by S J Doran
“No.” He eased his fingers out of her clenching sheath and tried to collect himself. Draw his power back in and breathe. Without her.
How the fuck could he survive without her?
She pulled all of her power back and his body seized; the poison reaching its crescendo right as she stopped taking his pain. His jaw clenched hard, teeth slicing through his tongue, Mara’s hands pressed against his chest, holding him down.
“Ride it out Sin,” she leaned and whispered in his ear, the heat of her body matching the burning within him. Her hand moved between them, wrapping around his erection, his body buzzing between euphoria and the brink of rapture.
“That’s it. Dark gods, you’re beautiful like this demon.” She eased off him so she could look him over, her hand moving steadily.
“No, don’t go,” he muttered, burning in the grips of fevered delirium. “Don’t leave I can make you feel good. Please.”
She was leaving him. Just like everyone else. Didn’t actually want him.
Pain blurred his thoughts, sharpening physical sensation. Her soft hand, squeezing, snug and driving him to the brink.
His breaths hitched and her eyes grew languid, his hands gripping her thighs tight. She leaned back down, kissing him hard then easing back and biting his lip as her claws sunk into his shoulder and her other hand brought him over the edge.
With a low moan, she opened herself back up to his pain, siphoning it away, leaving him in the blissful wake of his climax.
She cleaned off his chest and belly with his t-shirt, covering them both with a heavy blanket. He succumbed to sleep within seconds.
Last reach
His father’s guards each held one of her arms, tearing her away from him while Asmodeus himself held him back, his struggles against his father futile. Bas looked on with a gloating smirk and Az… he looked worn and defeated.
As if he truly knew the taste of defeat—it was Cass’s wife they tore out of his arms. He’d promised her his protection. His life. His soul. His promise had been kept less than an hour.
His father handed him off to his guards, and he reached for Mara, wanting to reassure her — he knew what was coming…
“Cass!” She screamed as the first punch landed. “Let him be, you monster!”
“Mara… I won’t leave you. I’m not giving up…”
The scent of her teased his senses, her hair tickling his face, and before he was fully awake. She was here. Safe. His heart raced even with the physical reassurance that he held her in his arms.
That had been no simple nightmare, he remembered every vivid detail of that night now. Up until he’d been knocked unconscious. Mara. His wife. Their promises and pledges in the dark. Promises made before his own grandmother, who hadn’t seen fit to bless them with freedom when it had been all either of them wanted. Well, aside from each other. That was a given.
There’s nobody else for me, Mara.
How could she have believed he’d so easily thrown her aside for another? Did she not know she consumed his every waking thought and desire?
She was beautiful in sleep, softer and vulnerable as she’d been when they were young. Still couldn’t believe he could touch her. His hand wandered to her thigh and she squeaked, looking at him with dismay from sleep heavy eyes.
“Don’t start anything you don’t intend to finish demon.” Daylight lit up the silver in her hair, her face obscured by the blanket covering them both.
“Husband,” he said, propping himself up on an elbow and smugly running his hand through the part in her robes. He could feel her desire humming as clear as his own.
“Say it, wife. Tell me I’m yours.” His fingers ran up the inside of her thigh and she gasped, narrowing her eyes on him.
“If my husband is ready to end the known worlds, then…” she pushed down the blanket and parted her legs.
“We had it controlled,” he whispered, not entirely believing his own words. They’d been one slip away from it spiraling out of their grasp. Can’t lose her.
“Want to wake up like this every morning for the rest of my existence.” Couldn’t live without her.
He shifted closer, his fingers delving into her heated folds.
“Cass…” she gasped, her back arching up when he pushed his fingers inside of her, his thumb gently circling her swollen clit.
“That’s it.” He said, leaning in to run his lips down her neck, inhaling the scent of her desire. “My Mara. We can do this.”
Have to be able to do this.
His fingers stirred, her hips shifting up to grant him better access. With desire hazing his thoughts, the majority of what made him up wanted to hear her screaming his name in ecstasy, begging him sweetly, cursing him and goading him on…
He kissed down her neck, nuzzling against the side of her breast before pulling her nipple into his mouth. Her hands twined through his hair, grasping hard.
“I can feel you,” he whispered against her skin, “right there.”
She pulled his head back to her breast, arching into his mouth as she rocked against his hand. She came with a keening cry, her body stiff and arched taut, her hands gripping his hair so hard he was sure she’d torn chunks out.
He removed his fingers slowly, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close cautioning his brain to keep his urges at bay. Yes, he was starved. Yes—he craved her with an unceasing drive—anything for her.
“Can we raze the realms to dust yet?” She said, her tone light. He smiled for a brief moment, then realized she was serious.
Anything but that.
“Mara… I…” he had no words. Part of him wanted to bend her over the sofa and fuck her senseless, fill her as with him as their power vortex gorged on every living being. Be set free from all responsibility, to need only each other.
Part of him would always want her above all else. But no longer all of him.
