Hearts of Darkness

by Kira Brady

  Hart threw himself over her. His weight crushed her into the scorched grass, knocking the breath from her lungs. From beneath Hart’s arm, she watched the dragon lurch toward her. Its tail caught on something, and it jerked in the air. There was a general cry from the field. Kayla pushed Hart’s arm out of her view. A second dragon had emerged from behind the cliff and sunk its teeth into Norgard’s tail. They had similar builds, though the second dragon was slightly smaller. Its red scales were tipped in green, as if moss had crept over them with the rain and damp. It seemed younger somehow, but it was deadly serious about its attack on Norgard.

  Who could this be? Which of Norgard’s men would side with the Kivati?

  Hart seemed to read her mind. “His brother, Leif Asgard,” he shouted in her ear.

  “Why would he help us?”

  “Don’t know.”

  Norgard’s long body twisted in the air until he reached his brother’s left wing. His teeth tore into the thin membrane, but Asgard didn’t let go of his tail. Asgard’s weight pulled Norgard toward the ground. They rolled in the air, shimmering coils moving smoothly over and around each other, gripping, squeezing. Kayla glanced around the field. The other dragons didn’t seem to know whether to continue fighting the Thunderbirds and Kivati, or to come to their leader’s aid.

  Asgard was tilting heavily toward his injured wing. He needed help, but the Kivati didn’t seem eager to interrupt the fighting dragons.

  “Get up,” she hissed in Hart’s ear. Norgard had been distracted by her before, maybe he could be again.

  “Don’t think I can’t tell you’re plotting something,” Hart growled.

  “Trust me.”

  He didn’t give his trust easily. His skin grew hot to the touch. She knew how much he hated Changing, but he would do it willingly to protect her. One Wolf couldn’t take down an army of Kivati and Drekar. She had to do something before he tried. She couldn’t live with herself if anything happened to him. How could one man grow so important to her in such a short time?

  His body suffused with a golden glow. She felt fur sprout beneath her fingers. His jaw lengthened, and his teeth grew. She used his distraction to slither out from beneath him. When she turned, a huge timber Wolf with eerie violet eyes growled behind her. He lunged in front of her. His head reached her breasts.

  “I have to help. Come with me if you want, but don’t stop me from trying.” She buried her hands in his fur and tugged.

  He allowed her to move, but shadowed her so closely that her knees knocked against him at every step. She clutched his fur for courage. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Slowly, they made it across the field to the edge of the cliff. It was idiocy to get closer to the battling dragons, but she had to do something.

  “Norgard!” she shouted. Her cry was lost in the howling wind.

  Corbette noticed her perched on the edge, and the first bit of color flashed over his gaunt face. She wasn’t sure if his visible fatigue was a result of the battle or his worry for Lucia. He motioned to his men. Suddenly Kayla found herself caught between the cliff edge and a line of predators. Kivati who hadn’t Changed held guns cocked and pointed at her.

  Hart’s flank pushed against her hip as he tried to bare his teeth in all directions. The fur on his back stood straight up.

  Above them, Norgard noticed the movement and twisted around to glare at the ground. He hovered with Asgard’s long head between his sharp talons.

  “Norgard!” Corbette shouted. “I’ll blow her to pieces if you move a muscle.” The wind carried his voice so that it boomed over the battlefield.

  The dragon raised its head and screeched. It sounded halfway between a bird of prey and a tiger.

  “We only want the princess,” Corbette yelled over the crash of the waves. “A trade: Lucia for the human.”

  Anger washed through Kayla’s fear. Corbette had planned to sell her out. No, he wouldn’t. She was partially Kivati, and he needed her to close the Gate. Didn’t he? No wonder Hart had so much trouble trusting anyone. No one in this city seemed to be worthy of it.

  Norgard still hesitated.

  “She’s untouched, dragon,” Corbette lied. “Going once . . . going twice . . .”

  Hart snapped his teeth in the Raven Lord’s direction.

