Chapter One
The Underworld
Linkin
My mother once told me the cruelest people never die. They live on in the darkest part of our thoughts, tormenting us and reminding us of all the things we wish we could forget.
I fully believe that now.
Since we entered the Underworld, Violence has slept deeply. She’s slept better than she ever has the entire time I’ve known her. It’s like her body is physically drained every day; too much stress and too much power presses in on her. I see it in the sag of her shoulders, and I see it in the slashing way she sleeps. Her lashes flutter, her head shaking away whatever dreams are clawing at her pretty mind.
He did that to her. Her father is the reason for all of this. The King is dead; killed by his own daughter, but his legacy of his tormented children will outlive him.
The tense way her body flinches away from herself has me storming across the rocky ground. The sky above the four of us is a constant fiery red color that bleeds on for miles and miles. It’s impossible to tell if it’s night or day.
We’re deep into this place, and I’m counting on Nollix to lead us in and out without problem. The half Demon rests with her held against him, his arms wrapped tightly in a possessive but protective way. Cameron’s palm is low on her hip, his chest aligned with her back as he sleeps with his head resting against the back of her neck.
This place is like a wildfire started up in a desert, blazing warmth into the already insufferable heat. The three of them have to be sweating through their clothes with the way their bodies are pressed so closely together. None of them seem to mind.
Carefully, I lower myself, my knee barely fitting between her and Cameron’s tangle of legs. My palm skims up her arm, and the moment I touch her, her eyes open. The inky color swirls within her gaze before the pretty amber returns to normal.
There’s a darkness within her. We all know it’s there, even more since her father did his little tests on her.
But I can’t bring myself to fear it. Because it’s a part of her. There’s a terrible place in all of us. Vi’s is just … worse.
More reckless.
More dangerous.
“Vi, wake up.” Her heavy lashes blink a few times before she really focuses on me.
“Have you seen anything?” The tired sound of her voice makes my heart sink low.
I wish we could ignore all of this. I wish we could ignore the world and go back to our normal lives veiled by the Wild Hunt.
But I know we can’t.
“No, not a thing.” Not a damn thing.
We’ve been here for days, and we haven’t seen her sister or Jeriko. We haven’t seen a single soul.
Nollix says there’s a large population of dwellers down here; not too far in but along the outskirts between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.
No dwellers yet. I don’t know how far into the Underworld we have to go, but so far, this place has been a completely empty wasteland.
Part of me doesn’t want to meet anyone down here. Something tells me the dwellers who suffer down here in the infernal heat can’t be anyone I want to come face to face with.
The tired look in her eyes is all I see as she studies her surroundings, her gaze skimming over the crimson sky, the rocky hills, Nollix’s face and then Cameron’s. Her palm brushes against Cameron’s knuckles before she finally looks back to me. I know what she’s thinking. I feel like I always know what she’s thinking.
Cameron shouldn’t be here. Of all of us, he’s just a guy who got mixed up in more than he bargained for. It’s dangerous for him. The Wild Hunt aren’t immortal. We can die. But the magic within us also heals us remarkably fast. Unless we’re struck with a deadly blow, death isn’t really an issue for us.
Cameron’s more delicate. He’s a fragile little thing. Okay, he’s also an impressively powerful Warlock, but let’s not forget how breakable he is too. If Nollix sees how close Cameron and Violence are, I bet we’d find out just how breakable he really is.
“You ready to get moving?” I nod toward the distance.
Because that’s all I can do. I don’t know North from South in this place. Aside from the animal carcasses and dead trees, there’s next to no landmarks.
This place is a shithole.
