The Dark God's Bride : Book 2

by Dahlia Lu

She quickly washed up and brushed her teeth with the toothbrush she’d left behind since the last time she was here. She walked into the kitchen and then halted when she saw her brother sitting at the breakfast nook. He was eating his breakfast.

  The first thing that was wrong with that picture was that her brother was around and in plain sight. Trent rarely ever stays in one place for long. Without any connections to her mother or Chevalier, she wouldn’t ever see him at all. The second thing wrong with that picture was that Trent was eating… actually eating something. Amara knew for a fact that he hasn’t eaten anything for years.

  She seated herself at the table and Raya served up her portion. She stared at her brother with curiosity.

  Breakfast had a quiet awkwardness about it that made Amara felt uncomfortable. It was as if she was intruding on something, but no one was having a conversation or even looking each other in the eyes.

  After helping out with the dishes, Amara decided to play the matchmaker and dashed off. Sometimes the best thing to do was to stay out of the way and do nothing at all.

  Instead of heading straight home like she wanted to, Amara had two classes on Saturday, and they were two subjects that she strongly disliked: English Literature and Calculus. Both were university graduation requirements. She purposely scheduled them on Saturday so she would only need to attend each once a week. She would never take them voluntarily. Her love would always be chemistry – the basic building blocks of magic.

  After five long hours of classes and two hours waiting time in between, which she spent at the computer lab, Amara drove home.

  To her complete surprise, Camden was waiting for her in front of her apartment. He was leaning against the door, but straightened up when he saw her.

  Her first reaction was to warn him, “You have to get out of here!”

  “I will in a minute,” he promised. “I tried to call you but you didn’t pick up your phone.”

  “I was in class so I turned it off.”

  “I needed to talk to you in person anyway.”

  Amara scanned both ends of the hallway. “Please say it quickly. Actually, I can’t be seen with you, so call me.”

  Amara quickly unlocked the door and went inside. When she attempted to close the door, Camden didn’t allow her.

  “You are acting strange,” he pointed out. “Are you in some kind of trouble? Because that’s something I should know. If you owe money to the mob, I have roughly two and half million in my bank account from my inheritance and insurance payout. If you’re being threatened in any way, my brother is a head detective.”

  Amara quickly scanned her apartment and then turned to him. “It’s not what you think. It’s complicated” she repeated the same statement she had on the phone. “Really, really–”

  He finished her sentence, “complicated.”

  “Yes!”

  His expression dropped. “I can’t accept an explanation like that, Amara. Give me a legitimate reason and I swear to you I will never bother you again. I refuse to let something that could very well lead to a promising future together go just because of a vague reason like … it’s complicated. If you’re going to reject me, then be honest–”

  “I’m not rejecting you!” She said hurriedly. She took in a deep breath and released the door. “Alright, I admit it. I’m in involved in something very dangerous… and I can’t tell you what it is that I am involved in. Just know that if I continue to see you, your life will be in danger. There, I said it!”

  He was staring at her in absolute silence.

  “So it’s not you…” she added, “You’re smart and you’re kind, and I wish that we could get to know each other better, but…”

  He stepped forward, bent his head, and broke her sentence with a kiss that stunned her where she stood. Against her better judgment, she closed her eyes and kissed him back. Sensibility gripped her and pulled her back. She shoved him back and met the confused look in his eyes.

  “I knew it…” Amara whispered hopelessly when she looked past him. Noctis was like a ghost, appearing out of nowhere. His piercing blue eyes had never looked angrier.

  “Knew what?” Camden asked.

  “I need you to get out of here right now,” she said to him. “Please. I’m begging you. Go home.”

  Camden followed her gaze and turned around to face the mountain of a man behind him.

  “I will explain everything later,” she promised. “Please leave.”

  “Who are you?” Camden asked Noctis without so much a blink.

  Noctis’s gaze was fixed on her. At the question, his eyes slid to Camden. When Noctis lifted a hand, Amara launched at him and grabbed his arm.