  Norgard dropped through the air with Asgard clutching his back. His claws scraped for purchase along the edge of the cliff. He hauled himself over, and his brother followed. Both were the worse for wear, covered in blood and broken scales. Asgard Turned and collapsed to the ground. Norgard was more graceful; one moment his talons gouged the soaked earth, the next his bare feet padded softly forward. No hitch in his gait. Even naked and in human form, he radiated power. The rain slicked his blond mane back from his face and drizzled down his sculpted body.

  “Hold your blasted fire,” Norgard ordered.

  The brothers resembled each other, though Asgard was slightly swarthier. He panted on the ground as his wounds slowly healed in the open air. The hurt in his eyes as he looked at his brother shocked her. She had thought all Drekar were evil, but Asgard seemed more human than most.

  She kept her eyes raised as Norgard strode toward her. He had nothing she wanted to see. Hart crouched between them, prepared to attack if Norgard didn’t halt. A small, vicious part of her wanted Hart to attack. This was the man responsible for her sister’s death. The man who kidnapped and drugged her, as he had countless women. A soul-sucking monster.

  Norgard stopped ten feet from Hart’s sharp teeth. “You think so little of my intellect, Corbette? A blind man could see that the Wolf has taken a mate.”

  A mate? The word sounded more permanent than boyfriend, but she and Hart hadn’t discussed the status of their relationship. It had happened so fast. Hart was protecting her at the moment, but what happened once they made it past this madness? When the adrenaline faded and real life began again, would he stick around? Or would he grow tired of her calm, boring lifestyle? The thought of him leaving made her heart squeeze unpleasantly in her chest.

  Corbette widened his eyes a fraction, as if Norgard’s accusation was a surprise. “You know Kivati are forbidden from taking human mates. This girl is yours for the taking.”

  “In exchange for my surrender, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  A hundred paces behind Norgard, Asgard stirred. Achingly, he rose to his feet, his body now smooth and whole as if he’d never been scratched. The glacial cast of his face seemed devoid of emotion. His sea-green eyes fastened on his brother as if the rest of them were shadows. His long, sure strides narrowed the gap. “Sven, what have you done?” His voice held such pain and rage that even the Kivati took a step back.

  Norgard drew himself straighter and turned to face his brother. “Only what was required for the survival of our people. You lack the courage, little brother. I have shielded you for your own sake.”

  Asgard’s eyes changed from green to fire. His grip on humanity hung by a knife’s edge. “Raping women? Slaughtering innocents? Plotting to unleash the Horde? This is what is required for survival? At what price?”

  Norgard snorted. “Humans are plentiful as grains of sand beneath the sea, and twice as expendable.”

  Corbette crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you have any idea what would happen if the Gates open fully? You would lay waste to the world. There would be nothing left to rule but ruins and refugee camps. Much more profitable to concentrate on your business empire—”

  “It will never be enough,” Norgard snapped. “I will not accept crumbs when I am owed an empire. Don’t you tire of living in the shadows? Don’t you chafe at serving humans who would despise you if they knew what you were? Don’t you weary of upholding a compact with gods who have forgotten you?”

  Corbette’s lips thinned, but he didn’t disagree.

  “I thought you might be interested in joining my little cause.” Norgard sauntered closer to Corbette until he stood just out of reach. The air crackled with power betwe
en the two. Norgard smiled lazily. “Have you ever taken down a human in animal form? No? It’s a wonderful feeling. The bones snapping in your teeth. The hot blood streaming down your throat.” Norgard’s half-lidded eyes glowed. He licked his lips. His naked body swayed toward the other man, a sensual offense that was either mad or brilliant.

  It put the Raven Lord in an uncomfortable position, though his stoic expression hid it well. He obviously wanted to take a step back, but couldn’t. He would not retreat from his enemy.

  Norgard took a step closer so that their bodies were a hairbreadth apart. His pale skin contrasted sharply with Corbette’s black leather. He tilted his head down, nose to nose with the shorter man. Corbette ground his teeth and held his ground.

