Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
M y body still yearned for sleep long after Kaden shook me awake and gathered our supplies with a snap of his fingers. I didn’t know how long I’d slept, only that those hours had been fitful.
I’d awoken several times to the sensation of ice forming around my heart and the same choking panic. Each time, Kaden had merely tugged me closer, and the deathlike chill had receded.
Though the things that prowled the forest were not of the demon court, it seemed they were still under his command.
We set off into the oppressive darkness with an unspoken heaviness between us. I didn’t tell Kaden about my nightmare, but I sensed he somehow knew that he played the villain in all my dreams.
After walking what felt like miles, the trees began to thin, and the darkness seemed to crack open, giving way to a sickly, mist-choked dawn. As we walked, tinder-dry grass crackled underfoot, and the vegetation grew thinner and sparser until there was nothing left but exposed dirt .
No. Not dirt, I realized, but fine black cinders. The ground was covered in them — tiny bits of volcanic rock.
With every step, my boots sank into the loose terrain, kicking up clouds of ash that coated my leathers. Nothing grew here, and my senses prickled with unease at the wrongness of this place.
We’d reached the Barrens of Dorthus.
Though the sun never rose beyond the pale slivers of dawn, the heat soon became oppressive. I shucked off my jacket and twisted the end of my braid into a knot, mopping the sweat from my brow.
My legs burned as we crested hill after hill of the slippery cinders, but then I heard the unmistakable rush of water, and a faint sulfur-scented breeze lifted the hairs that had come free from my braid.
When I reached the top of the next hill, I saw the Adraeis River down below, winding like a snake through the barren landscape toward a mountain in the distance.
I nearly groaned at the sight of it. My thighs ached. My feet were blistered. I couldn’t fathom how I was going to climb a mountain after all this, but we pressed on.
Kaden and I didn’t speak as we followed the river to that imposing peak. As we drew nearer, I became aware of a dark power emanating from the mountain. It buzzed along my skin, vibrating my bones.
The magic of the demon king.
A foul-smelling wind whipped through my hair and tore at my clothes, and that terrible power intensified. We stopped briefly to sip from our waterskins, but neither of us felt like lingering. Not with the pulse of that terrible magic or the harsh gusts of wind that kicked up ash and dust.
When we reached the base of the mountain, I saw that the river was streaked with veins of fire that glowed in the overcast dawn. Lava.
“My father built his kingdom in the heart of the volcano,” said Kaden in a low voice.
A volcano. That explained the cinders and the foul-smelling air.
“We’ll fly from here,” he said, his expression grim as he stared up at an incline of rock with boulders the size of houses.
I nearly wept with relief, but then realized that meant he’d be carrying me into the heart of Dorthus.
“I’m sorry about this,” he said with a grimace.
I opened my mouth in a silent question, but then I felt the warm rush of air against my skin.
When I looked down, my leathers were gone. So, too, were my weapons.
In their place, I wore a set of gold beaded undergarments. Glimmering tassels brushed the tops of my thighs, and the intricately beaded top bared the swells of my breasts and left my back exposed. My boots had been replaced by flimsy sandals with the same gold beading along the bands.
Shiny blond hair cascaded over my shoulders in smooth, perfect waves. A glamour so that none of his father’s demons would recognize me.
I reached out and touched my nose, which now felt smaller and sharper. Even my skin was a deeper hue.
I realized then just how powerful Kaden was — that he could have disarmed me with a single thought. Suddenly, all my training felt ridiculous. I was no match for a demon prince, much less a king who’d been siphoning power for centuries.
Even so, the lack of weapons made me feel naked — more naked than I was, anyway. And while the sweat and grime from our journey had vanished, in its place clung a scent that heated my skin and made my core tighten.
Male essence — his essence.
“One last touch,” Kaden murmured, his voice oddly strained. He had magicked away his own leathers, I noticed, replacing them with an embroidered black tunic and matching trousers. The twin swords across his back had disappeared, replaced by a single blade he wore strapped to his belt.
But before I could ask about the change in his attire, I felt the weight of something cold and heavy slide down onto my collarbones: a gold band, at least an inch thick, with a chain looped through the front.
A leash.
Cold, unfettered rage whipped through me, dousing whatever fire had heated my blood at his scent. “You know, I might not be able to kill you without my witchwood blade, but I could still cause excruciating pain.”