  “Cousin!” Amara blurted out. “He’s my cousin from out of town!”

  Camden didn’t believe her for a minute. “Are you sure you’re safe?”

  She mentally shook her head, but in reality, she nodded.

  “Alright, call me if anything changes,” he hinted. With an unsettled look on his face, Camden retreated down the hallway.

  Noctis shook her off and sneered at her. “I will deal with you after.”

  She gripped onto him before he could stalk after Camden. “Don’t kill him!”

  In a low and dangerous voice, he told her, “Mortal. Let go.”

  “No!”

  “Let go,” he repeated.

  “No!”

  He backed her against the wall and punched the concrete behind her. The wall buckled and cracked. The building shook violently from the impact.

  She gulped and panted amidst the simulated earthquake. He watched her expression very carefully and then turned to the direction Camden left in. She grabbed him before he could shift away.

  “I seduced him!” She screamed at him. “If you’re going to be angry with anyone, then be angry with me!”

  He halted and turned toward her. “You seduced him…?”

  She regulated her breathing. “That’s right. I have the right to date, just as anyone else.”

  “Not when you belong to me.”

  “Said you! I am my own person! I don’t belong to anyone, least of all you! Don’t think that just because I slept with you once that you have some kind of claim on me! Haven’t you heard of casual sex? If you feel betrayed–”

  He began to chuckle.

  She stared at him in bewilderment, wondering if he’d completely lost it.

  “There can be no betrayal where there is no trust,” he clarified. “I do not trust anyone. Not anymore. I expect nothing from you.” He clutched her chin in a blur and forced her to look at him. “Did you let him fuck you?”

  The vulgar nature of the question stung her ears. “No,” she replied honestly. “I was sleeping on it.”

  She wondered if he’d believed her, but instantly shook away the thought. I don’t care if he believes me or not. It’s none of his business!

  He inched closer to her lips. Just when she thought he would kiss her, he whispered into her ear, “I will not kiss you, mortal.”

  He roughly smoothed a thumb over her trembling lips, smudging her matte coral colored lipstick. The leer of his blue eyes was impaling her. Amara carefully watched the slow movements of his hand coming down to her neck. She cringed at the lightest touch of his fingers.

  Amara inhaled deeply and then bravely raised her chin to give him access to her neck. She slammed her eyes shut, silently hoping he would finish her quickly.

  Amara opened her eyes again after a long still moment.

  “I hate you,” she muttered, purposely trying to provoke him.

  She was rendered speechless when he replied, “I know.” He lowered his eyes for the briefest moment and then bored them into hers again. “As I’ve said before, your opinion of me is irrelevant. You belong to me, willing or not. It shouldn’t matter.”

  His words was searing deep. In the end, she was nothing more than chattel – something to be owned and used. She felt like he’d just splashed acid on her pride.

  “Let go
of me!” Amara expressed her frustrations. “If you knew that I hate you, then why are you still stalking me? If you’re going to kill me for deceiving you, then just do it! If you already decided to spare me, then leave me the hell alone! I hate you! I hate being around you! I hate everything about you!”

  His answer was simple, “I cannot.”

  Her fists beat at his hard chest hysterically. “Why the hell not? Find some other poor soul to torture! I’ve had enough of you!”

  “Stop that! You’re just hurting yourself!” He grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head. “If I could let go, then I wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of tracking you down!”

  She finally broke down and sobbed, “Please leave me alone. Please don’t pursue me anymore. I just want to live my life. Why don’t you let me live my life?”

  “It will not matter if you beg, mortal,” he said, his voice was a cold as ice and hard as stone. “You are mine.”

  “But I don’t want to be yours!” She cried. “I want to be with someone who actually treats me like a human being! I want to be with someone who isn’t insane! I want to be with someone who wouldn’t hurt the people I love!”

  His blue eyes narrowed. “Who are you referring to?”

