Chapter 17 Discord
DISCORD
“Through the rift and straight to my brothers.” I tightened the twine around the imp’s leg, securing the small slip of parchment to his body. “Do you understand?”
He made a chittering sound and saluted before scampering off the table and waiting at the bolted door.
Cinder crossed her arms over her chest, holding on to her shoulders and raising a skeptical brow. “Do you really think this will work?”
“Under the circumstances, I believe it’s our best course of action.” I unlocked the door and rested my hand on the lever. “He’ll find them. Your sisters will get the letter…as long as they don’t vanquish him before he can deliver it.”
She cringed. “That I can’t guarantee.”
“The imp will do his best.” I cracked open the door, blocking the imp’s exit with my leg while assessing the situation. Eerie, unnatural silence greeted me. How odd, considering a large rift lay six yards away.
Ember rested her hands on my back, rising onto her toes to see over my shoulder. “I thought you said every demon in a ten-mile radius would be clambering to get through the rift.”
“Normally, they would. The gardens must have some kind of ward keeping them away.”
“Or they’re all scared of getting thrown into the maze of misery and having to battle a tulpa.” She removed her hands from my back.
I immediately missed their warmth. “I suppose that could be it. I’ll see the imp safely to the rift. Wait here.”
Before she could protest, I slipped out the door and closed it behind me. I scanned the scene, expecting any manner of monster to dart from the shadows. Nothing moved. Not even the air.
“This is where we part, little one. Good luck on your journey.” I gestured to the rift, its edges glowing deep orange.
The imp chittered, dancing in front of the tear as if I’d gifted him an endless buffet of meat and parchment. I lifted him to the rift’s level and pinned him with a pointed look.
“Do not let me down.” I placed him inside the rift, and he vanished through the veil with a soft pop. The tear closed, leaving behind a faint shimmer of magic and the lingering woodsy scent of the earthly realm.
I returned to the shed and found Cinder leaning against the counter. Moonlight filtering in through the clear glass ceiling caught on the rose strands of her hair, haloing her in warm luminescence. My chest ached at the sight.
She had no business shining here, lighting up my life…and yet, she did so without effort, with nothing more than her presence.
“I set up a ward on the shed,” she said. “Hopefully, nothing with ill intent can get inside. An alarm will sound if they do.” She rested her hand on the counter, tipping her head back and closing her eyes.
“Sending the imp was an excellent plan.” I placed my hand atop hers.
Her fingers twitched beneath mine. “Was it? Or did I just weaken the veil even more?”
“Imps are the lowest level of demon. A dozen could slip through a rift at once without causing the veil harm.” I lifted her hand, cradling it in both of mine, my heart aching beneath the intense emotions I felt for her.
“Everything I do seems to make things worse. Our literal job in my realm is to vanquish the beasties that get through from yours…and I just sent one after my sisters. What if he hurts them? Or eats their hair while they sleep? I keep screwing up.” Her voice trembled on the last word. “And I have no idea what to do next.”
I caught her chin, lifting her face toward mine. “You’re not alone in this. You never will be.”
Her breath hitched, and for a heartbeat, neither of us moved. Then she leaned into my touch, and the space between us dissolved.
The kiss started soft—hesitant, testing—but it deepened like a spark catching tinder. I slid my hands up her arms, feeling the pulse of her magic beneath her skin. When she pressed closer, the world narrowed into nothing but warmth and heartbeat and need.
Hell itself could have crumbled around us, and I might not have noticed.
“I don’t want to be alone,” she whispered against my lips.
“I know.” I slid my fingers into her hair and pressed my forehead to hers. “You will always have me. I belong to you, Cinder. Now and forever.”
Her eyes shone in the moonlight, glistening with the beginnings of unshed tears, her stoic mask of High Priestess slipping away, raw vulnerability taking its place. The trauma she had endured in my realm would have crushed anyone else.
Yet here she stood, her hands clasped behind my neck, a symbol of beauty and power and determination unmatched by even the goddess herself.
I kissed her again, harder this time, with a ferociousness I could not control. A possessive growl rumbled in my chest, and her skin turned to gooseflesh at the sound. She pulled me closer, pressing her body against mine, making every fiber of my being ache with need.
I drank her in, reveling in the tightness of her embrace and the softness of her tongue.
She slid her hands beneath my shirt, and the feel of her skin against mine made my entire body shudder.
I yanked off the garment, tossing it onto the counter before continuing to explore her mouth with my tongue.
She ran her hands up my chest and then down my stomach until her fingers found the button on my pants. She popped it open and plunged her hand beneath the fabric, gripping my cock and stroking it as we kissed.
What little blood I had left in my head rushed to my groin, hardening me even more, and I moaned as she set every nerve in my body ablaze.
“I need you, Discord,” she said, pulling away and looking into my eyes as she unbuttoned her pants. “Now.”
“Then you shall have me.” I gripped her hips and turned her around to face the counter before working her clothing down her legs.
She leaned forward, jutting her backside toward me, giving me access to all her glory. Taking my cock in my hand, I rubbed the tip against her wet folds. The sensation sent a wave of electricity rocketing through my body, making it impossible to hold back.
I sank deep inside her, pulling her hips toward mine, filling her completely, and reveling in her gasp of pleasure. Stilling, I pressed into her, neither of us moving as we basked in the sensation of becoming one.
She tightened around me, squeezing me, and my dick twitched inside her. She groaned and ground her backside against me, tilting her hips left to right, up and down, before pulling away until only my tip remained inside her.
I slammed into her, thrusting hard, my rhythm increasing with each forceful pulse of my hips. She cried out, invoking both the goddess and my name as she climaxed, and it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.