  “It’s the hunt that truly gets the blood running,” Norgard crooned. “Hearing those little human heartbeats race and their pitiful mews of panic—ah! Nothing can compare. Especially as you press those soft bodies to the ground and take what the good earth has given you. Our goddesses are not so different, Tiamat and your Lady. Both sacrificed their bodies for their children to live upon. Both gave their wombs to create the bounty of the earth. It would be rude to ignore their sacrifice by refusing that bounty.” He bent his head to touch his lips to Corbette’s ear. “When you plunge into your human prey, whether with teeth or cock, you worship your goddess. She doesn’t want your silly celibacy, your barren self-restraint. She is fertility. She is blood. She didn’t build this world with hands and hammer, but birthed it bloody and heaving for her children to rule.”

  Corbette wrapped his hands around Norgard’s neck and threw him to the ground. “Enough!” His fury caused the clouds above to bash into each other. Thunder filled the air. The waves crashed angrily into the cliff face. It was suddenly apparent why the man kept his temper so tightly leashed. His uncontrolled emotions sent the weather roiling. He could cause tsunamis and hurricanes without thinking.

  Hart growled. Fur raised, he backed into Kayla’s legs, pushing her away from the confrontation.

  Norgard might have been thrown to the ground, but he quickly turned it to his advantage. Lying on his side, he propped his head up on one hand as if he was lounging on the wet dirt of his own accord. He was unself-conscious in his nudity. The power humming through the air excited him. He turned his head to Kayla and smirked. “Going so soon, my love?”

  Hart snapped his teeth. Kayla dug her hands in his fur to try to keep him from lunging at the Dreki.

  Norgard laughed softly. “I never thought I’d see the day. Mad dog, attaching himself to another weak woman. You’ll get yourself killed that way, don’t you know?” This he addressed to the Wolf. “Women can’t be trusted. I’ve often thought they were gifted their capriciousness from the goddess herself.”

  “Maybe if you weren’t such a monster, you’d find women more interested in sticking around,” Kayla told him.

  The muscles around his eyes tightened. “Your sister seemed to like me as I am. But perhaps you’re right. She turned out to be just as much of a whore as you. Must run in the family.” He rolled to his feet with feline grace. “I propose a different trade. Your body is useless to me now, but you have something else that belongs to me. Return it—”

  “Return what?” Kayla asked.

  “Don’t be coy. I want my necklace.”

  Kayla felt her mouth fall open. Norgard didn’t have the necklace anymore? She’d seen it around his neck. He had to be lying. All the facts pointed to his culpability. His history of violence, kidnap, and rape. His admission that he’d planned to use the necklace to open the Gate. Fear shivered over her skin. She wished she could curl up next to Hart’s warm pelt and sleep through this nightmare. Nothing she had done since she stepped foot in Seattle had gone as planned. Where was Lucia?

  No one spoke for a long moment. Norgard turned from her to Corbette to Hart and back again. His brows rose slowly as the silence lengthened. “Who, pray tell, has it now?”

  Overhead, lightning flashed. “Where,” Corbette asked, his voice low and menacing as the thunder that shook the ground, “is Lucia?”

  “How should I know?” Norgard snapped. “I don’t have her. I never did.”

  His admission clawed through Kayla, sudden and deep. He had to be lying, but Drekar couldn’t lie. Lucia was gone. Kayla felt blindsided, just like she had with Desi. Though she hadn’t known Lucia well, she had felt a connection to the young woman. Lucia reminded her in some ways of her sister: brash, beautiful, and wild. They both lit the room. They both leaped before they looked. Kayla hadn’t made the connection before, but Lucia’s disappearance drove it home. Kayla had failed her as sure as she had failed Desi. Was everyone who came in contact with her doomed? She looked at the Wolf in front of her, and her eyes teared up. Hart should run now while he still had a chance.

  Yeah, real logical, Nurse Friday. She shook her head. God, she was a mess.

  Think, damn it! It was the eve of the equinox. She had been so certain of Norgard’s guilt, she had ignored everyone else. Who had the motivation to steal the necklace and open the Gate? Who had the opportunity? She searched her memory for clues she had missed. Sleep-deprivation and terror didn’t make for brilliant deductions.

  Hart turned his head to look up at her, worry plain in his eyes. If Norgard didn’t have the necklace or Lucia, they were already too late.