  She gritted her teeth when she realized he was trying to get information from her. The truth will be known to him eventually, and when that happens…

  “I’m begging you. I’ll get on my knees and beg you if I have to. Please let go of your vengeance. Please do not hurt the most important person in my life. You don’t know…” she inhaled to stop the tears from swelling up in her eyes. “…how much…”

  No, Amara! Don’t give him more information than he already knows.

  She thought she could appeal some kind of compassion from him, but it seemed that she’d only made him angrier. Instead of sympathy, his face was wrapped in fury. “I’d assume the person you speak of is the real bride of Lucifer. Why are you protecting her? For this woman, you would be willing to throw away that resilient pride of yours? For her sake, you would be willing to kneel to me?”

  Amara nodded without a second thought. “I’ll bargain with you. I’ll agree to anything if you would just let go of the past.”

  “To you, that woman is more important than anything?”

  She nodded once more.

  A smirk tugged at his lips. “If that is so then I will take great pleasure in destroying that woman.”

  “What?!” Amara shouted at him. “Haven’t you been listening to what I’m saying?”

  “I have been listening, mortal. If this woman is that important to you then I must destroy her.”

  “If you want revenge, then confront Lucifer with your sword. Don’t bring an innocent woman into this!”

  “This has nothing to do with Lucifer!” He retorted.

  Amara gasped. “You’re going after her because of me? Must you make my life a living nightmare for you to be happy!?”

  He said nothing.

  “If you go through with this then I’ll hate you forever! I’ll haunt you for thousands of years after I die!”

  “What’s the difference?” he scoffed. “You already resent me.”

  “Why must you destroy everything that is dear to me? Are you some kind of sadist who takes pleasure from seeing me suffer?”

  “Because, mortal! I come second to nothing!” His hold on her wrists tightened. “I am your earth. I am your sky. I am your Heaven. I am your Hell. I will make you acknowledge me, and I will remove all obstacles preventing me from reaching that end.”

  “I acknowledge!” Amara said without a moment’s hesitation. “I acknowledge everything you’ve just said. You are my lord and master and I will obey you unconditionally. I swear I will not retaliate. If you hate to hear me talk, then there are spells to seal my voice. If you hate the way I look at you, there are also spells for that. I’ll accept anything!”

  He growled at her. The building was shaking again.

  Police sirens were closing in from a distance. Amara deducted that Camden must have called for help because Noctis was naturally intimidating, and she had told an obvious lie.

  The scenery around them changed from the apartment’s hallway to their bedroom inside the mansion. He’d teleported them both to his home and tossed her on the massive bed.

  Amara scanned the room. It looked nothing like it had done the last time she saw it. The bed and floor were scattered with goose feathers from the torn up pillows. The furniture was slashed to pieces. It looked a complete mess.

  “You will stay here,” he instructed, his voice was low and vicious. He clenched his fists and headed for the door.

  “Hold on,” she called out to him. “About my proposal–”

  “Mortal. I am at my limit with you. If I stay here, you will get hurt. There is no question about it.”

  “I don’t care. I will not let you leave until you promise me you will not pursue her.”

  “You don’t care?” He inquired, turning to face her once again. “Do you even know what you are contending with?”

  “Once you leave this room, you’ll be out for blood anyway. I know your pattern now. If I let you go, there is no doubt on my mind that you’ll kill Camden. Maybe even other people I care about. If you’re angry with me, keep matters between us!”

  “You think you know me so well, mortal,” he stalked to the side of the bed. “You think you can predict my pattern. You think you know exactly what is going on in my head.”

  “I know enough,” she breathed when he leaned over and trapped her between him and the mattress. The close proximity made her body shiver.

  “Now that you’ve gotten me to stay, what do you suppose I’ll do to you?”

  She bit her lower lip because she knew. Her shaking fingers began to undo the buttons, one by one. She set the shirt aside and covered her breasts with her forearms. She lifted her eyes, feeling like a small prey about to be devoured by the beast.

