Chapter 69
Chapter sixty-nine
Seraphina
Sera handed Vasso the note.
“Shit,” he said. He stood and pulled Sera up with him. A moment later, their tent was set up at the base of the dune.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” she said.
Vasso nodded, then whistled into the wind. A shadow sprite appeared, its body almost translucent. Its delicate wings fluttered so fast she could barely see them, its arms and legs too long and gangly for the rest of its body.
“I knew it.”
He smirked. “Tell the domovoi to welcome the witches and warlocks. Provide them with anything they may need.” The sprite flitted away on a puff of darkness.
“How do you have immediate access to shadow sprites?”
“The perks of being a lord.” He whistled, and another appeared. “Get to my contact in the Citadel for a status report.” This sprite kissed Vasso’s cheek before it left.
Sera paced, wringing her fingers one by one. “Should I be jealous?” she asked.
“Never.”
“This isn’t good, Vasso. Whatever time you thought we had to make a new plan is gone now.
” They had to leave as soon as possible before things got worse.
Before Supay decided that Nora wasn’t worth keeping around, prophecy or not.
And what did Al mean by the Council having gone mad?
Torture? It had never been out of the realm of possibility with the elders.
They’d thrown innocents in the tower before.
A stone dropped from the pit of her stomach down to her ankles. Alistair was concerned… Alistair. The Mesar… the one who reported directly to Renata… Oh, Shadow.
“I’m not rushing anything. Let me hear back from my contact in the Citadel, then we can discuss.”
“Do I want to know who that is?” she asked.
He sighed, materializing her pack from a pocket of space. “I think it would be best for all parties concerned that you do not.”
She kept pacing. If Al had needed to get them out, it wasn’t good. She was sure he had almost burned himself out doing so. And what did he mean, Dominick wasn’t doing well? Was he hurt? Sick?
“Everything will be fine, Nula. I’ll make sure they’re taken care of.”
“Where’s Snik?” Her brain was going too fast to keep up with the amount of information coming in.
“He ran out maybe twenty minutes ago. Probably chasing some rodent.” Vasso ripped a bush up by its roots, lit it on fire, and set it into the sand. She supposed that was one way to start a campfire. “What can I do to make you feel better?”
Moons, she didn’t think anything would. Except for… “I think you should tell me what you know about Gehenna. All I’ve done is read about it in books.” Information seemed to settle her, no matter the circumstance.
He sighed and rubbed his brow. “Us demons, all different Dark Ones roam freely below. It’s not just goblins like Snik. There are fouler things in the dark. Trolls, lords, the agbris, golems—every creature you’ve ever heard of is down there somewhere.”
She swallowed hard. If he wasn’t coming with her, she’d be so fucked.
“I’ve only befriended one of the furies; the other two are vile. Then there are the souls at the Shadow gates. Sometimes the beasties give me trouble, but not usually.”
She sat in the sand and stared into the flames. The crackle of leaves and small branches twisted in on each other as they burned. “You mean like the totrus.”
Vasso sat beside her, their shoulders touching. “You asked once about our life cycle. Demons can live for centuries, sometimes up to a millennium, but that doesn’t mean we don’t die. To reach our full power, our souls regenerate.”
“Like the agbris.” The way they had stitched themselves back together after she and Al killed them still made her shiver.
“The more powerful the demon, the more regenerations.”
“Did you…” She didn’t know how to ask. “With the totrus?”
“No, that didn’t kill me. The bastard just knocked me out.”
But she had killed it. The giant had been reduced to ash as soon as she lit it aflame.
“How many times have you died?” she asked.
“Oh, I’d say once every decade or so.”
“Over thirty times!”
He laughed. “I didn’t lie when I said I was the most dangerous thing in those woods. And before you ask, no… we don’t know how many lives we get.” His voice got quiet. “But I fear I’m at the end.”
A shadow sprite materialized at his ear, its wings fluttered furiously. Vasso’s jaw turned as sharp as a blade.
“What is it?”
