The Fall Of The King (Lightness Saga Book 3)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  Like the cave.

  If Lars thought I was going to give over the cauldron at the drop of a hat, he was quite mistaken. I knew there was no point trying to keep it from him completely. He was the King. He would find a way with or without me. I just wanted to get to it first. And I was certainly not going to make it easy for him.

  Spiteful? Maybe.

  After all he let happen to my people, he deserved to be tortured as he gladly allowed me to be tonight.

  ~~

  The shower was modern, and water rained down on me with massaging taps. I had no soap, shampoo, or conditioner, but my muscles melted under the stream, the water washing away the scarlet stains swathing me. I tipped my face up, letting the flow bombard my face.

  “You might need these.” A voice came from behind me.

  “Shite!” I jumped, swinging around to see Lars on the other side of the glass door. The steam from the shower only slightly blurred his unclothed physique. He reached for the handle, swinging the door open.

  “What are you doing?”

  He stood there for several moments, staring at me, not one emotion showing on his features. I could feel my chest rising and falling avidly, as if I forgot to feed it oxygen.

  “Soap.” He held up his hand. Small containers of soap, shampoo, and conditioner lay in his open palm. “They were in the hall closet.”

  “Thank you.” I reached out for them, water trundling over my lips, making me suck them in.

  His gaze dropped to my mouth. His body moved closer, looming over mine.

  I froze in place, probably resembling a fossilized dinosaur. All thought and feeling vanished.

  Lars leaned forward, jumbling my breath and heart in a knotted mess. Was he going to kiss me?

  In a blink, his fingers wrapped around my neck. As he stepped into the shower, he shoved me back against the tile. “What the fuck did your spell do to me?”

  “Uhhh,” I stammered. The soaps dropped to the tile with a ping. He had felt it too? The unwelcome yearning.

  “What. Did. It. Do. To. Me?” He growled, his shoulders rising under the drops pelting his skin. Tainted water slid from his form to the tub below.

  “I-I don’t know.” I kept my eyes on him, trying to show no fear.

  His thumb moved up the middle of my neck, forcing me to swallow. He wasn’t gripping hard enough to hurt, but enough to show me he could. A spell rose to my lips on instinct but was crushed when he pressed himself against me, engulfing me in the sharp, stinging desire I felt earlier.

  “Will it go away?” His nose slid up the side of my face.

  “I don’t know that either,” I whispered thickly, my body responding to his without my say.

  He let out a deep growl, different to any animal I’d ever heard, but just as feral. The untamed power and magic surging off him bent my muscles and mind to him. I realized then I had never gotten close to Lars’s true demon. What he showed was the fluffy one. The real one he hid inside could destroy without a thought.

  I was powerful. Strong. I had no idea what I’d been up against. But fear did something strange to me. I liked it. It made me want to fight back. Climb on top of it and declare myself the winner. Regain control.

  It turned me on.

  Need sprang off me like knives. Tipping my head, my mouth skated over his chin to his lips, sucking off the water on his bottom lip.

  “No,” he rumbled. He grabbed my face and pinned my head to the wall, staring down at me. I didn’t react, letting his primal gaze crawl over me.

  His jaw twitched, then he dropped his hands, stepping back. With a snarl, he stepped out of the shower, stomping for the door. “It better be gone by tomorrow.”

  He slammed the bathroom door behind him, shaking the flat.

  Holy shite!

  My head fell back against the wall, right where he left me as I pulled in long gulps of air.

  What the fuck just happened? What was I about to do?

  My legs bowed, and I slid down the wall. Humiliation, anger, and terror skimmed the surface, but shock had yet to let them penetrate the surface.

  I stayed under the spray until I shivered from the icy water.

  Eventually I got out and numbly wrapped myself in a towel, heading for the first bedroom I saw and crashed. I wanted every minute of the last twelve hours to evaporate as if it were a bad dream.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lars

  Still wet and bloody, I dressed in my garments and burst from the flat while pure rage punctured my skin like nails. Cold air surged into my lungs, burning all the way down my chest. My booted feet moved me swiftly, with no intended direction.

