Chapter 24 #2
Taking a deep breath, I stopped searching and instead concentrated on the demon king’s essence.
While Kaden was steeped in night, his soul like a quiet laugh in the darkness, the depraved immortal I sought had an essence cobbled together from the stolen souls of thousands.
Strange smells and sounds bombarded my senses — snippets of lives that didn’t belong to Semphrys yet had somehow been woven into his being. There were no traits to latch onto — only the stew of rotten sludge that lay beneath the surface.
Closing my eyes, I reached for the residue that clung to his stolen essence, and my hands closed on something rough and sticky.
Instantly, I was hit by a wave of hunger. Greed. A deep need for control that hummed through my bones and nearly brought me to my knees.
Screams flayed my eardrums, echoed by moans of pain. The sounds of souls being ripped from their hosts in the dark, dank corners where monsters thrived.
Peeling my eyes open, I looked down at the frayed, rotten thing clutched in my hands. It was thicker than the mating bond and coated with a tarry black substance that reminded me of demon blood.
The sire bond.
Lyra.
His voice was a low hiss inside my mind, and I hurriedly checked my mental shields. My thorny brambles remained intact, and yet . . .
I’ve been looking for you, little huntress.
I nearly gagged at Kaden’s nickname for me snarled in his father’s voice.
My head pounded. I’d made a mistake invading Kaden’s mind.
Kaden wasn’t here.
It was only me and Semphrys.
How . . . interesting. The Dark King’s voice was steeped in smugness and more than a little disgust. A Coranthe witch and a filthy half-huntress. My son’s mate.
My stomach bottomed out. This had been what Kaden had feared — that Semphrys would discover the truth about us.
Of course he knew after throwing open the bond between them and ransacking his son’s mind.
Panicking, I attempted to release Kaden’s tether to the Dark King, but my hands had become fused to the sticky, wretched mess.
I wondered why he would be so protective of you . . . No mongrel bitch would be worth what he suffered, no matter how much he might enjoy fucking you. I should have known there was another reason . . . How lovely that you have come to see me . . .
Bile burned the back of my throat as I felt his essence caress my skin. Shadows billowed around me as I tried to peel my palms out of the tarry black goo, but I’d become ensnared like an insect in his web.
Shit.
Kaden had warned me that this could happen. He’d said that those who tried to invade his mind often became lost in the shadows he commanded. But Kaden wasn’t the one who’d trapped me. I’d foolishly placed myself at the Dark King’s mercy.
Semphrys gave another low, cruel laugh, and I reminded myself that I didn’t want to escape. I wanted to destroy this bond between them for good.
I tugged on the sticky black thread, but it was too strong. Unbreakable.
But maybe I didn’t need to sever it entirely. Maybe I just needed to find a way to close off the connection.
How had Velisara opened it in the first place?
Demons were immortal, so it stood to reason that the essence of the sire bond was equally indestructible. I couldn’t peel my hands away from the bond, which meant I couldn’t reach my witchwood blade — not that the mental construct of it would have made any difference.
But perhaps I could use something else.
Closing my eyes, I focused on where my hands wrapped around the sticky black bond and pictured heat blazing from my palms. I imagined flames hotter than hellfire lapping at the thread. Burning through it.
An acrid stench filled my nostrils, and when I looked down, blue flames had engulfed the bond.
A howl of agony rang in my ears — so loud it stole the air from my lungs.
Semphrys.
More shrieks joined the first — a chorus of thousands screaming in my ears. But I clung on.
My flames grew brighter, burning through that wretched connection. Melting it. Collapsing it.
And just like that, the screams abated.
Cautiously, I peeled my hands away from the bond and found a twisted, blackened segment that was much thinner than the rest. The bond was still intact, but it had been badly damaged.
The shadows around me began to dissipate, and then I felt him.
Kaden.
Only it was Kaden unlike I’d ever sensed him. Raw and utterly exposed.
I could feel his terror, pulsing as if I held his beating heart in my hands. I felt his shame and fury and an ache so intense that it brought tears to my eyes.
Kaden ached for me. Burned for me so fiercely that it stole the breath from my lungs. It wasn’t lust or obsession but something raw and pure. A soul-deep tenderness and acceptance so intense that it nearly brought me to my knees.
For several heartbeats, I just stood there, cradling the feeling even though it hurt.
And then I was blinded by a golden light that chased away the shadows.
For one dazzling moment, Kaden let me see everything that he was. I saw his anguish, his fear, his selfishness and brutality, but also his bravery, love, and determination.
Flashes of memories danced around us. A younger version of Kaden, kneeling at his father’s feet. Kaden as a boy running through the undergrowth, chased by a youngling with long copper hair. Kaden tangled with me on the forest floor, a soft smile playing on his lips.
I saw a delicate silver diadem encrusted with sapphires clutched in a pair of familiar hands.
I saw the dazzling Quartz Palace and a vision of Kaden seated on a glittering throne.
I saw myself through Kaden’s eyes, seated in his lap, my head thrown back in laughter.
That brilliant golden light illuminated everything, his hopes and dreams and fears. Even the blackened sire bond.
Slowly, I withdrew from his mind, feeling an affectionate tug on our bond as Kaden let me go.
I came back to the moonlit clearing, cradling his face in my hands. His skin was slick with sweat, and he trembled beneath my touch.
When I pulled back, I was relieved to find that his eyes were once again that stormy gray, though there was a hunger in them that made my knees wobble.
I sucked in a breath, and something between us seemed to shatter as Kaden crushed his mouth to mine.