Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress Book 2)
Page 26
Verena didn’t waste her advantage. I screamed as a bolt of light rammed into a distracted Ashor, too late to issue a warning. He stayed on his feet, despite his power flickering, and I heaved a great sigh. Blood slid from his nostril, bright and red.
I felt my face pale, a wave of dizziness swimming through my head. Something hot and wet dripped onto my lip. I lifted my hand, wiping it away, and caught a flash of blood smeared over the back of my hand.
He hurt. I hurt.
This had to be some new form of Hell—a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.
Ashor managed to refortify the darkness he had coiled around Colin, but it was another decision that cost him, leaving the prince open for another attack.
Are you going to let her go unpunished? She attacked your mate. Attacked you. A sultry voice raked like claws over my mind, spurring me into action.
Fuck no, I wasn’t.
The demon inside roared to the surface, ready and eager to kill. “How dare you touch him,” I seethed, my feet carrying me across the room as I flung both of my hands out in front of me. The flames around my fingers grew to encircle my entire hands, and I unleashed my inferno of darkness on the Queen of Envy.
The second the flames left my fingers, I realized the depth of my actions. What was I thinking, taking on the queen? I was terrified of the smoky magic rippling inside me, of the demon inside me dying to burst free. I was so angry for what Verena had done not just to my mate, but to Colin—to me. For what Ashor’s mother had put him through. Anger like I’d never felt burned my blood. It festered inside me as tendrils of darkness wrapped around my arms like ribbons. I promised myself justice, revenge, retribution—whatever name you wanted to give it.
“Lexi, no!” screamed a deep, hoarse voice as my power soared like ribbons of fire in the air, encircling the Queen of Envy. Cayden. But I ignored him as well as the snarling, the thrashing of metal, the tearing of flesh, and the cries of war. All that mattered was my wrath.
Verena had corrupted Colin’s soul, manipulated me. Unforgivable. Perhaps Ashor’s plan of plotting her death wasn’t such a bad idea after all. She deserves to die, that voice crooned. Kill her. Kill her.
A part of me understood it was my inner demon coaxing me into murdering the Queen of Envy, but once the seed was planted, I couldn’t remember why it was a bad plan. She deserved it. Other than Kali, I couldn’t think of another demon who deserved it more. The little kernel grew within me, until killing Verena was all I could think about. Each step I took closer to her intensified the desire for her blood. I wanted it to stain her pretty white floors black.
“You must resist,” a tiny voice in my head whispered. A different voice. This one was no less cold than the other, but there was something distinct and familiar about the silky tone. Almost like a caress.
I stumbled, his words splintering a tiny crack in my wall of wrath. “Ashor?”
“Yes, luv. Who else would rescue you from the dark recesses of your mind?”
This wasn’t the time to joke.
I resumed stalking toward Verena, who was staring at the ring of flames around her feet like she didn’t trust it, as if my magic was something new.
Perhaps it was.
“This anger, it isn’t yours. Resist her.” Ashor’s warning was more clear and persistent in my head, expanding the crack in my hatred.
Resist who? What was he trying to tell me? If I only had a minute to think, but I barely had time to process what my body was doing.
What are you waiting for? Kill her. The menacing voice slithered into my thoughts.
Then I understood. It wasn’t my demon that was urging me to murder a demon queen, not entirely. It was the bitch of darkness herself. I should have recognized the signature of her magic. I had once before felt it weave through my pores, into my bones. Verena’s gifts were illusions, but Kali’s were just as poisonous and deadly. Perhaps more so. She implanted ideas, could force me to believe things, to do things, like murder a queen and get myself killed in the process. Unlike Verena, who spun visual lies, Kali’s deceit was of the mind—control.
I just bet she would love to see Verena tear me into shreds right in front of my mate. That was a new level of torture. Creative, I’d give her that, but neither of these demon queens understood the lengths Ashor would go to protect me.
My gaze shot from Verena to Ashor. Cold rage flickered over his features, turning the handsome face into one of predatory beauty. “You are no longer her prisoner. I refuse to let you be her prey. And I will always stand in her way if it means protecting you.”
I was no longer a prisoner.
I was not prey.
I was the hunter.
His words shattered the hold Kali had on me—or perhaps I did that on my own as the chains on my demon broke free.
A flash of pain ripped through muscles, bones, and tissue. It lasted only seconds, but in those brief moments, I felt every change my body went through. My canines lengthened inside my mouth, the sharp points touching my tongue like Ashor’s did when he shifted, but that was where our similarities ended. No wings sprang from my back. My senses had always been heightened, but now, even more so. I couldn’t find the words to describe what it was like, mostly because the situation didn’t allow me to analyze the shift.
“I was beginning to wonder if you had any demon inside,” Verena sneered, as if I wasn’t adequate enough to be in her court. The joke was on her. I didn’t want to be a part of any court in Hell.
Raw and savage power filtered in a rush through me, and the flames surrounded Verena, erupting like a geyser of darkness that sent the queen flying backward into a wall.
