The Lost Runes (A Demon's Fall Series), page 14
I suck in a breath, remembering that Seth told me to run if his demon ever appeared. I stare at his black eyes, and I stay very still as he shoves the pizza boxes out of the way. They crash to the floor as he pushes me back on the sofa and climbs over me. Red energy flickers around his body, nipping my skin as he looks down at me. Seth, well, his demon side, leans down and places his lips close to my neck. He takes a deep breath...like he is sniffing me.
“Mine.”
“Can I have Seth back?” I whisper to him. I close my eyes as Seth’s lips gently press on the skin of my neck, and my body comes alive under his touch. But I don’t want this, not right now, not when everything he did to my heart when he left is still so raw. I hook my legs around his waist, and I quickly flip him over. He crashes into the coffee table as I climb to my feet and carefully watch him rise.
“Mine.” He repeats. I hold up my hand.
“Seth, rein him in before I knock you the fuck out,” I warn, taking another step back. Seth looks like he struggles for a moment before the red energy around him disappears and his red eyes reappear.
“I understand, and I will wait. The words are not needed to be spoken,” Seth says into the silence. He effortlessly jumps over the sofa with one hand and lands in front of me. Gently he leans closer and presses a kiss to my forehead. “I never truly left you, because I could not. I was always there, even when you did not see me.”
“And somehow I was always alone,” I whisper back. “I was lonely.” I clear my throat and step away from him. Regret shines in his eyes, but he knows better than to say anything. “Mossy, we are leaving.”
Mossy’s little head appears over the counter, his face dirty with chocolate and peanut butter. “Okay!”
A few seconds later, Mossy jumps off the counter with a hand full of food and lands in my arms. “You shall carry me today.”
Seth laughs with me as I turn back to him. “See you around, Seth.”
“You always will,” he replies. My confused heart pitter-patters away in my chest as I head to the door and let myself out into a corridor with a lift at the end of it. There are several other doors, and I figure this must be the guest accommodation part of the castle. I’m halfway down the corridor when a door opens and Finn steps out. He looks confused to see me here, and I’m even more confused when Catherine steps out of the room after him. As usual, she has nothing but skin-tight leather pants and a small crop top on that literally shows everything.
Burning anger fills my chest, and I have the urge to smack her in her makeup-filled face.
“Thank you, Torfinn,” she suggestively sighs and places her hand on his upper arm. She follows Finn’s gaze to me, a smirk appearing on her bright red lips. “Oh Daesyn! What are you doing up here?”
“I could ask the same of you,” I counter, but her eyes drop to Mossy in my arms.
“What is that?” she asks.
“A monkey from Earth,” I quickly reply, turning my eyes up to Finn. I was angry at him before, but now? I’m furious. I hate that I’m jealous, and it’s a pointless jealousy as Finn is not mine and he likely never could be. I can’t be possessive over him. Get a grip, Dae. “We have to go. Have a good night, you two.”
Storming down the corridor, I hear Catherine’s fake laugh behind me and Finn’s deep voice as he replies to her, but I can’t make out what they said. Either way, I’m so done with guys. All they bring is trouble.
CHAPTER 20
“God damn dress feels like it’s trying to crush my ribs,” I whisper to Poppy as we wait for our drinks at the bar. Poppy looks like a pink princess tonight in a pretty two-piece dress, and her black hair is down tonight, like mine, and curly in waves. My own dress is a dark blue corset at the top and made of silk as is the blue skirt that flows from my waist down to the floor. Not only is this thing uncomfortable as hell, I keep sliding off seats when I sit down as it’s so silky. I want to burn it.
“You look beautiful though,” Poppy gently says. “Even with a bruise on your cheek.”
I glower at her, not wanting to be reminded of the training yesterday. It’s been two months since we came to the academy now, and the other students in our group are getting better, and faster, at what they do. So when I fought Catherine, my new sworn enemy for reasons I don’t want to think about, she had been tracking my usual movements and managed to land a hit that nearly knocked me out. I broke her arm after it though, so I feel a little better. Her screams were funny.
