by L. P. Dover
Grabbing my attention, Merrick whispers, “I have her guys, and Ryder I need you to calm the hell down. It’s hard for me to see this shit, too, but we have to because it’s all part of the plan. I told her what to do and she says to follow her and we can go from there. She also says that whatever you see, do not interfere.”
Nixie slyly points out, “She’s smart and she’s very good at manipulating him so I know she can get his guard down.”
I hate to see what she has to do to get his guard down. If anything, she will literally be getting his guard up. I am already being pushed to the limit with the rage taking over my body and I’ve been shaking so bad I don’t think I can even walk straight. I just hope I can keep my anger in check without blowing our cover.
“Alright, guys, let’s go,” I snap.
With Merrick and I still invisible, we silently make our way to follow Calista. We see her heading to the side of the village and through the woods. We walk a good distance behind them and my vision is perfectly clear. It’s clear enough that I’m able to see the dark sorcerer’s hand on Calista’s ass the whole way through the woods. I close my eyes and grip the handle of my sword. When I open them there’s only one thing I see…the color red.
Chapter 25
Calista
The dark sorcerer and I head down the many flights of steps in the tree and he holds my hand the entire time. It’s actually Avery’s body, but the mind of the dark sorcerer. It’s weird with him being in Avery’s body because his mannerisms are so different from Avery’s mannerisms. I’m curious to know how this works.
“Does Avery have any control when you take over his body?” I ask.
He seems amused.
“No, he doesn’t, and I know he despises it. I block him out when I take over his body. I don’t like to hear his incessant whining.”
“Tell me about it,” I respond, knowing exactly what he means by that.
We reach the door and he opens it to reveal the outside. It’s still dark, of course, but the lights of the dwellings give off a faint glow across the village. I hear a noise in my head and I pause. Was that Merrick? I didn’t think that would be possible with the talisman still around my neck, but I can feel the connection open up.
“Merrick?”
“I’m here, Princess. Ryder and I are both here. We’re off to your right hidden in the trees. Actually, we are both invisible hiding behind the trees. Why are you with Avery and holding his hand like that?”
“The dark sorcerer is inside Avery’s body. He can take over certain people’s bodies and when he uses his own body he can appear as anyone. He appeared as Ryder when I came to him the first time and I just about lost it, Merrick. I almost died of heartbreak thinking it was Ryder because I thought he betrayed me. Also, our powers do not work inside the dwellings, they only work outside. I hate that you have to see me like this, but I’m only pretending. This was the only way I could think of to distract him.”
“Well, Ryder is right here with me and determined to get you to safety. I don’t think he likes what you’re doing though. Well, neither do I. The clothes are a little distracting if that’s what you mean by distracting the dark sorcerer. Whatever you do, try to stay outside as much as possible to give us more chances for escape.”
“I will.”
I am trying to talk to Merrick and talk to the villagers and some of the fae in the army at the same time, which isn’t very easy. We’re headed to the prison and I already have a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about what I’m going to see in there. The dark sorcerer said he had a surprise for me, but I don’t know what kind of surprise would be in a prison. I have about two minutes before we reach it so I continue to fill Merrick in on what’s been happening.
“I am so sorry you have to see me like this, Merrick. Apparently, this jackass likes to pick out my clothes, and let me tell you, they’re a little too small if you can’t already tell. The ring Elvena gave me for my birthday is helping protect me from me being drained, but I’m starting to feel some effects from the talisman. This man is one sick bastard and we’re headed to the prison to go do who knows what.”
There are two guards at the door and both of them are trolls. The dark sorcerer has a lot of trolls here and a lot of fae from both the Summer and Winter Courts. It pains me to know that we had this many traitors. I wonder if there is a way to distinguish who is loyal and who isn’t when I get back home, or rather if I get back home.
