Sinner’s End (Forgotten Shadow Lords #1)

Chapter Thirty-One

The Bleakest Heart

Adreana

For long minutes I sit on the stained carpet of my bedroom floor, allowing myself to feel the true heart-wrenching pain flowing through me at Mana’s rejection. And that’s exactly what this shit is, no matter what he says.

He rejected me, pushed me away, and made decisions for more than just himself.

The longer I sit here, the worse it gets. Not the heartache, the anger. Rage claws its way up my throat until I am all but drowning in it. I know I made a decision out of fear but he is making his out of some twisted sense of chivalry or whatever the fuck he wants to call it. He is trying to protect me when he is really leaving me wide open. I no longer have anyone watching my back.

“Fuck!” I cry out, pulling at the strands of my hair.

What the hell am I going to do now? I know Mana can keep me out of Harken if he chooses. I grab my cell and dial Kaleb’s number.

Disconnected.

Fuck me. Mana works fast.

I have no way to communicate with any of them if they choose not to talk to me. And I am getting angrier by the damn minute.

“Fuck hellspawn asshole!” I yell at the empty room, hurling my phone at the wall.

“Breaking your belongings will have no effect whatsoever on Manashesh or his decisions.”

The voice startles me and I scramble to my feet, fear thrumming through my veins. I stare at the man standing in the doorway. He looks exactly like Mana, all dark hair and pale skin, tall with broad shoulders, dressed in a perfectly tailored charcoal suit. The main difference is his yellow eyes, eyes that bore into my soul without asking for permission.

“Who the hell are you?” I ask, my voice softer than I intended.

He assesses me for long moments before speaking. “Perhaps this is a conversation better held in a less intimate setting. I haven’t fucked a human in over twenty years and you are rather tempting. I can see why Manashesh is willing to lose everything for you.”

A gasp leaves me at his words. Who the hell is this guy, and why does he think he can speak to me this way without any repercussions?

“I’ll wait for you in the kitchen,” he says before stalking away and leaving me dumbfounded.

I stare at the spot he vacated for long moments before making my way down the hall and into the kitchen. The moment I enter, I have a mini-stroke at the sight that greets me. My Daisy is wrestling on the floor with a dog twice her size. The thing that catches my attention is the fact that the other animal has parts of its skeleton exposed.

I want to call her to me, but the stranger cuts me off.

“Dogs need companionship, more than their master can offer,” he says casually, never looking away from the dogs as they continue to play. “I never have less than two at a time or they get lonely.”

“Are you lecturing me?” I ask.

The man laughs, a loud booming sound before looking at me. “Not a lecture, my dear. Perhaps just some advice. With you spending all your days and nights at Harken, Daisy gets lonely.”

I feel a pang of guilt in my chest. Daisy has been a lifeline to me for years and I have basically abandoned her. Taking a seat at the breakfast nook I stare at the stranger as he putters around my kitchen doing God knows what.

“To answer your earlier question, my name is Asmodeus. I am the sire of Manashesh, and a prince of Hell.”

At his words, a fresh wave of fear crashes over me.

“You’re Mana’s father?” I ask, trying to tamp down on the terror I feel.

He smiles at me and I know I am not hiding a single fucking thing from him.

“You could say that,” he replies, placing a cup of steaming, freshly brewed coffee in front of me. “You’re going to need it for the conversation we will have.”

I breathe in the aroma and allow it to soothe me for a moment.

“Why are you here?”

He chuckles. “Straight to the point. I like that about you.” He takes a seat across from me and steeples his fingers. “I have been keeping an eye on Manashesh. Theirs is a bond between a sire and his spawned. I feel his emotions on some level. And for the longest time the only emotions I felt from him were boredom and disgust. But that changed recently.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” he replies with a derisive snort. “In the past few weeks, I have been bombarded by fear, anger, lust, confusion, and love. Do you know how that emotion makes my fucking skin crawl?”

His eyes glow yellow, his chest expanding to twice its size in front of my eyes. I know instinctively that I need to be careful of what I say and do if I want to survive this interaction.

“No,” my reply is barely above a whisper.

“It’s a vile thing that all humans chase to their own peril. Love,” he sneers as he draws out the word like it’s a curse. “And now my spawn has fallen into the same fucking trap. I granted him this time to see what he would become. I watched and prided myself on everything he did until you stumbled into his orbit.”

I remain silent. First, because I’m not sure any words are required from me. Second, because I don’t have a single fucking idea what I would say if called upon.