  My wrath reached levels I had only felt at my demon’s awakening, a time when I couldn’t control my emotions. Or the beginning of your brother’s insanity. I shook my head, ridding myself of that thought. Even when I found West in bed with my lover, my temper only skimmed the line of true rage. Ember helped keep me grounded, but I had been nowhere near losing control. I knew precisely what I was doing.

  Tonight I had almost slipped. I was losing restraint.

  I had stepped into the shower with no thought, without understanding why. The compelling notion to kill her had quickly flipped to the need to be inside her. The remnants of the ceremony still clung to us like smoke. The desperation to fuck her had been insatiable. But that wasn’t what riled me. I wanted to kiss her, which was a line I did not cross. Certainly not with a Druid. I wanted to destroy her for that. Especially when she challenged my wrath and threats with her own hunger. When her lips brushed mine… It took everything I had to turn away.

  “Fuck!” I bellowed into the night, the mist growing denser, concealing me in its icy embrace. The chilly air was not helping clear my head. The desire to return to the flat, to resume what I had walked away from, was painful as if I were being divided in half.

  I reached the empty Charles Bridge and heard the water gush wildly underneath, as though it understood my inner turmoil. The tourists and locals were safely tucked in their rooms away from the bone-chilling cold and the seedy monsters who came alive at this time.

  Someone just like me.

  My ribs knocked into the side of the bridge, and I sucked in a deep breath, leaning over to see the dark depth churning below. My fists smashed against the stone, a long cry of frustration and anger came from my gut.

  Get it together. Now.

  I had no patience for others being reckless and even less for me.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to center myself. No more. My mind kept repeating this, however, I could still feel the pull. My muscles flexed with the urgency to go back, like a baby who had yet to grasp how to control their own body.

  Either desire, to end her life or be inside her, was unacceptable. She was essential in getting the cauldron. That was all. The last Treasure of Tuatha Dé Danann was the only thing important.

  “Laaaarrrsss.” My name whispered over the wind like music.

  My shoulders bunched and my head snapped around in all directions looking for the speaker. I didn’t see a soul. Silence extended for over a minute, causing me to doubt if I had actually heard anything.

  Rubbing my chin, I shook my head. I fastened the last button on my coat and faced the direction of the flat.

  “Lars,” a woman softly called from behind me, her voice so familiar it stopped me in my tracks.

  No. There’s no way.

  I whipped around to peer behind me. Nothing but thick fog obscured the bridge and its saints in a game of hide-and-seek. A chill drew up my spine similar to connecting the dots.

  Seeing my brother had been bad enough.

  “Lars?” Her voice echoed in front of me, jarring me forward. This time her voice was clear, ramming my heart against my ribs. My eyes lurched around, trying to make out any shape in the mist.

  “Have you forgotten me so easily?” The words danced lightly over to me, echoing off the walls, surrounding me.

  I clenched my jaw, circling aroun
d to keep each end of the bridge in sight. The need to call out to see who was there sat on my tongue, but I kept quiet. Someone was messing with me. They had to be. The other possibility was not an option.

  “Did you know how much I loved you?” Her statement circled around me, crushing in my lungs. “You left me.”

  Like a dagger straight to the gut, my sorrow and guilt parted my lips. “No,” I whispered. Sweat dampened my back and forehead. “You left me.”

  “I think we both know you had departed way before that. You loved power much more than you loved me,” she spoke, sounding closer.

  I cleared my throat. “Show yourself.”

  The lights from the bridge glowed eerily through the fog, my gaze waiting to catch any movement on either side. Through the haze a silhouette of a woman stood, the streetlamp radiating the mist around her similar to an angel, her long hair brushing her hips.

  A gasp tore from my throat, my knees bending. “Aisling.”

  I knew her figure better than my own. My hands and mouth had mapped every inch, memorizing it. The way she held herself was like a permanent blueprint stamped on my heart.

