Lord of Shadows (A Paranormal Romance Book): Blackness Falls

by Shania Tyler

  Ben’s upper lip coiled as he sneered. “Theo, my mother’s favorite. She spends all her time with him. Even now, she stands at his side downstairs as though I don’t exist.” Then he all but pushed Otha out of the way and headed in Kelly’s direction. “Time I took something back.”

  Kelly turned and began to scramble away.

  He grabbed her around the waist and yanked her off the ground with little effort.

  “No!” Kelly screamed and the room became quiet once more, allowing Kelly’s shouting to fill the room. “Stop! Please!”

  Ben started for the door.

  Kelly looked at Otha. “Help me!”

  Otha’s eyes were wide, but then she said, “If Theo comes, I’ll be sure to accommodate him for you. It’s only fair.”

  “No!” Kelly kicked and beat against Ben, fighting for her life.

  “I’m not good enough for his whore either?” Ben asked, mocking himself.

  He placed her on the ground, and Kelly barely caught herself.

  “Stop!”

  The smack he delivered across her face sent her head flying and she lost both sight and the feel of her legs. Pain shot through her skull and neck.

  Kelly was thrown back over his shoulder, and she heard the door close behind Ben’s retreating steps. Her limp body rocked as he carried her down the short flight of stairs and down a long hall. The music from the party grew, but then slowly drifted away as they passed an open door. Kelly wanted to shout for Theo or Noel and ask them to help her, but her jaw was in too much pain and she could barely speak around her weeping.

  Ben started up another flight of stairs. “I can smell your power. Mother told me she’d only shared the food secret with me, but she obviously lied. There is no other reason an elf would be so strong.”

  At the top of the stairs, he started down another hall. Kelly peeked through her tears and saw a series of doors before she heard one opening and watched it close a millimeter from her head.

  Ben threw her down on a bed and began to remove his belt.

  Kelly let out a muffled moan, but her mouth wouldn’t work and even that inaudible sound caused severe pain. She wept as Ben throw his shirt over his head and grinned down at her.

  Kelly closed her eyes, and called for help. Her mind searched a wide radius around her until she touched him and felt him.

  Help me.

  Ben touched the hem of her long skirt and began to move it up her legs.

  Kelly leaned forward and tried to push his hands away, but when he raised one to her face, she shrunk away and tried to curl into a ball.

  Ben laughed and stretched her out with a hand around her ankles and another pushing her hips into the bed. Hard. “Keep fighting and I’ll be returning you to Theo with more than the bruise you already got. Doesn’t matter to me. I’ll take you either way.”

  He jumped onto her legs and started pushing the skirt up once more.

  Kelly kept her eyes tight and tried to not cry since the tears only stung her now swelling face and the soft moans of agony made it all the worse.

  He rubbed her knees and slid his hands up her thighs, working to push them apart under the weight of his own legs. “You’re real pretty. Nice full legs. Gold skin. I see why Theo likes you.”

  Kelly said nothing.

  Glass shattered.

  “What? Who are—” Ben started to ask but was cut off by a blow to his solar plexus. He fell down with an oomph sound.

  Kelly opened her eyes to see Mason, in his robe, standing over Ben’s still form on the floor. A look of wild rage was in Mason’s eyes. He then turned to Kelly and moved toward her.

  He threw the hood off his head, crouched by her, and lifted a hand to her face.

  Kelly shrunk away, fearing the pain.

  Mason returned to his full height.

  Ben started to wake.

  Mason’s stare slowly went back to the man on the floor and then he was on him, grabbing Ben by the legs and dragging him out to the balcony as he lifted his hood back over his face.

  Ben cried out when his bare back, chest, arms, and face slid over the broken glass, cutting into his skin as he tried to twist and turn out of Mason’s hold. “Please, stop!” Ben begged.

  Kelly didn’t move as she saw Ben’s face disappear out of sight. She hoped he got whatever Mason planned to deliver. Then she heard a crack and a high-pitched scream.

  She moved to opened door just as Mason had Ben grabbed in an awkward position. One booted foot was over Ben’s and the other placed at his knee. Mason kicked the knee and Ben let out another scream.

  Kelly covered her mouth as she realized Mason had broken the man’s knees and her stomach turned at the violence. She tried to tell Mason to stop, but her mouth still didn’t work; a short but precise shot of pain made her pause in her efforts to aid the man who’d done this to her.

  He’d nearly raped her. He would have taken her by force if Mason hadn’t come and Kelly was almost certain she’d never have recovered from it. She was also very certain that Ben had done this before.

  Two broken knees seemed like justice.

  He sobbed louder than Kelly ever had. “Please.” He gasped. “Please.” He took a shaky breath. “I—I—I—I’m sorry. I—I—I’ll never touch her again. I—I—” His next words were cut off as Mason grabbed him by the neck and proceeded to hold him over the balcony.

  Kelly rushed over then and looked at toward the ground. From the lights inside, she could see a small pond lay right underneath the balcony. Ben’s legs were broken. He’d drown. She turned to Mason and shook her head furiously.

  Ben’s arms held onto Mason’s tightly and tears filled his eyes.

