“You fucking throat punched me,” he recalled with a genuine smile glittering in his eyes. “That’s the moment I knew I loved you, Aria. My fucking dick was rock-hard, even though I couldn’t breathe.” I laughed outright at his remark, then shook my head.
“She’s a queen,” Eva whispered to Zyion. He smiled, then chuckled at the sight of me on my knees, tending to my friend as I coaxed him back from the darkness.
“You’re right. She’s the queen. And that is her friend who is in pain right now. I knew a queen like her once before,” Zyion returned.
“I need fresh mugwort, borage, saffron, and feverfew,” I stated as I turned, eying the room. No one moved, which caused my eyes to narrow. “I need it yesterday, gentlemen!” The entire room moved into action. Returning my attention to Lore, I noted the way his eyes devoured me. “Lore?” Before I could react, he had me pinned against the floor.
“Pretty.” His rasping purr caused Ember to rise, peering through my eyes. “I see you, creature. Even better, I smell you,” he hissed eerily.
“That looks like your problem, Aria. Not mine. Mommy isn’t playing with . . . whatever he is. He’s about to show you how daddy likes it,” she snickered. I felt her stiffen as his eyes spread with thin, golden vines that spider-webbed down his cheeks. “He’s a super freaky one!” Ember began humming Super Freak in my head, which left me annoyed and worried.
“Lore, stop.” His smile was lethal. It sent a shiver of heat straight to my core, which had him inhaling the tendon at the base of my throat. “Please.” My eyes closed as his scent slammed against me, forcing arousal to coat my sex. The sound of feet rushing over the floor sent worry for Lore. It also gave me hope I wouldn’t have to hurt him in order to make him stop.
Basilius yanked Lore off of me, holding him as he struggled in his arms. My eyes held Basilius’s gaze fleetingly before drifting to the amber eyes, which were tracking me with predatory awareness. I stepped to the side, and Lore’s head swung toward me, laser-sharp focus as he released a primal rattle, which had my thighs clenching.
“Incubus, and dragon. Born of Isadora and my father, Lennox,” Brander muttered from behind me. Turning, I watched the strain playing on his face. “It isn’t a delightful combination to watch struggling.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, with Lore’s demand to bow drifting against my skin, causing goosebumps to rise.
“It means he needs to fuck, and fuck often. Only, Lore doesn’t stop feeding until death occurs. Once he starts to feed, even if you remove the meal he’s feeding from, he can still consume her soul. In short, feeding him is a death sentence to anyone brave enough to try doing so.” Brander looked exhausted, as if he’d not rested once since Knox had left.
“When’s the last time you slept more than a few hours?” I questioned, which had his vibrant, bedroom eyes sliding to lock with mine.
“Honestly, I don’t remember when I slept last.” Guilt radiated through me as I nodded. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened. It would’ve happened with or without you here. Knox would’ve still sent the soldiers out to find the caravan lost in the passes. Lore would have still requested to go since most were women, and you know how he is. Hecate would have still been there and captured Lore. The only difference would have been, you’d have traded yourself before you ever let Knox do so. If that happened, it would be a disaster for everyone, Aria. If Hecate got to you, it would be game-over,” he warned.
“I still should have been here, Brander. If I’d known going into the mountains would make me lose months? I’d have fallen off the damn dragon to stop from being flown up there.”
“Back up, Aria,” Killian demanded as he placed a cauldron and several herbs on the table beside it. I stepped back, but his tawny head shook. “You said dragons, as in plural? And you rode a dragon? Not his prick, but on his back?” I nodded in reply, which caused his lips to curve into a devastating smile.
“I missed you, assholes, and I was only gone days,” I admitted, slowly sidling up to Killian. Stepping on my tiptoes, I kissed his cheek. “You are a good herb hunter,” I purred raspily, which had Brander snorting loudly.
“I go grab the map to show her where Knox frequents, and you grabbed herbs? Yet you got the kiss on the cheek, fucker,” Brander mumbled under his breath.
He spread out a large map , which drew me closer to it, knowing I’d see where Knox had been while I was gone. Grabbing the pestle and mortar, I strode to the map, then exhaled a shuddered breath.
“He went to the palace where my people are?” I whispered as a new type of pain tried to take control of my emotions. Forcing them down, I turned, eyeing the herbs. Not all had been for Lore, but I’d needed something to numb the pain.
“No, but he almost caught the girls outside of the palace. I’m not sure how they escaped, but they thankfully managed to do so before he could harm them. Avyanna, Sabine, and Soraya and a few others were there,” Brander stated. “When he went to her, he presumed she’d be able to access his mind. He was wrong. Knox began leveling entire keeps similar to what you were doing. It’s been a fucking mess, Aria. One huge, chaotic mess.”
I meticulously studied the map, noting the path he took. “Does he take the same path every time?” They’d marked the large map with colored pins. Some locations had several poked into the leather, while other places had only one. Dread knotted my stomach, even as it twisted.
“Yeah, but we can’t discern the pattern or why he’s continuously looping around this area.” Brander pointed to the Swamplands, then the Valley of the Red River. Bile pressed against the back of my throat as I closed my eyes against what I knew he was doing. “Once he’s finished whatever it is he’s doing, then he goes back to V?kya.”
“He goes to the Kingdom of Unwanted Beasts, then through the passes of the Dark Mountain. He veers to the Beltane Circle, then back to the border. Once Knox finishes those places, he moves toward the Valley of the Dead. It’s everywhere he found me throughout the realms. Knox’s looking for me,” I whispered as nausea surged inside my stomach. If what they said was true, and it wasn’t Knox anymore, then I was in trouble. “She’s sending him to kill me. Hecate wins either way. Either I end his life, or he ends mine.”
The mere idea of killing him sent me off the rails. As if I were a runaway train who’d jumped the tracks. Barreling aimlessly toward catastrophe. My death would never be at Knox’s hands. I wouldn’t allow him to ever carry that burden. I wouldn’t allow the hands that once cradled me as if I was something precious, to use violence to take my existence away in such a manner. The sharp, elongated incisors which had left their mark so profoundly in my flesh, that they’d embedded his claim on my soul. Those oceanic-eyes that I’d weathered the storm he’d become, tossing in their endless depths as he’d sent me drifting afloat in their treacherous waters.
Tears filled my eyes, then slowly trickled free as they slid down my cheeks. I couldn’t be me and succeed in freeing Knox from Hecate’s clutches. I’d have to change into something else entirely. There could be no emotions to make me reckless, or fraught with them governing my actions, decisions. Grief of losing him couldn’t rack my mind, or heart. The agonizing, debilitating torment that gripped endlessly for control, would have to die. If I were to survive this, I’d need to be emotionless, untouchable. If I were to survive what was needed from me, I’d have to shut them all off. Closing my eyes as the last sob escaped, I forced myself to shut-off everything I’d been. Then, one-by-one, I began to compartmentalize each one, slowly eradicating them from self.