding me, not even the slightest breeze giving relief, and Bandit’s god-awful whining—I understood why no one wanted to live here and no Sin contended for this province. It sucked. No two ways about it.
After walking for what felt like hours, I was ready to faint or cry when the tunnel finally opened up into what everyone had been calling the Garden. A sprawling underground city filled with a million tiny flickering lights that centered around a clear luminescent lake. Towers of black stone rose up from the water, each individual floor appeared like a pavilion with columns instead of true walls acting as the structure. Within them demons laughed and dined, they fucked, they fought, just as they would anywhere else.
Children high above us, on the upmost floors, ran out to the edge and looked down ten stories without fear. One of them, a boy not so far out, reached up and wrapped his hand around a gleaming cable—the place was filled with them. They spanned from one tower to the next, going up and down and straight across. Some even led off into the rock wall, seeming to disappear, which made me think they were actually caves.
The boy’s cable led straight to the rock beach where I stood. I frowned as he whipped up a length of rope dangling from his belt; on the end, a metal hook reflected the water’s low fluorescence. He slipped that end over the cable and without any hesitation, he jumped.
My mouth fell ajar from shock, but before I could even say anything the boy rocked himself forward and detached his clip, somersaulting in midair to land like an Olympic gymnast. No one around me took notice as he went to work helping load people onto the boats and then pushing them off the edge of the lake. “Did you see that?” I asked the Horsemen around me, pointedly focusing on everything else but how Iona continued trying to use her persuasion to get Rysten to join her boat—like she was strong enough for that to work on him. A look of disgust came over his features as he regarded her once before storming off to the side of the shore.
“See what?” Laran asked, coming to stand beside me. I pulled my attention back and pointed to the boy in a half-mask, wearing cinched baggy pants with layers of fabric and rope around his waist. Only a single white brand spanned half his back.
It gave off the same light as the water.
“That kid. He just rode one of those cables from across the lake.” Laran nodded, brushing a hand over his stubbled jaw.
“Ahnika came up with those. It’s the fastest and easiest way to get around here.”
For the Sin of Sloth, I imagined her to be a little less…ingenious. Guess that’s what I got for assuming. “It’s a clever idea,” I said.
“And it sure as Hell beats the climb up.” Allistair pointed to the tower and motioned vertically. I squinted, trying to pick out how you got from one floor to the next when I saw— “Are those ladders?” My voice sounded a little breathy and shrill at the mild panic of having to climb hundreds of feet after already being this exhausted…
“Yes, but we won’t be staying in a tower while we’re here,” Allistair answered, guidi
ng me towards the shore.
“We won’t?” I breathed out a sigh of relief and muttered, “Thank the Devil.” Laran and Allistair chuckled, both offering me a hand to help me into the surprisingly stable boat.
“We’ll be staying in a cave closer to the other side of the lake,” Allistair said. I moved to the far end and waited patiently as they loaded Rhiannon. Epona followed, carrying Bandit as he slept and snored obnoxiously loud. “I’m surprised the boat can hold their weight,” I said as Allistair and Julian joined me.
“These boats can’t sink, flip, or otherwise be destroyed,” Allistair said by way of answer. He reached out and clasped a paddle before War pushed us off. A pang of sadness hit me as I realized Laran was staying with Rysten. I saw him gather up Moira, Jax, and the final two familiars before loading themselves on a boat that trailed behind us.
“Must be magic,” I breathed, taking the chance to absorb my reality.
I was in Hell—underground—sharing a boat with two horses and two of my mates.
Shit didn’t get any crazier than this. It really didn’t.
In such a short period of time, my life had changed so drastically, I don’t even know if the old me would recognize what I’d become. Sure, on the outside we looked the same, but inside I was different. Changed in ways I couldn’t even fathom then. I had powers. Dangerous. Deadly powers. I had brands. I had familiars. I had enemies that weren’t just jealous women anymore— and more than anything—I had responsibilities.
