She led us to a set of winding stairs that curved upward within the tree. The air smelled heavily of wood and soil. At the top of the stairs, she pushed through a door into a room.
It was a cozy space of dark wood, and a ceiling folded over in a curved peak like leaves pressed against each other. Vines grew from the walls, twinkling with lights and lanterns hung among them.
“Take off your clothes.” Angel held out a hand. “I’ll dry them by the fire.”
I clutched at my soaking shirt. “I’ll stay wet tonight, thanks.”
Salem arched an eyebrow. My cheeks flared, and I immediately regretted the choice of phrasing.
“Suit yourselves.” She crossed out of the room.
Salem pulled off his jacket, his eyes burning as he looked at me. “I guess this is your lucky night, because you may join me in the bed.”
“Oh, there will be no corn grinding, Salem. I’m your damn captive. I’m sure you’re used to getting whatever you want because of how you look, but it’s not happening with me.”
The corner of Salem’s sensual mouth quirked. “How I look? Please elaborate.”
I glared at him. He knew, of course, that his beauty was a destructive force that left a trail of dropped panties in his wake. He was smoldering, masculine perfection. And most women would be thinking about him claiming them up against a wall.
I was not.
Nor was I going to flatter his ego. So instead, I gestured at him and said. “You know, your whole face. Whatever is going on there. How you look.”
“I see.” A low chuckle.
“It’s too fancy for me, frankly, your whole facial region,” I added. “I like a simpler face.”
What the hells was I babbling about?
He started to unbutton his shirt, and I took in the sight of his chiseled abs, his body thickly corded with muscle. Not a scar on him, despite the physique of a well-trained soldier. My gaze swept down a little lower, where an eight-pointed star beamed on his abs. It seemed to shimmer with starlight. What did that symbol mean?
When I looked at his face again, I caught the smug smile.
“I was just looking at the tattoo,” I said.
He laid his shirt on the bed, smoothly folded. He seemed like a tidy sort of person. Everything in the right place…
He turned back to me, and his wings appeared behind him, the dark feathers tinged with golden lantern light. A warm pulse of his magic tingled over my skin. It was like he was trying to take my breath away with just his presence.
His fiery gaze rooted me in place. “You are a very strange woman. You have sparked my curiosity for reasons I don’t entirely understand. I think I’d like to explore you more.” The timbre of his voice dripped with an erotic promise.
If he really wanted to seduce me, all he had to do was use his mind-control power. He’d be claiming me up against the wall in no time.
Why did I keep returning to that image?
His magic skimmed my body, making my wet skin tingle with heat, every inch of me growing more sensitive. The warm lights sculpted his cheekbones, his muscled body.
“I feel you react to me.” His voice was slow, smooth. “Underneath all the rage and the righteousness, a part of you wants me, I think. I’m not sure why that interests me, but it does.”
“That’s your ego confusing you, my friend.” I swallowed hard, my breath coming faster. I wasn’t going to look at him shirtless. “I’ll take the floor. I’ll sleep outside if I have to.”
“I can hear your heart beating faster every time I move closer.” Then a slow shrug. “But if you want to deprive yourself, who am I to argue?”
His wings disappeared, and he crossed back to the bed. I stared at his powerful back, thickly corded like a warrior’s.
I needed to turn the lights out on his physique.
I dimmed the lanterns until the flames flickered down, and the lights in the branches dimmed until complete darkness fell around us. I whispered a sleep spell, one buried in my memory from when my mother used to put me to sleep. A magical lullaby. I felt the room itself relax around me.
I waited for what seemed like ages. At last, the tension in the room began to dissipate, and the room seemed completely still. Salem’s breathing slowed.
Carefully, I rose from the floor. In complete silence, I crossed to the door. I inched it open, one millimeter at a time. The hallway was dark now, so I let in no light. My gaze flicked back to Salem. I could hardly see in the dark, but I didn’t see any signs of movement.
