Chapter 47
Forty-Seven
Dante sauntered through the bottom floor of the palace, his temples throbbing with an impending migraine. He growled as he whipped out his communicator. The damn thing wouldn’t stop buzzing and his wife was on to him.
How he hated worrying her after all she’d been through—because of him. And they’d only arrived home hours ago.
He checked the missed calls. The Grand Supreme again and one missed call from Valdez . His stomach tied itself in a hard knot, inducing nausea.
His molars ground in his mouth as he returned Valdez’s call, fingers quaking with rage over the screen. The communicator rang and connected in a heartbeat.
“I never thought I’d hear from you again,” her voice caressed him through the speaker in a way he found infuriating. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. Screams and explosions erupted in the background, crackling against his eardrum. She was up to her old tricks. Someone was suffering for her amusement.
“What the hell do you want?” he hissed. “You’re lucky I didn’t break your neck for what you did to Autumn.”
“Why the insolent tone?” she chuckled but he didn’t laugh. His black-gloved fist tightened.
She continued. “I called to congratulate you on saving your precious human filth. If it wasn’t for you, she’d be long dead, frozen bones rotting in the ground, which I must admit I was hoping for, but there’s always time for that later. I still owe you for scarring my beautiful face as well.”
“I’d hardly call you beautiful.” Her soul was as black as death, kind of like his own. “You’re rotten to the core.” Dante could hear the scraping of her taloned fingers as they tightened against her communicator.
She huffed a breath.
“You waste my time with your idle threats?” he added, his finger hovering over the disconnect symbol as red flashed across his vision.
A long silence followed.
“You and I both know that’s not an idle threat.”
Dante ran a hand roughly through his hair. “When I see you again, I’ll kill you.”
She snorted. “You kill me? Don’t make me laugh. We both know which of us is stronger. Sure, we’ve had our scuffles over the years, but my strength far surpasses your own. Keyserike was nothing but a weak?—”
“Until then,” he clicked his communicator off, hanging up on her mid-sentence. He exhaled slowly, calming himself down. He couldn’t catch a break.
She had some nerve.
His lips flickered with amusement. Little did she know, he tracked her exact coordinates during the call. For once, the jest was on her. She’d pay for hurting Autumn with her life. He swore it.
She was in for the rudest of awakenings.
He cracked his knuckles and continued making his way to the only place he could find solace in a stressful time such as this.
Dante entered the gravity chamber and tossed his shirt to the ground. He limbered up, preparing himself for a hard, sweaty training session. His eyes snapped to the corner of the room at the Zambarian guard shaking, knees knocking together. A wet spot between his legs soiled his navy uniform. Dante chuckled, enjoying the impression he made on his foes.
As he approached him, preparing to teach him a lesson he’d never forget for putting his hands on his wife back on Emperor Brumha’s ship, a throat cleared, catching him off guard. He whipped around. Drat. He laced his fingers behind his back.
Autumn folded her arms. Her hair was tied in a knot atop her head, and she wore a traditional obsidian Elattion uniform rather than the ridiculous Zambarian attire she’d traveled in. Thank the gods , he’d never seen an uglier dress.
Her silver-gray eyes assessed him. “How did I know I’d find you here up to no good?”
He froze as she approached him, unable to formulate a sentence. His mind raced. Busted. She gestured at the cowering Zambarian guard in the corner.
“Tell him he’s free to go. I arranged transportation for him back to Universe 18. The ship is waiting for him on the rooftop.”
He nodded and before he could protest, he did as she asked. She had a way about her he couldn’t deny and couldn’t resist. The Zambarian guard slid across the room with his back to the wall, eyes wide, staring at them unwaveringly before making a clear run for it.
She traced a finger down his back, and his body erupted in goosebumps down to the tips of his toes. She chewed her bottom lip. “What am I going to do with you?”
“He put his hands on you?—”
“I don’t want to waste any more time thinking about him. I just want to think about us,” she stood on her tip toes and kissed the cleft of his chin. His face and body warmed.
“What do you have in mind?” His imagination ran away with itself. All he could think about was her trembling body pressed up against his, his mouth and tongue on her neck, and her hands grasping the hard muscles of his back as he took his time on her.
“Close your eyes.” He did as she asked, standing there with red-hot anticipation. He could only imagine what she had in mind. Buttons clicked and his vision grew darker although his eyes remained closed. Metal clanged together. The weight of the air pushed his bare feet into the ground.
“Okay, now open them.”
He opened his eyes slowly and she stood before him in a fighting stance.
He ran a hand through his hair, tousling the strands. “Oh, I thought. Never mind?—”
She chewed her bottom lip. “There’s time for that later. Right now, we need to train. I don’t ever want to feel helpless again.”
