Mia had Damaris drawn and leveled at Hobbs in a heartbeat. Fleetfoot growled at him, but kept back, a step behind Mia .“What are you doing here?” It was inconceivable that he’d be here. How had he gotten in?“I’ve been tracking you for weeks,” Hobbs said, eyeing the dog. “Nehemia told me about the passages, showed me the way in. I’ve been down here almost every night since she died.”Mia glanced at the portal. If Nehemia had warned her not to open the portal, then she was certain her friend didn’t want Hobbs seeing it, either. She moved to the wall, keeping well away from the blackness as she ran her hand over the glowing green marks, making to wipe them away.“What are you doing?” Hobbs demanded.Mia pointed Damaris at him, furiously wiping at the marks. They didn’t budge. Whatever this spell was, it was far more complex than the one that had sealed the library door—merely swiping away the marks wouldn’t undo it. But Hobbs now stood between her and the book where she had the closing
She reached out a hand as if to grab his, but lowered it—making her face tender and soft and bittersweet. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? We could have been working toward this for weeks. We could have tried to solve the riddle together. If I’d known what Nehemia was going to do, how she could lie to me again and again … She betrayed me. In every possible way, Hobbs . She lied to my face, made me believe …” Her shoulders slumped. After a long moment, she took a step toward him. “Nehemia was no better than Arobynn or Clarisse in the end. Hobbs , you should have told me. About everything. I knew it wasn’t Mullison—he wasn’t smart enough. If you’d told me, I could have taken care of it.” A risk—a leap of faith. “For you … For us, I would have taken care of it.”But Hobbs gave her a hesitant smile. “She spent so much time complaining about Councilman Mullison that I knew he’d be the easiest one to blame. And thanks to that competition, he already had a connection to Grave.”“Grave didn’t
She didn’t remember anything after the first two swings of her sword, only that she’d suddenly seen Fleetfoot come flying at the creature. The sight had distracted her enough for the Assassin to get past her guard, its long, white fingers grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head into the wall.Then darkness.She wondered whether she’d died and awoken in hell as she opened her eyes to a pulsing headache—and the sight of Bolton , circling the pale demon, blood dripping from both of them. And then there were cool hands on her head, on her neck, and Christopher crouching in front of her as he said, “Mia .”She struggled to her feet, her head aching even more. She had to help Bolton . Had to—She heard a rip of clothing and a yelp of pain, and she looked at Bolton in time to see him grasp the cut on his shoulder, inflicted by those filthy, jagged nails. The creature roared, its overlong jaw gleaming with saliva, and it lunged again for the captain.Mia tried to move, but she wasn’t f
She knew the shift had happened, because it hurt like hell. A flash of blinding pain as her features ripped free of the hold that hid them. The Assassin lunged, and she plummeted into the well of power that was suddenly overflowing inside of her.Skills , savage and unforgiving, erupted out of her, punching into the creature and sending it flying. Flame—years ago, her power had always manifested as some form of fire.She could smell everything, see everything. Her heightened senses pulled her attention every which way, telling her that this world was wrong, and she needed to get out now.But she wouldn’t get out, not until Bolton and Fleetfoot made it to safety.The creature stopped rolling, on its feet in an instant, and Mia put herself between it and Bolton . The Assassin sniffed at her, sinking onto its haunches.She lifted Damaris and bellowed her challenge.From far off in the mist, roars answered. One of them came from the thing in front of her.She looked at Bolton , still crou
Though Mia ’s Dark knight senses were extinguished, she could swear she still smelled Hobbs ’s cologne as she moved toward the sewer tunnel, still smelled the blood on him.He had destroyed everything. He’d had Nehemia assassinated, had manipulated them both, had used Nehemia’s death to drive a wedge between her and Bolton , all in the name of power and revenge …She would take him apart. Slowly.I know what you are, he’d said. She didn’t know what Arobynn had told him about her heritage, but Hobbs had no idea what sort of darkness lurked inside her, or what sort of monster she was willing to become in order to make things right.Ahead of her, she could hear muffled curses and banging against metal. By the time she reached the sewer tunnel, she knew what had happened. The grate had slid shut, and none of Hobbs ’s attempts to open it had worked. Perhaps the gods did listen sometimes. Mia smiled, drawing both
Bolton watched blood bubble out of Hobbs ’s lips as Mia let him slump to the stone floor. She stared down at the body, her final words to him hovering in the air, running claws over Bolton ’s already chilled skin. She closed her eyes, tilting her head back as she took a long breath—as if she were embracing the death before her, and the stain it left as payment for her vengeance.He had arrived in time to hear Hobbs beg for his life—and utter the words that had been his last mistake. Bolton shifted his boot against the step to warn her that he was there. How much of her Dark knight senses did she retain when she looked like a human?Hobbs ’s blood spread across the dark stones, and Mia opened her eyes as she slowly turned to Bolton . The blood had soaked the ends of her hair, turning them a brilliant red. And her eyes … There was nothing there, as though she’d been hollowed out. For a heartbeat, he wondered if she would kill him, too—just for being there, for seeing the dark truth of h
