AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But you said! You said I’d pay withmyheart!” I point out as he rubs his lips along my shoulders, along my neckline, printing along my stardust.
“Figure of speech, my love.” He slides the dress lower, tugging to my waist.
With one fierce Halo whip, I wrap it around his neck and tug him up to my face. “You are a terrible liar, Neo.”
Pausing, he groans from the singing of his flesh, but I don’t let up. Finally, he bends his head to mine and responds, “The moment you froze my heart, all the rage and the bloodlust, all thedestructionI’d felt only moments ago faded. That threat was the subconscious response to that destruction. But as soon as you passed out, as soon as I considered what it would mean to lose you, I…” he sighs, lowering himself to my breasts, to the thin scraps of lace that cover them, causing me to inhale sharp, he finishes with a dark laugh, “You will be the death of me, Everblood.”
“Yes, she will.”
We spin our heads to the subject of that lilting voice. Only Neo rises fully to greet his first wife. “Lux, I thought you were unwell.”
“I am.” She leans against the iron bedpost, scattering Neo’s shades and flames. She’s dressed in one of his robes, sashes unfastened and dangling, but judging by the minute lines of skin between the robe sides, I know she’s naked underneath. I can make out a few of those hundred marks on her flesh. “But you are worse, my Prince. Do you see? Do you understand, my husband?” She approaches his side of the bed and moves toward him, stretching out her hand.
I glare back at her and hiss, “Don’t touch him!”
“Elysia,” Neo halts me, cupping my shoulder. “Our relationship may be stronger than ever, but please don’t forget Lux is still my first wife. I’m used to my harem girls fighting over me. I’ll not have it between my wives.”
Before I can speak another word, Lux sinks her hand onto his naked chest, onto my halo brand. “She froze your heart, my love. She froze the heartIgifted you. Do you know why I gave you your heart back, Neoptolemus? The same heart that I fell in love with all those centuries ago?”
I sniff her poison from a mile away, but Neo…he tenses, straightening and turning his whole body to her. No! I can’t lose him now.
“Your Destruction is who you are. It makes youstronger!” Lux lowers herself to mouth his brand.
“That’s not true, Neo,” I deny and pin myself against his back, staking my claim, warring for him. “It’s only a part of you! Just like my Halo is a part of me. The first time your heart froze was after Thanatos, and you said it was the one time you felt peace. Nita was the first crack in that old stone heart. She knew someone existed beyond the Dragon.”
“You’ve tamed his Dragon,” Lux whispers, raising her head so she may stare into his eyes. “The Neoptolemus I know never would have let anyone conquer him in his own Court, never would have allowed anyone higher, never would have allowed Mordere to keep him down. Everyone knows now, Neoptolemus.” She weaves her legs around his waist, cups his face, and rakes her nails into his flesh. Her golden eyes assault him, burning him like throwing stars infected with her poison. “They know their Prince is weak. It’s why Mordere attacked during the height of your power.”
Veins in Neo’s neck begin to shimmer, pumping blood faster and faster as if…no! I hone my vampire vision and hear the sound of his heart warming, thawing, his heart waking, his heartbeating. No, no, no! I want to rip out all her pearly hair. I want to launch myself at her, but I can’t. Not with Neo’s baby inside her.
Lux gasps and turns those blazing infernos like hellfire upon me. “This is your doing, Everblood! All this time, I wanted to believe differently. I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. You deceived me!”
When Neo plants his hand on the bed, muscles hardening while Lux presses herself to him, I back away because all that’s left in Neo’s eyes are scythes.
Lux whimpers, fawning before the Prince. “Do you see, my Lord Prince? The reason why Elysia has been going to the border? She and Mordere—”
“No, Neo, you can’t believe this. Please…believe me!” I back away more, but Neo seizes my arm. Lux rolls off of him but continues to inject her poison as he pins me down, those blade eyes honed to cut.
“Why do you think she saved the scout in your Court O’ Destruction, Neoptolemus?” She drives her manipulation by using his full name as if reminding him of his old identity—all those masks that I worked so hard to destroy—not his new one. “It all makes sense. Your father was a bitten vampire.” Lux jabs a finger at me, degrading my father’s good soul. “And Neoptolemus destroyed him. You’ve sought your revenge all these months, deceivingmyhusband with your games, seducing and distracting him every chance you got when I wasn’t around. While we were on our honeymoon, she must have cavorted with Mordere all that time. No doubt, she shared his bed as a price she was all too willing, too eager to pay.”
The moment Neo preys his lethal eyes on me, a hint of a grin crosses Lux’s face. All this time, she’s wanted me out of her way. More than ever now that she’s pregnant.
“I protected you from Mordere!” I defend myself but know it’s all in vain. “I went into his mind. I destroyed the tether. I destroyed his command.”
“See!” exclaims Lux, her hand winding around his frame to claim him, stirring the fire in his heart. “She admits to entering his mind. No vampire alive has ever had the power to do that, save for you, my husband. She’s always rebelled against you.” Lux doesn’t flinch once when she lies, but that spark of amber turns to a flush—an omen of hellfire.
“Listen…” I rasp even as Lux clutches the Prince’s arm and sidles her body against his side. “Mordere is planning something before the blood moon sets and the sun rises.”
Lux touches her chin to his shoulder and sighs, “I know what he’s planning, my Lord Prince.”
Neo whips his gaze to her, his attention divided…his heart and soul divided.
“I went through the portal, my husband,” her voice softens, and Neo releases me so he may capture her face, thumb away the glistening gold of her tears. “This past week, while you’ve been at the border, while you’ve been with her, I’ve gone into the portal to challenge Thanatos and to spy on your Father. And I caught Mordere and your Father speaking with Thanatos. They were speaking of the Everblood and how she would be the key to destroying your heart, my Prince. And bringing back Death,” she baits him with the lie.
“That’s not true!” I try to get up, but Neo collars me again, shackling me to the bed as I rake my Halo currents against his chest, just enough to singe.
“Think about it. Why do you think she has the sickle on her neck? The mark of Death!” she reminds him, her words an icy sickle slicing deep into his heart.
Neo squeezes my throat. “You said it was the most beautiful experience you’d ever had, Elysia. Like serendipity.” He uses my own words against me. And I can’t refute them. Nothing within me can refute how Thanatos tempted me, how I tempted…Death.
