Demon Untamed (Shadow Quest Book 4)

by Kiersten Fay

  How could he have just blurted it out like that? With no warning?

  She knew he had wanted her to return the sentiment. But she just…couldn’t. Because when—if—she did, she would inevitably claim him, and there was no going back from that. She didn’t want to be heedless about something so permanent—permanent only on her part.

  Afterward, he’d clearly been angry—or hurt—that she hadn’t reciprocated. Since then, the sex had been aggressive…punishing.

  Well, the joke was on him, because she liked it.

  And what did that say about her?

  Sebastian motioned for everyone to stop, but no one had made a sound. His eyes were trained on something ahead of him. She moved forward to investigate.

  Blocking their way was a wide, rounded gorge with a flat base, slathered by vegetation.

  “This is the landmark indicated on the map,” Ethan announced excitedly. “Some of our people should be nearby.”

  Anya anxiously glanced around. Was she was sensing something that the others weren’t?

  The wind shifted, and Sonya caught a strange fragrance. Something—or someone—was nearby, possibly watching them from the dark depths of the forest.

  A soft, delicate sound tinkled in the air. Her fangs descended with instant aggression.

  But in the next moment, the tune surrounded her, comforting her like the caress of a feather’s touch. The tension in her body eased, and a dim smile conquered her lips.

  So beautiful…

  “I know that instrument.” Ethan announced, sounding oddly horrified by the lovely sound. “Everyone! Anything you see or hear in the next few moments will not be real. Someone is weaving an illusion—”

  Terror invaded, tearing through the walls of her mind and chasing away serenity.

  Mustn't make a sound.

  She curled her knees into her chest and wrapped her little arms tightly around them. The old damp wood that made up her hiding place added to the muggy staleness in the air. Her mind was filled with trepidation, body frozen in a ball. Her eyes were trapped wide, yet seeing only darkness broken by a single shaft of light through a fissure in the wall.

  Father had told her to stay put, “no matter what.” The urgent tone he’d used frightened her into obedience. With shaky fingers, she clutched the necklace he’d given her in her fist. It was still warm from its usual place around his neck. The metal-woven talisman was a symbol of protection.

  No sooner had he closed her inside the small compartment than a blast of loud noises made her jump. Outside her hiding place, her father snarled, the sound trailing off into a horrific gurgling that made her mind go wild. Her stubby fingers dug into the calves of her bent legs.

  After a moment, she peeked through the fissure, adjusting her position with slow, deliberate movements, so not to make a sound.

  Her breath seized.

  Father was on the ground…not moving! A stain of red grew from beneath his torso, while three men stood over him, grinning at their work. She recognized them as off-worlders. “Pirates,” Mother had called them. Sonya’s gaze dipped back to her father’s lifeless body.

  They’ve killed him!

  Her mouth opened wide in a silent scream, choked back by suffocating despair. Her throat tightened as devastation sucked the air out of her.

  Frozen in place, she watched as the men continued to circle the corpse. For some reason, she expected them to leave now. Something felt off. She shook her head and looked again.

  Why aren’t they leaving?

  Sebastian entered the room, lumbering over the pile of broken wood scattered in the threshold. Cale followed behind. Enraged, they lunged at the pirates as their eyes and horns flashed red. But the three pirates were too fast. Blood splattered, and the strong physiques of her older brothers fell to the floor.

  Sorrow clutched her heart in a painful squeeze as tears fell freely. This isn’t right, her mind screamed, fighting against the scene. Yet it wasn’t over.

  Marik burst into the room next, roaring as he attacked, but the sound was cut off as a blade easily severed his head from his neck. The culprit wiped the blade clean with his shirt-tail just as Anya appeared in the doorway, looking horrified by the gruesome scene. Her eyes flashed silver, and a wild gust of wind swept through her blond hair. She rushed the closest pirate, going for his throat, but the man cut her down with a swing of his sword.