“Thank you,” he said to the sprite, then turned those moons-gray eyes on her. “The Citadel—it seems there was an attack. Many of the inner buildings had been leveled, especially in the lower quarter.”
Her world stilled. All those coven members she’d taken care of over the years. Bringing them packages of elixirs and basic food. It couldn’t all be gone. “What are the casualties?”
“It seems that was only the first wave. When Ophelia had her moment, she took out two Council members. Renata and Blackwell. Thorne, or at least her body, seems to be missing.”
“Shadow…” Her people. How could Ophelia have done this to her people? Wrapping her arms around herself, Sera rocked. No wonder Dominick wasn’t doing well. Colton, then the Citadel… She couldn’t imagine it, couldn’t picture what the destruction looked like.
How many of her people were dead, and for what reason were they torturing innocents?
“You must be hungry. I’ll find us something to eat.” He stalked past the dunes into the night.
She unpacked and repacked her bag, but the later it got, the more nervous she became.
Two daggers, two summoning stones, one Legion uniform, two pairs of socks, a bedroll, and her cloak.
Everything was there. She needed to ask Vasso for some different clothes, another set of reinforced leathers, maybe.
As she rolled one of the round summoning stones in her palm, her heart ached. She hadn’t thought of Alistair at all the past few days. And the loyal brute had saved Dominick. He saved as many coven members as he could.
But he couldn’t save her, not this time.
She dropped the enchanted stone into her pack.
Sera wanted to cry and scream and tear the world apart.
You could, her magic chimed. You have the power now.
“I don’t want to destroy. I just want to live my life peacefully with the people I love,” she said.
That was not written. All you have is this time, use it Seraphina.
A slight tug on the tether wrapping her heart had her looking up. Vasso was shirtless—her favorite version of him—and carried an animal of some kind. Snik tottered behind him, holding a desert hare by the ears.
A bead of sweat rolled down Vasso’s lean muscles as he prepared the meat.
Statues in the artifacts vault had nothing on him. He was chiseled with perfect definition. He took a drink from a waterskin, and the sheen on his chest, over his abs, had her licking her lips.
Vasso’s eyes turned reddish when he glanced at her, as if he already knew, as if he could sense what she wanted. Sera bit her lip. It was her last night above ground, alive… who knew. And she wasn’t about to let it go to waste.
Hips swaying, she walked toward him. Sera placed a finger on his chest and ran her nail down the groove between his rock-hard abs. Vasso sucked in a breath as she made eye contact, then lifted her finger to her mouth and sucked his salty sweat from it.
“Seraphina.” Her name on his lips had her heart beating faster. “Don’t continue unless you mean it.” His voice was low and dark—desire burned in his eyes, igniting her core.
The thread wrapped around her heart, tying her to him, pulled taut.
She slipped her finger in his waistband and pulled him toward her.
The warmth of his mouth on hers had the universe standing still.
For three heartbeats, he restrained himself.
Three heartbeats of quivering muscle beneath her palms, then he broke.
He kissed her hard and deep, teeth clashing, and that tongue, that mighty tongue of his, was consuming her.
Sera arched into him, spiraling with the need to be touched. Devoured.
Loved.
He broke the kiss just long enough to nibble on her jaw.
Sera moaned at the sensation. Vasso gripped the back of her head and whispered in her ear.
“From the moment I saw you, I wanted you bare to me. I wanted to fuck you with your hair falling around you like the goddess you are.” He sucked on her earlobe, dragged his teeth over the sensitive skin on her neck. Then back to her mouth.
His hands glided down her back and gripped her ass to him, giving her a taste of friction that she needed so desperately.
She moaned for it, craved it. He hoisted her up, and Sera wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed.
Vasso let out a guttural purr from the back of his throat as if he’d been starving for years.
Vasso carried her inside the tent. The cots were gone, replaced with a single large bed. She clung to him as if her life depended on it, refusing to break their kiss. With one quick motion, he ripped the camisole off her and set the white linen skirt aflame.
“I’ll make you more,” he assured her.
She didn’t care if she never wore clothes again, as long as he kept touching her.
