by Lizzy Ford
“I should be able to help you.”
“I’m following your instructions. No civil war and bring everyone together,” she said. “The second part is more of a challenge.”
“If Wynn fails to step aside, the war will still happen. The Immortals have been on the verge of disintegrating for many years. If he’s willing to resign, he must know this as well.”
“Then I’ll make sure it happens.”
“My strong, adorable little tyrant,” he teased and kissed her forehead.
“Hey, now! I’ll be the first person in my family who is not a tyrant!” she exclaimed.
His smile faded. “I can’t help you from here, Stephanie. I can’t guide you. I can’t even touch you.”
“You’ll be out soon,” she said with more confidence than she felt.
“How is Trayern working out?”
“He’s such a pain in the ass!” she exclaimed. “He won’t go farther than two feet from me at any time.”
“Then he’s doing his job,” Fate said, amused. “He’s special. Darkyn doesn’t give anyone second chances like he has Trayern. Learn what you can from him.”
“I don’t give a shit how special he is. I can’t wait to be rid of him!”
“He’ll be around for a while.”
“No, he won’t, because you’re coming home soon,” Stephanie replied stubbornly. “Darkyn’s already fired a warning shot.”
“That’s to be expected.” Fate searched her features. “You shouldn’t deal with him directly. He’s had millions of years of experience.”
“I definitely don’t plan to summon him,” she replied. “Wynn has taught me the importance of good advisors. If something happens with Darkyn, and you’re not back yet, I’ll consult with my brothers.”
“I’d trust your instincts over theirs. Andre is the only person I’d consider working with, if it came down to a confrontation with Darkyn.”
Stephanie nuzzled him. “I can’t see any circumstance why I’d need to talk to Darkyn before you’re back. Because you’ll be back soon.”
“Let us hope so.”
The tight note in his voice troubled her.
“You have to,” she whispered. “Being apart from you is killing me.”
“Me, too, gorgeous.” He hugged her tightly. “Do you want to take a walk?”
“The trees look like they might bite.”
“They only bite demons.” He sat and pushed down the sheet covering them.
“Are you serious?”
Fate laughed. “They’re nice to everyone else!” He stood and pulled her out of bed as well. After a hungry kiss, he released her to put on his clothing.
“I thought you couldn’t leave this floor,” she said and began retrieving he clothes from the floor.
“I can’t be seen leaving this floor,” he corrected her with a wink. “Past-Death told me about a back entrance. I have to wear this.” He leaned over and pulled out a cloak with a hood from a drawer. “But we can go.”
Stephanie shook her head, not surprised her mate had figured a way around someone else’s rules.
“Ready?” Fate held out his hand.
She nodded, grateful for the mini-adventure and moment of freedom after weeks of being watched by Wynn, Trayern, and Mithra.
Twenty
Karma’s heart was racing and pounding when she stepped into Wynn’s room to fulfill her end of the bargain they’d made.
He stood at the railing of the balcony in chinos and t-shirt, facing the forest and night sky. Her eyes swept over his frame hungrily as she walked towards him. Her hands were clammy, her nerves shaking, and her senses desperate for his scent, touch, flavor. She hadn’t felt nervous either of the first two nights together. This night, she’d come to him on her own.
She stopped when she reached the balcony, the fever of desire driving her crazy. Her mind reeled from how quickly the bond had consumed her life.
“Come here,” Wynn directed her without turning.
His voice had the same effect on he as his touch; her resistance vanished.
Karma went to his side. He took her arm and guided her in front of him, making room for her between his body and the railing. He leaned against her, one arm on either side of her. She gazed up at him, unable to reconcile her fear and desire, trepidation and need, distrust and longing.
Already, she was rattled. His warmth and solid frame sent her thoughts into disarray. His scent was her air, his taste her water, his strength her foundation.
Wynn gazed down at her, calm where she was ready to jump off the balcony.
“Secrets,” she managed to say.
He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers before replacing his hand on the balcony. She wanted more but didn’t know how to ask. Normally, she just acted. With Wynn, she wanted to please him instead of doing whatever she wanted.
“That’s how you do it, isn’t it?” she pressed, needing to focus on something other than his body and the heat swimming through hers.
“For the most part,” he said.
“It’s so simple,” she said with a flash of irritation. “It’s just … words!”
Wynn laughed quietly. “Words carry power.”
“But you can control deities and whole societies with words. How …” She drifted off, amazed. “I don’t even know what to ask.” Agitated, she rested her hands on his chest and marveled both at his lean strength and the warmth of his skin as it penetrated the thin cotton shirt. “Do you know my secrets?” she asked cautiously.
“I’ve never met anyone with fewer secrets than you,” he said, smiling. “I believe you only have one.”
She waited. Before him, she hadn’t cared what anyone thought.
“I’m your home, the first you’ve ever had. You’re terrified of losing me.”
Karma’s breath caught. She understood he knew secrets, but it never crossed her mind how. He didn’t buy them or trade them like favors.
He read them straight from people’s minds.