Carefully, I crept out into the stairwell. This was, maybe, my only chance to get away from him for a few moments. I had two things on the agenda. One, I wanted to get a message to the Merrow. I had a way to send messages through the seawater, though it wasn’t discreet. I had to do it when Salem wasn’t around.
And two, I needed to see for myself what the future held.
When I’d tiptoed down to the bottom of the stairs, I was disappointed to find that Angel was still awake.
She had laid out a set of tarot cards on the table by the candlelight.
As I crossed through the dining room, she pointed at a card. The Lovers. “Ah. Aenor. You see? I was doing your tarot card. This is your future with Salem.”
“It really isn’t.”
She flipped another card. Death. Her smile faltered. “That’s fine. It just means change.” A nervous laugh. “Change is good sometimes.”
She flipped another one onto the table, depicting a crumbling tower with flames on the base. The Tower.
I frowned at it. “I don’t suppose a burning building is good, too?”
“It’s definitely destruction—and fire, of course. But, you know, fire can be good! Purification, in some ways. Cleansing…” She sounded unsure of herself.
I found myself moving closer to her, curious about the cards. She flipped another one, and the card depicted two charred bodies on a rock, surrounded by broken bones.
The Conflagration, it read.
Her hand recoiled. She shot me a look of horror.
I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t put much stock in Angel’s predictions. But the card unnerved me all the same.
“What?” I asked in a small voice. “I’ve never seen that card before. Is there a positive spin on it?”
She stared at it. “I’ve never seen it before either.” She cocked her head. “It doesn’t exist. I mean, it never existed before. But maybe it means something different than what it looks like. Maybe…” She hastily gathered up the cards. “Let’s never speak of this again, okay?” Her expression was a forced smile. “Can I get you anything? Tea? Water? Whiskey?”
Nervously, I glanced up at the room I’d left. I had the sense that I definitely wasn’t going to get away with my little excursion unnoticed. Salem didn’t seem like he missed much—and what was more, Angel’s voice wasn’t exactly quiet.
Still, he wasn’t barging out right now to light me on fire. Might as well take the chance.
“No, thank you. I was just going to nip outside for some fresh air,” I said. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
She’d pulled the Conflagration card from the deck again, staring at it.
I frowned at the macabre card. “You really don’t know what that means?”
She cleared her throat. “It is difficult to come up with a positive spin on the charred corpses, and with the crushed bones…” She cleared her throat.
“Right.”
With my body buzzing with tension, I crossed to the door. When I pulled it open, a forlorn wind swept over me, chilling me through the damp clothes. Overhead, the crows cawed wildly, wings flapping.
If Salem had been sleeping, he probably wasn’t now.
I stepped out into the woods, sniffing the air to smell the sea.
I licked the salt off my lips.
All signs, even Angel’s terrible predictions, pointed to destructive fire in my future.
If Lyr found me now—would he still try to wrap that collar aro
und my neck? I wondered if I could call on him if I really needed him. I thought I could. He just didn’t trust me with all the magic.
When I thought about him, I felt… not much of anything.
The passion just felt dead.
I had a weird feeling that Salem was right about my attraction to Lyr. I’d felt lifeless without my magic, and I’d craved oblivion. The silence and peace his presence promised.
But now, I wanted warmth.
The ocean drew me closer with its siren song. What if Angel’s cards had some truth in them? Salem and I would never be lovers, of course. But I couldn’t deny that he had a seductive allure. His voice, his movements, his smoldering gaze… they all promised an erotic thrill.
He was a dark temptation. I thought I knew what the cards meant. It was simple, really.
If I let his seductive nature distract me, the world would burn.
Aenor
The squall still raged, and the wind picked up as I moved closer to the shoreline. The wind whipped at the trees, and when I reached the sand, the salty spume dappled my face.
Aaaah… home.
The wind caressed me as I waded into the sea—the sea that felt too warm for this time of year.