“Manashesh is willing to throw away the empire he has built. To return to our realm and his intended role, for you.”

He glares at me, assessing, as if trying to find what makes me so special.

“And then…” He sighs, his eyes returning to their previous color and his size deflating, his anger leaves him just as fast as it arrived. “I felt you.”

“What?” Disbelief coats my words.

He nods slowly. “When he left you here, sacrificing everything to make sure you would find your happiness, a bond snapped in place. A bond between yourself and I.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“No shit. But there it is.” He rubs a hand along his chin. “I felt your pain, anguish, your anger. But beneath all that was the pure love you hold not only for Manashesh but for the half-breed and the fallen angels as well.”

“Half-breed?” I ask, confused.

“Mmmmh. Kaleb, I believe his mother named him. Another of my spawn.”

“Shit,” I mumble, trying to get my thoughts in order. “Does Mana know?”

“He suspects.”

I stare at the demon, the prince of Hell sitting in my kitchen, lifting my cup and sipping from the coffee he made.

“Why are you telling me this?’ I ask the only question I really want the answer to.

He tilts his head to the side, studying me like an insect under a microscope. My skin pebbles beneath his gaze and it takes every ounce of self-control not to squirm.

“I want you to return to Manashesh.”

“Mana doesn’t want me anymore. He rejected me, not the other way around.”

“He doesn’t have the final say. You do. I do.”

I let his words sink in, my heart aching at the thought.

“I don’t know if I want to be with him if he doesn’t feel the same.”

“Fucking humans,” Asmodeus curses loudly. “Did you not hear a single word I said? He loves you. He feels so deeply for you he will return to Hell to give you the chance at a life he wants you to have without him.”

Fuck. Hearing those words for the second time settles something inside me.

“And what do I have to give up?”

“Everything,” he replies with a dark grin. “You will bind your body, heart, and soul to Manashesh for eternity. You will rule Harken and the surrounding area by his side, corrupting souls and sending them to me when the time is right.”

“What about Kaleb and—”

He cuts me off with a wave of his hand. “Those are my spawn’s decisions. But know, if you choose to do this, there will be no going back. You can’t run away when things get difficult. You will be bound to him forever.”

“Forever?”

“The ceremony to bind you will also bind your life force. You will never die, never age, never be able to leave him.”

One would think this decision should be hard. That I would take hours to work through each of our interactions and everything that has happened. But it’s not. It’s the easiest decision I have ever made.

“Yes.”

“Yes?” he asks with a raised brow.

“I agree. But…”

“There will be no caveats,” he cuts in.

“I want to keep him,” I say pointing at the hellhound now sleeping beside Daisy. “You were right. She needs a companion.”

His laughter booms through my home once more. “I can see why he likes you.”

Asmodeus snaps his fingers. The change is instant. One moment I am sitting in my kitchen, dressed in yoga pants and sneakers, the next I am standing on the main dance floor in Harken, dressed in a blood-red gown that caresses my skin and clings to every curve.

“Manashesh!” Asmodeus’s voice carries through every inch of Harken.

I’m not sure Mana heard him. Silence reigns, enveloping us. It’s soul-deep, and I have never heard the building sound so … dead. There has always been movement, sound. Now, there is nothing.

A moment later, Mana appears from a hallway, flanked by Lethe and Kaleb. His gaze collides with mine, anger flaring.

“Sire,” he says lowly, stopping a few steps away.

Kaleb and Lethe keep their eyes downcast as they stop behind him.

“Spawn.”

I remain at Asmodeus’s side, waiting to see how this will play out. But beneath the lush material of the dress, my legs shake with the effort of standing still and not running to them.

“How can I serve?” Mana asks stiffly.

Asmodeus chuckles. “So demure. Your woman has more backbone than the three of you combined.”

I watch Mana bristle at his father’s words and a low sound builds in the back of my throat. The demon beside me laughs loudly, drawing the gazes of all three men. Shock scrolls across their features.

“This is what I mean,” he explains. “She has been terrified since the moment she met me, yet she bargains and disapproves.”

“Leave her alone,” Mana says lowly.

“Why? She is here by her own choice.”

“Does she know the cost of her choice?” Lethe asks.

“I do,” I say before Asmodeus can reply with some non-answer. “I’m here to claim what is mine.”

“There is nothing here for you,” Mana says flatly, not looking at me.

“She will be bound to you,” Asmodeus cuts in before I can reply. “Or she will die in front of you.”