  Chapter 20

  Lucia was underground, that much she knew for certain. Where and when escaped her. The walls were rough-hewn and crumbled around the edges. The small alcove was carved into the wall of a larger cave. Steel bars set into the mouth imprisoned her. In the main cavern, a large, rectangular, flat-topped boulder rose from the center of the floor. From each of the four corners dangled iron manacles. She tried not to stare at it, but she couldn’t seem to drag her eyes away.

  The smells of damp earth and rotten eggs permeated the stale air. There must be a hot springs somewhere nearby. It was warm enough that she didn’t need her wool cape, but still she wrapped it tightly around herself and shivered. Her butt was falling asleep on the stony ground. Some Kivati lady she turned out to be—when the going got rough, she fell apart. Skirt wrinkled and torn. Blond hair a tangled bird’s nest. Scrapes on her manicured hands. If only the Raven Lord could see her now, he wouldn’t want her.

  She tried not to rock. The sulfur might mask the scent of her fear, but she couldn’t let him see it in her body language. “What the hell, Rudrick? Let me go.”

  “How can I do that, princess?” Rudrick leaned against the bars, anticipation etched keenly on his face. “You are the salvation of our race. It’s time to fulfill your destiny. Only a month sooner than you thought.”

  “What are you talking about?” And where was Johnny? He had blindfolded her on the sailboat, right after shooting poor Charlie through the heart with his crossbow. She hadn’t seen him since.

  “You will fulfill your duty as gatekeeper,” Rudrick said, “allowing our people to recapture our rightful place on the earth. We shouldn’t have to bow to humans any longer.”

  A small gasp escaped her lips. “But the Raven Lord—”

  “Is weak.”

  Lucia laughed. She couldn’t help it. She pictured Emory Corbette, his dark shining hair pulled back from those sharp cheekbones and high, royal forehead. Many unflattering words could be used to describe the Raven Lord—inflexible, heartless, cruel—but weak was not one of them. He might not be as tall or broad-shouldered as his Thunderbirds, but his aura took up every molecule of space. His tanned, coppery skin seemed to exude power. His dark, violet eyes were like looking at death itself. Calling him “weak” was like calling the Lady “barren.”

  Rudrick didn’t like being laughed at. He wrapped his hands around the bars to her cell and squeezed. “Uppity little bitch. I’ve noticed you aren’t so snotty in his presence, are you? You hate him as much as the rest of us. You can’t hide it.”

  She didn’t hate the Raven Lord; she was terrified of him.

  “I’m
saving you from him, princess. He would waste you. You, for whom prophesies are made. You, who have been given to us as the savior of our people.” Rudrick’s knuckles turned white on the bars. “He is weak. Too weak to do what is needed to defeat the Drekar. Too weak to take back our rightful place as rulers of this world. Too weak to use you as you were meant to be used.”

  Lucia flushed and turned her face away. Being talked about like a tool, not a person, was nothing new, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less. She knew why the Raven Lord wanted to marry her. It wasn’t because of who she was. It was because of what she was.

  “Little Crane Wife.” Rudrick’s voice developed a mocking edge. “He would keep you chained to the bed, on your back for his pleasure—”

  “Shut up.”

  “—as he ruts between your thighs and keeps you so full with child your body will die long before your little spark of a soul is ready to go. He thinks you could repopulate the Kivati, just the two of you. How can that be called anything but weak and shortsighted?”

  “Shut up!” She glared at Rudrick, who only smiled knowingly. How could she defend her sovereign lord? Rudrick voiced what she had always feared in her heart. She couldn’t repopulate the Kivati herself. She didn’t want to. “He never said that,” she mumbled.

  Rudrick only raised an eyebrow. Corbette might never have said that was his plan, but everyone guessed it. Why else did he want to marry her? He might have made a match with one of the other supernatural races and joined their people together, but he didn’t. He might have chosen a powerful female warrior from among the Kivati. Elinor, perhaps. Their children would certainly be the strongest and smartest of the new generation. A much better, more powerful match. But he didn’t.

  Instead he’d chosen a thirteen-year-old child. Untried. Without any magical power besides turning into a Crane. Not even a predator. Prey. A timid, peaceful Totem. In the past five years nothing had changed. Lucia showed no value except what that stupid unintelligible prophecy had said about her.