I held out my arms to either side, feeling the waves pound over my legs, my thighs.
First, let’s see if the Winter Witch was right about me.
I closed my eyes again. “God of the ocean and sea, show me things that might be. What if I keep my sea magic?”
When I opened my eyes again, I saw a vision gleaming in a sphere. Waves crashed over the fires, and ice spread out on the ocean floor.
The image shimmered away again, and I loosed a breath. That was good, right? If the world could burn, ice and water could put out the fires.
Now what happens if Salem gets what he wants?
“God of the ocean and sea, show me things that might be. What will happen if Salem frees the woman I buried in the soul cage?”
Sea magic slid over my skin, slick and cold. Then I opened my eyes again to see an image burning in the sphere above me. Fear crawled up my spine.
A world of death had ignited in the bubble. Trees withered; dark smoke curled into the air. In the vision, the seafloor cracked and opened, flames bursting from a crevasse…
The vision spread out of the bubble, bleeding into reality. All around me, the sea began to churn and boil. I stepped back from the ocean as the water burned my skin. Steam rose from the glistening surface. Then, with horror, I watched as the water started to evaporate, leaving behind only dust. Heat scalded my skin as if I stood on the sun. I was on fire, breathless.
The image shimmered away again, and the cold sea crashed against my legs. At last, I exhaled, examining my arms for burns.
Gods have mercy. No wonder the Merrow was trying to kill us. Surely he saw us heading for him, ready to unleash all this destruction on the world.
I glanced behind me at the dark forest. Salem wasn’t coming for me, and I had enough time to put my magic to work on a message for the Merrow.
In a storm, you couldn’t normally see the phosphorescence glowing in the sea. But with the right magic, you could draw the bioluminescence to you—those little glowing beings that made the dark sea sparkle and glow at night. If you had the right kind of magic, you could use this glittering ocean light to send a message.
“God of the ocean and sea, send my words to the Merrow across the water.” As a wave receded, I traced my fingertips over the water, writing, Merrow. As my fingertips skimmed the water’s surface, phosphorescence beamed beneath it.
I traced another message: I am the only one who can stop Salem.
The ocean sucked the words away from me, sending them on their way to the Merrow.
Another wave crashed around me, soaking me completely. As the water calmed, I wrote, I need the sea glass.
The sea swallowed this message, too, churning it under the surface.
When the words appeared again, they slid away from me on the ocean’s surface. I stared at the faint flecks of light beaming at the sky, drifting farther away from me.
When I turned back for the house, my heart skipped a beat. Salem was watching me, his dark wings cascading behind him. His eyes burned with an icy light.
This wasn’t the sophisticated Salem in a mohair suit. This was Lucifer. He’d shifted, and short black horns jutted from his bare shoulder blades. He’d come armed with his sword, and that silvery star beamed on his abs. He stood with the preternatural stillness of a demon. Ghostly flames danced in the air around him, warm light carving the masculine planes of his face.
“Aenor,” he said in a husky voice. “Planning an escape?”
“I wanted to see what would happen if you achieved your goals. So I did a little spell to see what you have planned. I saw it for myself. The world burning. The sea boiling until it evaporates. That’s what happens if we get to the driftwood cage.”
The flames rose around him. “Is that what you saw.” It sounded like more a statement than a question. Flat. Unimpressed.
“Is that what you want? Are you trying to raise an army of Fomorians to burn the world down?” I took a deep breath, my legs shaking a little. “I think I understand now. All your sophistication—the brandy, the palace, your expensive suits. You’re overcompensating, aren’t you? You use sophistication to hide what you really are. You just want to burn it all.”
Salem lowered his chin, staring at me. Cruel, cold beauty beamed from his face like a star. “I told you, Aenor.” Under his silky tone was a sharp blade, a warning. “Do not defy me again. Your mother died fast, but I can make your death a very unpleasant one if I must.”
Slowly, the horns and flames receded into the darkness.
