Guardians of the Veil (Cora Roberts #5)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Gods play with fate, but they cannot alter history.

Iam not evil. I am not broken. I am not the kind of woman who crumbles when everyone she loves betrays her. If I say it often enough, will it make it true?

“Cora, wait.” Hudson growled low, fighting the hold Donn had on him while his golden gaze bored into mine. “The memories we took were to protect you, not cage you.”

Memories? Whole chunks of time? Did they alter them or erase them?

Hudson’s eyes bored into mine. He was pleading his case. He wanted the opportunity to explain and make excuses, but I needed a moment to process away from my lying, overbearing mate.

I dug for that entity, searching for reassurance. Indigo may be a part of me, but she was a part I’d created to embody the elements of my psyche I found hard to accept.

Donn’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Let’s take this somewhere more private.” The world re-formed around me in a rush of cold, and I spun in a circle.

My wings flared wide with the motion, the tips clipping one of the obsidian walls.

Icy blue light shimmered on every feather, making them blaze like I was wearing the night sky on my back.

I staggered, unbalanced by the sheer size, the weight dragging at my shoulders as though they belonged to someone else.

“Clumsy for an angel,” Donn observed, his tone threaded with amusement. He reached out a hand, not to steady me but to brush the air just above the wings. “I could teach you how to fold them away, if you wish.”

I stiffened and raised my chin, tugging them tighter to my spine, but they refused to disappear. Just what I need—a new appendage to contend with. “I’ll figure them out.”

He arched a brow, mercury eyes flashing with knowing. “Stubbornness has always been a Roberts’ trait.”

How many Roberts has he known? Didn’t he just get back from his centuries-long god vacation? I ignored him, though heat still burned in my cheeks as the wings shuddered and settled to drag on the floor behind me.

“Where are we?”

He swept out his arms and grinned. “My home.”

Light bent around him, unwilling to touch his imposing figure.

Donn’s face was a study in contradictions, sculpted elegance and quiet menace, the artistry of creation meeting the cruelty of decay.

His hair, black as the void between stars, moved in a phantom breeze, and those mercurial eyes gleamed with cruel amusement.

There were no flaws to find, no weaknesses to mark, only the unsettling perfection of a god who had never known the struggle of mortality.

I spun in a slow circle, my heart racing with the unfathomable knowledge that we weren’t anywhere on Earth.

I felt untethered, free, the torments of humanity shrinking and the burden to save them paling into the background of the universe.

Freedom had never looked more seductive or dangerous.

I would need to grasp on to those threads that bound me to home or risk losing myself.

The walls arched into a ceiling so high it seemed to swallow the sky itself. The stone wasn’t inert—it breathed, marbled with silver fissures that pulsed like veins of starlight. Every echo of my heels skittered too long, as though sound itself didn’t obey the same rules.

A chandelier dripped from the ceiling like a frozen waterfall, light trapped inside each shard—not warm firelight, but the pale luster of stars at the moment of their death, fractured into diamond sparks that slid across the walls.

Shadows pooled in the corners, thicker than ink, stretching toward me like they might be sentient.

“Come, we have much to discuss,” Donn demanded before stalking away.

The air carried the faint tang of iron and flowers, metallic and sweet in a way that pressed on my lungs. White and black calla lilies and chrysanthemums draped over the railing of the sweeping staircase, never wilting, suspended forever in the breath before decay.

This wasn’t just a home. It was a mausoleum of power. A jewel box. A prison. Beautiful enough to lull you into forgetting you’d been trapped.

As I moved, I glimpsed slivers of detail.

The glass table ahead of us wasn’t glass at all, but volcanic crystal polished to transparency, constellations flickering inside it as if I were staring down into another night sky.

The empty throne beyond shifted with every heartbeat, sometimes carved bone, sometimes smooth obsidian, sometimes a pair of shadowed wings stretched wide.