I don’t know who was shocked more. Me, the Queen of Envy, or Ashor, but it only took an evil laugh from behind us to wipe the incredulous expressions off our faces. Kali was a deceitful little bitch. And someday, I was going to run her through with a blade.
If I survived the night.
“You had that coming, Verena dear. You really did, thinking you stood a chance against me.” Kali laughed again as the Queen of Envy composed herself, radiating undiluted white fury.
She wasn’t the only one pissed off. Icy wrath crawled through me, and I curled my fingers, tightening them around— What the fuck?
Where had that come from?
My fingers gripped a blade. Not like the daggers I had at home. This one was made of shadows and unforgiving magic.
Verena lifted a hand, producing a gold spear of thorns, and my heart plummeted. I had to do something. I had to stop her. If she managed to sink the weapon into Ashor, she could kill his soul—kill a part of me. We were tied together, body and soul. But for me, it was more than just the physical and emotional pain losing my mate would cause me. It was the thought of Ashor gone that caused everything inside me to panic.
The Queen of Envy flipped the gold spear in her hand so it was over her head, and the long, spiked handle gleamed through the darkness. Verena’s power, like Kali’s, was ancient and struck with precision as she hurled the spear straight for Ashor.
A low, vicious snarl vibrated close by. It was insignificant, because nothing mattered but my mate.
I knew I would never be able to stop the spear, not when he was staring at me and I was too far. This couldn’t possibly be the end. Ashor was too damn arrogant and prideful to die. He would find a way to stop the spear before it reached his heart.
He would.
He had to.
The damn prince was invincible.
Wasn’t he?
I stopped breathing, eyes following the path of the spear, unable to look away. With these demon eyes, it all happened in slow motion.
A screamed lodged in my throat just as a shadow intercepted the spear’s path, and I watched as Cayden’s face appeared, the spear piercing his chest. The punisher exploded into a burst of light that shredded his soul into dark dust right before my eyes.
“No!” Ashor bellowed. The anguish glittering in his eyes morphed into untapped rage.
His best friend had been obliterated. Cayden had made the ultimate sacrifice, something I’d assumed no demon was capable of, giving up his life for another.
The throne room spun in a cyclone born of a starless night and shrieking winds as Ashor uncaged that well of power inside him. Through our bond, I felt the gut-wrenching agony turn into a lawless rage.
It was that whirlwind of emotions that sent me into action. I couldn’t be sure if it was Ashor’s or my own thirst for blood that propelled me forward. I sped onto the dais, hurdling over a demon until I was eye to eye with Verena. And then I plunged my dagger into the Queen of Envy, hitting her in a demon’s one vulnerable spot—the heart.
Verena’s gaze went wide. Her body jerked as her hands flew up to the knife embedded in her chest.
I stabbed the Queen of Envy.
She grinned, and I rammed the weapon further into her chest before releasing my grip and stepping back. The blade crafted by my darkness shattered, and the queen dropped to her knees.
My head was buzzing, my temples throbbing.
Had I really just killed a demon queen?
My vision blurred, and the figure at my feet shifted. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. It couldn’t be real. But…
I blinked.
It wasn’t the Queen of Envy’s face I was staring at. It was Colin’s.
“Lexi,” he wheezed, reaching out a hand toward me. Black blood flowed freely from where the dagger had penetrated his chest, dripping onto the floor. Then he erupted into a pile of demon dust. Particles of his remains hit me in the face, sticking to my skin. There was a good chance I’d inhaled pieces of my ex-boyfriend.
I was going to be sick.
If it wasn’t Verena that I stabbed, then where was she?
Laughter rang out over a spiraling storm that hung over our heads and echoed through the chamber. “Foolish girl.” That was Verena’s voice. A pit of dread formed in my gut.
My gaze sought out the voice and clashed with familiar blazing white eyes. This bitch just wouldn’t die.
The leash of darkness that Ashor had twined around Colin was now wrapped around the grinning Queen of Envy. She lifted her hand, snatching the leash and ripped it off with one clean yank. The coiled darkness disintegrated. Her omnipotent gaze met mine. “You might have a flicker of darkness, but you are out of your league, huntress. I am a queen.” Her chin lifted in arrogance.
“Perhaps my mate might be, but I’m not,” Ashor said with a cold graveness in his voice. His darkness formed a weapon of demon destruction, a clawed hand that trembled with power. Even from feet away, I felt the vibrations in the air.
“No!” bellowed the Queen of Darkness, but it was too late. Not even with her cunning abilities was she able to stop her son.
Wings spread wide in an impending doom stance, Ashor slammed his hand into Verena’s chest, through flesh and bone, straight to the demon’s heart. The sound of her gasp was like a gun going off in the throne room.
Utter silence fell. Not a single demon breathed. No one moved. Everyone in the room just stared.
A startled expression of horror overtook her smug superiority. Her white glittering eyes snuffed out like a candle, her power with it. She was just a demon now.