“You need to rest—you’ve been through a lot. You’ve suffered a serious trauma?—”
“There’s no time to rest,” she said. “Valdez is out there somewhere, and she wants me dead. There’s no telling when she’ll strike again. And the Grand Supreme, doesn’t he know?—”
“I’ll protect you?—”
“You can only protect me so much. I have to be able to defend myself.”
He watched her, knowing deep down she was right. He’d failed her thus far despite his best efforts. He couldn’t afford to fail her again or else he feared she’d wind up like Maeve. And that was the most frightening thought he could ever imagine.
“Very well then,” he slid into a fighting stance, balancing his weight over his crouched legs. There was no reasoning with her. He decided to give her what she asked for but take it easy on her regardless.
She lunged at him with the full force of her body. Her fist and bent elbow flew over her shoulder through the air. She went to crack him across the jaw, but he moved his arm blocking her attempt. He refused to strike her back, although a fight called for that action.
“I know you’re holding back on me,” she moved her arm wiping the sweat from her brow against her sleeve. Ten times normal gravity wore on her body. It was clear to him she needed to rest and not complete a training session. “Armienti fought me for real when we were stranded. He?—”
His forehead pulsated. “Wait, are you serious?” Armienti would have enjoyed the pleasure of fighting with her, he was sure. His molars ground together. “What if he hurt you?” He made a mental note to check in with his soldiers about his brother’s whereabouts. There was no telling what he was up to, and he refused to let this error slide, more so than the others. He’d endangered Autumn’s life for the last time.
“He didn’t though. I hurt him by mistake. Our abilities were waning. I didn’t mean to?—”
“Okay, I’ll fight you for real just this once, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. One hit is all you get from me.” He finally caved.
“Agreed.”
He cracked his knuckles, watching, waiting for her next move.
His brother had some nerve fighting her.
Her brow crinkled. She lunged at him, and he teleported behind her, hoping to give her a good scare. She jumped and whirled around, but this time he caught her fist in his hand as she went to hit him. He took his leg and kicked her in the ribs, sending her clear across the room. She went flying, slamming her chest into the wall. His heart stopped as he raced over to her, and she fell face-first on the floor. Perhaps he’d taken matters too far . He never should’ve agreed to fighting her. She pushed herself up to a shaking stand and he helped her to her feet.
“Autumn, Autumn, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” Panic and shame erupted through his body. He should’ve never agreed to this.
“I’m okay,” she reassured him, her voice sounding weak. She dusted herself off. “Let’s try this again. This time you can stop coddling me.”
“I agreed to fight you one time and one time only. Clearly, you’re not?—”
“What are you scared or something?” She winked. “Fine, I’ll go and find someone else to train with?—”
“Okay, one more time then,” he reluctantly agreed, but he was positive she’d be sorry.
This time he clenched his fist, sending the ball straight at her rosy cheek, without warning. She caught it in her hand and raised her knee, hitting him in the gut. He sputtered backwards, inhaling a breath. After he regained his composure, he launched a roundhouse kick and she ducked, sliding to the floor, taking out his other foot with her boot. He stumbled before flying into the air. She was on him in a heartbeat.
She threw her leg into a kick, and he blocked it before she disappeared into thin air. What the devil? He searched for her spinning around in circles but to no avail. Suddenly, a heeled boot collided between his shoulder blades, sending him flying and crashing headfirst into the metallic tiled floor. He groaned, pushing himself up. He wiped his thumb against the corner of his mouth, smearing a droplet of blood.
He slid his tongue across his teeth, making sure they were still intact. “Impressive, I stand corrected.” He brushed himself off. “Where did you learn that move from?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been practicing, I guess.”
“You guess?”
She shrugged again, mouth curving.
She walked over to the wall, killing the gravity. She grabbed two steaming hot towels from the table and handed him one. He wiped the sweat from his face. When she turned to leave, he grabbed her hand, twining her fingers in his. He pulled her in close. He could feel the warmth of her body and her racing heartbeat up against his.
Dante stared down into her moonlit eyes, running his hand across her cheek and over her full pink lips. “You are so very beautiful my Little Moonlight.”
She smiled, her cheeks flushing pink.
He brought his mouth to hers. tasting her. He’d never grow sick of her sweetness, her innocence. Her purity. She trembled as he pushed her back up against the wall, staring into his eyes. She removed her shirt, legs straddling his waist. His pants fell to the ground in a heap of spandex. She buried her fingers in the strands of his midnight hair, moving them over the nape of his neck. Goosebumps covered his body as she brought her lips to his. How he loved her and wanted nothing more than for her to be safe in his arms. To protect her from harm. To have her this way always and forever. Together they shattered the stars.