Chapter 73 Rhadamanthus
Rhadamanthus
“Anything?” the vampire asked, stopping in the doorway of the old study I found hidden down one of the many unfinished hallways.
I glanced up from my own research: the books the Fae prince stowed in the trunks. There had to be a reason he’d brought them to the island in the first place, though from what I could see, there was nothing uniform about the tomes.
With a sigh, I sat back. “Nothing from Sao about our imprisoned soldiers, and nothing amongst these pages.”
“Why would he bring them? If not for Ivy, of course,” she murmured, stepping into the study, eyeing the crates. Any weapons had been moved to a secure room, and if there were other hidden secrets within the trunks, I had yet to find them.
I shrugged, picking up one of the lengthy textbooks on witch history. “I doubt he intentionally chose them with her in mind, unless she loves history.” Which I had a feeling she enjoyed, but not enough to fill an entire room.
The vampire stopped in front of my desk and picked up an old text on pack registration from nearly two hundred years ago. “Orion wouldn’t have risked bringing these to the island if they weren’t important.”
“Unless they were already here, and he was storing them so they wouldn’t be damaged?” Though even that didn’t make enough sense. Most of these books were charmed with specific enchantments to protect the pages. They didn’t need to be stored.
She just shook her head as she flipped through the pages, a sigh falling from her lips as she did. “We need those reports,” she murmured, setting the book aside and meeting my eye. “Something. Anything to get that collar off.”
I clenched my jaw, grabbing a piece of parchment. “I’ll tell Sao to hurry, but the dungeons are filling. Every time they return to the Luna Court, they find another soldier on the run. And now, our people feel bold. If they find one of Dante’s scouts, they take them, too.”
“Tell him to focus on the soldiers we pulled,” she said, planting her hands on the table, eyes on the paper before me.
“I just want them. But also get photographs of Hyperion’s hands.
He might have hidden runes beneath his skin.
Something that signifies him being one of Dante’s High Council members so we can identify the others. ”
With a single nod, I wrote her words into a brief letter to Sao, highlighting the importance of unlocking any hidden charms and runes.
Greer’s mate would have likely ensured by now that any charms on their persons were void, the magic useless, but we needed to check none had been erased in the process—or altered.
It took only a few moments to have the letter finished, sealed, and sent away. And within those moments, there was only silence between the vampire and me.
Within the quiet, I could only think about the rage.
It was one of the few emotions that was truly potent.
I thought of my Queen in the dark hallway, her wide eyes sparkling with fear as I stalked towards her.
I’d seen her strength from the very beginning, and yet, I could also see it waning with each passing day.
Not her physical strength, but the inner power she held.
She tried so hard to hold onto the frayed threads of it, but they were slipping from her fingers.
Before I could break the silence, a letter appeared on the desk before me. Sao’s bitter magic teased the air for a moment before disappearing like it’d never been there.
“That was fast,” the vampire murmured, moving to stand directly beside me. Her scent of copper, sea air, and vanilla tickled my nose as I picked up the letter.
My King,
I have made Elara Blackwood aware of your needs and have alerted Sir Theon of his task.
But I am afraid we have gotten word from our scouts in Avalon.
Dante is rallying his army and sending teams out to hunt our Queen.
He is burning homes of those suspected of still being on the side of Nyx and has taken to destroying temples.
Oberon Academy is under another full attack, and Headmistress Sylvia is not sure how long she will last with the students. She is not sure her wards will hold.
Other academies have also reported an increase in attacks and so have Phoenix safe houses in the human world.
The academy in Pride is in dire need of aid, the pupils causing dissent. Aither’s prison has been compromised.
So far, no word from the warden on whether Dante’s forces have made it below.
We do not have the power to combat all these current challenges, and the people want to see their Queen. They want to know what she will do.
Sao.
I scrubbed a hand down my face as the vampire took the letter and read it to herself quietly, each word becoming more strained.
If anger had a scent, it would be hers, because as soon as she finished, she slammed the paper down onto the desk and stalked into the centre of the small study, her hands resting on her hips.
“Ivy can’t face them, not yet,” she said without looking at me, her voice dark—lethal. “She isn’t safe anywhere.”
I sat back, teeth gritted and stared at the paper.
“He’s purposefully dividing our soldiers.
Forcing them to put out fires elsewhere, causing a distraction while he hunts her.
We might not be protecting her well enough here.
” I drummed my fingers on the old desk, heart rate picking up with that terrible rage again.
“But we aren’t safe in the Underworld, either.
One wrong move and one of his soldiers gets into the palace, or escapes their cell?
And everything we have done to protect her would have been for nothing. ”
There was no doubt in my mind that I would give into the terrible, terrible things my power could do if she were taken again. I should have let it out when they first took her. I should have depleted his army before they could get away the first time.
I should have never given them a chance to survive the first time.
The weather continued to be as tumultuous as the emotions inside the manor.
The rush to learn everything they could about the God Runes and find a key to her collar became the only thing the mages focused on. Even the half-demon spent his time with them, trying—and failing—to unlock his memories of the few weeks he’d been one of the false king’s chosen soldiers.