Until Finn picked her up like a doll and carried her to the healers.
“Who is this ball for anyway? Everyone is either reapers or humans,” I reply, eyeing the ballroom full of people. This second ball is much like the first, and I am yet to see the queen anywhere or Seb for that matter. Maybe the balls aren’t so much for them but for us. Either way, it seems like a hell of a lot of effort for everyone to just stand around and chat. Doesn’t anyone have a phone in this realm?
“I don’t know any more than you do on the subject of who this ball belongs to,” she replies. “But the magic in here isn’t all reaper. There is—”
“My people’s magic as well,” a man comments, stopping at our side. I turn to look at him, surprised to see he is much taller than we are. Towering at over six foot, the man has extremely pale skin, and he is extremely doll-like in his masculine beauty. With long black hair and narrow blue eyes, he stands out in the crowds of people. His hair hides most of his ears, but the tips stick out, giving me a slight clue who his race is. “My name is Cornaith Daegwyn, and I am the high leader of the elven race.”
“Elves?” Poppy gasps, her hand letting go of her glass of wine. Cornaith swoops down and catches it mid-air before straightening up.
“Yes, my lady. Here.” He offers her the wine glasses, and her eyes are wide, like a deer caught in headlights.
“I wasn’t aware elves even existed anymore,” I say, somewhat justifying Poppy’s reaction. “My name is Daesyn, and this is Persephone, but we call her Poppy.”
“It is a high honour to meet you two beautiful ladies.” Cornaith bows his head and keeps eye contact with Poppy. “I am sorry if I scared you.”
“Shocked, not scared,” she blurts out and takes a deep breath before she speaks again. She holds her hand out. “Nice to meet you.”
“I am sorry, I will not touch you. See, an elf’s power lies in touch,” he explains, and she lowers her hand.
“I did not know,” she replies. “What happens when you touch someone then?”
“I can see their future, be it good or bad. To see the future is to see their soul and put into place a series of unchangeable events,” he softly explains to us. “I can do much more, but that is the power I wish to not use on you.”
Spotting Seb in the corner of the room, I use him as a way of escaping this conversation. “I see a friend I need to speak to. Excuse me.”
“Daesyn Heartlocke,” Cornaith says my name, and I pause, turning around. I never told him my last name, so how does he know it? “I do hope you win this academy.”
Something about the way he says it makes me think he is lying. I give him a tight smile before turning away and dodging people until I get to Seb. His eyes are slowly running down my dress, and whatever he sees, he clearly likes.
I try to ignore how he looks like a snack I wanna lick up and down talk to in his tux.
“Get me out of here, please,” I ask him. He sighs and leans up off the wall. Without a word, he offers me his hand.
I take it without a second thought, and he leads me to a door behind an archway. The door leads to a small corridor with nothing but wooden walls at the side and no other door. I’m surprised when we get to the end and Seb pushes the wooden wall, and it turns. The floor actually moves in a circle, and we step off in the other room as it keeps on spinning until a grey stone wall that matches this room returns.
“Showing me another secret, Seb?” I question.
“It has occurred to me that hiding secrets from you is like stopping the wind from blowing in a storm,” he replies. I chuckle as I take a good look at the new room we are in.
The throne room, and it is every bit as impressive as the stories of it indicate. A thousand, if not more, giant swords are standing up in the room, and the floor is one large foggy mirror. The fog moves like smoke inside the mirror, and it’s creepy to look at. At the top of the enormous room are thousands of tiny light spheres floating around, bumping into each other, and they are all shining white. The tips of the swords press into the mirrored floor, and the mirror reflects the lights above. There is a path right in the centre of the room that looks like a runway of blood, but it’s just a red rug that leads to the throne at the end. The throne itself is just a simple high back chair with thick red fabric and gold-lined edges. The chair’s arms are two scythes, and the curves of the blades make the armrests. Right behind the throne is a star made of millions, if not more, diamonds of every colour. The diamonds catch the light, and it seems like it is glowing with its own magic.
