“I love you too. I saw you…kissing him.”
Shilah stilled in the cage of her sister’s arms.
“I could feel the desire you had for him through our link. I’ve never felt anything like it,” Kala whispered. “How can you feel so much for a creature like him?”
She released her sister, and stared at her, unable to explain the madness and the hunger which had seized her. Kala’s eyes were turbulent with fear and uncertainty.
“Do we travel to Caelum with everyone?”
A ripple of dark power came from Lachlan. Of course, with his enhanced senses he heard her sister. She glanced around to where he had been leaning with deceptive ease against a tree trunk. Somewhere between fearing death at his hand and escaping the dungeons, she had lost a part of herself to this monster of darkness, to this man, to this warrior, and Shilah doubted she would ever reclaim it.
The awareness was terrifying. Exhilarating.
As if he felt her stare, his eyes snapped open—dark swirling pits of possessive fury.
“No,” she whispered, knowing he would hear. “We travel to the Darkage.”
A cry tore from Kala, and before Shilah could explain, shadows and darkness coated her senses, and her breathing choked off as he moved with unparallel speed with her away from everyone. She buried her face in his neck, so she could breathe, and in the grey shadowed world, she could see the shadows taking her sister, the Queen’s blades, and the witch with them.
12
The Darkage—the kingdom of darkness and shadows
Kerberos—Castle of the deep—main stronghold of the king
The unrelenting darkness was overpowering to those Lachlan rescued. Their fear fed him, even as he moved with unparallel speed through the mountains of Mevia toward the wastelands separating the borders of the seven kingdoms. He used his shadows to create a great winged creature which the rescued people rode on. His mate clung to him, her face hidden against his throat, her heart pounding against her breastbone. A journey that would take other Amagarians days, Lachlan covered in several minutes as he headed to the Castle of the deep, the main stronghold of King Gidon. He spun with the shadows to the western keep, aware they would feel the brutal wash of his might as he drew close. He moved through closed doors as the shadows bent around them and deposited the Darkans to the healing chamber. Then with another blast of power and speed, he dropped the witch, the Queen’s blades and his mate’s sister in a room where his king paced. Lachlan did not wait, the need to care and protect his mate paramount. He took her with the shadows to the body of water underneath the mountains of the castle.
Lachlan’s mate’s body felt warm and soft and so giving against his. He lowered her into the heated pools deep underground his king’s castle, basking in her sigh of pleasure. The caves were quite large and wide, with several caverns, and he took her to the deepest underground one where veins of silver and gold carpeted the floor of the pool creating a shimmering effect on the surface of the water. There were several other pockets of small water pools scattered about with layers of rocks around them. Large crystalline formations jutted from the walls and from the high ceilings and rose from the floor.
Her eyes darted around. “Where is my sister?”
“Your sister and the others are being taken care of. They are in the dining area with my king and company. Princess Saieke should now be reuniting with her Queen’s blades, and your sister and the witch will be offered all hospitality.”
“And your people?”
“I delivered them to the healer in King’s palace.”
He felt her unease rise then dissipate. He suddenly felt relief and humor over their lei, and the tension stole from her body. “You speak with your sister?”
“Yes. I never thought of Darkans as hospitable. It is a refreshing notion,” she said as her gaze roamed around before settling on the walls of the caves which had several fierce depictions of man and beasts struggling for dominion. A massive sculpture of a three-headed monster was mounted above the steps. Below it, a mass of writhing snakes, their mouths open with swords jutting out from an eight-headed serpent, a black ridged back dragon spewing black flames, and a massive chimera—a fierce creature with the head and body of a Lyon, the wings of a dragon and the tail of a serpent.
“What is it?”
“The Cerberus is the sigil of our king, and the other beasts are those of his enforcers. The Leviathan with its army of snakes represent my house, this fierce winged creature is a Dracan and represent my friend and fellow enforcer Drac El Kyn’s house, and the chimera, represent another friend and enforcer Talon Merinus’s house.”
“It’s macabre but compellingly
beautiful.” Those shockingly beautiful eyes leveled on him. “You made a promise, Lachlan Ravenswood, of fulfilling whatever desire beats in my heart. I want warriors to return with me to my kingdom. They will return as soon as I’ve established order.”
“It shall be done.”
“I would not expect such aid to my realm without recompense. I will offer a fair trade for the warriors you’ll gift me.”
“I shall expect none. You are mine to protect.”
He heard the stutter of her heart and scented the uncertainty that flavored the air.
The rigid tension which had held her while he flowed with the shadows to his kingdom now completely melted away. Her stomach gave an alarming rumble, and he stepped into the shadows moving with speed to the main kitchen of the castle and reappeared within a second with a plate of fruits and roasted meat.