Vasso ground his hips into hers, only the thin fabric of his trousers between them.
She couldn’t control her moan as he kissed the hollow at the base of her throat, tracing the curve of her breast with his fingertips.
Vasso pressed the length of his body against her again, then rubbed his callused palm over her nipple as it pebbled.
She arched for his grasp, but he pulled away.
“I am going to take my time with you,” he said. He traced the grooves of her glistening stomach and every rib with the tips of his fingers. She shuddered.
“Vasso.” Her voice was thick as she ran her fingers through his snow-white hair.
“My name from your lips is better than any music, any prayer, Nula.” Vasso sucked her nipple into his mouth, trailing his fingertips down her stomach. The drag of his lips and tongue against her hardened bud made her molten.
Every ounce of doubt evaporated when the back of his knuckle glided across her bundle of nerves.
She sucked in a breath as he pushed lower and sank two glorious fingers into her.
She gasped—she was so wet, so tight, they practically filled her on their own.
Her hips bucked beneath his hand, and she whimpered.
A roll of his tongue, and he bit down. Sera moaned and pushed his head lower. She needed him lower.
Ropes of shadow bound her hands, lifting them above her head.
“You’re cruel,” she said on a soft sigh and tipped her head back, arching for him. The sensation that coiled within her from his fingers had her panting. It had been so long since she was this needy. Shadow, she didn’t think she’d ever writhed beneath someone like this.
“You have no idea.”
Sera huffed in frustration as he slid his fingers out of her.
“So impatient,” he said and lowered his tongue to her clit. One swipe had her bucking again, and he groaned. “You taste just as I expected you to. Utterly divine.”
Over and over again, he lapped at her. The pressure building had her gasping for air, for release, for something she couldn’t name. She was so close. Sera pulled against his bonds, and he released her.
She gripped a handful of Vasso’s hair and made him look at her as she ground herself into his mouth. His groan vibrated through her, his eyes grew so dark they were almost black, and he plunged two fingers into her once more.
“It was this,” he rasped against her sex. “This was the image of you that Ophelia had shown me. The image I’d pleasure myself to every night. And when I saw you in person, I knew it would never be enough, not until I tasted you.”
Another slow agonizing rake of his tongue, and she exploded.
“Fuck me,” she said.
“What was that, Nula?” he asked with a wicked smile. He brought his dripping fingers to his mouth and sucked them clean.
“I said, fuck me,” she panted.
“As you wish.” He grabbed his pants and slid them down his hips, letting his length break free. He rubbed the tip on her entrance, barely giving her a moment, then impaled her.
She cried out, more in pleasure than pain, at the sensation of him stretching her. Sera let her head fall back as he thrust into her over and over again.
“You’re so fucking perfect.” He pulled out and slammed back into her. Pressing another bruising kiss to her lips, he whispered, “And you’re mine.”
Sera moaned as he drove deeper. Her need coiled tight in her belly.
“Don’t you ever forget it, Seraphina. You were made for me,” he growled.
She was going to die from her own pleasure, and she didn’t care.
His hands glided over her in worship. Every inch of his skin against hers was ecstasy.
Every roll of his tongue, every word he whispered in her ear, had her spiraling.
She clung to him, raking her nails down his back, staring into that beautiful face.
“That’s it.” He pounded harder, circling her clit with his thumb, and she screamed. She clenched around him, her nails tearing into his back, and rode every wave rolling through her. Shadow, she never wanted this to end. He worked her body as if he were made for this task alone.
“Fuck, Seraphina,” he cried, then came undone, pumping into her until they were both spent.
He held himself on his forearms and kissed her. Their breaths mingling, both coming down from their trance. Sera clung to him, trailing her fingertips over the raised lines her nails had just made.
When he pulled away to look at her, there was such tenderness in his features, such admiration, so many words unspoken.
And deep in her chest, wrapped around that fateful thread, was something she was scared to name.
She searched his gaze, and in those strong features was tenderness so deep it made her eyes well up with tears.
Vasso kissed them away. She traced the length of his spine, refusing to let go… and never before had she wished that she could stop time.