Vasso coughed. “I made… inquires.”

  “You had information about Nora this entire time and didn’t tell me?” Flames surged to her palms. Her mist rolled off her in a fury. She was so dangerously close to setting him on fire.

  Try.

  “Who would you have believed? Me, or Ophelia pulling threads?”

  Sera screamed and pounced on him. Vasso grunted, tumbling backward. She aimed for his cheek with her fist, but before she could make contact, he blocked, curled forward, and twisted.

  Her breath came in desperate pants. How dare he? After everything they shared, he must have known how worried she’d been about Nora.

  Vasso pinned her wrists to the ground, sinking his hips into hers.

  She burned.

  “Will you calm down?” His voice was low, and he was fucking smiling.

  Sera fought to pull her wrists from his grip.

  “You need to calm down. Your eyes—”

  “I don’t care about how beautiful my eyes are. I want to fucking throttle you.” She bucked her hips underneath him, and he smirked. Rotating her fingers, she flung out two claws, aiming for his sides to push him off her.

  “No—” He cast his magic over both of them, blocking hers from hitting its mark. Sera’s rage turned to something primal and hot as their magic touched. “Now, if you’d calm down, I would tell you that your eyes right now are wholly black.”

  She stopped moving, and he pressed his hips harder into hers. “What do you mean they’re black?”

  “They’re black, even the veins surrounding them.”

  One more thing she had to figure out. Wonderful. “Get off me.”

  “Not until you calm down and your eyes go back to normal.”

  Every pant had her chest rubbing against his. His darkness shrouded them from the outside world. “I’m fine,” she said, taking in a deep breath.

  “Are you sure you won’t attack me again?” Vasso’s question hinted at humor. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest, but his lips… She couldn’t look away. Nor quench the urge to pull the lower one into her mouth and bite.

  Sera nodded. He inspected her eyes, and when he seemed satisfied, he lifted himself off her.

  It wasn’t wise, what she did next. And maybe she was a bit impulsive, but as soon as he was off her, she threw an onslaught of magic at him, launching him ten feet into the air.

  Before she could get on both feet, he threw his darkness out and ripped her to him.

  “Let me go,” she gritted.

  Vasso threw her over his shoulder as if she were a sack of grain.

  Sera punched and kicked, but he didn’t flinch once. The grass beneath his boots changed to dirt, then rock, then pebbles. “Where are you taking me?”

  “To cool you off.”

  She was falling, then the river engulfed her.

  Chapter sixty-two

  Seraphina

  Part of her wanted to let the current take her away. Wash her out to sea with the mer. Maybe a deadly sea monster like the kraken or the leviathan would eat her whole, and she could cease to exist. No more death magic, no more guilt for not getting to Nora, no more shame for not having enough witch magic. There was no time for that, though.

  Sera burst from the water. “You asshole!” Pulling her hair from her face, she stood in the soft sand and rock of the riverbed. Cool water ran from her hair down her arms. Her leather pants collected it like a water skin, sloshing as she made her way back to the shore.

  Vasso’s boots were already off. Then his shirt, and Sera did her best not to sigh as his rippling muscles glistened. His shoulders were sun-kissed from riding shirtless the day before, but the rest of him was as sleek as a mountain cat. Where Alistair was bulky, Vasso was defined, athletic.

  But he didn’t stop there.

  Next, the demon lord proceeded to unbutton his trousers.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Going for a dip.” With one fluid movement, he was naked. Gloriously naked. Sera stared at the man as if she were dying of thirst and he was the last brew on the continent.

  She didn’t even bother to close her gaping mouth as he waded into the river and dove into the current.

  “Are you just going to stand there?” he yelled from the middle of the river, his mouth curved in delight.

  She was no stranger to the male form. Quite fond of it, actually, and Vasso was an exquisite representation of it. Sera shuddered, remembering his body pressed against hers. The way his kiss had awakened some deep desire, ripping it to the surface, something her soul craved. Now that he was staring at her, a pleading eagerness in his eyes…

  How long had she wanted a warlock to look at her that way? To feel a connection deeper than something temporary? She hadn’t had anyone since this darkness awakened, fearing that whoever she got close to would run.

  But Vasso, he was made of the dark.

  She pulled the black shirt he’d made for her over her head. Kicking off her boots, she unbuttoned her pants, peeling the wet leather away from her hips, agonizingly slow.

  Vasso’s devious smile faded to a straight line. By the time she stepped out of her pants, his eyes were blazing red.

  She let her undergarments fall into the pile of soaked clothing and sauntered into the cool water.

  He’d never been so still around her. So silent, so incredibly predatory, lying in wait to see if she would get close enough to catch. Water lapped at her knees. Droplets fell from her hair, down her back. The slight breeze against her wet skin had her breaking out in goose bumps, and Vasso’s eyes dropped to her chest.

  A tug on the tether almost made her miss a step while she waded toward him. More than just one quick pull, he was reeling her in, and she was pretty sure it was due to his pure want and not because he actually meant to.

  “Tell me everything you know about Nora.” She’d play this game only if she got the information she needed out of him first.