Indigo stirred in my chest, whispering her approval. “This is the marrow of the world,” she purred. “Our marrow.”

I shivered and squared my shoulders. No, not ours. His. This is more like my expectation of what an ancient god lived in.

I hurried after him, my dress skimming the floor and my heels tapping in a rapid staccato. We ascended to the next floor and through a set of double doors, revealing a long glass table that gleamed with silverware and crystal glasses.

The god of death pulled out a chair next to the one at the head of the table and arched a brow. I froze. To sit, or not to sit?

He chuckled low and knowing. I felt it down to my bones, and it stirred a rumbling of power in my veins. Remember who you are. If he had wanted to hurt you, he would have done so already.

Cora Roberts—daughter of death and queen of wishful thinking.

Donn’s inky hair lifted in an unseen breeze to reveal his sharp cheekbones. His skin was pale, free from blemishes, and his eyes swirled like liquid mercury.

I folded my arms and tilted my chin in the air. “Are my mate and uncle safe?”

“Would you care?”

“Of course. I may be angry, but relationships aren’t plain sailing.”

“There is nothing shakier than a relationship built on falsehoods.”

My heart squeezed, and my throat tightened. It wasn’t all lies. His kisses, his heart, and his soul didn’t lie, but deciding my life and future without my consent would not be easily forgiven. It was going to take serious groveling on his part.

I folded myself into the chair, and Donn slid it under the table before taking his seat. He snapped his fingers, and plates full of Michelin-worthy food appeared. “Eat,” he demanded.

My stomach twisted, starving for something other than what was being offered. I leaned back. “I’m not hungry.”

“Do not lie to me.”

“I’m not hungry for this.”

His lips twitched, and I was swept away by the slight gesture for a moment. Donn had an energy that flowed around the room, and to a being born of death, it was seductive. Even if I wasn’t in the market for a god. My heart belonged to a shifter with boundary issues.

“Then eat something you crave.”

The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and my fingers twitched, but I didn’t turn around. Their heartbeats thrummed against my spine, and I fought the urge to discover who or what he’d welcomed for me to devour.

“Perfection,” Indigo purred.

“Souls aren’t snacks,” I snapped at her.

“No, they are gourmet meals.”

Donn’s power swept over me in a caress, taunting me to give in to the being warring inside me. I slammed a lid on my psyche, cutting him off. I wouldn’t be able to hold it for long, but I wasn’t planning on having a sleepover.

“I’m not here for snacks. You said we have much to discuss. I want my grandmother returned to her original state.”

Donn leaned back on his throne and stroked his chin. The heartbeats receded, leaving us alone once more.

“I have no interest in your grandmother or in your petty squabbles.”

“Petty? She is trying to start a war.”

He waved his hand. “This has been done before. Humans have a remarkable ability to survive. Much like cockroaches.”

“Then you will have no problem stepping aside.”

“I told you it would take effort. How will you make it worth my while?”

Negotiating with a god. Where was my training for this? I was used to serpents and egotistical grandmothers. Donn was on another level, and I was struggling to get a read on him. When in doubt, be direct.

“What do you want?”

His mouth stretched into a toothy grin, one that sent a shiver skipping down my spine.

Oh boy.

“You.”

I sucked in a breath. I had enough issues with a determined prehistoric tiger—I did not need a god in my orbit. I shook my head. “I’m spoken for.”

“Literally. He speaks for you and decides your course in life. He doesn’t respect the power in your veins or the woman you are. I would never betray you like that.”

That was a low blow, even if it was factual. Now, to let down a god gently. “I might be at odds with Hudson, but that doesn’t give you an opening. In today’s world, we don’t just show up and demand a woman’s attention and devotion.”

He tilted his head while considering my words. “You wish to be wooed.”

I wish to be out of here so I can scream into the void as I let the pieces of my heart shatter. “We are not a good match.”

“You stated a moment ago that people don’t show up and decide their suitability. Make up your mind, Cora.”

