AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because I don’t care.” Once again, the words were harsh, but the tone was not. It was just the truth. I was too defeated to care. The three of them exchanged looks.
“Please go,” I said, looking down into my lap. “I’m tired.”
“Raven…” I could have sworn Conrad’s voice cracked. I looked up at him, and I could feel my eyes well up with tears. I met his gaze and let him see how broken I was. How much every moment was killing me.
“Please,” I begged. After a long moment, he nodded and got up, motioning to Meredith and Kasha to follow suit.
“At least try an’ eat something, a’right? Yuh barely touch yuh food.” I nodded but didn’t move until they left. When I was sure they were gone, I called to Rycon with my mind.
‘Got anymore whiskey?’ I asked, and his answer was immediate.
‘Of course I do, Kitten.’
The next few days passed similarly. Conrad and Meredith tried to get me to eat. Kasha invited me out for a tour of the mountain where Amon’s palace was built. I refused to do either.
Rycon, like clockwork, would appear after I had successfully dismissed them all, and again we drank together until the pain was gone. Each morning I woke up feeling worse than the last. My depression morphed and duplicated, and its evil twin sister began to manifest in the form of anxiety.
Being sober and conscious became more and more unbearable. I knew the alcohol was responsible for making things worse, but it was worth it for the few blissful hours that it took everything away. It was a double-edged sword. The benefits outweighed the consequences. I knew it was toxic, and that it was terrible for me. I almost counted that as a benefit. I was ready and willing to drink until there was nothing left. Rycon was happy to enable it all if it meant that he didn’t have to live through my pain.
We were moving into our second drink on the sixth day when my power suddenly flared to life, flowing out of the box I had locked it in. Immediately, I knew we were in trouble. My aura was reacting to something, and I had a pretty good idea what it was. My nose flooded with the hot scent of cinnamon just before the shadows in my room came to life.
They pulled away from the objects that had cast them, twisting, and swirling together before spiraling up from the floor to build the form of a daemon. I knew this form. I feared this form. My power buzzed and crackled through me in response to the male that materialized before us. He was carved from darkness and moonlight; with eyes that were blazing, sharp shards of emerald.
“Hello, Raven.” The daemon purred, his voice rubbing over my scarred flesh like velvet. I was only on my second drink, so I was in a precarious balance between yesterday’s hangover and today’s stupor. I was in no mood to deal with Amon—the Prince of Pride.
“I’m told you have taken up a new vice.” He continued in the face of my silence, gesturing to the bottle set on the table between myself and Rycon.
I watched him over the rim of my glass, forcing my power down. It resisted, pressing against the inside of my aura, prowling like a trapped beast. I knew Amon could sense my power’s reaction to him. The corner of his mouth curled up into a lethal smile.
“What? Not happy to see me?”
I put the glass down on the table with a thud.
“No,” I answered flatly. “Get out of my room, I’m not in the mood.” The alcohol was making me bolder than I truly felt. Or maybe I was intentionally goading him. Maybe I wanted him to act on the violence that dripped from each syllable. Instead, Amon chuckled.
“Your room? Every single thing within a six-hundred-mile radius of where you sit is mine, Raven. Including you.”
Rycon snarled, slamming his glass down next to mine. “She said get out.”
Amon’s gaze slowly slid from me to the shifter. The amusement bled from his face. He was the most terrifyingly beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“Enjoying yourself?” The daemon’s voice was low, soft, and laced with the promise of cruelty.
“I was.”
“I’m assuming it was your idea, to raid my coffers and get my… guest drunk. Tell me, was it because you are too weak to endure the pain that you have subjected her to?”
He took a step closer to Rycon, sneering down his nose at him. “Or is it because you have a death wish?”
Rycon shot up from the table at the threat.
“Fuck you.” Rycon spat, stepping in to meet the daemon head on. I picked up my glass and took another sip, wondering mildly which one of them would win the pissing contest. “You won’t do shit. Not while I’m bonded to her.” Amon’s eyes flashed and that scary smile touched his lips again.
“Funny, how that bond you were so desperate to get out of is the only thing keeping me from ripping your spine out from the back of your throat.”
Rycon snorted at that. “I would like to see you try.”
The smirk on Amon’s face widened, and he held up a hand between them, his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. It was a mirror of the hand gesture Kieran had done the day he had blocked the bond between us.