  He lifted his hand to his mouth before slicking back his wet hair. Without a response, he dropped under the surface.

  Sera paddled against the light current.

  Back above the surface, Vasso’s eyes still blazed red, but he seemed a bit calmer than moments before.

  “She’s not in the lower dungeons. She has her own room, which is still guarded, but she’s fed well and has a designated guard.”

  “So she’s eating? She’s all right?”

  “No one has harmed her that I’m aware of,” he said.

  How strange. What was the point in kidnapping her in the first place if they were going to treat her like a guest? “Do you know why he took her?”

  Vasso swam closer. “There is a rumor about a prophecy, a witch bride. I think Supay assumed that because she opened a portal to the underworld, your sister was to be that witch.”

  “Shit,” she said.

  “What?”

  “It wasn’t her who opened it, or well, it was, but…” She didn’t know how much she should tell him. “My magic, it escaped me that day. It clung to her portal like a magnet. I had no control over it; it just reacted.”

  “Tell me about you and Honora,” he said as he swam in a lazy circle.

  “Why?”

  “I want to know more about you.”

  “A question for a question?” She raised a brow at him. She wanted to see if he’d reveal what she needed to know.

  Vasso assessed her.

  She’d heard stories about the mer that made her wonder whether they, too, derived from demons. From the way Vasso glided in the water, she’d believe it.

  “All right, you answer first,” he said.

  “I call her Nora. She’s three years younger than me. A pain in my side for most of my life, though we’ve started to grow closer. She’s so powerful and kind, thoughtful, smart—well, in the book sense—and didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

  “I’m sorry,” Vasso whispered, avoiding her gaze. Sera stood, her feet sinking into the smooth silt. She leaned against the current.

  “Why don’t you want to bring me to Gehenna?”

  Vasso groaned. She couldn’t help but smile at the trap he’d walked into.

  He swam to her and stood. She looked up at him, at the hesitation in his gaze. “The one I am bound to—” He winced. “She wants—”

  Vasso groaned and shook his head.

  “She wants—” he gasped.

  “Stop.” Sera gripped his shoulders. A bead of black blood dripped from his nose. “Not if it hurts you this much.” He let out a breath of relief.

  “Do you have siblings?” she asked, trying to change the subject and stop whatever entity was ripping into his brain. He was bound. There had to be another way to find out the information without him getting hurt. Vasso wiped the blood from his nose.

  “Not really, no.”

  Sera snorted. “What do you mean, not really?”

  “It’s difficult to explain. I wasn’t exactly born in the sense that you were.”

  “You had a father and a mother, correct?”

  “Yes,” he said. One side of his mouth tilted upward. “And now I get to ask you three questions.”

  She splashed him. “That’s not fair.”

  “A question for a question, Subdina.”

  She dared to get closer. “What does Subdina mean?” She was almost breathless. He seemed to be fighting himself, not whatever was lying in wait in his mind.

  “Destiny.” The word came out throaty and raw. She was weightless. He had called her his destiny from the first time he’d seen her. He’d known for that long that they were fated. Stroking her breastbone, she remembered the shocking pang that had rocked through her.

  But he’d given her time to learn. To try and understand what this was between them. He had let her choose her course: Mortal enemy or lover. Executioner or inamorata. At times, she had wanted to be both. It was written… fated.

  Vasso reached out his hand, just below the surface, beckoning, just like he’d done in the woods at Crowpass. That same feeling of being pulled toward something greater than herself ran through her. This time, she took his hand.

  He pulled her to him, and that unsaid question lay in his eyes again. He’d looked at her the same way when they mounted the horses, and when he told her he didn’t want to bring her to the underworld.

  His lips hovered above hers. “It’s your choice, Seraphina. I won’t try to convince you one way or the other, but know this… The moment I saw you, that was it for me. Looking at you felt like dying and regenerating at the same time. You in the dirt, your feet bleeding, watching the forest creatures—just like I do. And I felt that tug in my chest.” He raised his hand to his chest and tapped two fingers in time with his heart. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. “I knew.”

  She needed to be closer, wanted his heart to align with hers. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? After the images with Ophelia?”

  “Because I wasn’t sure you wanted the same. I knew you had feelings for the warlock.”

  “It was nothing like this.” The words came out on an exhale. She didn’t want to talk anymore, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Vasso lowered them into the water.

  She wanted to feel. To feel something she knew only he could give her. Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his, tightening her thighs, grinding herself into his length.

  His composure broke with a moan, and he gripped the back of her head.

  “Touch me,” she whispered into a kiss. He ran a finger from her chin down her neck.

  Sera leaned far enough back so he could grip her breast. The calluses on his palm, which grazed over her nipple, had her gasping. Pushing herself up with her thighs, Sera arched, and Vasso happily obliged.

  She was burning. A drumming ache pulsed at the apex of her thighs. She ground herself against him to try and relieve it.

  Aching want.

  Desperate need.

  She wanted it all, wanted it now. Vasso groaned again as if he could hear her. The sound vibrated through her as his tongue teased the hard bud of her nipple. When she wasn’t sure he could worship her anymore, he bit down.

