Chapter 4
I sat bolt upright, my heart pounding in my chest.
Stone slab. Stone walls. The bunker.
I reached up to feel my face, then peered down the length of my body. Full strength. My power was nearly full again, both demon and Magus.
What the fuck?
“What the fuck?” I repeated aloud.
I stared around the stone chamber as if that would provide an answer. Slipping off the slab, I hurried to the next room. The bed was empty.
Wrenching open the door to the bunker next, I strode down the hall to Carmine’s quarters. The stone slab was empty.
A sinking feeling gripped me as I rushed to his room.
The bed was empty.
No.
I closed my eyes, resting a hand on the doorframe to steady myself. My eyes popped open. Maybe he was dead and buried.
But no. I rubbed my chest. Lust simmered in me. I could still feel our mating coating my iron-encased heart like a disease.
Carmine was alive.
How the hell was he alive?
“You’re awake,” he said behind me, in his voice of ice. “I knew it wouldn’t be long. Your power was nearly back to normal.”
Tears stung my eyes. Because what happened? I’d had the knife in my hand. Didn’t I pull?
I’d certainly said goodbye.
My knees gave way, and I slid down the doorframe.
Carmine was beside me in an instant. “Enamai, you are weak.”
Weak? No. Defeated? Yes.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
He lifted me in his arms. So easily. I should have been able to pull the dagger from his heart just as easily. He should be dead by now.
Tears slipped from my eyes.
Carmine paused halfway to the bed and took in my tears. “You believed I would die?”
Was he asking why I was crying? The answer was “Yes. I thought you’d be dead.”
He kissed my forehead. “It would take more than a dagger in my heart to kill me. Especially with you for a mate. Syera… thank you. I have not done anything to deserve what you did to save me. I would have understood more if you’d left me. I thought…”
Carmine’s brow furrowed as he lay me on the bed. He sat after and said, “I’d thought that our joining ceremony was unsuccessful because you truly did hate me. But you saved my life. You did the impossible. How did you save me?”
A good question. One of many that was breaking my soul into pieces. “Your mother said you’d die from the poison eventually. The only way was to pull out the knife. But I don’t recall what happened after.”
“Mother said that you lay next to me and wrapped your power around my heart. You eased the dagger out, healing me in the wake. I woke the next day. You’ve been out for a week.”
I didn’t remember any of that. I’d blacked out.
And why? When there was nothing in me that wished to save him.
The mating must have taken over. That was the only explanation. And if that were true, then I’d need to sever the mating before any future assassination attempts.
Dammit, I’d had the perfect chance to kill him. That chance would never present itself again.
I rolled away from him to face the stone wall.
“I had hoped you would feel differently. Saving me had given me hope,” he said. “For us.”
I wasn’t playing my part well. He was right. The only explanation for him being alive was that I’d chosen to save him. If I’d chosen that, then I must feel something for him.
There wasn’t time for a pity party. “I didn’t recognize the blade at first. It felt familiar. I remember now. It’s my father’s blade.” I sat and faced him. “My grandmother gave that to my sister. You tried to kill Tempest.”
His gaze hardened, and he rested a hand at the base of my throat. “How surprising that your sister was alive and whole when I led my army to the coven.”
I held his stare, ignoring the weight and warmth of his hand at my neck.
“How did you access the dungeons, Syera?” he asked.
“I walked in and walked out.”
Carmine had a couple of weaknesses. Me—in that he couldn’t kill me if he wanted more power. And the dungeons where he’d been locked away for a century. That place controlled him far more than he’d like anyone to guess.
His fingers tightened, and my heart thumped.
I wasn’t surprised when ice filled his eyes. The monster was here. This was the part of Carmine that needed to die. If I’d once thought to save the rest of him, then those dreams were long gone and dashed against the rocks.
“She has warned the other supernaturals,” he told me, and I shivered at the shards in his voice. “I was met by Vissimo, Luthers, and Magus. Magus from other covens too.”
I grinned, though he could feel my heart sputtering.
Grinning felt like a rebellion. “Tempest didn’t need to be whole to do all that.
I told you Magus adapt quickly. My sister doesn’t have any hang-ups about other species, unlike most M–agus.
Not only is she cunning, but she’s also a powerhouse. She got a dagger into your heart.”
He pulled his hand back. “And what if she’d succeeded in killing me, enamai? You would also be dead. I used what remained of my power to ensure that didn’t happen.”
He'd used what remained of his power to ensure he didn’t die.
Carmine stood and turned from me. “If she had not dealt that blow, then I would have killed her. And then what would have been left of us?”
Nothing minus nothing was nothing. We hadn’t had anything left in a long time.
“Yet I must try and try again to kill her,” he whispered.
“And she will defeat you time and again.”
Carmine looked back. “Then what becomes of you?”
There were times like this, rare times, when the demon king appeared tortured. Those moments were fleeting, but in them I could always sense a warning. He was warning me that he would attack Tempest again and again.
But why? If he could warn me, then why do it?
“Do what you need to do,” I said. “I understand.”
I blinked. What the hell just came out of my mouth?
Carmine frowned. “What did you say?”
“You are the king. I understand that comes with hard choices.” My breath came quickly after.
The demon king knelt before me. He took both of my hands in his. “Syera, enamai, look at me.”
I did so but couldn’t steady my breaths. Because I was absolutely fine with lying to him, but those words had come far too easily. Without my permission. Had I finally broken?
I had to get a grip. “What’s the matter? We have joined. I’m going to take my unofficial place as queen. We must be aligned.”
But again, the lie flowed so easily. Yet my body felt rigid for saying it. Joining with him had done something to me.
My hands shook in his.
Carmine brought his forehead to mine. “I am so sorry, Syera.”
A human apology from a demon was rare beyond rare.
The shaking overtook my body. Nearly dying once, and maybe twice, was taking its toll. I’d feel better with rest and some time to figure out all the changes in me—and with distance from him. Because no way was I agreeing with Carmine’s twisted schemes to conquer every living creature.
“Why?” I said, hating the shake in my voice.
“I poured my power into you,” he answered, then pulled back. His jaw clenched. “If I hadn’t, then you’d be dead. I couldn’t find the courage to let you go.”
Was he going to cry?
I’d never seen him so sad. “I’m happy to be alive. I don’t know what you’re saying.”
He lifted a hand to brush my cheek. “Perhaps immortality will be better this way. Rest now, enamai. Soon the war will continue, and you must be by my side.”