To myself. To my family. To my mates. To an entire world.
If I wasn’t still riding the wave of shock and incredulity, suffering a caffeine withdrawal induced headache accompanied by mild exhaustion …well, I’d probably have either fainted or panicked by now, but I didn’t have time for that anymore.
In a matter of months, life as I had known it crumbled around me and served as kindling. Up in flames it went and where the glittering black ash settled, my new life grew. I’d reoriented my entire spectrum of being, and here underneath a caverned ceiling that glittered like the ash of my flames, I’d never felt more afraid, but I’d also never felt stronger.
The stalactites loomed hundreds of feet in the air, glowing water dripping like rain from the ends of them. I thought of the old Bible verse about a man in Hell begging God for only a drop of water. It never came.
Maybe he’d have had better luck begging Satan.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Allistair asked, sidling up beside me as he guided the boat.
I wasn’t exactly in the mood for a heart-to-heart before I talked to Rysten, so I settled for something a little simpler. “It’s beautiful,” I whispered, waving my hand to the ceiling high above us.
Allistair chuckled. “Until one falls and kills someone.”
“That happens?” I asked, unable to judge how truly large they were without much light.
“Yeah, about once a century or so. It’s Ahnika’s preferred execution method.” I blinked slowly, thinking about that.
Not only was she a genius, she was also vicious.
Yet another reason for me to stop assuming. Even as I thought it, I kept my eyes and attention glued to the ceiling instead of turning to the darker thoughts and feelings that settled in the back of my mind.
“I’m sorry—hold up for a second—did you just say execution method?”
He grinned up at the cavern canopy. “Yeah. Even in Sloth there is the occasional execution, although, it’s far better here than Greed. Saraphine is a sadist that makes even Julian look like a choir boy at times.”
I blew out a low whistle. “Damn. How do you even use a stalactite to execute someone? That’s gotta be over three hundred feet high...”
“Six hundred,” a gravelly voice said behind me. I could feel a blush creeping up on my cheeks after Allistair’s sadist comment, but what did I have to be embarrassed about? They all knew each other even better than they knew me.
“Like I said, I don’t see how that’s even possible.”
“Sound waves, believe it or not,” Allistair said, dropping his hand to my lower back to guide me forward. “Ahnika is the strongest banshee in the world. One scream from her and she can direct it to split one of those straight from the ceiling.”
“That’s insane.”
“Moira could probably do the same if she tried,” Julian said. He was trying to be nonchalant, but I didn’t miss the very calculated way he glanced behind him and up at the stalactites. I only needed to think about that for half a second to know how much of a bad idea it was.
“Don’t give her any ideas,” I muttered. She would practice trying to drop them on Rysten just to see him dodging out of the way, all the while cackling something about whack-a-mole.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. She’s already a big enough pain in the ass,” Allistair replied, but Julian stayed silent. I turned my slight frown to the front of the boat just as we hit land. The stop jolted me, and it took all my balance and Allistair’s fingers gripping the material of my shirt to keep me from being tossed out of the boat.
What it didn’t do was keep Bandit sleeping. My raccoon woke with a damn vengeance, jumping to his feet with a growl and reaching for me.
“You good?” Allistair asked. I nodded and he released me, stepping out to offer his hand as I wrapped one arm around Bandit and gave him the other.
Something cool and wet whacked against my arm. I dropped my gaze to glance over my shoulder at Rhiannon as she tried to nudge me along. Pushy horse. She was definitely Julian’s familiar.
“I think she’s giving you a hint,” Allistair smirked. I pursed my lips at him but held his hand tightly, more out of necessity than anything. These rocks were slippery, and I was just as likely to bust my ass as I was to fall out of the boat and drown. While my pride didn’t like it, my body was sore and shaking.
Fingers trembling, I gripped him as I stepped onto dry land. The second he released me my body swayed, but a sturdy side was there to catch me as I stumbled. Epona turned her head to nuzzle Bandit and I smiled faintly, petting her forehead while I waited for the dizziness to fade.
