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I rush into his mind, discovering his most conscious thoughts. No, memories. Memories of when he was a human, when Mordere raiders attacked his home, raped his mother and sisters, slaughtered his father, and stole him when he was no more than a teenager. My heart goes out to the scout as I wade through all those memories—of Mordere pressing him into his army, beating him, torturing him, and turning him slowly into a bitten vampire weapon. Now, he’s reliving his trauma.
As the Prince of Destruction destroys the wings down to their very nerves, causing more screams, more trauma, I slam my hand down on his. Neo jerks his eyes to mine, no silver to be found. Narrowing my eyes, hoping the gold rings will burn, I breathe righteous fury through my nostrils and sink into our bond. My nails dig in like armored claws as I strain for that tether of energy, that annihilative power that is so cold, deep, and dark.
You are Neo!I preach the truth over him.Not Neoptolemus, the Prince of Destruction.
In one slamming move, like a drawbridge going up, Neo overthrows me and strengthens his fortress of our bond, filling in every last chink.
I whimper when the Prince restores the wings of the scout, planning to destroy them again. And he does…till they’re burning stumps!
“Your heart!” The scout arches his neck back, screaming the answer. “He’s going to attack your heart!”
“Lux…” is Neo’s first word, his first growl. Every last muscle in his body bulges, his boot pressing harder against the scout’s neck, forbidding him from breathing. A raging, roaring Dragon, Neo’s furious power becomes a storm inside him. The Prince’s black hole will implode. He’s going to destroy the scout. He’s going to torture him and burn everything until all that’s left is his head for the other to take back to Mordere. Neo won’t listen to anything, won’t see his history, won’tseehim. Not with that faux heart beating its poison inside his chest.
Neo chucks me onto the floor with one firm command, “Stay down.”
He advances toward the scout, who trembles, understanding what’s going to happen.
My atom bomb of energy desires the purity of release. No romance or rapture tonight. History repeats itself, and I rise in one monarchial move!
Now, my Halo-light doesn’t just tangle with that intense gravitational force. It bites it, grappling onto it like a collar to force Neo to pause, forcing him to crane his neck back to gaze at me, brows over his hoodless eyes lowering into deep pits, pupils swollen to black seas ready to devour. His shades attack me, but I channel my power, transforming it into dozens of baby scythes to destroy the shades while fortifying that collar on him. He battles to break free.
Advancing toward him, my eyes hunt his, and I beat down the door of his mind and force his drawbridge to slam, to shatter against the earth of his thoughts. I proclaim my bridal seal:I am a Princess. Your equal in every respect. I will always be higher than you, Neo. I am the Halo-Bearer, the Everblood, the Angel Bride. I willneverkneel!
I boldly approach the Inner Circle, passing Neo, where my power anchors him to the ground. Nothing more than a Destruction statue, for I have harnessed his power. I’ve collared him. “Knights!” He bellows the order, a desperate attempt to save face.
Exalted, clothed in my own Halo-light as blazing golden roses, my sublime fire, I throw my head back to constellations of stars surging from my chest, glorifying all of my flesh and blood. They catapult into the Court O’ Destruction and beyond to prison pits below. My angel flames ignite, torpedo into a gold missile to command every vampire in the Court to their knees, eyes crashing shut from the devastating light, my power of violent emotion!
I lower my fingertips with tendrils of lightning curling out from my skin. I touch the scout’s bloodied stumps as he quakes and shrieks, then freezes when I grip the whole stump and pray mercy upon his flesh. A million and one blessed breath prayers, but no arrows. Instead, thousands of Halo needles resurrect his flesh and blood and sinew and bone until the wings charge forth, beating in the air.
And then, I turn to face Neoptolemus. Not my husband in this moment. He wears the mask of the Prince of Destruction. So, I tempt Destruction.
Naked as an incandescent topaz, I bring myself to him to where my Halo collars him, to where my golden light shackles his ankles and wrists in an unbreakable prison. Zealous tears streaming from my eyes, I cup his cheek, cradling it like a dark lullaby.
I will never kneel to you, Destruction. I love you, Neo.
In one instant, I take a leap of faith, and I raise him up instead. I release him from the collar, from the shackles until he towers over me. Butmyrobe of light now mantles his shoulders as if crowning him with the promise of who he truly is and who he will become again.
Elysia…
The sound of him speaking my name…
The mushroom cloud explodes from my chest and showers the galaxies of my power to burn the heads of all the vampires in the Court O’ Destruction, including Neo’s. Nothing but destructive scythes in his eyes when I fall into his arms, and he kisses my brow,mybrow, and purrs a low promise in my ear, “You will pay for that, Elysia. With your heart.”
As I pass out, I tilt my head up to kiss him, and remind him of our blood oath, “No touchies, Neo.”
Chapter24
“Go, baby girl. Stand by your man. And kick Mordere’s ass.”
When I awake the next morning, I’m in Neo’s bed…facing him.
He stirs as soon as I do and drapes his knuckles across my cheek. I freeze because it’s the last thing I expected after last night. Peering down, I survey how I’m draped in his robe, open with nothing beneath. His shades tease my curls and dance around my naked figure.
Spitfire is curled up on the floor behind me, puffing cold smoke, so I turn over and grant my hellcat some relief in the form of an entire ghoul of flames. Beyond appreciative, my hellcat pounces on the flaming ghoul to devour it in chunk-sized bites.
Neo’s arms slide around the robe, around me a moment later, his mouth collapsing against my neck. “Found him wandering the woods when I returned to hunt the Scourge. Seems he had a bit of fun with some ghouls…brought one home for you as a gift,” he croons against my ear as I flick my head up to eye the ghoul carcass nudging the wall.
I chuckle at my hellcat. “Much more interesting than a mouse or a bird.” Apprehension grows within me as I remember the events of last night. I angle my neck back to seek Neo’s eyes. “What happened, Neo? What did you do after I—”
