Then the king turned that monstrous gaze on me.
“Games and danger. I’m sure I can give you both my Everheart.” He brought his lips to my neck, biting the skin, sucking on it, before pulling away, leaving me breathless. “We’re not done here.”
Tassarion smiled like sin, turning my breathing ragged.
“This better not take another five dawns,” I hissed, baring my teeth at him.
He chuckled, peppering my neck with several kisses, tugging at my skin in a way that flushed my whole body with heat. Then Tassarion snapped open his wings and clapped them together. A star gate surfaced, and without another word the Monster King stepped through, and he was gone.
Chapter 23
Tassarion
“Open the Trumpet Gate, Slave.”
Zemshaza’s unexpected snarl rattled my mind.
“Rot in the Hèls you’ll never escape, swine,”I spat back.
I groaned in excruciating pain. Clutched my temples. Stars. I wouldn’t be able to take this much longer.
“Open the Gate and hand over the trophy, insolent, stupid fool.”
“She is not a trophy. She ismy wife,“I screamed down the void of my mind.
Zemshaza had taken to ravaging my sanity every dawn. Taunting, mocking, intimidating. I was growing sick and tired of it. The Fallen was relentless. I needed to get him the rotout.
Enraged at my defiance, Zemshaza struck.
The beastly curse came to life in my soul. It roared, clawing at me from within. Black ichor spilled into my blood. The Underrealm poison bowed me to my knees in the Beauradèl Wood as I fought with all my might for control.
I hated this life. Hated that every dawn I had to go to war with a Fallen Angel who seemed to have more power over my body than I did. I heaved, gulping down air, trying to clear my head. I gripped the earth, digging my nails into the soil.
A flock of boneravens passed overhead under the twilight. We didn’t see boneravens often in Mortevain. Seeing so many at once was an unnerving sign. An omen of death.
Without realizing what I was doing, I reached for my bond to Nahomie. Hot tears burned my eyes. I was paralyzed with agony in this wretched wood. And I was so alone. The weight of my isolation was too heavy on my shoulders this twinight. I wanted to go back to the Opèr. I wanted to return to my bride.
“Nahomie...”
“Tassarion?”
Instant relief coursed through my body at the sound of her voice.
I took a deep, long breath, finally clearing my lungs.
“Mi Monstaru, are you alright?”
I growled, punching the ground.
“I can’t do this anymore, Nahomie. I can’t...”I couldn’t find the words to describe my pain. To describe my loneliness. Zemshaza wreaking havoc on my mental well-being had finally taken its toll.“The curse ravages me from within. I...”
A whip of darkness snapped in my mind, pulling taut. It crackled in the air of my mind with a hiss, slapping me with such force mentally I physically levitated off the ground before slamming back down on the long root of the tree. I groaned, gripping my sides. Livinghèls. This was too much. The dim light of twilight cloaked me, my body blending into the shadows.
“Tassarion?”
Nahomie’s voice hitched with concern. My eyes shuttered closed.
I relished the sound of her lyrical voice. It was my only source of relief.