  Mason slowly turned and raised his head so that Kelly could see his eyes. She flinched at the murderous intent there.

  Her flinch must have wakened him from his bloodthirsty trance, because he blinked and let out a deep breath.

  “Can I drop him?” he asked her.

  No.

  He frowned and said, “He hurt you.”

  I know.

  “Kelly . . . if you could only see your face right now . . .”

  Don’t do it for me.

  Mason’s brows deepened, but moved Ben back on the balcony and let go of his throat.

  The man choked and cried, still in great pain from the ligaments that had been torn. Looking at his crippled legs was a hard thing for Kelly to do.

  “You will tell no one of what happened,” Mason said.

  Ben could only nod as he wept on the floor.

  “Neither Theo nor his youka will be sought for revenge for this night.”

  Ben nodded his agreement.

  Mason leaned over Ben and delivered a swift hit, knocking him out. Then he placed Ben’s body under the top sheet on the bed and returned to the balcony. Finally, he removed his hood and grabbed the side of Kelly’s face that wasn’t injured, but even that hurt.

  He growled. “I’m not leaving you here.”

  Kelly didn’t want to stay either.

  He turned and jumped from the balcony on the other side.

  Kelly raced over to see that he’d landed on solid ground and retrieved a bag that he’d hidden in a nearby bush and brought it by his feet. She was amazed when he returned to his full height and turned to look up at her. “Come down,” he called.

  Kelly swung her legs over the balcony and fell.

  * * *

  23

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-THREE

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  * * *

  “Where are we going?”

  “To bed.” …

  * * *

  .

  Mason caught Kelly and would have probably shaken her if she weren’t already hurt. Instead, he stared at her swelling face and said, “I didn’t mean for you to jump down. There was a ladder by the balcony.”

  Kelly turned her head and he supposed she spotted it when she turned back around and shrugged.

  I knew y
ou’d catch me.

  And then she proceeded to look at him with a sort of challenge that baffled him. Of course, he would have caught her, but he couldn’t remember what he’d done to gain that amount of trust with her life. Had he not been present, she could have broken her neck, but instead, she sat cradled in his arms. Her puffy face stole his breath.

  She continued to surprise him at every turn. She’d shocked him earlier with her words on the balcony. When she’d told him not to drop Ben on her behalf, the single sentence had forced Mason to reexamine his entire life.

  He’d joined the Rebellion on his deceased wife’s behalf just as much as he’d joined for revenge. He’d wanted blood for payment, but he’d also wanted to see Cecina’s dream come to fruition . . . and he’d wanted to know more about Cecina in doing so.

  She’d managed to keep her abolition work a secret for years and Mason had wondered if he’d ever known her. It was the primary reason why he’d listened to Kelly’s thoughts without her permission. He’d wanted to know if she were hiding anything from him . . . only to find out that with Kelly, what he saw was the whole story. There were no hidden agendas in her like in himself. She was just a woman . . . a gorgeous, silly, trustworthy woman, who happened to find herself at the center of a war.

  And now that war had touched her face.

  Kelly nudged him until he placed her down on the ground, she then walked toward the small pond, bent down, and washed her face.

  “Kelly?” came the call from the balcony. “Are you there?”

  Mason lifted his head, furious. “Some guard you are.”

  “I went to her as soon as I knew she needed help, but I couldn’t find her.” Noel’s eyes were downcast. “I’m so sorry, Kelly.”

  Kelly rose from the water and looked toward the balcony. “It’s all right. I’m fine.” And then she turned to Mason, proving that she was. The swelling was gone and her face had returned to the way he had been when he’d first caught sight of her. He lost her eyes when she turned back to Noel. “I’m not coming back inside.”

  “I don’t think you should,” he agreed.

  Mason stepped toward her and said to Noel. “I’ll keep her. You watch after Theo and tell him I’ll return her in the morning.”

  Noel nodded and went back inside.

  Mason then turned to Kelly and took her hand.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “I believe you’ve yet to experience the festival in its fullness.”

  Kelly’s let out a low squeal. “Let’s go!”

  Mason bent over and lifted his bag. “But first . . .”

  * * *

  Kelly leaned into Mason as their hired open carriage rolled through the busy street and she couldn’t help but laugh every time she looked at him. He was wearing a disguise. He wore a blond wig with a short ponytail tied at his nape, he’d also managed to add a matching mustache and beard in record time. By flipping his cloak inside out, he revealed a velvet interior. All in all, he looked like a very wealthy man . . . and quite silly.

  She leaned up and whispered in his ear. “What we did last night . . . was that my surprise?”

  He smiled and shook his head. “No.”

  “Is this it?”

  He chuckled. “Impatient woman. You must really like surprises.”

  “I like everything you do.”

  He lifted a hand. “Like break men’s knees when they touch my wife.”

  Kelly shivered. “Too soon.”

  He touched her cheek and said, “I have much better plans for you, but it will take me time.” And then a shadow crossed his eyes, but it was gone quickly. “But hopefully, before the end of the war.”

  Kelly couldn’t wait.