Was she ashamed or embarrassed by the private thought she’d hoped no one else would ever know? Did he think less of her, because she was smitten after two days? Because she was too uncomplicated to have the kind of deep, dark secrets other deities possessed?
She couldn’t lie to anyone, especially not him.
Karma pushed him away, needing space and wanting to flee and never return. Why did she fear losing his respect when she didn’t even know him? She’d been an emotional disaster since the only man she trusted to guide her – her brother – had been taken from her. She hadn’t realized how much he shielded her from everything and everyone before forced to navigate the worlds on her own.
Still, nothing could’ve prepared her for Wynn.
“Come here,” Wynn said quietly.
“No!”
“Karma, look at me.”
She obeyed. In that moment, she needed to know he wasn’t going to reject her. His calm look steadied her in a way nothing else could.
“I know it’s stupid,” she said. “I shouldn’t think that. Or feel that or … want that. It’s just a stupid, fleeting, stupid, stupid thought!”
“I’ve never been anyone’s home,” Wynn replied. “I like the idea of being yours.”
She searched his face. He’d never expressed any kind of emotion, outside of lust, when they were together. Warmth was in his features as he spoke. Her discussion with Andre earlier swirled through her thoughts.
“Did you hide your mark because you were embarrassed?” she asked.
“I hid it because nothing in either of my lives has ever surprised me as much as seeing you claim me. I like for people to believe I always know what I’m doing, and I’m always in control,” he replied. “But I didn’t know what to do, and you’ve witnessed my inability to control myself when I’m with you.”
She smiled, unable to help it.
“I also don’t know what the future will bring, or what it will mean for us,” he added. “Many chains-of-events are already in motio
n. I want to think I can protect you from everything but … I can’t promise it.”
“Then I’ll protect you,” she said instantly.
“Brave talk from someone who won’t sit down and talk to me.”
“You doubt me?” she demanded.
“You almost killed me, remember?” he teased. “I know how strong you are. I know how good you are. And you know there’s very little good about me.”
“There is,” she said hesitantly. “I saw it. And I know when you heal others, you suffer for it.”
“You know two of my secrets,” he said.
“Your darkness may out weight your light, but your light has always been what guides you,” she murmured. “You are neither and both, and you hold so much of yourself back from the world.”
Wynn studied her. She sensed she’d hit a nerve without knowing what he was thinking.
“Come here, goddess,” he whispered finally and held out a hand.
Karma went to him. Without hesitation, she rested against him, her body molding to his.
“I upset you,” she said.
“You see more than I’m comfortable with,” he replied and nuzzled her cheek. His arms draped around her.
“You saw my secret. It’s only fair I see your soul,” she retorted. She breathed in his comforting smell and relaxed.
“I wouldn’t call that an even trade!”
“Oh, but it is,” she replied triumphantly. “Because it’s about how desperate someone is. It’s rarely about the information or favor itself.”
His eyebrows went up. “If you’re making deals, we should talk.”
“I can handle it.”
“Are you including a condition that they can’t use the favor to balance you?”
Her smile faded.
“Because that would fix the problem of a goddess murdering gods, and of an Immortal who’s had the upper hand for more millennia than anyone can count,” he said, gaze intent. “I don’t want to be more vulnerable than I already am with you in my life.”
She searched his features, startled to realize he was serious. “That’s how you see me?” she asked. “As a vulnerability?”
“A mate by its very nature is considered a vulnerability,” he said.
The words were too simply spoken, without a flicker of emotion, for her to comprehend he’d said them seconds after reassuring her she was right to feel as she did about him. Her shock wore off quickly, replaced by anger.
Karma moved away from him, out of his arms.
“I’m sorry, but it’s true. I am weaker with you in my life.” Regret laced his voice.
“I’m no one’s vulnerability,” she said in a lethal whisper. Her hair turned black, tossed into the air by the agitated energy swirling around her. “I’m not weak!”
“It’s the way it is.”
“I would never, ever consider the one person I feel safe with to be a vulnerability!” she cried. “You’re my home, not my fucking weakness! I would slaughter anyone who even thought of harming or exploiting you! And you think I’m a fucking vulnerability?”
Close to tears, and unwilling to let him see her cry, she summoned a portal.
“We made a deal,” he reminded her. His sense of calm infuriated her. He expected her to fold despite what he’d said. Because he thought she was weak.
“I showed up. That was the deal. Fuck you, Wynn, if you think I’m staying here tonight!” Whirling, she strode into the place-between-places.
He considered her, one of the strongest goddesses in existence, a vulnerability! She wanted to hate him, to feel fury and unleash hell in her wake.
But all she felt was pain and confusion about why she should care at all for someone she’d been warned by everyone not to trust. She’d bared her heart – and he crushed it.
Was she right to believe he was using her for the agenda no one understood? He’d been after a favor from her since their first eventful meeting. Was he even capable of feeling for her what she did for him?
Loathing herself for drowning in the ocean of her emotions, when he had barely dipped his toe, Karma went to the only other place where she felt safe. She returned to her cell in the Underworld, paced, and then let out a scream of frustration.
