Chapter 51
ARIANNA
My stomach is full of nerves. I’ve gone over my spell book about a hundred times while Gaelan and I stayed in Westery.
Being there with him, in our own little bubble of happiness, makes me want to get rid of Macy even more.
Gaelan and I have never had a chance of a happy, long life together, and I want that so much.
We stayed in Westery for two moons, and when we got back to the castle, Gaelan wanted to leave right away.
Now, Leah is by Gaelan’s side as we creep into Evilie. I’m so grateful for her and her never-wavering loyalty.
“My lord, the gates to the left are open and the guards have been taken out,” Leah says. We abandoned the hell-horses a few miles back and headed closer on foot. The palace is heavily guarded, so Gaelan set Leah off to free up a gate for us.
“Thank you, Leah. We will head that way and enter through the left wing.” Gaelan takes my hand and leads me to the left.
The land is all black; there are volcanoes in the distance that make this whole place scorching hot.
The lava flowing from the volcano seeps into the land, giving it a sinister appearance.
I shudder at the thought of all the bad things that go on here—all the death and evil.
A strange feeling hits my chest, making me stop and pull my hands from Gaelan’s as we grow closer to the palace. My chest grows tight, like something has sucked all the air out, and if I take a breath, it’s going to set my lungs on fire.
Gaelan and Leah turn to face me, “Rose? We must keep moving.” He tries to retake my hand.
I shake my head at him. “We can’t go that way, it’s not safe.”
“My lady, I cleared the way; it is more than safe,” Leah smiles. I shake my head again, then turn and scan over the grounds. Something doesn’t feel right.
“It’s hiding—watching us…” My voice comes out as a whisper, more talking to myself than to them. Turning, I step past both Gaelan and Leah.
“My lady,” Leah starts, but I hold my hand up. My eyes focus on the black stones, the way the heat seethes from them, in waves that curl up into the air, almost like a shimmer of dread waiting to consume us.
Lifting my eyes, I follow the blackened heat waves I can see, some of them going straight up, others curving into a shape, my eyes narrow.
The power from my book courses over my body, a light sting on my skin from another spell appearing on my forearm, the gold glowing in the black night.
The spell doesn’t fall from my lips; it doesn’t need to, it gives me a new sight, a new way to look at the evil in this world.
I close my eyes and let the feeling rush over me before I open them.
In seconds, a tall black form looms over me, no body, just a cloak of black smoke and blood red glowing eyes, no legs, it’s floating.
Stepping back, Gaelan and Leah appear at my sides, weapons drawn.
“It’s a Reaper, Ari. Step back, slowly,” I hear Gaelan’s whisper as he takes my hand and slowly steps back with me.
Leah moves in front of us a little, her sword drawn, ready to attack.
The Reaper watches us, floating but not moving to attack us.
Gaelan told me Reapers are the purest form of evil.
They feed on souls, regardless of whether the soul is good or evil.
Tate has some control over them, but they operate under their own rules.
They can’t be killed, and they won’t stop an attack once started until one’s soul is consumed in totality.
I look around us, taking in the dark, watching as sections of it take shape and more Reapers form around us. Each is cloaked in black with glowing red eyes. I pull on Gaelan’s hand; he looks at me; I point toward some of the other reapers, and he stares in disbelief for a second before frowning.
They shoot up into the air, one by one, before there are hundreds of them clouding the sky, all eyes trained on us.
“What are they doing?” I whisper
“I’ve never seen them act like this before,” he informs me, then turns around to get a better look at Leah, who does the same thing.
For scary soul suckers, they were quick to leave us.
I move closer, and a feeling washes over me; something dark knocks at my senses, making me shiver.
My eyes snap to one of the Reapers, and I can almost feel his thoughts—it’s as if his awareness is tapping at my own.
They are waiting for someone.
“They don’t belong to him,” I whisper.
“Rose? What did you say?” Gaelan comes over to me and takes my hand.
“You said that Tate rules them? He’s their leader?” I ask a little louder.
