Chapter Twenty-Two
Nina
“What happened to you?” Dominik’s voice reached me through the fog of pain.
He’d been waiting in the Heart of Hell, and the expression on his face told me he’d never been more shaken or horrified. I looked down at my hands, and saw why.
Black vines erupted underneath my skin, snaking and coiling as if my veins were contaminated. Dominik searched my face, his gaze dropping to my neck before he swore under his breath.
“I—” The words stuck in my throat. “I tried to take something that wasn’t mine.”
Dominik exhaled, his gaze flicking to the archways leading to other domains. “Doesn’t sound like you,” he said, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “Breaking the rules comes with consequences here.”
“It was stupid, I know,” I murmured. “I just wanted—”
He cut me off, his tone urgent, almost angry. “Get back to Temptation. Maybe someone can help you there.”
I gritted my teeth against the pain and let my shame take over. “Apparently, I do belong here after all.”
He ignored me, pulled my arm over his shoulders, and helped me towards Temptation. Then his eyes widened at the look of my neck. I must have had those streaking ink veins creeping up my body. “I’ve heard about Hell’s curses. They’re bad, Nina.”
“You know exactly how to make a girl feel better.” The pain was beginning to subside, but something else was rising in its place. Voices – just not the ones I usually heard. These were more intense and relentless, loaded with grief and despair.
“Find the demon,” Dominik urged. “Find anyone who can help.”
“I’ll try,” I groaned.
Dominik frowned, his jaw tightening. “If you’re destroyed, he’ll lose his Champion. Trust me, he won’t want that.”
I gulped. Could this curse really obliterate me?
Oh, shit.
Why did I have to try and steal someone’s relic?
This is what I get for being a thief . . .
Dominik set me down by the archway to the Domain of Temptation.
“Hurry, Nina,” he said.
I nodded and stumbled down the walkway and through the veil.
I staggered forward, one foot in front of the other, barely registering where I was anymore. The curse had been relentless, burning through my veins like fire.
My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto a cold, polished floor. It was a mosaic, made up of every colour in the rainbow. I wouldn’t mind taking a nap here. It was warm, colourful. I’d slept in worse places.
My pain gave way to a strange kind of emptiness inside me. Shapes flickered in my peripheral vision, things I couldn’t quite grasp, shadows that weren’t mine, and figures I wasn’t sure were real.
I blinked hard. Was I dreaming?
My body felt lightweight, like my hands weren’t mine, and my legs wouldn’t move. A creeping numbness spread through my limbs.
I should keep moving. I should find help.
But why . . . Why bother?
The hollowness yawned wider inside my chest, filling the spaces where my pain had been. The curse had taken something from me, something vital, and now all I felt was . . . hopelessness.
Thick plumes of smoke curled towards me, twisting like sentient shadows. Golden eyes cut through the darkness as the smoke took shape. A figure stepped forward, wrapped in darkness.
“You’re here.”
“Yes, I’m always watching,” he said, his voice fractured and unsettling. But I didn’t care. I didn’t seem to care about anything all of a sudden.
Wait, why was he obsessed with following me all the time? I didn’t have the energy to ask. I tried to stand, but I couldn’t muster the energy for that either.
He watched me with that same golden-eyed intensity. “You need help.”
I scowled, but the usual heat behind my anger felt dim and distant. I dug my nails into my palms, grounding myself. “I’m cursed.” My voice was quiet and raspy
He hummed, taking a step closer. “Yes, I can see that.”
“I came here looking for help, but—” I hesitated, my fingers curling weakly into my lap. The words felt far away. “It’s like something’s missing.”
The monster crouched before me, close enough that the edges of his smoke kissed my knuckles.
“I can remove your curse.”
I considered curling into the icy pool inside me for an eternity. “What’s your price?”
“My freedom,” he said, his form drifting closer. “I need you to free me from my prison. If you do this, I will free you from your curse and give you your heart’s desire.”
“You’re lying,” I said.
“You’re running out of time. What choice do you have?”
I stared into those golden eyes and felt something inside the ice crack. “I’ll think . . . about it,” I slurred.
Then the smoke dissipated, and the golden eyes vanished.
The whispers grew louder, pressing against my temples as I stumbled back to my chambers. Each step felt heavier, and my vision blurred with flashes of fire.
I waited there until the pain ended. Whether that came with my end, I didn’t care.
The agony had been all-consuming for so long that it didn’t feel like a relief when it finally faded. It felt like I was slipping away, dissolving into nothing. Like I was a hollowed-out thing, my body forgetting how to hold itself together.