  “This can’t be…” I muttered, my mind unable to grasp what my eyes were taking in. My feet stumbled forward, my heart flipping around as if it were on a carnival ride. Disbelief could not cover the spring of hope from leaping up my throat.

  Could it be possible? Did she somehow survive? The questions pitched quickly through my head, as reason stood like a wall, blocking each one from venturing too deep.

  “Aisling…” I called her name, every step taking me closer to the outline.

  A foghorn resounded from down the river, taking my attention for a moment. When I turned back she was gone.

  “Aisling!” I bellowed, running into the murkiness, twisting in every direction to find her. “Ash!” Her pet name bounded out of my mouth. I quaked with the need to touch her, to feel her once again. As I spun around, I continued to scream her name, sounding desperate and needy. The fog resembled cream soup, brewing and bubbling up from below.

  Her laugh weaved through the dense air, wrenching my head to one side. The laugh bounced to the opposite side, twisting me like a pretzel. My body moved, following her voice as though she was a siren.

  “Ais-ling,” I howled, my desperation expanding throughout ever part of me. Her location switched again. My lungs pumped heavily, pounding in my ears.

  “Ash…” I breathed out her name, hoping she would answer me.

  A deep chuckle rumbled up to my boots, drilling through the soles. My lungs halted, struggling to let oxygen in. I knew that laugh as well.

  “Devlin,” I uttered so softy it barely made it past my mouth. As children he had always been the one quick to laugh, to smile. Easygoing and willing to follow me into whatever trouble I concocted. I had needed him far more than he ever needed me. He tethered me to earth, neutralizing my intensity when I grew bored and impatient. When he had become King after Father’s death, we had grown apart. My jealousy had contributed.

  Aisling brought us together again. At least for a while. Then our love for the same woman destroyed us both in different ways. And the proof of our love ended her.

  “Brother.” His raspy tone twirled me around, spinning my head. Only twelve yards away, slightly shrouded, my twin stood, his green eyes glowing through the haze.

  “Gods.” My muscles could no longer hold me up, bashing my knees painfully into the cobbled road. Fear dripped into my veins. “I am going crazy, aren’t I?” My lungs grasped for bits of air, fluttering in and out without seizing anything substantial.

  His mouth parted into an odd smile. The sensation of seeing my mirror image again was comfortable and strange. It had been so long.

  “Yes,” he responded, a glint in his eyes. “You can’t run from it. From yourself.” Then he stepped back into the mist, letting it consume him.

  “Devlin!”

  Aisling’s laugh filled the air, my brother’s following right after.

  I leaned over my knees and clasped my hands over my ears, the ring of their voices banging around my head.

  Long after the hallucinations disappeared, I stayed crumpled up on the ground. The fog coiled around me like ghosts. Phantoms of my past wrongs had come back for me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Fionna

  Even before I opened my eyes every muscle in my body screamed in agony, dragging me out of my slumber. Stiff and locked in the fetal formation when I fell asleep, I tried to stretch my legs, but spasms cramped down my calves. I groaned into my pillow, rubbing furiously at the back of my legs.

  Awareness crept over me similar to an afternoon shadow…a feeling I was not alone in the room.

  My reaction was instantaneous, cursing myself for being so careless and not putting a weapon within reach. I normally never slept without a gun under my pillow and a knife in my boot next to my bed.

  My back struck the wall as I scrambled into a seated position, ready to respond to an attack. Nothing rushed for me, but adrenaline discharged through my veins, spreading trepidation like a virus.

  In the early dawn light, glowing yellow-green eyes stared at me from the chair in the corner.

  Anger. Disgust. Ruthlessness.

  As if my tongue could taste every emotion coming off him, I pressed farther into the wall, dragging the sheet up to cover my body. I preferred sleeping naked, but in the years since I had become the leader of the DLR, I learned to sleep with clothes, ready to jump up and go in a moment’s notice. Last night, I had forgone every rule I had instilled in myself over the years, and now I was going to pay the price for my carelessness.