“Yes,” Gaelan answers me, looking up again. “When he took over from the devil, he claimed them.”
“They don’t belong to him; they are waiting for their master to return,” I exclaim.
“My lady, Tate is the strongest daemon in the Underworld. He rules, so they belong to him.” Leah joins us, her swords away, all of us realizing that they are not going to attack us.
“I just have a feeling, I don’t know what it is, it’s telling me they are waiting.” I take another step closer, locking my eyes with one of them; it’s red to my gold. I feel it’s dark powers tickle over my senses. They are waiting for the king.
Gaelan comes over to me and pulls my hand, making me step closer to him.
“Let us go, we can find out what they are waiting for later, we need to move on with our plan before we are seen,” he starts walking, Leah and I both following him.
I look back and see that hundreds of red eyes are still watching as we go.
We arrive at the palace gates, and Leah was right; she had killed all the daemon guards that were here, with piles of daemon dust scattered all over the ground.
We head toward the front door, Gaelan takes out his dagger to break the lock, as he lifts it, I whisper, “apetha,” the lock clicks, and the door swings open. Gaelan turns to me with a grin, making me smirk at him. His eyes flash blue, telling me that he finds me so sexy right now.
“Later, baby,” I speak to him with my mind.
“As soon as we get back, I want you naked in my bed,” I hear his answer, and lower my head to hide the heat creeping over my cheeks.
We step into the palace, my eyes scan the mail entrance at how stunning it is, all black, marble floors so shiny I can see our reflection in it, status are planes in stands everywhere, the only hit of color is from the pieces of iron and metal that decorate the room, there are tall ceiling to floor windows with long back curtain, in front of us is a sweeping staircase leading up to the second floor, to the left is another hallway with what looks like another staircase.
To the right is a row of large doors. Gaelan points to them, and Leah nods, moving in that direction. Gaelan pulls my hand, and we head left.
“The throne room is this way. We’ll start there,” Gaelan’s voice echoes in my head, making me smile. I nod and follow him.
When we reach the last door, Gaelan pushes it open.
We walk in, and the room is again black, with floor-to-ceiling windows and black flowers everywhere.
I’ve never seen so many in one place, covering the floor all over the thrones and windows.
We take a few more steps in, and nothing seems out of place.
“Gaelan, where will she be?” I whisper, This seems like a good place to draw her, too, trapping her so we can kill her. There is only one way in and out.
“Either in her quarters or the training grounds,” he says, retaking my hand and pulling me out of the room. Leah is waiting for us when we get outside.
“All clear that side, my lord? Shall we head upstairs?” She asks, and Gaelan shakes his head.
“The training ground first, then upstairs. I want to look over them first; they might be better because they are underground. No one will hear us down there.” Leah nods at him, and both head toward another door.
I turn to look at where we came from. It seems so odd that there aren’t more guards around.
For a place meant to hold the worst power the world has seen, there aren’t more guards.
Maybe daemons are too scared to come here.
I turn and follow Gaelan through the door and down a set of stairs. Leah comes in behind me, watching the back for us.
The stairs are made of stone, just as black as the rest of the palace.
It’s dark down here; the only light comes from torches on the walls, and there aren’t many of them.
Lexus pushes against my skin, letting me know she is ready if I need her.
She wanted to be fully involved, but I needed to see this place with my own eyes.
When we reach the bottom of the stairs, there is a long corridor with doors running along it as far as the eye can see.
Gaelan lets go of my hand and walks a little ahead of me.
My feet slowly come to a stop, and I turn on the spot. “Gaelan?”
“My lady, it’s just a little longer.” Leah moves next to me. Her words make me frown.
“Something doesn’t feel right. I’ve been here before,” I say as I move to one of the doors and push it open.
Inside is a man chained to the wall, his stomach has been sliced open.
His blood and guts are hanging from his body like a horrible Halloween decoration.
I step into the room. “What is this place? This isn’t the training grounds, it can’t be—” I turn to Leah.
“Maybe the killing and torture are part of the training,” she says with a shrug.