“Apologies, little huntress. But if we don’t make this convincing, I won’t be able to protect you.”
I scowled as he looped the end of the chain around his hand. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Something wicked flashed in Kaden’s stormy eyes. “On my honor, I shall try not to.”
“Do demons even have honor?” I snarled.
“You wound me.”
“What is this?” I hissed, hefting the other end of the chain in my hand. “What am I even supposed to be?”
“My concubine,” Kaden said with a shrug.
My nostrils flared, and I briefly considered shoving him into the river of doom. Instead, I said, “You just have the one?”
“I normally entertain an entire harem, but it does make travel cumbersome.”
I rolled my eyes.
Kaden’s expression darkened. “Like it or not, this is the role you must play while we are in the demon court. No one can suspect who or what you are.”
He turned away from me and produced a small hexagonal box from the same invisible pocket where he’d kept our pack. The sides were gilded with strange runes I didn't know the meaning of, and when Kaden opened the lid, I sucked in a breath.
On a bed of black velvet lay the apokropos stone. No bigger than my palm and completely smooth, the stone had a glassy surface that swirled with what looked like smoke.
"Rowan wood?" I asked, nodding at the box. It was the only substance I could think of that could nullify the stone’s magic.
“Yes.” Kaden held out the box, and I hesitated.
I’d felt that hideous power once before and had no desire to feel it again.
It seemed wrong — dangerous — to relinquish my magic. But the second one of Semphrys’s demons sensed my power, Kaden and I were doomed.
I reached for the stone, not recognizing my own hand due to the glamour I wore.
My fingers curled around the slick surface, and a terrible power wrapped around me, lapping at my magic. Then I felt a tug as the stone lifted it away, consuming it with an ancient greed that stole the air from my lungs .
My knees buckled, and my lower lip shook as I fought to remain upright.
I was cold despite the heat emanating from the volcano. Weakened. Empty. My powers, both hunter and witch, were gone, sequestered in that horrible stone that had been forged by the gods.
Kaden’s jaw tightened as he looked me over, and I knew he felt it too — my mortal helplessness.
His shadows lifted the stone from my hand, levitating it in front of me. I felt a tug at my waist and looked down to find a beaded gold pouch that blended perfectly with the rest of my outfit. He lowered the stone into the pouch and cinched it shut with a soft pull of his magic.
“Let’s go,” he said, opening his arms.
I gave a shaky huff of annoyance but stepped into his embrace. Kaden’s hand glided around the small of my back, his fingers surprisingly warm where they brushed my bare skin.
It took all my willpower to let him scoop me up, helpless though I was. That familiar night-and-leather scent wrapped around me, and I tried to ignore how little I was wearing.
My stomach clenched as his fingers curled around my bare thighs, and a molten heat erupted in my core.
It didn’t mean anything, I told myself. I was someone else.
At least, I didn’t look like myself, even if my treacherous body still heated at his touch.
“Shields up,” he said, his grip tightening briefly as velvety black wings fanned out behind him. They consumed my vision as he shot into the air, and my insides wobbled as we began our ascent.
I carefully checked my mental defenses, building that imaginary brick wall a hundred feet tall and ten feet thick .
Up we climbed, past a glowing rivulet of molten lava churning through the rocks. As we rose, I glimpsed what looked like a village down below. Stone foundations half buried in ash dotted the side of the volcano, skeletons of homes that had been destroyed.
“Mount Dorthus was dormant for millennia,” Kaden called into my ear. “That settlement was a place of rest for souls on their way to Anvalyn.”
I shivered as I imagined what this land had once been like — the quiet mountainous village overlooking verdant hills that were now little more than an ash-choked wasteland.
I tensed as we came level with the rim of the volcano, and the thrum of that sinister magic became oppressive. Hot, sulfuric air whipped at my face as Kaden flew us over the opening, and I received my first glimpse of the Dark Kingdom.
Suspended over the bubbling sea of lava was an imposing obsidian fortress. Birds of prey circled the gleaming black spires, which reflected the glow of the lava in such a way that made it look as though the entire palace was burning.
I yelped as Kaden shot toward the rough inner wall of the volcano and instinctively tightened my grip around his neck. A low chuckle tickled my ear, which only stoked my ire.