  Another male came into view, this one a stranger, beautiful and deadly. A fourth murderer? And he was looking right at Sonya, as if seeing her through the wooden shield. His unyielding blue eyes drew her in, forcing recognition.

  Not a stranger. Mine!

  “Ethan! Run!” she screamed, pushing against the compartment door. Yet it didn’t budge against her weight. She pushed harder, banging with her fists. It still would not relent. She turned to kick at the blockade with the heel of her tiny boot, while crying, “Get out of here!”

  Scuffles of movement outside made her look again. Ethan had placed himself defensively in front of her nook, squaring off against the three invaders.

  “No! Please go!”

  Ethan turned his head to look at her then, resolution set in his deep-blue eyes. He gave her a look of such devout love it tore through her like white-hot lightning. Too painful, yet she wished for more.

  A terrible slick sound drew her eyes to his chest. Blood coated the tip of a long sword jutting from his chest.

  The anguished scream that ripped from her lungs shook her world, cracking her mind so fiercely that any semblance of sanity couldn’t possibly survive…only rage, poised for violence, vengeance, and a furious rampage.

  She scratched desperately at the door with her little claws, ignoring the splinters that jabbed deep into her fingertips. The points of her fangs bit into her bottom lip, craving the feel of torn flesh from the necks of those murderers.

  Alarm stunted her breath when she saw Ethan’s eyes growing dim. His knees hit the floor, followed by his lifeless torso.

  Infused by a mindless frenzy, she dug at the now jagged daggers of wood. Seconds before she breached the door, a feminine voice rang out—Kyra?—commanding with the authority of a well-versed leader for someone to stop.

  The scene suddenly vanished in an array of dizzying sparks, replaced by a wall of vegetation.

  Still immersed by the Edge, confusion welled. Thwarted vengeance festered, rotting away reason. She clenched her jaw as the need for violence crashed through her. Her eyes darted wildly for a target.

  The only person in the universe with the power to quell the overwhelming madness materialized at her front. His look of concern confounded her.

  “Sonya?” Ethan reached for her, and without thought, her arm came up to slap his hand away. He frowned. “It wasn’t real, whatever you saw,” he said.

  She turned away from him, wrestling with the Edge and craving the truth of his words. Not dead? It had been so damn real that this now felt like the dream.

  She spotted Sebastian a few feet away, holding Anya in his big arms. The others were near as well, unharmed save for the strain in their faces.

  “Hello, Siella. I see your power has grown,” Kyra called out to someone.

  A green haired female emerged from atop a massive stone. “Blessed gods! It is you!”

  Realization slammed into Sonya. Somehow, this female had morphed her father’s murder into a new kind of nightmare. Sonya tensed to attack, but Ethan moved to block her.

  She hissed at him.

  His eyes went wide, and he drew back. She cursed, realizing she needed to rein it in and crawl her way back from the Edge, lest she lash out again without meaning to.

  “You need to leave me alone,” she quietly warned. Her body still thrummed with fresh mourning as her mind tried to rationalize that her loved ones were unscathed.

  For the span of a heartbeat, Ethan’s expression appeared pained before he scrubbed his face blank, turning inscrutable. Sonya’s heart sank by the sight, but there wasn’t much she could do about
it now. She was barely able to ward off the Edge and keep from throwing herself at that female, fangs first.

  Chapter 31

  One of Evlon’s two suns had already set as they made their way back toward the ship, with the other soon to follow. Shadows stretched long, offering an eerie atmosphere among the forest. The entire trip was a silent endeavor, allowing Ethan to mull over everything that had happened.

  At first he had been furious with Siella, but the girl had only been protecting her group. Undoubtedly she had saved them from discovery countless times with her power. While her victims were emerged in their own personal horror show, she could dispatch them by whatever means she deemed fit.

  His own illusion had been strangely surprising and yet expected. There’d been nothing in the vision about his people, his world, or the fate that might befall both—something that had been his driving force and greatest fear for so long.