“You still can’t trust me,” he finished.She nodded. In this, she knew Hobbs had won, and hated him for it. “When I look at you,” she whispered, “all I want to do is touch you. But what happened that night … I don’t know if I can ever forget it.” The deepest cut on his cheek had scabbed, and she knew it would scar. “For my part, I am sorry for what I did to you.”He stood, wincing at his wounds, and walked over to her. “We both made mistakes,” he said in that voice that made her heart stumble.She found the nerve to turn to him, gazing up into his face. “How can you still look at me like that when you know what I truly am?”His fingers grazed her cheeks, warming her chilled skin. “Dark knight, assassin—no matter what you are, I—”“Don’t.” She stepped back. “Don’t say it.”She couldn’t give him everything again—not now. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them. Even if she ever learned to forgive him for picking the king over Nehemia, her journey to find the keys would require her to go f
When the council meeting was over, Luton did his best not to look at his father, who had been watching him so carefully while he’d announced his plans to the king, or at Christopher, whose sense of betrayal rippled off of him as the meeting went on. He tried to hurry back to the barracks, but he wasn’t all that surprised when a hand clapped on his shoulder and turned him around.“Mandy?” Christopher snarled.Luton kept his face blank. “If she’s capable of opening a portal like He did last night, then I think He needs to get out of the castle for a while. For all of our sakes.” Christopher couldn’t know the truth.“She’ll never forgive you for having her shipped off like that, to take down a whole country. And in such a public way—making a spectacle out of it. Are you mad?”“I don’t need her forgiveness. And I don’t want to worry about her letting in a horde of otherwordly creatures just because she’s missing her friend.”He hated each lie that came out of his mouth, but Christopher dr
The man—male—down the alley was Skull .After ten years, after all the executions and burnings, a Skull male was prowling toward her. Pure, solid Skull . There was no escaping him as he emerged from the shadows yards away. The vagrant in the alcove and the others along the alley fell so quiet Mia could again hear those bells ringing in the distant mountains.Tall, broad-shouldered, every inch of him seemingly corded with muscle, he was a male blooded with power. He paused in a dusty shaft of sunlight, his silver hair gleaming.As if his delicately pointed ears and slightly elongated canines weren’t enough to scare the living shit out of everyone in that alley, including the now-whimpering madwoman behind Mia , a wicked-looking tattoo was etched down the left side of his harsh face, the whorls of black ink stark against his sun-kissed skin.The Morse codes could easily have been decorative, but she still remembered enough of the Skull language to recognize them as words, even in such a
What she wants?Mia wasn’t naive. She knew very well that Christopher wouldn’t be able to get out of this mess without her. It seemed he had made the mistake of angering Arthur and at least, she was able to help him. Even if it meant giving up her own freedom.Why she was so nice to the same man who had abandoned her many times when she needed him but now she felt the urge to give herself up to help him… she didn’t know. But he was her brother and she felt somewhat responsible for him.“I… I want my brother safe,” she began to speak after a moment's pause. “I want him to leave alive. I want to see him leave alive and for your men to never go after him again.”“And in return, you’ll take my offer,” he mused. Mia nodded and the smirk on Arthur’s face widened.“That’s a deal,” he responded, his tone final. Mia felt a little bit of relief, even though her heart pounded in her chest.Then, his hand snaked up her arm and she gasped at how warm his palm was on her cool skin. Up her arm, to h
The next morning Mia and the Emissary set off to the King's palace. She had figured out a way to get back without any suspicion and while she had instructed the Emissary to help find Thorne, it was left to her to find a means to get to the location of the Shadow Star.Stepping into the boaders, where the gigantic palace had been built upon, all Mia needed to do was to act as though she had been hurt and with her skills in pretence, no one would question her.The moment she noticed the guards were coming close to her hideout, Mia stepped out, holding one part of her arm and hissing in pain. She looked up to see the guards coming towards her direction. The moment they laid eyes on her, one of them rushed over to help steady her body. Mia looked to see the others moving to her hideout to figure out how she had arrived. As they arrived at the entrance of the mansion, some of the soldiers also rushed over to help her and while they head into the luxurious living room, Mia over hears one o