Twenty-One
After the horrific dinner and visit to Fate, Stephanie was no closer to understanding the game Wynn played than before. He terrified her one second and the next, did her a favor. She had nightmares about what he had in store for her on any given day. Fate seemed to think there was more going on, something bad coming. Yet if she failed or refused to play Wynn’s game, she jeopardized everything.
She’d begun to think there was only one way to determine what Wynn’s plan was, if she could convince him to open the portals to her.
With a deep breath, she stepped from the place-between-places into her chamber after her day with Fate.
Trayern snatched her by the jaw before her second foot hit the ground. The furious demon shoved her into a wall, his eyes blazing. His fangs and fingernails had lengthened, and he tilted her head at an angle that disabled her ability to move.
Stephanie didn’t resist him and held her breath, not about to challenge the bristling demon half a head taller than she was and twice as wide. Accustomed to his constant presence, she forgot the menace Trayern could become.
“Careful, demon,” Mithra said from behind him.
“Back the fuck up, angel!”
Stephanie grimaced as Trayern’s sharp nails dug into her cheeks.
“If you ever, ever do that again, Immortal, no oath I’ve taken to anyone will come between me and your fucking neck!” Trayern snarled. “Do you fucking understand?”
“Yes,” she whispered. I’d do it again in a heartbeat! This sentiment she kept to herself. After her night with her mate, not even Trayern could ruin the peace inside her.
Trayern didn’t appear convinced. She waited, not about to meet his gaze or attempt to move.
The demon released her and stepped back. “Get dressed. Wynn sent a guard for you.”
Stephanie sighed and waited for him to put more distance between them before she shifted away from the wall.
“Shouldn’t you help out in that kind of situation?” she asked Mithra.
“If I thought he would kill you, I would,” Mithra reassured her.
She pointed to the blood left over from Trayern’s grip on her jaw.
“He wasn’t going to kill you.”
“Maiming me is perfectly fine?”
Trayern glanced towards her, pausing in his pacing.
Recalling his initial warning, about how she didn’t need legs to perform her duty, Stephanie hurried away and changed. Trayern was pissed enough to do some damage, if she didn’t comply with his order. She went to the door and reached for the knob.
A knife thunked into the wooden door in front of her. She released a breath.
“I get it!” she said, annoyed. “Don’t sneak off anymore.” She tugged at the knife with the black blade unsuccessfully.
Trayern gripped the back of her neck with one hand. With the other, he pulled the knife free effortlessly. “Don’t fuck with me, half-breed. One day, this protection duty will be over, and if you think I won’t track you down …”
“Okay!” she exclaimed. “Holy shit. I’m sorry I worried you both by disappearing.”
Trayern released her and wrenched the door open. He pushed her into the hallway then followed.
Demons had attitude problems. She’d figured this one out early on, but she hadn’t realized the extent of their issues until Trayern.
Stephanie glanced at the Immortal guard awaiting her. Why had Wynn sent an escort to take her to the petitioner hall? Didn’t he trust her to find her way there, as she did every single day?
Agitated, Stephanie nonetheless played along. The guard led her to the first floor. Expecting them to stop in front of the petitioner hall, she became suspicious when they continued past it.
She peered in. Kiki, clea
rly unhappy, tapped his fingers as he listened to the man in front of him. She smiled, recalling how much he hated the duty.
They walked on and stopped two chambers down, to a hall as large as the petitioner hall, but far less crowded. It had a similar set up, with a table at the far end, and a line of people. The large frame of Rhyn, who appeared less interested in being present than she was, stood to the side of the table.
This line was much shorter – about six people – and other Immortals were seated where they could witness what was happening. The air in the chamber was charged, apprehensive.
At first look, Stephanie couldn’t determine the purpose of the gathering.
Wynn stood in front of the table. He motioned her forward when she entered. She went to stand in front of her father. Trayern hovered behind her.
“What is this?” she questioned for Wynn’s ears only.
“To lead, you need to learn the various duties we are called upon to execute from time to time,” he replied. His voice carried a terse note, and his gaze was harder than usual. “You have an ability similar to mine.”
“I’m not like you,” she said.
“If you want me to step aside, which I know you do, then you’ll learn what I tell you, when I tell you. The only way things will change is if you are in charge.” His tone was icy.
God, she hated him sometimes! Wynn always, always made too much sense. Murder aside, it was his most frustrating trait.
Stephanie swallowed her pride. “I do want to lead,” she said honestly. “I’m trying, Wynn.”
“I know you are.”
They stared at one another for a long moment. Stephanie sighed and lowered her gaze in a sign of resignation.
“This is where we judge those who have committed crimes within the society,” he said.
“This is a court?”
“Yes.”
She glanced around. “Without a jury?”
“You will become judge, jury and issue sentences.”
Stephanie frowned. “How is that fair?”
“Because, daughter, when you can read the secrets in someone’s mind, you don’t need a burden of proof or attorneys to determine their guilt or innocent.”