The trolls bow their heads and step aside. I walk through the door and the first thing I want to do is squeeze my eyes shut and put my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming. But instead, my eyes stay open and I try not to focus on one particular thing. The visions of what I’m seeing will stay engraved in my brain for eternity. I bite my tongue to keep from screaming and the piercing ache of the bite keeps my mind on the pain instead of the grotesque things I’m seeing. The taste of blood fills my mouth and I have no other option but to swallow it. The metallic taste makes me want to gag.
Blood is spattered all over the walls and ashes are scattered throughout the cells. The air is thick with the smell of death and pain. Bile rises in the back of my throat and the burning sensation feels like it’s ignited over my entire body. I am appalled at what I’m seeing and saddened to think of all the fae that have lost their lives here. From the amount of blood stains everywhere I would say these people suffered a great amount of torture. I look around the cells and it appears there is no one here. So why did we come?
“Why are we here, if you have no prisoners?” I ask.
He just grins and taunts playfully, “Oh, you’ll see, it’s my surprise I have for you.”
My body starts to sweat and I feel suffocated in the tight brown leather of my clothes. The leather straps of my top feel like they’re squeezing my lungs and I can’t draw in a deep breath. I wish I could run and hide so I don’t have to see what my surprise is. We are almost to the last cell so I slow my pace. My feet feel like they weigh a million pounds and moving them is becoming harder and harder. The dark sorcerer has a huge grin on his face and motions for me to take a look. I slowly turn my gaze to what lies behind the cell door and I’m shocked to see what’s there.
I raise my eyebrows in question.
“What is he doing in there?” I ask.
“He is my gift to you, my queen. This is going to be a special night for us both and I thought you would like to seek vengeance on the one who killed your best friend’s parents.”
I jerk my head to look at him. Did I just hear him right? Did Warren kill Xylia’s parents? I turn my back from Warren to give me time to think and process what I’ve just heard. I look in the dark sorcerer’s borrowed eyes and I see truth there. This can’t be happening. But it’s true, Warren killed Xylia’s parents. She must be devastated right now and I’m not there to comfort her. The evil glint in the sorcerer’s eyes tells me of his intent. He brought me here to kill Warren. My world turns to black and I feel like I’m falling into nothingness. The emotions are too much. I feel pain and grief for Xylia, heartbreak and sorrow for the innocents that lost their lives in this horrid prison, disgust for the man that has claimed so many lives and has turned this land to poison, and most of all, RAGE.
The anger and rage feels like it’s spreading through every square inch of my body and intoxicating me with its heady pleasure. I hate the man beside me, but I really hate the man in the cell that killed two close friends of my family who were also the parents of my best friend, and who also betrayed a best friend that happens to be the man I love. I have decided. I will do this for Xylia.
I feel the coldness of a blade entering into my hand, but I cannot see it. The only thing I see is the red, hazy cloud of rage blocking my vision. I hear skin tearing and the gurgling of someone trying to breathe. A hot, sticky substance sprays across my neck and chest and the metallic smell of blood fills my nose, but it doesn’t bother me. My breathing accelerates and my grip on the blade tightens. The last thing I remember hearin
g before my vision clears is the sound of Warren screaming and choking on his blood.
I come around to the sound of Avery’s voice, even though it’s not actually Avery. He walks up behind me and puts his hands on my hips. He breathes against my ear and whispers to me.
“Very nice, my queen, your body has me completely turned on.” He presses his groin up against my ass and pulls me in tighter as he continues speaking.
“I didn’t know you had that amount of rage built up inside that voluptuous body. How about we leave and fulfill your destiny as my queen?” I look at his face. His eyes are glassy and he licks his lips while devouring my body with his gaze. If I knew I could get away, I would run away from here as fast as I could and never look back. I have killed for the first time in my life tonight. It saddens me, but Warren deserved it and if it wasn’t me doing it, I know Ryder would have been the one to do it. I saved Ryder from having to kill his best friend that not only turned traitor, but killed innocent people in my court. It still hurts to know that Ryder’s going to be devastated when he finds out.
