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I slip on a pair of boots—not bothering to lace them. I want to go for a walk in the hopes it will tire me into wanting to sleep a few more hours. My shadows wrap around me and take me outside the palace so I can stand at the shoreline.
I mindlessly walk under the starless ebony sky that veils across the sea, mesmerized by the glowing crescent that casts a gentle path of moonlight on the rippling waves that kiss the shore. A subtle reminder that I still have time before the full moon.
Without thought, I step out of my boots and wade into the water, letting it cascade up to my shins. I’m sure it feels refreshing, but it does nothing against my frozen skin. Still…I keep trudging farther until it sloshes around my hips. My fingers skim over the surface as it dances around me.
My head tips back, letting the end of my hair dip into the water as I stare up at the broken moon. I reach deep down within, pommeling my way through the darkness that has sank its claws into my mind, and search for that feeling of warmth that snuck up on me before. The buried piece of my soul that I need to find. The one that’s yearning for something beneath the veil of darkness.
My eyes close as I sink deeper into my psyche while the water now crests just below my chin. One deep breath in, and I fall under. Sealing the remaining air in my lungs as I slip farther beneath the surface. Darkness engulfs me but the whispers are the only thing drowning—sounding muffled.
A black abyss swirls around me, but a flash of blue eyes as clear as ice slam into me and my heart lurches in my chest. They gaze at me from between shadowed trees, their cold stare sparking a kernel of warmth I let myself open to it, willing it to spread and burn beneath my skin.
The darkness wavers and I allow my power to wrap around me to follow the pull that feels familiar. My shadows coil around my body, tingling over my skin. Until, one moment, I’m floating beneath the sea, and the next, I’m standing in the midst of a sleeping forest cloaked in a hushed fog.
A hauntingly beautiful castle looms before me and an owl hoots nearby. Droplets of water drip from my body and onto the earth as my toes dig into the soil. I’m in the Court of Asiza. The same place I was drawn to on my last task for my father. That same feeling from before nudges me to want to step closer.
I stand there soaking wet as I let this hum of magnetic energy—this feeling I’ve been numb to—vibrate through my veins. But then, a brush of heat trails down my spine. A foreign sensation I haven’t felt in months.
Before I comprehend what’s happening, a shadow bands around my waist and pulls me back into something hard. But it’s not my shadows… Something radiating heat that matches the equivalent of flames feathers over me and threatens to melt away the ice coating the blackened organ in my chest.
Despite my confusion, the pull in my chest grows stronger, tightening even more. My heart pounds loudly in my ears.
“Little demon,” a deep voice licks over every inch of my skin. Prince Draven. The one I’m supposed to lure to me by standing beside Aiden, and yet…it seems I’m the one lured to him.
CHAPTER NINE
Draven
Her rose and honey scent still lingers even with her cold exterior.
“Prince Draven.” Her tone lacks any emotion despite the electric sensation of having her back pressed firmly against my chest. I tighten my hold as I finally exhale the breath that feels like I’ve been holding for an eternity. She shivers as I lean closer to the nape of her neck, my breath tickling the small hairs that are starting to dry quicker than the rest.
I want to ask her why she’s fucking soaked, but I already know she won’t even consider answering. Either way, I’m fucked. Her ivory nightgown is practically see-through as it clings to every inch of her.
I dip down even farther, itching to have my hands grab onto her waist and never let her go. Instead, I fist them at my side and inhale deeply, wishing I could breathe her into my soul. “I’ve been waiting here every night in hopes you would appear again.” She has to know how desperate I’ve been for her to come back to me and prove that what I saw on the roof that one drunken night was not some fucked-up, twisted joke being played on my mind.
Her head tips back, resting against my shoulder. I close my eyes with a sigh, releasing all the agony that has been tearing me to shreds. Her body trembles against mine and I wonder if the dark veil is starting to lift within her as she presses her body further into mine. My fists relax as I go to finally feel her in my embrace again, but before I even lift an arm, her power surges. She cuts it through my power holding her against me, knocking me backward, and I have to hurry to regain my footing.
Drops of water splatter around her like a halo as my heated gaze flickers from blue to silver. The beast in me fights against the surface, wanting nothing more than to claim her.
“Emma,” the strength in my voice cracks when I take a step closer to her. She follows suit by taking one back to keep the distance. “Don’t do th—”
The swirling black of her eyes locks onto me right before she strikes. A ball of what looks like midnight fire soars directly towards my chest. I crouch down and twist out of its path right before it would have probably blasted a gaping hole through my chest, incinerating my heart with it.
She remains in the same spot, the rest of her unnaturally still as she slowly tilts her head to the side. Her veins seem to move like snakes beneath her skin. It must be a sign of her building more power because the weight of energy drifting from her continues to grow heavier.
I tilt my head to match hers. “Looks like you’re making me your villain again.”
I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and bring her back into the light, but she despised me once before and I managed to get her to warm up to me then. I have no doubt I can do it again. Even though seeing her lost in the darkness—combined with her rejection—is like slowly driving a jagged knife into my heart and twisting it.
We both are alert to the other’s movements as we slowly circle one another. I can’t help the extra beat in my heart or the small smirk that graces my face knowing that nothing is more powerful than a fated mate bond. Not even Whiro himself.
“I’ll be happy to remind you how sinful I can get, little demon,” I tease.
This causes her to pause, but only for half a breath before she’s throwing another orb of power at me. Without hesitation, I send out my own and watch it collide with hers, disintegrating her attack in a puff of mist between us. She huffs at the same time a crooked tilt lifts the corner of her mouth. Her head shakes as if she’s trying to quiet it, but instead starts blasting tendrils of power in the shape of arrows without pause. I meet each one with the same intensity.
Just two cursed souls fighting beneath the stars that fated us.
“So far, you’re doing a pathetic job in fighting against me.” Her voice scratches against her throat, sounding demonic.