  Instead, he was assaulted by his new greatest fear.

  Losing Sonya.

  After ending her illusion spell, Siella had used the power of her flute to hail a group of Faieara, whom she called her guild brothers and sisters. Because most in the group wielded blood magic, they referred to themselves as the Alliance of the Blood. They were led by a dark-haired male named Azule.

  Ethan had recognized Azule from long ago, although he looked older now with experience set like stone behind his shrewd, grey eyes. Before, he’d been a young guard, eager to serve his king. During the initial invasion, he had helped to smuggle folks away from the palace prior to the Kayadon assuming command.

  Azule had acknowledged him with a tight nod, clearly trying to place his face. Experience had taken its toll on Ethan as well. How differently he must look now: white-blond hair to his chin, braids swept throughout, his tailored clothing foreign to his own people who were dressed in lose fitting garb painted in colors of the forest.

  After quick introductions, accompanied by wary glances at the demons, Azule had extended an invitation into their cleverly hidden underground lair. The entrance had been situated at the base of the large crater, precisely where the book had indicated.

  Once inside, Azule and his lighter haired brother, Luric, had proceeded to explain how the free people of Evlon had broken into groups called guilds, all most likely veiled by magic. There was no way of knowing how many existed, or where any could be found.

  Ethan frowned, stepping over a patch of rock. His glance skimmed over the lavish forest. Were there less free Faieara now than he’d imagined? Would they even be able to find another guild?

  Sonya marched ahead of the group, seeming not to care about her loud footfalls, as if daring something to attack from behind the thick brush. Considering her mood, Ethan pitied anything that tried.

  Back in the guild’s den—just as with now—Ethan had found it difficult to focus on anything but Sonya. She had stood stiff, eyeing the new group with her arms crossed. She was completely closed to him, and he feared whatever she’d seen in Siella’s illusion spell had encouraged a huge step back in their relationship. Possibly for good.

  Gods, why can she not be easy?

  Ethan’s pleasure at seeing the large group of thriving Faieara had been muted by Sonya’s continued gloom and stubbornness. She’d barely looked at him once since she’d ordered him to leave her be, a trying effort on his part. All he wanted to do was hold her and beg her not to push him away again, though he knew it would be moot. Once they returned to the ship, she would no doubt escape into her room.

  A deep sorrow clamped his chest. He glanced at her ahead of him on the trail. Was his vision about to come true?

  No. He would not allow it.

  As they’d exchanged more information with Azule, many of the guild’s inhabitants had peeked around corners to lay eyes on the princesses, surprised and ecstatic to see them alive after so long. Yet some had been apprehensive, mostly due to a foreboding prophecy regarding the king’s heirs. According to Azule, the return of the princesses ushered the end of Evlon as they knew it.

  Ethan paid it no heed. Prophecies were always plentiful among his people, and most were so cryptically undecipherable as to be useless.

  However, Ethan had managed to learn two important things from Azule and Luric before they’d started heading back to the ship: The Kayadon may be weakening, and they’d been gathering healers.

  A correlation, perhaps?

  When Luric had divulged the last bit of information, Sonya had gone tense before asking, “What do they do with the healers?” giving Ethan the impression that she might yet care for him, even if she didn’t quite realize how much.

  Azule had been the one to reply, offering the only information he could, via a couple who had recently managed to escape the palace city. “According to Ina and Ru, once a healer was taken, they would never be heard from again.”

  Sonya’s eyes had swept to Ethan for only the briefest second, and he thought he’d witnessed fear overcome a bit of her cold anger, but couldn’t be sure.

  “We should be there already,” Sonya announced gruffly, interrupting his musings. She had pulled her hair back into a tight braid to keep it from getting caught on the occasional low branch, revealing the delicate slope of her neck. He yearned to kiss her there and bury himself in her feminine scent. “How are we to find the ship if Portia has hidden it from sight?”

  “With this.” Sebastian held out a glowing auburn stone. “Portia gave it to me before we left. It glows brighter the closer we get. Once we pass through her wards, the ship should appear.”