There was a new, responsible part to him, one that wanted to see his realms flourish and overcome the oppression of the past. He wanted to see those around him live, have them find some measure of happiness they’d all been denied. Was this the compassion Mara had warned him about? An emotion she couldn’t grasp, and he couldn’t suppress.
“I want you, more than I knew was possible.” Anything. “We can have it all, it can be done. Even Az said the Rod…”
“Unfair, Sin.” She shoved at his chest and he fell back. Her face crumpled, and she quickly ducked it so her hair fell around it. “I can hear the hesitation in your words. It wasn’t there before.”
He jumped to his feet, reaching for her, and she evaded his grasp, walking around him to her bar and pouring a goblet full of whiskey with a shaking hand.
“Why are you being belligerent about this?” His teeth ground together, the glow of satisfaction of the morning fading. “We can have it all Mara. I want you, and I want my kingdoms.”
She scowled at him. “Right. Ten minutes demon, I depart for the Lich labyrinth with or without you.” She stormed into her bathroom, leaving him wondering where it had gone wrong.
He made his way through the portal to his rooms, quickly changed his clothes and stuffed a few things into a bag and ran back to her room, sprawling across her bed just in time for her to get out of her bathroom.
“You ever going to be ready?” he said with an exaggerated sigh. “I thought you were anxious to get going.” He offered a tentative smile, a peace offering.
Her nostrils flared, that was the only tell he got before she jumped on the bed, her legs straddling his waist, her hand circling his throat.
With a smirk, she leaned in close and pressed her cheek to his. “You’re lucky I love you.” Her breathy voice caused every hair on his body to stand on end.
“You’re everything, Mara.” He meant it. But she was right to call him greedy because he wanted more. Shame had him turning his head to capture her lips, the kiss broken by a hard bite from small teeth when his palm lightly smacked against the swell of her ass.
Mara’s entire body stiffened and she made a move to climb off him. He didn’t let her. She stilled entirely.
“Don’t say things like that Cass. Don’t give me hope when I can feel you slipping away from me.” She pried his hand off her and slid off the bed, moving around her room to toss stuff into a handbag.
“You’re not giving up, are you?” He propped himself onto his elbows, his chest so heavy he wasn’t sure he could stand.
She wouldn’t even look at him. “I’m afraid, Cass.”
“Afraid of what?” He had to fight to keep from shouting.
Her eyes met his in a dead even gaze. “Of one day discovering that I’m your second choice too...” She closed her eyes tight and turned away, her movements slowed.
Cass had to swallow multiple times before he could breathe. He sat up burying his face into his hands, counting his breaths. His body was so tense it trembled, his insides sick and churning.
“You think I’ll let them come between us?”
“They already are.” She pulled her robes tight, her voice cold and even once more. Controlled. “Shall we go?”
“I’m ready.” He stood and picked up his pack. He didn’t even recognize his voice. Guess they were back to this. Ever since she’d left him in their marriage bed in the Nessus, the argument hadn’t changed. Her fears were misguided, of course. He just needed time to prove it to her. Somehow, he needed to get his stubborn wife to listen, trust him to make the right choice for them.
A rocky journey
She’d barely managed two steps through the portal to the labyrinth’s entrance when a sudden thrust from behind sent her barreling forward, her momentum halted when her palms met unyielding rock. Cass pressed against her from behind, his body stiff and unyielding as the rock face, his hands gentle as they ran across her hips and settled on her belly.
There was light coming from somewhere in the underground cavern, odd enough that it distracted her from the burning heat of his hold. It took her a moment to pinpoint the source of light — gold discs suspended from a ceiling that seemed endless, reflecting dim rays from an unseen opening.
The air was cool and damp with condensation, turning the temperature inside the cave frigid. Unusual for a Hell rift, meaning the Lich labyrinth must be bordering the Stygia, the fifth layer of inferno and a desolate frozen ocean. Not that she could truly feel the sting of chill, enveloped as she was within Cass’s arms as he held her trapped between his warm body and cool stone.
“Fair warning demon. If you’re about to crack a ‘between a rock and a hard place’ pun, I will hex you, and it’s going to itch.” She could sense agitation roll off him in waves, mixing with heady lust still coursing through them both.
“Sometimes you’re a real stick in the mud.”
“Me? This coming from the demon who said no to drowning your advisor?” She gave a small shrug. “And in my defense, I didn’t have my morning cup of coffee.”
Despite trying her best to stand her ground, trying to stay vexed with her demon, her treasonous body already eased into his embrace. His too-tight grip the only sign that he was struggling between physical need and mental willpower.
Her head fell back against his chest, frustration and defeat fighting an equal battle within her. She’d been unreasonable in her request perhaps, but that didn’t mean she was wrong to ask it.
The destruction of life was not her first choice for achieving vengeance. It offered too little suffering for those guilty of crimes against them, and too much of it for those who were innocent. But it was quick and efficient. Once unleashed, their power would secure their safety, their freedom. They would finally be together.
“Assat shi, I need you to believe me when I say that nothing will break us apart again. I simply won’t allow it.”
His head dropped to the curve of her neck, more of her resistance crumbling as he burrowed his face within the strands of her unbound hair.