The monster who’d killed Mama stood before me.
He might hide his monstrous side with elegance, but I knew what lurked underneath.
Salem
The crows swept over our head, screeching as we reached the house again. We walked in silence as I composed myself. I’d felt about to lose control back there, like I’d wanted to drag her back to the house and never let go of her.
But I hadn’t wanted to hurt her. No, I’d wanted to fold her into my wings and pull her close to me.
What a strange impulse.
And most perplexing of all, threatening to kill her had felt completely wrong. It was like the words were a toxin poisoning my blood as soon as I’d uttered them. I could feel the threat eating away at me.
Why?
I’d certainly done worse things in my time than kill someone for revenge.
The little vixen had gotten into my head completely, muddling and intoxicating my thoughts. Suddenly, I couldn’t make a simple death threat without feeling guilty about it.
Maybe it was that she seemed to understand me… The sophisticated exterior and the beast who lurked underneath it all. She’d seen right through me, and she found me repulsive. Any sane person would.
My gaze slid to her. Rain poured down her arms and slicked her clothes to her body. She walked hunched, hugging herself.
All I knew now was that I couldn’t let her out of my sight.
I could command her right now. Never leave my side. Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to. Worship me as a god, Aenor…
Except I didn’t want to invade her mind again, because I didn’t want to see her pierce her palms.
When I pushed through the door into the house, I found it silent and dark. The witch had gone to bed, no longer troubling me with her predictions. Aenor walked in silence behind me up the stairs. The urge to strip her wet clothes off her and pull her into my bed to warm her was overwhelming.
In the bedroom, she shot me a furious look, like she was reading my thoughts. “I’ll take the floor again.”
So she could escape again? Perhaps get a message to Lyr, that tedious, white-haired cock.
Lyr, the morose sea-fuck.
Her lover.
The thought of him touching her brought fire to
my veins. I’d have to burn something to rid him from my mind. Preferably him.
But while I waited on that, I’d make her bend to my will.
“No, Aenor.” My voice sounded rough, desperate. “You have two options now. I can tie you down to sleep, or I can enchant you to stay in this room. Which will it be?”
Her beautiful mouth opened and closed, and she looked stunned for a moment. Then she composed her expression and nodded at the bed. “Fine. Tie me to the bed.”
A slow smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”
The look she gave me turned my chest to ice, and she crossed to the bed. She lay down on her back, her sea-damp hair and clothes dripping onto the sheets. Droplets of water beaded over goosebumps on her skin. I wanted to warm her.
She raised her arms above her head, wrists near the bedframe. As she did, the look in her eyes was as icy as the water dripping from her skin. Something twisted in my chest as I moved closer to her. I whispered an ancient spell.
I touched her wrists, and ropes of magic twined around them, binding them together.
She despised me for this, but I had to keep her close to me.
I was the one who’d led her into Lyr’s arms by ripping her magic from her. He was the allure of death, a promise of reprieve from a life of misery.
“I’m sticking close to you,” I barked. It came out sounding more like a threat than I’d meant it to.
I flicked my wrist, and all the lanterns in the room went out. I lay on the bed next to Aenor.
The cold rippled off her, and I let some heat radiate off my body to warm her.
“Don’t get anywhere near me,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Oh don’t worry, Aenor,” I murmured. “Not until you beg for it.”
“In your dreams.”
And wouldn’t that be a lovely dream. Unfortunately, I couldn’t dream anymore. Nothing but a void when I slept.
Really, though, there was nothing like seducing a woman who despised you. When she tried so hard to resist—then she’d find herself pulling up her skirts a little higher, cheeks flushing as I caressed her thighs. Her legs would open for me, and I’d tease her so slowly, so excruciatingly. As I skimmed my hand over her wet slit, she’d beg me to fuck her. I’d draw it out, waiting till she demanded it of me. I’d make her betray every single objection she had to me until she abandoned herself to pleasure.
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