“Fuck!”
The voice cut through the haze of agony. It was rough yet familiar. I heard hurried footsteps. And then there was a beautiful man staring down at me with blonde hair flopping into his eyes.
Leander’s cobalt eyes were wide and brilliant as they swept over me. The usual smirk was gone, replaced by a furrowed brow and a tense jaw. I could just about tell his expression looked a lot like concern. But it could have been my delirium.
His gaze locked onto the black veins creeping across my skin, spreading like ink bleeding into water. It was as though I was a living tattoo.
Leander’s entire body stiffened. “What have you done to yourself?”
I tried to answer, but my throat was too dry.
His hand hovered over me for a second before he cursed under his breath and dropped to his knees beside me, scooping me up into his arms like I barely weighed a thing.
“I need to get you inside. You don’t have long.”
I hardly noticed the movement as he carried me against his chest. His warmth sank into me, steady and powerful, but still my body felt so cold. I let my head rest against him, my breath shaky. “Let it take me,” I whispered, too tired to fight. “It’s what I deserve.”
His arms tightened around me. “Not while you’re my Champion.” His words sounded distant, like a loud hum had blocked my ears.
A strange lightness came over me, and I realised we were falling. Wind tore at my face and the brightness of fire hurt my eyes. Then, we were somewhere else entirely.
I blinked sluggishly. Leander had somehow transported us to another room. I didn’t realise he had the power to do that.
I knew that was important but couldn’t remember why.
The question vanished as I felt soft blankets beneath me. My eyelids fluttered open, my vision blurred, but I could see I was on top of a bed, surrounded by sombre portraits on the walls.
It was a vast and impressive area. A fire was roaring in the fireplace, large enough to roast a horse. A hit of sweet cherries wafted up my nose, dampening the rotten stink that had overloaded all my senses.
Were these Leander’s bedchambers?
Leander was now hovering his hand over my chest. A surge of warmth flooded through me, battling the icy grip of the curse.
I let out a breathy, almost drunken laugh, though it hurt. “Well, this is nice.”
Leander glanced down at me, eyes narrowing. “You’re delirious.” Then, a book materialised in his hands, and he flicked through the pages angrily.
I turned my head slightly, blinking up at the ceiling. “Maybe in another life, I’d have asked you out on a date,” I groaned. “Too bad I’m cursed and about to be destroyed.”
His jaw clenched. “You’re not going anywhere, Nina.”
His voice had that possessive tone again, like he refused to let me slip away from him.
I swallowed thickly, feeling exposed.
“Maybe I should,” I murmured, my fingers curling against the soft sheets beneath me. “I belong in Hell.”
His eyes darkened, his whole body going still.
I was tired. “I take and take,” I whispered. “I don’t care for the consequences. I just want to go. Forget this place . . . I am happy with nothingness.”
Leander’s gaze burned into me. Something flashed behind his cobalt-blue eyes. “That’s the curse talking. You’re stronger than it. Fight it, Nina.”
The room was spinning. I thought I heard a new voice muffled somewhere. “You should let the curse finish its work, my Lord.”
I turned my head, my vision hazy, the room slipping in and out of focus.
A figure stood in the doorway. I squinted, trying to make sense of him, and I could make out his medium build, broad shoulders, and the beige shirt hanging over his frame.
But beyond that, he was just a blur, a shape I struggled to pin down.
Had he told Leander not to help me?
Something about his tone made my skin crawl. And there was the way he had addressed Leander.
My Lord.
Leander’s grip on me tightened instantly. His entire body went rigid, and his voice was as sharp as a blade when he spoke.
“Get out of my sight.”
“But my Lord—”
“Now, Gabe.” His voice was a growl.
The figure quickly disappeared. I turned my gaze back to Leander, my heart hammering in my chest, not from the curse, but from something else entirely.
I wetted my lips. “Why did he—”
I cried out as pain lashed through my body again.
“I’m the only one who can take this curse away,” he whispered. “Don’t make me regret it, Nina.”
Power erupted from his body like a dam breaking.
It was a blue flash, a ferocious force that lashed through the room, whipping against my skin.
The flash was tangible, with threads pouring free from Leander’s open palms. The curse inside me shrieked, recoiling violently from whatever he had unleashed.
I felt those threads wind through my veins, burning every shred of the curse it found, and I screamed.
And screamed . . .
And screamed . . .
***