Chapter 14
GAELAN
Ikeep an office here, topside, because I have a lot of business with daemons that reside here.
As a dream daemon, I often work with others to ensure plans, missions, and assignments are executed smoothly.
Walking in someone’s dreams enables me to manipulate them, to persuade people to think in other ways. It’s a talent that I am often sought after for, and a job that I do not walk into lightly.
I’ve seen many wars and untimely deaths because of the nightmares my people can cause, if they aren’t careful.
Walking over to the large window, I look out and scan the city. Darkville is one of the busiest cities in this part of the topside. Most of the houses are of Gothic style, with their large windows, black iron gates, and pointed archways.
The supernatural residents are mostly daemons with a few witches and warlocks scattered around.
The wolf shifters and fae tend to steer clear of these parts—a conflict centuries ago between daemons and the shifters.
Many supernaturals took sides, and when the conflict was over, the losers were forced to leave.
Now they can be found primarily in Evenville, the more rural part of this world.
I lost count years ago of how many times I stood at this very spot and let my eyes drift over the lights of each building, wondering if any of them belonged to my Rose, wondering if I was too late, if she had found another lover.
Or if Macy had gotten to her already, I would have another body to bury.
A grin pulls at my lips now, and an unfamiliar happiness bubbles in my stomach, slowly pushing the torment I’ve had with me for years back into the dark corner of my soul.
Maybe this time, I get to keep her?
Turning away from the window, I pull out my black leather desk chair and sit down. My office walls are lined with shelves filled with files I keep on the daemons that need dream help. I have a large white sofa in the middle of the room that I use for less formal meetings.
My desk has two chairs opposite mine for occasions when it's necessary. I also have a small cache of weapons in my drawer, in case I need them.
Sitting on my desk next to my computer keyboard is a stone necklace. I’ve kept every gift my Rose has made me over the years.
She made me this one for our wedding, Thousands of years ago.
I pick it up and play with the animal skin cord in my hand. The fur has all come off, but before that, it was so soft against my skin. I would wear it whenever I went out hunting, a reminder of what I had waiting for me when I got home.
Pain strikes my heart, making me suck in an unsteady breath. My eyes flutter closed as the memories of when I last saw her in that life invade my mind.
My feet drag on the ground, the stones cutting into them. Each step, as painful as it may be, leads me back to the real reason I am topside and not at my castle in Illis. As a lord of my realm, spending a prolonged amount of time away is dangerous.
A realm without its lord is much easier to overtake and control. Illis is mine, and I protect it with my life.
News had filtered through the Underworld that she was back.
I hadn’t believed it at first. I’d shimmered topside without so much as a good-bye to my people. Mark will look after them while I’m gone, he always does.
This was something I couldn’t let go of.
She is mine.
The rumors led me to a small village in an unnamed town. Standing in the center of a little trades hut was a beautiful woman. Her scent hit me first, like a light caress, reminding me of what I breathe for. Then she turned around and her bright amber eyes frowned at me in question.
In that moment, I knew she was my Rose.
My mate.
Trelor stirred under my skin, painfully pushing against me. He wanted to take her then. Watching her die the last time broke him further than I had ever felt him before.
He had been silent for so long.
That night, I went to her cave to claim her. I’d promised her father a large portion of livestock and my sword for his tribe.
My Rose was mine again.
We have been together every day since.
Pausing in my steps, I gaze over the lands. The sun is casting its orange glow over the sky, bidding farewell to the moon that will soon be rising. Our cave sits on top of a large hill. Logs, sticks, and patches of grass cover the land surrounding it.
Her father had wanted us to live in the caves with them, but that was something I didn’t like.
Craving my mate comes with our bonding; it’s a pull that I feel in my heart, an ache that only she can soothe. The feeling never entirely goes away, so we must learn to control it. That pull is much worse when we are apart for any amount of time.
Fucking is the only way to settle it.
Her father hearing us fuck isn’t something I ever want to worry about. My lips tilt up as I chuckle to myself.
Securing my sword higher on my back, I lift my foot to take a step, but falter when I notice the skin that usually covers the entrance is missing.