Anna was taken out of the underground in silence to live in Christopher's mansion and resume the underground at night when she's well rested.Her room was beside Devon's room and well furnished, equally as his own, with luxurious closets large enough to open a boutique.Anna could not stop exclaiming and thought of exactly what was going on.It was the third day she was taking Christopher home after the night she passed out without seeing Christopher himself. She was left alone in the room, only to be taken care of by maids attending to her needs. She needs fresh air, at least, but at the same time, she is scared of breaking the rules.That morning, she had just showered up early and was creaming her body before Christopher walked into her half-nakedness.It was nothing to Christopher, as he has seen her that way several times, but the amusing part is the fact that Anna was covering her body and not throwing herself at him."Out of your clothes! Like right now, put it off." Christop
“How dare you?" Christopher roared like a lion as the champagne got emptied on his dress and flowed freely down his pants. Anna shook terribly, looking for napkins to clean Christopher's suits and shoes. She just emptied a glass of champagne."I'm terribly sorry! I wa---sss" Anna stuttered, trying to complete her words, when Christopher dragged her hair and pulled her up. "You are here to pay your brother's debt, but it's obvious you're not capable!. "Christopher said with a very intimidating voice, letting out goosebumps on Maria's neck."Please, I feel weak! '' Anna begged amidst her tears. She had never felt this way in her entire life, looking for means of survival.She felt her strength leaving her and let her body fall on Devon's hold.Everyone in the VIP room's eyes widened."This baby is indeed grounded!" One of them commented and signaled Christopher to take Anna's body away from him.Before they could move, Christopher gave them a shock. He carried Anna himself to his cl
Without doing extra training between the stacks, Mia found herself less exhausted when she left the library. Christopher had retrieved her from Windhaven after two and a half hours, and she’d already been so bored sitting in Rhys’s mother’s house that she’d nearly smiled to see him. But Christopher ’s face had been tight, his eyes cold and distant, and he’d barely spoken to her when Rhys had appeared. Rhys had barely spoken to her, either, but that was to be expected. It was better if they didn’t speak at all.Yet Christopher hadn’t said more than “I’ll see you later” before leaving again with Rhys after the High Lord had brought them back to the House of Wind, his face still tight and angry.With the extra energy buzzing through her that night, wondering incessantly why Christopher had been so upset, Mia didn’t feel like eating in her room and falling asleep. So she found herself in the doorway of the dining room.Christopher was lounging in his chair, a glass of wine in his hand, st
Hoping Virgil wouldn’t come shove him over the railing for disobeying her orders, he said, “All right. Throw the right hook.”Mia did so. And dropped her damn elbow.“Get back into position.” She did, and he asked, “May I?”Mia nodded, and kept perfectly still as he made minute adjustments to the angle of her arm. “Punch again. Slowly.”She heeded him, and his hand wrapped around her elbow as it began to dip. “See? Keep this up.” He maneuvered her arm back into starting position. “Don’t forget to flow the weight through your hips.” He took her arm, keeping a good foot of distance between their bodies, and moved it through the punch. “Like this.”“All right.” Mia reset herself, and he took a step away. Without his order, she did the punch again. Perfectly.Christopher whistled.“Do that with more force and you’ll shatter a male’s jaw,” he said with a crooked grin. “Give me a combination one-two, then four-five-three, then one-one-two.”Mia ’s brows bunched as she reset herself. Her fee
Five days later, Christopher sat before the desk of the library’s high priestess and watched her enchanted pen move. He’d met Virgil a few times over the centuries—found she had a dry, wicked sense of humor and a soothing presence. He’d made a point not to stare at her hands, or at the face he’d only seen once, when Mor had brought her in so long ago. It had been so battered and bloody it hadn’t looked like a face at all.He had no idea how it had healed beneath the hood. If Madja had been able to save it in a way she hadn’t been able to save Virgil ’s hands. He supposed it didn’t matter what she looked like, not when she had accomplished and built so much with Rhys and Mor within this library. A sanctuary for females who’d endured such unspeakable horrors that he was always happy to carry out justice on their behalf.His mother had needed a place like this. But Rhys had established it long after she’d left this world. He wondered if Azriel’s mother had ever considered coming here, or
Curled up in bed, a book propped on the thick down comforter, Mia was just getting to the sizzling first kiss in her latest novel when a knock thudded on her door.She slammed the book shut and sat up against the pillows. “Yes?”The handle turned, and there he was.Christopher still wore his leathers, the overlapping scales of them full of shadows that made him look like some great, writhing beast as he shut the door.He leaned against the carved oak, his wings rising high above his head like twin mountain peaks.“What?” She slid the book onto the nightstand, sitting up further. His eyes dipped to her sleeveless silk nightgown, then quickly returned to her face. “What?” she demanded again, angling her head. Her unbound hair slid over a shoulder, and she saw him mark that, too.His voice was rough as he said, “I’ve never seen you with your hair down.”She always wore it braided across her head or pinned up. She frowned at the locks that flowed to her waist, the gold amongst the brown g