“I need some fresh air,” I say as I turn to walk out of the prison. The dark sorcerer follows me and I can feel his lingering gaze caressing the backside of my body as I walk. I have to get him away from the village and I think I know the way to do it. Why does this have to be so difficult? I just killed someone and now I have to pretend to be turned on. This is some seriously messed up shit. I decide that what I’m about to do next needs to happen before walking out of the prison because I don’t want Ryder or Merrick seeing it.
Before we get to the door of the prison, I turn to the dark sorcerer with a hooded gaze and I part my lips slightly to run my tongue over them. I run my fingers down his chest and move closer so our bodies are touching.
I rub against him slowly as I whisper, “I believe it’s time to have some fun, don’t you think?” I lift my eyes to stare hard into his, daring him to comply with my wish.
He bites his lip and releases a deep groan from his throat. He rubs his body against mine to let me know he is up for the challenge.
“What do you have in mind?” He groans.
“Follow me,” I say. I tried to sound as sexy as possible.
We head out of the prison and he possessively wraps his arm around my waist. It’s a complete show of dominance and claiming his territory, but I am definitely not his territory and never will be.
He bends down to whisper in my ear, “I’m going to make you scream tonight.” He then takes my earlobe in his mouth and sucks on it.
I give him a little giggle and push him away. The urge to kill him is so strong. When I get home, I’m going to have to shower for a year to get his stench off of me. He wraps his arms around my waist and rests his hand on my ass. Please don’t let Ryder do anything yet because I know this is probably pissing him off seeing me like this. I lead the dark sorcerer away from the village and into the woods. I practically make him think that I am going to give myself to him, so I need to come up with a plan very quick before we go too far. We’re about a half mile out when he stops walking and takes a look around.
“I think this will be good,” he says while inspecting the ground.
“Are you sure? Because I’m sure there’s a better spot somewhere else,” I say expectantly.
He gives me a smirk.
“If I didn’t know any better, my Queen, I would say that you’re nervous.”
“No, I’m definitely not,” I say and my voice quivers as I say it. I silently curse myself because I can’t show weakness. He walks over to me with a curious look on his face and then looks at the talisman and narrows his eyes. His fingers trail down my collarbone and across the mound of my breast to the talisman. He moves it back and forth and then looks in my eyes.
“Let’s take this off and see what happens,” he says.
He lifts the talisman from around my neck and places it around his. The bloodstone of the talisman begins to glow and underneath Avery’s body I see the ghostly outline of the dark sorcerer absorbing the power he took from me. Now that the talisman is off, I can feel the loss of what it took. I lean back against one of the dark oily trees of the Black Forest and the sticky residue of the tree is leaving a slimy film on my back which feels disgusting. I shake my head to clear the fog. I don’t feel empty, but I feel the void inside my body where the pieces are missing. The ring helped him to not take all of my power, but it took a great deal. Without Elvena’s ring, I would probably be dead right now. I still have power and I can feel it coursing through my body, but I don’t know if it’ll be strong enough to fight him off. He’s glowing with power and I know that I shouldn’t try right now, so I wait for it to stop. I don’t know where Ryder and Merrick are at until I hear a whisper at my ear and feel a soft caress down my cheek.
“I’m here, Calista.”
It is Ryder. My heart skips a beat at his touch, and I’ve never felt more alive than I do at this moment with him near. I nod my head so he knows I can hear him. I look at the dark sorcerer and the glowing has stopped, but now he’s staring at me with an evil glint in his eye. It makes my skin crawl and a fear I have never felt begins to take root in my soul. The talisman has changed my pure, clean magic to something twisted and evil and it’s taken over his body. His arrogant strut as he makes his way to me lets me know that the time I’ve spent here has been nothing but easy and now the real fun is about to begin. Dread settles in the pit of my stomach and I fear that we aren’t going to make it out of here alive. I don’t know how we’re going to defeat him on our own.