  When they reached the center of Pria, Kelly noticed a building that seemed to be getting a lot of traffic. The man in the dragon costume stood in front of it.

  Mason took her toward the building and they stood in line with the rest of the people waiting to enter.

  Her eyes were drawn to the activity around her. It was like the circus with women who spun holes that seemed to be suspended in air, jugglers, and a man performing disappearing tricks that the old Kelly would have tried to decipher, but the new Kelly knew that the man was probably from the House of Heron and simply had the ability to make things vanish. But the man had style.

  She was still surprised by the amount of children she saw still awake. It was at least ten at night, but she supposed kids wouldn’t have a curfew when they visited Disneyland.

  The line into the building moved forward.

  “What’s in there?” she asked.

  “It’s a walkthrough of the different cities of Asea.”

  “Like, teleportation?” she asked in wonder.

  He chuckled. “No, simply artwork, paintings, and displays. It’s a museum of Asea. Sorry to disappoint you.”

  He had just a little, but after he paid the door attendant the fee for entrance, Kelly loved the museum. The tour started with the Western Lands with a heavy focus on Pria and Corena. The paintings of Corena were from the time when the sun shined, and reminded Kelly of the scene when Julie Andrews raced to the top of the hill in The Sound of Music. It was beautiful, open, and inspiring.

  They moved onto the Middle Lands and Kelly stared at a painting of Glonn, the city of giants. At first, everything about the busy street scene looked normal, until one looked closely and saw the small people moving and dodging out of the way of the gigantic feet.

  “They’re that big?” Kelly asked.

  Mason’s fingers played with her hands which she was sure he was unaware of. “The more powerful ones can control their size, growing to this size or shrinking down to our height.”

  “Sweet.”

  The fairy display took the tourists into a room that was covered with vines, hanging trees, and small statues of tiny people with wings that alighted on branches, leaves, and even hung from the air. The walls held artful writing, inviting the visitors to the realm.

  It was a very romantic room, but she was surprised when Mason grabbed her chin and kissed her, as if thinking the same thing.

  They left the Middle Lands and headed for the Eastern Lands.

  Kelly gasped as they entered. The statue in the middle of the hall was a man about to behead another.

  “They’re being dramatic,” Mason murmured. “The Evaness are simply upset that the east does not conform to their way of life.”

  “Do they behead people?” Kelly asked.

  “Not without reason,” Mason said, taking her quickly through the exhibit that only held one bloody scene after another.

  Kelly still counted it as the best date she’d ever been on.

  They left the museum and Mason stopped in front of a stand that offered a pastry that looked like chocolate cake.

  He walked them toward and empty bench and handed her the treat.

  Kelly smelled the sweetness of it, felt its warmth against her fingers, and leaned forward to bite it when she remembered what Otha had said and threw it on the ground.

  Mason’s eyes widened. “Why did you do that?” He stared at the cake as though he wanted to eat it himself. And maybe that had been his plan. She’d eat the sugar and he’d have gotten it in her blood.

  She looked around to make sure they were alone, but there were still people within earshot. So, she thought over to him.

  The food is laced with silver.

  At the look that Mason gave her, she could already see that his mind was fast at work without her telling him the whole story, but she told him anyway and watched his anger grow.

  “You were high-ranking in the Evaness before, weren’t you? And you didn’t know?”

  Mason shook his head. “Only the council would know about this . . . and apparently, Barna told her son.” Then he grimly added, “At least someone’s family warned them. So much for my own blood.” Mason took Kelly’s hand.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “To bed. There is much I
must do when the new night begins.”

  * * *

  24

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-FOUR

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  * * *

  “I’m so sorry. If I had known who you were . . .”

  * * *

  .

  “Welcome home,” Mason called to the only other person in the dark. After putting Kelly to sleep at a nearby inn, he’d showed up at his family’s home to confront his cousin.

  Malcolm didn’t need illumination, but he lit a lantern nonetheless, wishing to see Mason’s face in full light. They hadn’t been in contact for months, but Malcolm had always been aware that Mason was somewhere in the Western Lands. His cousin was no fool and knew Mason would finish the work Cecina had started.

  Malcolm frowned. “You shouldn’t be in the city. They are looking everywhere for you. We want the blood key back.”

  “We?” Mason asked.

  Malcolm straightened his back. “Yes, Mason. We. I am part of the council, after all. I should hand you over now.”

  “Will you?” Mason asked, leaning against the wall in Malcolm’s hallway with his hands behind his back. His cousin still hadn’t shut the door behind him as though he planned to leave as soon as Mason turned his back.

  Malcolm slowly shut the door. “No.”

  Mason let out a breath, but made sure Malcolm couldn’t hear his relief.

  Malcolm placed the lantern on the table and shook his head. “Mason, really? You and I would not be fighting. Can’t you see that this is just? The elves had it coming. They forced us into caves, forced us to build an underground society while the eternal sun reigned. We had to feed on animals!”

  “They did it in an effort to find Monrel,” Mason said. “It was nothing to do with us.”

  “Monrel is us!” Malcolm said. “And especially our line. The children of Seocan. You truly think he doesn’t have some say over our shadow abilities?”