  Lars’s hair was wet and sleek, his dark jeans and black jumper brand new. Even in jeans, his power was suffocating. He was a king in denim as he was when wearing suits. But I did notice darker circles under his eyes, as though he hadn’t slept in weeks.

  We watched each other for a moment. He was stone. Whatever influence the ceremony put on us last night was gone. Long gone.

  “How long have you been there?” I addressed him, my hand clamping on the sheet tighter. Instinct was telling me to be on alert. Prepared to act.

  He didn’t move or even blink.

  “You know, it’s really creepy watching a girl sleep. Not sexy at all,” I said dryly.

  Nothing.

  “Are you the kind who isn’t talkative in the morning?” I wiggled up higher on the bed. “Need coffee before you can function? I get it.”

  “Shut up,” he said so low it rumbled the air. Before I could respond, he pushed out of the chair, his body moving like a predator. “As my prisoner, you speak when I tell you, you eat when I tell you, and you breathe when I tell you.”

  Tilting my head to the side, my eyebrows curved up, and sucked in air with a theatrical performance. “Oops.” I drew in again. “Dammit! Keeps happening.”

  Invisible hands wrapped around my throat dragging my frame up the wall, as if I were possessed. Air ripped from my airways, but my Druid was fast to step in. Words flung across the room, slamming into the demon.

  Lars stumbled back, crashed into the chair, and fell to the floor. I dropped to the bed with force. Barely hitting it, I rolled off the bed to the opposite side as him. It would do nothing to stop him, but it seemed better than to sit down next to him.

  A growl erupted from him as he got his feet underneath him. His skin was bleached white. The spell exited my lips in a rush. A bellowed cry came from the demon while his hands clamped around his head in pain. When he lifted his head, blood dripped from his nose and blackness filled his eyeballs, as he fought against my hex squeezing his brain.

  Magic drilled into me like a laser beam, picking me up off the floor, hurtling me across the room. My bones crunched as they hit the far wall, falling to the ground on my right shoulder with a painful crack.

  Lars snarled, his cuspids pointy and slightly longer than the rest of his teeth. I had no idea they did that. Shite. The demon could also rip into me w
ith his teeth.

  Biting my lip against the sharp pain in my shoulder, I scrambled to my feet, feeling blood trickle down the side of my face from where my head hit the floor.

  “We can keep doing this.” I cupped my right elbow in my hand, pulling into my chest, my naked body defensive. “Until one of us kills the other.”

  “You think you can kill me?” the demon sneered.

  “Maybe not kill,” I sneered back. “But you’re not as untouchable as you’d like to believe.”

  His nose flared.

  “Don’t mess with me, demon. I can go toe to toe with you.” It was not a threat but a fact. “It’s probably why you let my people get slaughtered. Deep down you don’t like the idea another race can actually challenge you.”

  Lars took a step, his magic pushing me into the wall.

  “You need me.” I locked on his black pupils. “I don’t need you.”

  His boots nicked my bare toes, physically shrouding me in his shadow. “You want to see your daughter again?”

  My chin tipped higher to look into his eyes. “That doesn’t make me need you,” I replied coolly. “It just means you’re a sick asshole who will use my daughter to get me to act.” My lip lifted. “Typical demon.”

  “Typical?” He snorted, inclining farther over me.

  “Yeah. Standard mainstream demon stuff. Really, for a king I expected more.”

  “Be careful,” he rumbled.

  “You too,” I challenged, staring at my reflection in his eyes. Naked and clearly physically smaller, I pushed back. He would never make me cower. In magic, I was his equal. And I would never bow to him.

  Seconds ticked by. Ignoring the drying blood crusted at his nostril, he breathed in and out, both of us at a standoff.

  A ringing flared up from his pocket, like an ice pick to the ears. Lars turned his head to the side wall, breaking his gaze. He shook his head and dug the mobile out of his pocket. His complexion returned to its natural olive as he twisted for the door.