“Be wary of arrogance, Sin.”
“Hmm, but you like my arrogance...” A breath of warm air brushed along kiss-swollen lips a moment before his mouth descended on her. Sinful demon turning each softly whispered word into a kiss. “There has to be a way to protect them. To keep our realms, and each other.”
It wasn’t his tight hold which kept her in place, but the steady beat of his heart against her back. Not long ago she would have given anything to be here, locked in the arms of her Cassius, so what chance did she have at denying him anything, when he was all she’d ever wanted.
“Have I mentioned how very infuriating I find you, Sin?”
“You mean today?” His grin turned gloating. “Twice, each of them spoken moments before you came undone against my hand.”
As if spurred by memory, his mouth claimed hers, robbing her of thought and reason. Leaving her only with the ability to feel. And she did feel. His lust, his trust, his love, and his despair. She could feel each as if they were her very own because he was her heart.
But there was more she could sense. Greed, fear, mistrust… magic. Her eyes flew open wide to stare into the poorly lit cavern entrance behind him, her head tilting ever so slightly to searching the shadows.
“Cass?”
His tongue swept against the seam of her lips, reclaiming them. “Hmmm?”
She captured his bottom lip, hearing him softly groan as she suckled him into her mouth, feeling him go rigid against her when she bit down, winning his attention. “There’s something here with us.”
The gentle scratch of stubble brushed along her cheek, before feeling him press a reverent kiss against the top of her head. “I know.”
Infernal energy flooded the air around them, causing her own insatiable magic to awaken with the promise of power. Within the blink of an eye, the calm and quiet of the cavern dissolved into complete chaos.
“Incoming!”
A figure came barreling towards them at full speed, that same figure combusting into a ball of green flames before ever reaching them.
“No, no Hexafire. We won’t be given an audience if we kill off the guards!” He said, wincing at the sight of the flaming corpse.
“They started it!” She growled back, even as she hurled another flame towards a moving shadow in the distance. Smiling when the creature screeched in agony. “Besides, they’re Lich, they can’t die. They’ll just keep burning, which is great since we could use some light in here.” More screams followed as the malevolent green flames began to swiftly spread.
“Hells Mara, they aren’t torches!”
“Agree to disagree.”
“Oh wow.” Both looked on with morbid fascination as the glow of green flames began to reveal an army of Lich occupying the hollow. Corpses all, garbed in ancient armors and decayed cloth, their rusty swords raised high above mostly skeletal heads.
“Does the museum know its exhibit is missing?” She was suddenly feeling much more excited about this royal visit. Partly because she’d only ever met one Lich prior to this day, the other…
“Ah fuck, did it have to be zombies?”
That grin spread into a malevolent smile, magic swirling in response to her excitement. Then surprise rushed her when she was pulled behind his back, Cass effectively placing himself before her as a shield. The protective gesture both infinitely sweet, and incredibly stupid.
“Again, they’re not zombies. These guys aren’t even dead, technically. Immortal lives do not come with immortal bodies, they simply haven’t yet figured out a way to stop their bodies from decomposing. They won’t of course, not without warlock magic.”
“Our insurance policy, I take it?”
“Never leave home without one.”
His efforts in covering her were having little success as Mara’s head kept popping up beside him, ogling the undead mages with unbridled excitement.
“Wait, what exactly did you mean by ‘not d
ead’?”
“Oh, just that I have zero control over them.”
“Dammit, you could at least look a little less happy about this.”
She grinned, his distaste for the undead a bountiful source of amusement to her. “Pfft, they’re not even fresh. Look at them, they’re relics, mostly rags and bones.” She scrunched her nose when the green flames revealed a soldier whose rotting flesh was being eaten away by an infestation of maggots, the fat larvae peeling off layers of skin and muscle from its bones. “Okay, I see your point. That one’s a little disturbing...”
He let out what sounded like a growl by her ear, the sound of it nearly making her giddy. “You had to point him out to me, didn’t you wench?”
“Of course.”
New energy surged through the air, a spell had been cast. She reached for that foreign imprint amidst that of infernal energy and black magic. A forced rearrangement of the elements, sending a shock-wave through the rock surface, causing the stone to shift ever so slightly. Something she would have easily dismissed had it not been for the foreboding sound of crumbling stone.
“Shit, move!”
The earth around them quaked, the cavern threatening to collapse around them. With more force than she’d have guessed herself capable, she lunged for him, his arm gripping around her waist as she turned them both out of the way. A massive boulder came crashing down, embedding itself in the ground where they’d both been standing a moment earlier, the impact sounding off like cannon fire. Then suddenly, it was still again. Except for the still screeching Lich, of course.
He eased back slightly, allowing her lungs to expand fully while still not releasing his hold on her. “There’s likely more where that came from.”
“Not if I get to them first.”
“Mara, we need to get inside. Remember?”
Their eyes drifted up into the darkness which concealed the view of the ceiling above, both listening to settling stone. Already she could sense a new surge of energy building in the air, a new spell being cast.