I continued thrusting, taking her as my own, over and over. Our breaths turned to pants, our magic pulsing between us, mingling and melding, increasing the strength of our bond. With three more thrusts, I found my release, spilling into her as I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her waist.
We stayed there for a moment, our breathing slowing, our hearts returning to normal rates. I was loath to break our intimate union, yet I knew we couldn’t stay there forever. I pulled out, and she turned toward me, her gaze filled with so much passion, I nearly crumbled.
“I love you, Cinder Holland,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Discord, I…” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
“You don’t have to say it.” I brushed my thumb over her cheek. “Just know that I mean it.”
“I should. I do,” she whispered. “But the moment I say it out loud, it becomes real.”
I smiled slowly, warmth spreading through my body. “Then let it be real.”
“I…”
The moon’s faint glow filtering through the ceiling shifted. The garden, which had been silent and still moments ago, now shimmered with movement—leaves rustling without wind, branches cracking and growing, snaking across the roof in a tight lattice.
Cinder frowned and drew away from me, pulling up her pants. “Do you feel that?”
The hairs on my arms rose as I followed suit, the shifting energy growing palpable around us as we dressed.
I crossed to the door, cracking it open to peer out.
What had been a tangle of dying vines an hour ago now crawled with life, thorned stalks glistening like glass, their tips catching the faint orange of Hell’s sky.
As they moved, they made a sound like whispering voices, just beyond hearing.
“Stay here,” I said as I stepped outside.
Cinder followed me out the door. “Those weren’t there before.”
“No.” I drew the knife from my belt, the ground crunching beneath my boots as I inched forward. The plants shimmered as I moved closer, their translucent petals reflecting my face back at me.
Cinder joined me, resting her hand lightly on my arm. “What kind of plants are those?”
“Not plants.” I crouched, brushing a fingertip against one of the stems. It was cold. Too cold. A pulse shivered through it, echoing like a heartbeat. “They’re grown from energy. From tortured souls.”
As if in answer, one of the blossoms opened. Inside, faint and fragile, was a face screaming silently behind a thin layer of crystal.
Cinder gasped, stepping back. “Good goddess…”
The whispering rose to a hiss, the voices overlapping in tones of grief and fury. The vines trembled, reaching toward Cinder’s light like starving animals.
I moved between her and the nearest stalk, drawing on the infernal fire within me. “Back to the shed.”
She hesitated. “We can’t just—”
“Now.”
The vines surged, scraping against the ground. I shot a wave of fire toward the nearest cluster, and it erupted in flame, the glassy surfaces shattering with shrieks that faded into echoes.
Cinder’s magic flared beside me, pulsing in rhythm with mine—unintentional, instinctive—like two halves of a single heartbeat. She hurled a ball of witch fire at a tangle of vines, shattering the crystal leaves, the trapped souls screeching in agony as the branches retreated.
Heat flickered along my arms. The air was thick with the scent of scorched earth and bitter magic, each shattered blossom releasing a wisp of sorrow that drifted away on the wind.
Cinder stumbled back, her form outlined by the blaze, and I could see the fear and resolve warring in her eyes as the remaining vines recoiled, their whispers dimming to a mournful hush.
I moved toward her, and she touched my shoulder. “They’re people. They’re alive,” she said softly.
“They’re damned, and we’ll join them if we stay out here.”
She nodded, though her gaze lingered on the quiet vines.
Together we turned toward the shed, but before stepping inside, I glanced over my shoulder.
Beyond the blackened soil, deeper among the twisted trees, something moved…
a shadow separating from the darkness. For a moment, I thought I saw eyes like shards of polished glass watching us. Then, they vanished.
I bolted the door and pulled Cinder close.
Her heart still pounded in her chest. “We have to free them.”
“Their fates are not our concern,” I said. “They’ll devour us for attempting to help.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “Lucifer is one sick, effed up bastard.”
“I won’t argue with that, but this addition to the garden was not his creation.” My expression darkened. I knew of only one demon who possessed this sort of power. “Ruin did this.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?” She sighed and stepped out of my embrace. “And why do I get the feeling that was nothing more than an opening act?”
“How long will your ward hold?”
“A couple of days against witches in my realm. Here, against Ruin?” She shrugged. “No clue. I’ve never needed to ward against a demon that strong.”
“Search the shed for weapons.” I eyed the machetes and gardening shears hanging on the wall. They’d do no good against a tulpa that could turn into smoke, but if we could make it through to Ruin, I would have his head.
Cinder tossed me a tool belt, and as I stocked it with as many sharp objects as it would hold, the faint whisper of the living vines outside grew into a murmur and then a hum. I paced toward the door, and it rattled on its hinges.
“That didn’t take long.” Cinder strapped on a belt of tools as the humming vines began to screech. “All those poor people.”
“Careful,” I said. “Compassion in Hell will get you killed.”
The door rattled again. Something heavy and solid slammed into it. I leaned my shoulder against it, and Cinder drew a trowel in one hand, a machete in the other.
“If only Chrys were here,” she said.
I didn’t ask her to elaborate. The screaming vines snaked toward the shed, and something thudded on the roof above us. The lattice retreated, showing us the being Ruin had sent to attack.
She squatted on the roof, resting her hands in the cleared space and leaning down to peer at us through the glass.
The woman wore a black dress, reminiscent of the time I’d spent in the earthly realm, and her sneer was one of pure malevolence.
My heart dropped into my stomach before a spark of rage ignited in the core of my being.
“Who is that?” Cinder asked, clutching her makeshift weapons tightly. “Another friend of yours?”
“That,” I growled, “is Isabel.”