Ashor twisted his hand still embedded in her chest. “You should have taken my offer,” he told the queen. And then he wrenched his hand free. The once beautiful, bright queen in her halo of illusions was nothing but a withered hag. Centuries aged her in a matter of seconds until her bones crumbled, leaving nothing but a pile of ash. Every illusion she’d ever spun faded, and the once pristine castle of gleaming white became a tumble of ancient bricks, rot, and death.
Ashor just… The thought got caught and mangled up in my head.
Holy shit! I-I couldn’t believe it. My head shook in denial. In only a split second, my entire world had changed. Nothing was ever going to be the same again. How could it?
The Queen of Envy was dead.
“What have you done?” the Queen of Darkness seethed like a madwoman, hair wild as it stood out around her face like she’d been delivered an electric shock of unprecedented magnitude. Her eyes were wholly black, not a speck of color, just wide orbs of evil.
Cruel amusement danced over Ashor’s features as he faced his mother. “I fulfilled my oath.”
“You did no such thing. Deceiver. Traitor. Fool,” she spat, sparks of anger spitting off her skin like a live wire. “You are no son of mine. I renounce you as my heir.”
The words she hurled at him like arrows to the heart had no impact, but bounced off him as if he were covered in armor. “I learn from the best. All those lessons you drilled into me finally paid off, Mother.” Ashor lifted up his arm and the queen stared in horror where her blood mark had once been on her son’s flesh. “I promised to deliver the queen. And I did. Words are vital when making a deal.”
The queen’s face contorted with wrath as a succession of lightning strikes slashed across the ceiling. “You’ll pay for this.”
“I imagine I will,” he said quietly. “Now get the hell out of my court.”
My.
My.
My.
That single word echoed in my head, drumming over and over again.
Ashor was the King of Envy. My mate was a king of Hell.
Kali lifted her chin and smiled slightly, masking her wild rage behind it. “What a valiant effort. This wasn’t part of my plan, but I can see the potential. You and I, ruling together.”
Unbelievable. She was already trying to use the situation.
“Leave.” The single command rumbled from deep within his chest.
The queen’s face tightened. “This isn’t over.”
His grin turned subdued. “I should hope not. I’ll be waiting.” And to reinforce his stance, his new position, the Wild Hunt appeared behind their prince… now their king.
On a chilling gust of wind, the Queen of Darkness left much the same way she had appeared, becoming part of the darkness. Ashor turned to me then, and on trembling legs, I stumbled down from the dais. He caught me in his arms, pressing my face against his chest. “It’s over,” he murmured into my hair. “It’s over.”
Was it though? For now, sure, the threat was over, but not forever.
His mother wouldn’t be content with the outcome of tonight. She was pissed. The war between courts was only beginning, and I shuddered to think what she would do next. The idea of a world where demons walked freely left me feeling ill and weak. But it wasn’t just my world that was threatened by the Queen of Darkness and her quest to become Supreme bitch.
“She’s gone.” Ashor’s voice cut through the roaring in my head.
My demon receded inside me, sapping my strength, and I was grateful to be in Ashor’s arms. I lifted my head, stunned by the sight surrounding us. Every demon in the room dropped down to their knees and bowed their heads, pledging allegiance and obedience to Ashor. “Ashor, what have you done?” I whispered.
He shrugged, the hard lines in his face softening as he gazed down into my face. Under all the anger that was slowly leaving his body, I felt the devastating sadness plaguing him at losing his best friend. He had lost more than he had gained. “What I needed to do. I fulfilled my oath to my mother. I delivered Verena.”
And then promptly slayed her.
“How did you know Verena would switch herself with Colin?” I asked, still a bit befuddled by the events that had unfolded tonight.
His hand slid around my waist, keeping me close. Neither of us was ready to part. “Verena loved her illusions nearly as much as she loved sex.”
“You planned this. You planned to kill Verena this whole time.”
He nodded. “It was the only way.”
Ashor found his loophole. He always had one. “You’re the King of Envy,” I stated, saying the words aloud for the first time, unsure this was real.
Leaning down, he brushed his lips over mine in a sweet kiss. “And that makes you the queen,
luv.”
Holy. Fuck.
Thank you for reading!
Get ready for the conclusion of Ashor and Lexi’s story coming soon!
You’ll be able to get your next Ashor fix in Eternity of Darkness, book three in the Divisa Huntress.
Can’t wait to meet you back in the underworld!
Thank you for reading.
xoxo
Jennifer
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Read more by J. L. Weil
DIVISA HUNTRESS
(New Adult Paranormal Romance)
Crown of Darkness
Inferno of Darkness
DRAGON DESCENDANTS SERIES
(Upper Teen Reverse Harem Fantasy)
Stealing Tranquility
Absorbing Poison
Taming Fire
Thawing Frost
THE DIVISA SERIES
(Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)
Losing Emma: A Divisa novella
Saving Angel
Hunting Angel
Breaking Emma: A Divisa novella
Chasing Angel
Loving Angel
Redeeming Angel
LUMINESCENCE TRILOGY
(Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)
Luminescence
Amethyst Tears