  Moments later, the air around them shivered with magic. They paused, awed by the sight of Marada emerging at their front as if from a billowing, grey mist. A few mercenaries stood guard, not trusting of the witchling’s powers. One of them called out after spotting the group, bringing the others to attention. In the next instant, recognition put them at ease and they went back to scanning the woodland.

  Sonya wasted no time climbing the ramp into the ship, while the others lingered to watch the final sunset.

  Ethan moved to follow, but Kyra stopped him. “I’d like to return tomorrow and speak with Azule about joining us. I’d appreciated it if you accompanied me, since you knew him from before?”

  Cale took a step closer to Kyra, silently indicating that he would be there as well. Kyra glanced at him and gave a tight nod, seeming to understand the unspoken proposition. Ethan felt a twinge of jealousy for their natural synchronicity. Meanwhile, he had no idea what was running through Sonya’s head, his magic proving useless at the moment.

  “Of course,” Ethan replied. “But we were not exactly close associates back then. He’d been but a fresh trainee, recently inducted into the guard.”

  “You may not have known him, but I’d be surprised if he hadn’t known you. There’s a reason why Father chose you, Ethan. You were a legend among our people.”

  Though he covered it well, Ethan was taken aback by the sudden praise.

  “Still are, it seems,” she continued. “Those Faieara were just as eager to get a glimpse of you as they were any of us.”

  He hadn’t noticed, too distracted by his capricious demoness. Cale caught it when Ethan’s gaze slipped to where Sonya had disappeared, and when Kyra moved away, he pulled Ethan aside. “I’ve no right to offer advice, pirate, but I’m going to anyway. There’s not a lot in this universe that frightens my sister—”

  “I’ve noticed.”

  “But if what she saw in that nightmare was anything like what I saw…” Cale shook his head and slanted a telling glance in Kyra’s direction. “It’s not hard to imagine what she’s feeling right now.”

  “It isn’t?” Ethan replied.

  Cale offered a pitying grin. “Not for me. I’ve lost one mate already, and there’s nothing worse.”

  Ethan raised a brow at his words. “One mate?” Does he believe he had a chance at a second? Had Cale accepted Kyra as his? “What about your magic theory?”

  Something like regret flashed acros
s Cale’s face. “The witch confirmed otherwise. And…so did Nadua.”

  Ethan cocked his head, encouraging him to continue.

  “She had witnessed something from Sonya’s past, something Sonya was far too young to remember, or even comprehend. But she had been there when our mother and Velicia, my mate, plotted to trick me into a matebond using some kind of elixir I hadn’t even known existed. I’ve told no one of this,” Cale added with emphasis. “It would only hurt them to know that it had been used on our father as well.”

  Ethan digested the information before commenting, “You had said pirates killed your father?”

  “Aye, but I’ll say no more on the subject. Sonya would go ballistic on me.”

  Ethan had no doubt on that score. “I understand, but had he found out about this elixir?”

  “I’ve wondered that myself. Knowing my mother…as I do now,” he growled, “she wouldn’t have wanted this information discovered. She might have had him murdered to keep her secret.” Cale paused, as if taking a moment to mourn the loss, or perhaps to berate himself for being duped by his mother. Finally, he continued, “The Serakian informed me she can do nothing to break my bond with Velicia, but I won’t let her treachery keep me from what I want, bond or not.”

  The stalwart intent behind Cale’s words slammed into Ethan, and in that moment, they were connected by a similar resolve.

  “And your advice?” Ethan prompted.

  Cale smiled.

  * * *

  Sonya yanked open the drawers of her reading desk and dug through its contents. Next she went to the floor and attacked the adjacent trunk, rummaging through some of her most treasured items of memorabilia, tossing them away as if possessed.

  She sat back with a curse when the trunk was emptied and she hadn’t found what she sought. She glanced hopelessly at her effects now scattered around her.