“Impressed?” Seb asks, sounding curious.
“A throne is just a chair. It is only important because of who sits on it,” I answer truthfully. Seb laughs and starts walking down the path in the middle.
“Do you know the story of this throne room?” he asks me. “The gods and the swords.”
“No, tell me,” I suggest. He stops in the middle of the throne room and places his hand on one of the swords nearby.
“This realm was once nothing more than dust. Dust and moonlight, an empty realm. The god Ares came here, and in his wisdom, he decided it would be a great city that would respect the dark and his love of being a warrior. So, on the day he bled magic into this world, he made the first reaper from a mortal and asked him what he wanted,” he continues, stepping closer to me. “The mortal wished for the weapons of the gods, and Ares made a thousand and one swords fall from the sky and dig into the ground, killing all of the family the mortal-turned-reaper had. The city floor ran red with blood that slowly changed into the reflective floor you see now. In payment for the lost blood and swords, Ares decreed that every thousand years, a new king or queen may take the throne. They simply had to enter through the gate to the realm and battle a hundred reapers to win. That blood and honour will always be part of this realm he has created.”
“You are forgetting the best part of this old story, my son,” a woman comments in a soft voice. We both turn to see a woman in a long yellow gown walking down the steps from the throne. Her hair is blonde and curly, clipped up into a bun at the back of her head, and she is thin, almost petite, in her build. Her hands stay behind her back as she walks to us and slowly walks in a circle around us before she stops. The final piece of the puzzle of who she is comes as her crown slowly appears out of nowhere. The white crown, a magical object all by itself, looks like two antler horns have wound themselves around to make the crown shape and meet in the middle, holding three large diamonds.
Seb takes a step closer to me and wraps his arm around my waist, holding me to his side. I resist the urge to smack him for it, knowing there must be a reason. “Ares had attracted so much attention for building this world that his sisters came to see what he had done. Eris, the goddess of chaos, wanted there to be another world to conquer this one, so she forced her sister, Eileithyia, to give birth to a new race. Twin fae were born that day, and the courts of the Seelie and Unseelie were created to give them space in the new world named the Otherworld. Before the gods left, Eris created the portals you see today. One to the Otherworld and one to Earth. It is said there were other portals created by Ares in his joy of the pain and destruction the worlds would come to face. What do you think of this story, young girl?”
“My name is Daesyn,” I curtly reply. The queen moves into my face in an instant, and her hand lashes out, grabbing my chin.
“Bow to your queen, Miss Riverlite. I know who you are, and why I may tolerate your filthy Seelie blood, don’t test me,” she commands. Doubt it or I’d be dead. When I don’t move, Seb pulls me from his mother’s grip and pushes me behind him.
“We have been drinking, and she is clueless about the world. Alun has kept them hidden in a field her whole life with his insane paranoia that something would happen to his children,” he explains, making up an excuse for me.
“The unsociable man has made an unsociable child. I shall speak with him,” she eventually replies. Her eyes find mine as she walks past, and I swear time pauses for a second. I see nothing but a queen who doesn’t want to leave her throne, and I hope she doesn’t see who I really am. Seb and I stay silent as the queen walks to the hidden door and pauses, looking back. “Please do not stay long. This room is for those who belong on the throne, and neither of you are welcome.”
Seb is still as a rock as his mother leaves.
“She is sort of a bitch,” I blurt out, and surprisingly, Seb bursts into laughter. I end up chuckling with him for a long time until both of us pause and smile at each other.
“Want to get drunk?” Seb asks.
“That’s the best idea you’ve had in ages,” I say. He nods his head towards the throne, and I follow him over. I’m highly amused when he finds two bottles of fae wine behind the throne, hidden in an underground space. We both sit with our backs resting against the throne’s chair legs as Seb opens one of the bottles and takes a long drink. He hands it to me next, and I sigh as I taste the liquid on my tongue.
“Tell me something funny. Anything to distract me,” I ask of Seb. “This place is gloomy, and your mother has freaked me out.”
