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Chapter 11
It was at least an hour before I started to feel Mrak’s presence again. I wasn’t sure if that meant he was finally letting me know he was there, or if he’d actually been there since Leif had left the area. All the same, I sat staring at my fiery forge until I finally felt Mrak’s ethereal tendrils slide across my skin.
“Are you back now?” I asked in his continued silence.
A moment more passed.“I am. It gets harder to return to you every time you’re exposed to the ward.”
“Hmm.” I placed my hand under my chin. I was sat cross-legged in a chair front of the forge, relishing the warmth rolling from it. “There’s been another body found. That’s why Leif came by again.”
Mrak’s tendrils retreated the slightest bit. It was enough to tell me I wasn’t supposed to have heard about Hunter Greenwood yet.
“I get why you did it,” I said in Mrak’s silence. For an ancient shadow demon with a kingdom, he sure as hell did not like admitting things. “Hunter is a danger to me, and thus, he needed to be dealt with. But when I said you could take over my body to protect me from danger, I meant imminent danger.”
“I considered him to be an immediate threat.”Mrak’s presence wrapped around me as though he were here and hugging me from behind. It felt a bit weird. I was sat in a chair with a high back that I could feel as real as Mrak’s ethereal presence.“Your witch friend, Willa, encountered him. I assumed you might be next.”
My eyes narrowed on the forge and the fire magic within that Mrak had bestowed on me. “And how did you know Hunter was after Willa? She only came to me this morning.”
“She mentioned being worried someone was after her when you both were at the bar. The most obvious source of danger is from vampires.”
Immediately, I felt foolish for doubting Mrak. Yes, Willa had mentioned she’d thought someone might have been after her. But Hunter? “I thought all of Lazarus’s lieutenants had burned in the fire.”
Mrak moved his ethereal tendrils up and down my arm idly.“I did as well, which is why I moved to correct the mistake and protect you.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. I couldn’t fault Mrak for his actions—at least, not all of them. “How often have you taken over my body while I was asleep?”
“Just once,”Mrak said as his tendrils continued moving up and down my arms.
“Why not just ask me first?” I asked, the question seeming more weighted than a single word should have been.
“Because I thought it might be easier for you.”
“Than me going to kill him myself?”
“Yes.”
I stood from the chair, feeling his presence shift as I did so. “This is my body, Mrak. You’re tethered to me, and I made the pact. I told you not to take over my body unless danger was in my face. You broke that trust. Do you understand how difficult this is for me?”
This conversation seemed so one-sided. Like I was crazy for even trying to have it with someone I couldn’t even see. I had no idea what Mrak’s expression might have been. Was there guilt? Shame? Or simply a satisfied smile knowing he’d eliminated a threat against me?
“Aisling, please calm down. Listen to reason.”
My nostrils flared and I swiped a hand through the air in front of me. “No, I will not. How can I be calm knowing a shadow demon had total access to my body, with or without my say?”
“You made a pact with me.”He sounded firm, even angry about it. It just made me angrier.
“No,” I spat. “You offered a pact to a scared, desperate woman and expected her to trade one master for another. That’s not going to happen, Mrak. I can get rid of you with a single ward on my skin. Youneedme.” Or maybe he didn’t. Not really, if Leif was to be believed. “Or maybe you just need a tether to this plane of existence. If your aim was to sew strife between us to gain power, you’ve succeeded.”
Mrak’s ethereal tendrils retreated from me as the nearby air grew warmer.“Whose words have poisoned your mind like this, Aisling?”
My hands balled into fists at my sides. “You didn’t tell me what you were until someone else did. You’re only here on this plane of existence because of me. Obviously, you’re using me. You admitted to doing so last night.”
“What I admitted to was initially wanting to use you, yes.”The lights in the room flickered for a moment, and in them, I saw Mrak’s monstrous form flash an appearance. That was the first time I’d ever seen any of him outside of us being intimate.“I do need you, Aisling. And my magic can feed on strife, yes. But what I want in going back to my kingdom and how I plan to get there are things much more complicated than that.”
I forced a deep breath into my tight lungs. I wanted so badly to be able to believe him. Or to believe Leif. I just wanted truth and an easy life, and neither seemed possible in that moment. “I don’t believe you, Mrak.”
His form blinked out and the lights turned on. As I opened my mouth to question what was happening, I felt Mrak’s ethereal tendrils slide up my legs, over my hips, and settle around my shoulders.
“What is it that you don’t believe?”Mrak asked as the tendrils snaked higher around my neck. Not gripping or holding, just slipping across my skin. I still swallowed hard, unsure if I was nervous or still defiant.“Iama demon. Iwascruel, but with intent. I amnota hero who came to you to save the day, Aisling. You summoned me from exile to murder those attacking you. And now you want me to stop acting on the pact we made that day?”