Winter and pine invaded my space as a cool arm wrapped around my ribcage, pulling me back into a hard chest. “You’re dehydrated from riding and walking. Let’s go find you somewhere you can rest for a little bit.” Those wicked fingers toyed with the hem of my shirt, briefly brushing against the skin of my stomach, and just like that, resting was the last thing I wanted. But Julian—like his horse—was stubborn as a damn mule.
Without asking, he swept me up in his arms and walked farther into the cave while the others were busy unloading. Bathed in the red and yellow firelight of torches placed in rungs bolted to the craggy rock side, the cave was…homier than I expected. Chaise longues lined the walls with plush cushions and a fur rug that had enough room for ten people.
“This place looks like the get-up for some ancient king out of a history book,” I said, my eyes trailing over every lush fabric and vibrant hue. The blue and green pillows had swaths of purple material pinned and sewn in beautiful designs with beads hanging from threads on the corners.
“It was,” he grinned. I frowned, noting the smaller things then. The things that weren’t immediately obvious. Like the lack of boats apart from ours, the lack of footprints, and even the thin layer of dust on the otherwise gleaming pleasure chamber.
“Lucifer?” I asked softly, already knowing but needing to hear it anyway. He nodded.
Once upon a time Lucifer shared this place, probably with Ahnika—the Sin of Sloth—but possibly with others too. Maybe even my own mother.
Laying on these pillows was a lot less appealing all the sudden.
“Iona thought you deserved to have your father’s chamber…” Julian said quietly, trailing off at something he saw on my face.
“I feel disgusting after the last few days. Is there anywhere I can wash off first?” I was stalling and we both knew it, but it also didn’t hurt anyone. Part of me wondered if Iona had planned thi
s or if it was the master pulling her strings. If they knew just how out of place I felt sleeping in a king’s nest while crowds of people holed up in the towers, sleeping in hammocks stacked on one another…
The rest of me was selfish and didn’t mind the distance from Iona one bit. It gave me a chance to get my bearings without her sly smile and tanned hands trying to worm their way around Rysten. He could handle himself, but I wasn’t comfortable putting him in the position to begin with when I knew there was something there and still, I agreed to come down here.
I needed answers, though. We all did.
“There are some pools around the back of the cave where you could bathe…” he trailed off, lifting an eyebrow in a silent question. My cheeks heated because that sounded like a great way to get my mind off whatever Iona was planning.
Until someone cleared their throat. Instead of desire, a cloud of dark emotions that weren’t mine fell over me.
“I can take her,” Rysten said. His usual playfulness was non-existent today. Where my Horseman of Pestilence loved to tease and get under his brother’s skin, today there was nothing. Only loneliness and a well of betrayal so deep he was using every fiber of his being to not feel it.
The snarky asshole in me wanted to brush him off, but I couldn’t do that. He wasn’t Josh— who I caught pants down stumbling out of a broom closet. He was Rysten: the demon that made Josh bleed from the eyes for touching me without consent after slipping me a demonic roofie. He was the man that watched How to Get Away with Murder with me and brought me pad Thai when I was upset. He came to Earth for me and learned our customs, just so he could be there for me in ways the others couldn’t when the day came for me to be called home.
Rysten wasn’t like any other man that came before him, or even like my other three mates. He was sweet and sensitive. He was the guy that let Moira throw an eggplant at his dick, and if that wasn’t caring I didn’t know what was.
“I can walk,” I said to Julian. He looked between the two of us, his gaze oscillating back and forth before he put me down, sliding me across his body in a seductive manner. Part of me thought he might be trying to get a rise out of Rysten, but with a quick peck to my lips and a warning look over his shoulder, Julian went back to the mouth of the cave, leaving the two of us alone.
Brimstone Nightmares (Queen of the Damned Book 4) Page 9