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Her own agitation simmered. “I didn’t choose anything, Michael. It just happened. From the moment I saw him.”
She didn’t bother mentioning the dream. He’d never comprehend the connection she shared with Darien. “Look, you can think I’m a complete idiot, that’s fine. I’ve felt that way myself a time or two lately. But the fact still remains—something exists between us. I can’t explain it. I don’t even think Darien can explain it. All I know is that—”
“Wait,” he lifted his hand to cut her off. “Darien?”
Her sigh sounded decidedly long-suffering. “That is his name.”
“You’re on a first-name basis with the Demon King. I can’t believe this!”
“Let’s drop the subject and have the wine.”
His head jerked from side to side. “What else, Jade? You had to do something to motivate him to give you all those diamonds.”
Her teeth ground togethe
r. “Don’t push me, Michael.”
“Are you sleeping with him?”
“No.” He hadn’t been in her bed for almost a month, after all.
“Let me rephrase that. Did you fuck him?”
Her anger exploded. Her arm snapped up and she pointed to the door. “Get out.”
“This is serious, Jade.”
“Get out!”
He stalked to the door as her fury raged. She wouldn’t allow him—or anyone—to belittle her association with Darien or make it seem tawdry. She had feelings for the king, there was no disputing that fact. And while they were difficult to reconcile, they weren’t crude or tawdry. Or fleeting.
Before leaving, Michael said, “Think about what you’ve gotten yourself into, Jade. It could turn out deadly for you.”
She wanted to throw something at the door he closed behind him, but the other indisputable fact was that her best friend was right. She continued to fume over the situation when it dawned on her that Michael shouldn’t be this far outside the village on his own. Grabbing the sword, she raced out of the cottage.
“Michael, wait!” she called after him. “Let me get my coat and I’ll walk with you.” He didn’t slow down. “Michael! You stubborn ass—”
A sudden burst of flames made them both jump back. But Jade immediately regained her footing, thanks to her work with Tanner. She rushed forward as the fire wraith appeared. His horse galloped toward Michael, sending snow flying in every direction. The fiery poltergeist lit up the dark night in a bone-chilling, menacing way.
“Move!” she screamed at Michael.
The mammoth beast was much too quick though. The horse charged and its shoulder clipped Michael as it whizzed past him, hurling him to the ground with a sharp grunt of pain.
“Michael!”
Jade couldn’t get to him because the horse surged onward, heading straight for her, its nostrils flaring and foam dripping from its parted teeth. She lifted the sword with both hands, prepared to fight. But a fireball expelled from the demon’s mouth erupted against the tip and searing heat surged down the blade to the hilt.
She cried out from the burn she received and dropped the sword. Jade fell to her knees and pressed her hands against the snow as pain lanced through her.
Without giving her time to catch her breath, the horse lurched. The flames around the cloak of the wraith and in his eye sockets vanished. Dressed in black he was impossible to see, save for the spindle-fingered, skeletal hand that shot out of a sleeve.
With a death grip on her upper arm, he hoisted her onto his steed and the horse raced through the woods, his thundering hooves echoing all around them.
The demonic beast cut a path in the dense forest. Tree limbs and needles lashed out at Jade, slicing her skin and shredding her sweater as she tried to shield her face. Terror seized her soul as the horse wove its way through the thick foliage with such speed that the surroundings became a blur. She closed her eyes and continued to battle the branches swiping brutally over her flesh.
Finally, they broke free of the woods and she opened her eyes. They’d reached a clearing that lay before the abandoned church that had been built high above a stone monument. The inside had been set ablaze when the first renegade demons attacked the village, shortly after it’d been established.
Jade’s pulse raged in her ears as she stared up at the remains of the church. Stone steps led to the damaged steeple. Despite them being hidden by drifts, the horse she involuntarily rode reared and then pitched forward, taking the treacherous stairs with her on its back and the wraith floating weightlessly behind her.