I blinked. Games with a god. Get your head on straight, Cora. You know how to play it.

“That’s fair. We need to meet in the middle.”

He narrowed those otherworldly eyes. “What do you propose?”

Good question. My mind raced through options, examining and discarding them one after the other. “A date,” I settled on. Really, brain? A date? I got the metaphorical thumbs-up.

“I despair at your lack of creativity,” Indigo drawled.

“Shut up.”

I could survive one surface-level encounter with him for the sake of making my grandmother weak.

What does a date with a god look like? Steak and wine?

Going to see the latest blockbuster? I hear they’re replaying the Ghostbusters franchise with brilliant success.

Trust the corporate giants to capitalize on the world’s terror of the unknown.

“Make it five,” he bartered.

“Three.”

“Deal.”

He seemed so sure that three encounters would be enough to draw me into his orbit.

“And you will begin your removal of her power now.”

“No, it will begin when you fulfill your promise.”

“How can I trust you?”

He shrugged. “You can’t. So, I will weaken her in increments every time you give me a date.”

That was fair. “Fine.” I felt like I was missing something, but my mind was full of betrayal, mates, friends, family, and the apocalypse.

Donn picked up a knife from the side of his plate and scored a line in his palm, his blood seeping to the surface. He turned the blade around and offered it to me.

Blood oath? Sure, let me get right on that. “Not a chance.”

“Then no deal. Good luck with Eloise.”

A growl worked its way up my throat as my power stirred, recognizing the threat before me. I hated being cornered and manipulated, but we needed him to stop helping my grandmother sooner rather than later.

The knife shimmered between us like a taunt. What was I willing to risk for those I love? Everything. The answer came easily, even if my love didn’t. I’d given my heart to a man, and I had no delusions that the partnership wouldn’t be fraught with disagreements.

“What are the ramifications of such an oath?” I edged. Perhaps he’d take a contract or a promise instead.

“Death and an eternity at my side should you go back on our deal,” he vowed. He would, without question, hold me to that.

“Three dates,” I checked.

“Yes.”

“The times and locations decided by me.”

His lips quirked, and his blood dripped onto the table. “Yes.”

Too easy.

“And when the final date ends, you’ll remove all your power from Eloise?”

He sighed, and the shadows crept toward us from the edges of the room. “That’s what I said. I hate repeating myself.”

I snatched the blade and mirrored his wound before holding out my hand. He encased it in his and allowed our life forces to mix. Our blood mingled, reality warped, and the room bent inward. Ash, starlight, and something older than time coated my tongue.

Donn’s voice—his true voice—spoke in a dead tongue, and the words etched themselves into the marrow of my bones. His essence hummed up my arm and whispered down my spine. The raw, terrifying power stole my breath and made my heart stutter in my chest.

Guess I was stuck going on three dates with a god. Hudson would be ecstatic. Then again, he had no right to my decisions after stealing my memories.

“Do you want those memories, Cora?” Donn asked as he tightened his hand around mine. How did he know that’s what I was thinking about? Could he read minds? That would be inconvenient.

“No, I cannot read your mind, but after an eternity, people’s thoughts are relatively easy to predict.”

That’s a relief.

I shook my head. I didn’t know what awaited me, and I wasn’t about to be vulnerable with him.

“If you change your mind, you only need ask. They underestimate you, something I would never do.”

He saw me as a weapon, which made him the most honest person in my life. But why he was trying to coax me to his side was a mystery to unravel another day. For now, I needed to use that desire to my advantage.

I tugged my hand free and rose. “Unless you are counting this as one of those dates, I need to leave.” I’d walk out the front door, but I had no idea where we were. Gods play with dimensions without breaking a sweat.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Absolutely.” Not even in the slightest.

“Where do you want to go?”

Where? Back to the beginning. I was claiming my past and my future, and I could do neither by running and hiding.