  She gasped.

  Her throbbing grew heavier, needier. More, she needed so much more. Every inch of her skin felt like it was on fire, and she would burn herself alive for him if she could.

  His lips were back on hers. She vowed herself, to anyone who might be listening, that she’d learn every texture of his mouth, of his body. Reaching between them, she palmed his length.

  “Fucking gods,” Vasso cursed.

  His grip on her ass was so tight that she was sure it would leave a bruise. Fuck, she’d beg him to bruise her. As she ran her hand from his base to tip, the river water created a delicious friction against his skin.

  Vasso broke their kiss, and Sera whimpered at the lack of contact.

  He looked up and cursed after a loud boom of thunder clapped in the distance. Heavy drops of rain bounced against the river’s surface.

  He lifted her to him and started carrying her toward the bank.

  “Where are we going?” The clouds were angry, blotting out most of the sky to the west.

  “I’m not done with you, Subdina. Not in the least. But I’m also not taking the chance that you get electrocuted before I get to taste you.”

  Sera shifted in his hands, and he let her down at the river’s edge. Rain poured in buckets, and she ran to the tent, giggling.

  Chapter sixty-three

  Alistair

  With enough drinks in him to take a bit of the edge off, Alistair sank into Dominick’s tiny bathtub. Working the soap into a lather, he washed off his arms and face the dust from a day of moving rubble and restoring homes. Everything had gone to shit.

  When he traveled to Vasso’s manor the day before, he’d been frantic, checking every room twice. With every hour that passed, his stomach sank.

  He knew where she was going. The only thing giving him ease was the brand on his ribs. That demon would have to protect her with his life if required.

  None of that negated the fact that Lavinia wanted her daughter back, and Lavinia was the key to getting Theo out of prison. He could tell Dominick hadn’t slept much the past two days. The oracle was unstable, emotional—rightly so—but also a liability.

  Unfortunately, Sera was already gone.

  It had been harder than he anticipated to explain to Dominick that Sera was riding off into the unknown with the enemy. He saw the hurt in his eyes, then a hardened look of resentment.

  She was with a demon, and a demon had killed Colton.

  Al dumped a bucket of cool water over his head. Once dried and dressed in his dust-covered uniform, he exited.

  “Let’s go,” Dominick said. He’d been set on getting Theo out all day. Too many times Al had explained that there were protocols and guard changes, and later would be better.

  Al took two steps, grabbed Dominick’s arm, and traveled them to a hidden alcove near the tower.

  “Asshole,” Dom got out before hurling into a bush.

  Al patted his back twice and looked around for witnesses. “You’ll get used to it.”

  The oracle righted himself and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. They were thirty paces from the tower entrance when Alistair stopped short. “I don’t know these guards.”

  “That shouldn’t matter, since you’re a captain and the Council’s private pet.”

  He curled his lip. “I’m not their pet.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  Alistair rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and approached the guards. “I need admittance.”

  The two guards looked at each other, then at the bars sewn on the shoulder of his Legion uniform. “I’m sorry, Captain, we’ve been instructed not to let anyone pass. It came directly from the Council.”

  Al thinned his lips to a straight line. “I’m here on behalf of the Council. I need to interrogate a prisoner.”

  The guards continued to look puzzled. “Forgive us, sir, but we didn’t have orders…”

  “I am ordering you now.” He put every ounce of authority into his next words. “Open the door.”

  “But, sir, there aren’t any prisoners left. They emptied the cells. Anyone captive was led to the Menage an hour ago.”

  Dominick sprinted toward the amphitheater before the guard could say another word. Alistair thanked both the guards, walked far enough that he was hidden, and traveled to the entrance where Dom was headed.

  The oracle’s eyes went wide right before he slammed into Alistair’s chest.

  “You need to be calm.”

  Dom broke free of his grip. “You be fucking calm. The man I love is in there.” The oracle paused as if he hadn’t meant to say it.

  “Exactly, and if you don’t want to end up on that podium next to him, we need to blend in and come up with a plan.”

  “Travel in and get him,” Dom insisted.

  “I don’t even know where he is.”

  Dominick huffed, pushing past him into the arena.

  The sun had retreated for the day, and all three moons were full, positioned low in the sky. Al had somehow forgotten that tonight was solstice. The entire coven would be up through the night, trickling into the Menage for the celebration. He and Dom made their way to the Daedeth level but kept close to the exit.

  There were no visible prisoners on or around the presentation platform, but a large tent had been erected toward the back of the arena’s dirt floor. They had to be in there. But under what type of guard, he had no idea. He’d only gotten a glimpse of Theo, and finding him among a slew of broken bodies wouldn’t be easy, nor quick.

  It didn’t help that he hadn’t reported to Lavinia or the Council all day, and the fact that no one had come after him yet left him on edge.

  The crowd changed and cheered as the five elders crossed the stage. Thorne led them, then came Blackwell. Renata was in the middle, as always; she was followed by the aliato, and finally Lavinia. All of them were dressed in coven-blue robes for the celebration. Each of the elders sat upon their thrones, except Renata, who readied herself to address the crowd.