The moment the lights vanished, the strongest sense of déjà vu hit me. This darkness … all-encompassing. This was the darkness from the ocean room at the Academy. This was the same energy. The same white-blond hair…
Sonaris. He’d been following me back then. And the text messages … they had to be from him as well.I have a fucking stalker.It was too late to worry about it; the deal was made. The all-encompassing darkness remained, and since I had no idea what I was supposed to do, I stayed silent and still. There were shouts and thuds from a few feet away, and I wondered what was happening. Panic filtered into my tense muscles, and the fact that I didn’t know if Asher and Connor were okay...
Hellbringer…
A whispered word distracted me.
At first I thought I’d imagined it, but then it came again, tingling across my senses and leaving an ashy taste on my tongue. The flames I’d been searching for, they were finally here, in my chest and raging across the dark world.
Hellbringers.
Hellbringers of light.
I temporarily forgot that I had been standing right near a massive cliff face, and as I moved closer to the whispers, I stepped out into the nothing, and then I was falling. Something strong grabbed me in the dark. Arms wrapped around me, and we swung out and slammed into a wall. My head cracked into stone; I tasted blood, my ears ringing as I tried to fight against unconsciousness.
Master.
The same whisper, and as much as I tried to fight against it, to go to the whispers, the pain in my head became too much and I blacked out. Later I would wonder if it was the fear that caused me to release my hold on consciousness, or if it was the head injury, but either way, I completely missed the details of what Sonaris did to uphold his end of our bargain.
48
“Baby, open your eyes.” A growl followed. “Maddison James, open your damn eyes.”
I groaned, rubbing my hand against my head. “Ash?” I whispered, hearing his relieved groan.
“Fuck, love, you scared the hell out of me.”
I groaned again, because everything hurt. “Pun intended?” I joked. Providing we were out of the underworld, of course. “Where are we?”
Lips brushed across mine, and somehow, I felt marginally better. “The Academy,” he said. “We’re back at the Academy.”
I jerked up, wincing at the light burning through my retinas. Asher’s beautiful face filled my vision and I drank it in for a few seconds. I kissed him before he could answer, and he groaned into my mouth, wrapping his arms around me and gently pulling me onto his lap. We were in his room at the mansion, and I’d never been so happy to wake up.
Asher pulled back just as the kiss was getting good. “No,” I cried, jerking him closer.
He laughed, pressing kisses down my cheeks and across the sensitive skin on my neck. He knew exactly where I liked to be kissed. He knew how to play my body like a master. But apparently today he was not going to give me what I wanted.
“Tease,” I huffed.
This time when he laughed, he threw his head back, and I could have cried to see such joy on his face. “You’re injured, baby, and I don’t want to cause you one second more pain.”
Rocking my hips against him, I stifled my moan. “Pain isnotfinishing what you just started.”
Stubborn bastard wouldn’t be convinced though, and I tried not to pout as he wrapped me even tighter, lying back on the bed with me sprawled across him. We stayed like that for so long … I wasn’t even sure how much time passed as we lived in that moment, but eventually I had to know.
“What happened? Is everyone okay?”
Asher nodded. “Yes. All of us are back at the Academy. Only minor injuries.”
A mental image of his blood hitting the walls … I’d never forget that. But …minor injuries?Dude had been holding his own with the gods, which was kinda scary … and mega hot.
“Do you know how we got out of there, Maddi?” Asher asked suddenly.
I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to remember all the details. “It went dark, and then … I fell. Something caught me in midair, and…” It was all blank after that.
Asher shook his head. “I don’t know what happened after the lights went out. The darkness was impenetrable. I couldn’t see or sense anything.”
That’s exactly what it was like … Sonaris hadn’t just turned out the lights, he’d almost stolen our senses. But how could he do that? It didn’t feel like a god of the ocean ability.