  He grabbed her hair in a fist. “Mortal. I have enough rage to kill you. Do you think this is a wise move?”

  “I’m not wise, Noctis. I am not even brave. But I know that I’d rather it be me than the people I care about.”

  “Why?” he asked, gripping on her hair. “Why do you care so much about them? Do you not know that the ones you cared about are the ones that can hurt you the most? Do you know that they are the only ones capable of betrayal? For all you know, they’ll stab you in the back as soon as the opportunity arises. Trust only yourself, mortal.”

  “You only say that because you don’t know the first thing about caring for another person. You don’t know shit about trust or love… or anything for that matter. Perhaps there was a time in your mortal life when you did know how to love and how to trust, but immortality has changed you. Now, you are just empty. You are nothing but a hollow shell of the man you once were!”

  “You know absolutely nothing!” he thundered, shoving her toward the mattress. She felt his rage escalating. “Sincerity between people doesn’t exist! You do not know the true monster that dwells in the depths of the human heart. You have not seen its insatiable greed. The beast does not care who will be its victim as long as it can reach its goal. For if you had known, you would not be this gullible!”

  “I’ve seen that monster,” she spat at him. “I’m looking at him right now. You are that ugly monster! You are that horrid beast!”

  He growled savagely as his powerful frame loomed over her. “Yes,” he said in a very low voice. “Are you still offering yourself to the ugly monster… the horrid beast, mortal?”

  His voice sent an icy chill down her spine. She slowly sank back against the soft linen, as stiff as a board. “Here lies your victim.”

  “Victim,” he derided. “If you are that obsessed with the idea, then keep playing the victim. See if I care!”

  She turned her head to the side to avoid looking at his wrathful blue eyes. Slowly, very slowly, her arms fell to her side, exposing her breasts to hi
m.

  His harsh breathing filled the room. He grabbed her shirt and tossed it over her body.

  “So, suddenly the beast has developed a conscience?”

  “Don’t embarrass yourself any further.”

  She sharply turned to face him, anger burning at her cheeks. Tears of humiliation began to collect. No one had ever treated her with less dignity than he has. “Is that what I’m doing? Embarrassing myself?”

  “Yes,” he answered coarsely.

  “Because I’m selling myself for cheap? Should I have demanded more from you?”

  “Don’t challenge me, mortal,” he warned gravely.

  “Should I have asked for a sum of cash to go along with the lives of the people I care about? Would that have given this body a little more value?”

  “Shut up,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Not until I’ve said my piece! You have no right to pass judgment on me when you’re nothing more than a broken son of a bitch! You are broken in every sense of the word!”

  His blue eyes flashed at her. “I am broken! Do you know how I’ve gotten this way, mortal? I was betrayed by everyone I’ve ever cared about! Deceived by everyone I’ve ever loved! The wife that was supposed to be mine was carrying another man’s child! The kingdom that was supposed be mine was stolen from me! The brother I’ve loved framed me for the death of our father and tried to silence me! Even the one man I thought was my savior…my mentor… my best friend… turned on me and imprisoned me in endless darkness!”

  His piercing blue eyes were stalking her, sending yet another icy chill down her spine. In a blur, she was pinned down against the mattress. Panic gripped into her guts.

  “I despise you most of all,” he rasped coarsely, breathing down the side of her neck. She shrank back and quivered. “You are making me lose the last bit of control that I desperately need. You were asking me to let go of my vengeance? Never! Not as long as there is still a breath in my body. You were pleading me to let you go? It will not matter how much you beg. Once I decide what I want, I never let go! You are mine!” he claimed her mouth with fierce possessiveness. “The sooner you accept your fate, the better!”

  He dropped his head and crushed her mouth with his. His tongue traced the soft lining before he deepened the kiss. She melted under him. There it was again, that strange and overpowering feeling that had her wondering if there was something horribly wrong with her.