Then there were the three shifters keeping our Queen company, following her quietly, likely the only ones keeping her from falling apart entirely.
The vampire stayed close, but I could tell uncertainty weighed her down.
She knew she could be doing more, whether that be seeking answers to the questions hanging over our heads like nooses, or going to her mate and comforting her.
And I was trapped in a war of my own making.
I should be locked away in my study with Sao’s communications as my only source of company, directing him through the battles being waged outside of our protective bubble. Yet I clung to the shadows and watched the female I knew I couldn’t have.
Her lips formed a soft frown as rain came down gently outside. A steaming mug of tea was clutched between her hands, though her gaze was on the darkness beyond the window.
“Is this sort of weather normal?” she asked no one in particular.
The bear shifter glanced at her. I’d noticed how enraptured he was by the changing weather. After a lifetime locked away and seeing the world for the first time, I couldn’t blame him.
“No,” the wolf said, glancing up from the file on his lap. “Usually, it’s a lot nicer here. Cold during this time of the year. Storms occasionally. But not to this extent.”
Even from my position in the shadows, I watched her shudder, hand moving to her stomach. “We’re running out of time, aren’t we?”
There was a tense, unfathomable silence that followed her words. We were running out of time, but no one wanted to admit it to her.
I left the tense silence, intending on returning to the books the Fae prince had left behind, when a warm hand caught my wrist, taking me by surprise.
I didn’t even have to look back to know who the hand belonged to. Not with the rush of electricity that raced up my arm from her touch, a feeling I only ever recalled in the deepest of sleep where her memory couldn’t be disturbed.
But now, as I turned to face my wife, all the emotions I’d been wrangling since I first saw her in the Underworld came flooding back.
Everything I’d worked to bury during our journey through the Old World came back in an instant.
Feelings I wanted to keep at bay reared their heads, and at the front of that crowd came need.
I was not a male who gave into the carnal sin of lust.
I was not tempted by desire.
And yet, something within me wanted her desperately, needed her more than I’d ever needed anything else.
But she was not mine to have or need. She could never be mine.
But I so desperately want her to be.
Ivy cleared her throat, pulling her hand away almost hesitantly. “Is everything okay?” she asked, cocking her head.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” I replied, trying for an air of disinterest. But each word sounded strained, even in my own ears.
Her eyes narrowed, seeming darker now than they had before. “You’re lurking,” she said slowly. “And you’re hiding things from me, Damon. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, my sweet wife.” I touched her cheek lightly, feeling that burn again, that rush of unfamiliar emotion once again rising within me. “There is nothing you need to worry about.”
For a moment, all I wanted to do was lean down and kiss her. To finally understand what it felt like to have something I so desperately wanted.
I never wanted to be king, but I took the throne of Elysian because that was what Nyx wanted of me.
What Pandora and her mates needed. What the demons of the Underworld craved.
The most powerful of House Elysian, trapped for an eternity upon a throne that never should have been his to begin with, all because a king left his kingdom without looking back.
For the first time in centuries, I wanted something. I wanted her.
The brief touch of our lips replayed in my mind for a moment. She hadn’t pulled away. Would she now? Would she allow me the small pleasure of stealing a kiss?
I leaned in, watching as her eyes darkened, cheeks blooming with a pink flush. “Would you give me something, dear wife?” I asked, voice low.
A shaky breath passed her lips. “What?”
My gaze flickered to those lips, lips I’ve been dreaming of for days. “A kiss.”
Her eyes widened a fraction, shock passing through them for only a moment before hardening into something certain. “Yes,” she whispered. “Kiss me.”
I shuddered, relief rushing through me. I closed the distance between us and claimed her lips, the soft touch burning.
It felt like a betrayal to everything I’d done to maintain my position as King of Elysian, and yet it felt like the most honest thing I could give myself. A truth I could finally admit.
Something hot and red exploded in my chest as I deepened the kiss, taking more of her, pulling her soft body into mine. Ivy made a soft sound as her hands went to my chest, fingers splayed over my racing heart. Did she feel it? Did she understand that it pounded for her? Wanted only her?
The kiss deepened with a swipe of my tongue against her lips, each taste of her, every touch like a betrayal of my vows. And yet my magic yearned for more.
I yearned for more.
Ivy stepped into me, her body flush against my own. Although our deal marks were no longer visible on her flesh, I could almost feel the snake from our marriage ceremony reaching for me. Begging to be matched with the one on my own hand.
The crash of thunder and pounding rain had Ivy breaking the kiss with a gasp. “Damon…”
I drew in a sharp breath, her scent filling my lungs. Goddess above, I wanted so badly to have more of her; taste more of her flesh, to finally feel her completely. I wanted so badly to understand what it might be like to be bonded to her.
To feel that snap of a mate bond, just as the stories told.
“Thank you, my Queen,” I whispered, bowing my head, “for giving into my dream.”
With that, I let the shadows form around me and take me back to the study, her touch imprinted on my body, taste still on my lips, heart racing only for her.