I hand the bottle back to him, and for a second, I really look at the handsome prince. Under all his beauty, there is a rugged sort of darkness to him. He turns and meets my gaze, his half fae eyes finding mine. “Alright.” He pauses, thinking on it. “I met Torfinn when my mother called the gods for guidance, and they sent him instead. He was fifteen when he came here and moved in. My mother is quite obsessed with him, and he just wanted to escape, to finish his task here and meet his mother in her home.”
“Obsessed?” I question, and he nods.
“Let me explain. Ryker was, for a while, almost adopted by my mother. He was strong and won so many fights as a boy, and it attracted my mother’s attention. But Ryker and I are not the ideal sons for her, we never were. I’m not cruel enough despite her attempts to make me so, and Ryker is too loyal, too playful and too kind for her mind games. Ry likes the fae too much, and my mother soon hated him for that. Torfinn is cold, strong, and he was dripping in darkness from the second he came here,” Seb tells me. This isn’t funny.
“He isn’t like that,” I sharply reply.
Seb frowns. “I’ve known him for years. I see the real him, and you will too.”
“This isn’t funny,” I tell him.
His knowing eyes keep on me. “I know. I’m out of funny jokes.”
“So all three of you grew up together as teenagers. The girls around here must not have stood a chance,” I say, needing to lighten the subject.
He laughs a little bit. “Ryker is the player. I choose my partners carefully as many cannot handle me, and Torfinn is a virgin until he meets his mate. The girls love him, as does my mother, but he is untouchable.”
My eyes widen. “He is a virgin? Seriously?”
“Something about demi-god mate magic. That’s why he is an asshole twenty-four seven,” Seb replies around a laugh and hands me the drink back. I take a deep sip.
“Maybe if he got laid, he would lighten up,” I reply.
Seb laughs, and I join in. “I’ve said that to him once or twice, vixen. You would not believe the replies he has given me.”
“Let me guess, he told you to go and fuck yourself?” I say.
We both laugh together, and I don’t need him to answer that question. “I like you, vixen. If I didn’t have to kill you to get the throne, I might actually keep you around.”
I snort. “You’re too confident. That shit will get you killed. Likely by a dark-haired vixen who likes you too.”
He laughs with me before I take another long drink, fully aware this dark prince is crawling his way into my heart. And he is going to kill me quicker than any blade could do.
CHAPTER 21
TORFINN
“There isn’t enough whiskey to deal with these lame events,” Ryker mutters, pulling at his bowtie to loosen it. Downing my own shot of whiskey, I place the tumbler back on the bar.
“Agreed,” I reply, and as usual, I look for her. Daesyn Heartlocke, the woman I caught in the middle of the sky who has since been sneaking into every single one of my thoughts. The woman confuses me to no end and turns me on with just one single look in my direction with her sharp violent eyes.
My dick doesn’t worry about the consequences of fancying a reaper woman, but I sure as fuck do.
“She isn’t here,” Ryker cuts into my search of all the people in the room. “She left with Seb an hour ago.”
“Why?” I sharply ask, forgetting that Ryker is my friend and I trust him with my life. He and Seb are my brothers, the only family, bar my mother, who has ever given a shit about me. We might not be related by blood or by species, but they always have my back. Ryker looks pissed off as he looks away.
“I don’t want to fucking know, mate,” he says. Without a reply, I storm off through the crowds and to the back of the room, using the secret wall to get into the throne room. Seb always goes here when he wants to escape the world around him, but I’ve never known him to bring a girl back to this place. I’m sure Ryker has once or twice. I hear Daesyn’s laugh, followed by the sound of Seb talking as the wall spins. Neither of them notices me as I step behind a sword, watching them both lying on the steps up the throne. Daesyn’s perfect and curvy body is on show in her dark blue dress, and the urge to kiss every bit of her exposed tanned skin is all I can think of for a moment. Her black hair, which looks soft and silky, is falling around her shoulders in waves, and I want to know how her hair would feel in my hands. I want to know what it would be like to kiss her, to own her body and soul.