He pushes me up against the tree with a painful force. The impact is so hard my head bounces up against the tree and my teeth rattle.
His voice takes on a menacing tone of pure evil and hate when he roars, “You know, my queen, betrayal is punishable by death. Did you think I was stupid? I could sense the treachery in you the moment you awoke in my bed.”
Realization clicks on in my brain. I close my eyes and sag in defeat. I can’t believe he knew I was pretending this whole time. My look of surprise brings a smile to his face and his hands grab around my neck and he squeezes so tight I start to see spots. I’m gasping for air and my hands come up instantly to grab onto his arms to pull him away from me, but he’s too strong. I scratch my nails down his arms as hard as I can and blood begins to flow down in rivulets. His face is so close to mine and I try to turn my head, but his grip is so tight that I’m stuck there. He pushes his body against mine, grinding me into the slick, oily tree. The feel of his body combined with the feel of the tree on my back makes me feel sick. He bends low and slowly traces his tongue along my jaw.
“I love pain, princess, and all you’re doing is turning me on even more. This isn’t my body so I don’t care what you do to it. Scratch, bite, you name it. I enjoy it all,” he taunts. He thrusts hard into me so I can feel how turned on he is. “But I can assure you, I will enjoy this as if it was my own body about to take you.”
He laughs, low and seductive.
“I enjoyed every minute of your betrayal. I pretended right along with you, making you think I was blind with lust. Believe me, I am, but not enough for you to trick me. You have an amazing body and I’m sure you could bewitch the best of men.” He moves his face away to send a long, lingering gaze down my body. He takes his hands away from my neck and I cough to draw in a much needed raspy breath.
He smirks as he says, “Nice plan, though, luring me out here to seduce me like a siren in heat. But I think we need an audience, don’t you?”
He turns away from me and yells out into the forest, “I know you’re out here somewhere and if you don’t show yourself now, I’m going to put her through ungodly pain each second you decide to waste.”
Ryder appears first, off to my left and our gazes land on each other. My eyes begin to fill with tears, but I refuse to blink and let them fall. I am not weak and I will get us out of here. Our situation is too dire to think of anything other than getting out. I wonder if Nixie is around and
what she has planned. I look around for her, but I don’t see her. If she is here I hope she has some magical plan to help us get out of here sometime soon.
The dark sorcerer sees Ryder appear and taunts sarcastically, “Ah, Prince Ryder, it’s nice to finally meet you and might I say, you’re looking pretty dapper in that new skin. Thank you for joining us on this special night because I’m sure you’ll find the festivities rather…unappealing.” My heart sinks because the last thing I want is for Ryder and Merrick to see what this bastard does to me.
“Don’t you dare touch her, you worthless piece of shit!” Ryder yells. He’s fuming and his stance tells me he’s about to attack any minute.
“Oh, I plan to do a lot more than just touching her, Prince Ryder,” he provokes with menace.
Ryder bolts toward the dark sorcerer, but is stopped by some kind of invisible force. Merrick appears in front of Ryder holding him back. I notice a silver locket dangling from Merrick’s hand and I recognize it as the locket he gave me for my birthday. I wonder what he’s doing with it.
The dark sorcerer is amused at Ryder’s anger and claps his hands when Merrick appears. He laughs.
“Now that was easy. I’m surprised, Guardian, that you would stop him. Killing Ryder would put you next in line for her heart, now wouldn’t it? Isn’t that what you have always wanted? To have her love?”
Merrick’s scowl is impressive as he spits, “I already have her love, but your cold, dead heart wouldn’t know anything about that.”
The dark sorcerer puts on a mock frown and on Avery’s face it just looks evil.
He shrugs his shoulders and replies coldly, “Well, that may be the case, but I plan on enjoying her love while you two watch and then I plan on killing you both while she watches.”