I narrow my eyes and draw in a deep breath. Smelling Sulphur, my heart beats hard against my chest, Trelor’s growl rumbles in my head.
Not caring who sees me, I shimmer into the hut.
Inside, the little fire has been extinguished, and our makeshift wooden bed has been torn apart; the fur is scorched.
Growling, I spin around on the spot, my chest heaving with each breath I take. If that fucking bitch has retaken her, I’m going to do everything in my power to rip her part.
My anger clouds my mind so fiercely that I almost don’t hear her, I nearly miss the tiny cry of pain that shatters my heart.
Not again. Please.
I rush to the back of the cave, and in the darkness, I can just make out a pair of mud-covered feet protruding from the shadows. “Rose?” Panic shakes my voice.
“Gaelan?” she whispers so weakly I barely hear it.
Moving fast, I rush into the darkness, my eyes lighting the way for me. It only takes me a second to see her sitting up against the wall. She is naked, and dark patches cover the floor around her. I don’t have to see it to recognize the smell: blood, and lots of it.
Her head lolls forward, too weak to lift it, her shoulders shake with her sobs, and her tears fall like little drops of rain into her naked thighs.
She is awake.
They have done it again.
I was too late, again.
“Rose, baby, it’s me,” I say, falling to my knees next to her. I reach my shaking hands to cup her cheeks and lift her head slowly and carefully, so she can see me.
She blinks her eyes, then opens them fully, her pupils blown wide with shock. When she sees it's me, they settle, and she smiles softly. “I’m sorry,” she whispers so softly that it calls to my biggest fear, beckoning it forward again. I’m losing her.
“Sorry? What for?”
“You told me not to go outside, and I did.” She coughs hard, and blood sprays from her mouth like hot lava spitting from a volcano, covering my chest.
“You never listen to me. This is not new, my Rose.” I search for her wounds to see if I can help her, fingers brushing over her in the dark. “What happened?” As those words leave my lips, I know a blood pooling and overflowing from a large hole in her stomach.
“A woman was here. She had odd-colored hair. She said she was looking...” She stops, then cries out before bursting into sobs. “Gaelan, don’t leave me.”
Tears sting the back of my eyes. She is pleading with me for something that would never happen.
“I’m here, my Rose. Let me take you to the village.” I try to sound calm; I’ve been here so many times in my life that I know there are not many ways this ends well.
“No.”
Shaking my head, I reach for her.
“Gaelan, please just stay with me, here.” I lift my head and look deep into her eyes, and what I see there reaches into my chest. Wraps around my heart and melts it until there is only a space left.
She knows this is the end.
“Rose, no. Please, let me try to save you.” I’m begging her to give me something that she has no power over.
I’m asking her to live for me.
“Gaelan, kiss me,” she whispers, looking up at me with so much love in her eyes that it burns my soul and sends hot tears rolling down my cheeks. I’m losing her again, the one person in all the universes that was made just for me. She is my reason for living.
Lowering slowly, my lips touch her soft, cold ones gently.
Afraid that I will break her even more. A sob bursts from me when she doesn’t kiss me back.
Pain coats every inch of my body till I begin to shake.
I press my lips against hers, wanting her to kiss me back, urging her to wake up for me, even if it’s just for a second, so that I can say goodbye.
Nothing.
My Rose is gone.
Tentatively, I remove my lips from hers and look down into her eyes. The light in them has gone out.
Even in death, she is so beautiful. She looks like she is at peace, with no pain contorting her face, no blood spilling from her lips.
I use my fingers to carefully close her eyes before I lower her to the ground.
Standing, I edge my way slowly to the head of the cave. The sun has set fully, and the moon is high in the sky, bathing the dark lands in its sliver of light.
The earth is at peace, and inside, I feel like hell.
Fisting my hands at my sides, all of the hurt and pain coil tight in my stomach, and the burning feeling of rage sets a target hard on her.
Macy touched what is mine, and now that bitch is going to die.
Throwing my head back, I roar up into the night.
They have taken her from me again.
This night will be their last.
My eyes snap open, and the sound of my cries of pain echoes in my office as that memory fades.
Macy didn’t meet her end then, though I tried.
Killing a princess of hell isn’t an easy task.