“Stop!” I don’t wait to see if they’ve listened before I raise my bloodied hand and rush to say the words that complete the binding. “I bind myself to you, Maricha and Uziah. I am blood bound at your command and yours to wield as you desire. My will is yours. It is done.”

  I lean over and grab Uziah’s hand, pressing his bloodied palm to mine. The sky cracks with a response. My mother appears, clearly worried about being left out of the binding. She grabs my bloodied hand and presses it to her own.

  The sky cracks again.

  Across the divide of broken earth, Tori screams.

  I turn away from her as I feel the old familiar leash wrap itself around my heart and mind. The binding is done. And I am once again ruled by monsters; a mateless prisoner, eternally trapped.

  Chapter 37

  Tori

  Iwatch, helpless and devastated, as Legion binds himself to the two monsters before me. Uziah’s betrayal is a cut I will never forgive, but it’s Maricha who makes my blood run cold. The evil that lives in her depthless feline eyes is something I’ve never encountered. Then there’s her twin blades. The way they respond to her suggests a sentience in them. I’ve never faced anything like it. Not even from Legion.

  Seeing Maricha now, I realize I was so wrong about the things I said to him before. Or the things I thought of him when we met. Legion was never evil. But she is, and I have no idea how to stop her.

  “It is done,” she declares, dropping Legion’s hand and stepping back like touching him makes her uncomfortable.

  The green smoke binding Legion’s ankles vanishes right along with the thunder as if the magic knows the show is over.

  Legion doesn’t meet my eyes, but I refuse to let this be the end.

  “Legion,” I start, but Maricha’s eyes flash, and she cuts me off.

  “We’re done here. It’s time to take your place,” she says to Legion. “Come.”

  “You will never have my obedience outside the blood oath,” Legion growls.

  “Have it your way,” Maricha says.

  She utters words too low for me to hear, but Legion is clearly affected by them. I watch as he turns and follows her, head down, shoulders curled.

  Uziah starts to follow when Maricha barks out one last command. “Bring her. She’ll be a useful motivator.”

  Legion whips around, eyes blazing, as Uziah comes for me. I lift my hands, preparing to call on the dark vines again. I’m not sure how it’s possible that I can still wield them without the poison curse, but I’m not in a position to question it either.

  Uziah must sense my intention because he stops and watches me warily across the narrow divide still open between us.

  Maricha glances back and gives an exasperated sigh. “For hell’s sake.” She lets her blade fly faster than I can see it coming. I don’t get the chance to move before it’s buried in my ribs.

  I gasp, stumbling.

  Legion roars at Maricha. “You vowed to keep her alive.”

  “No,” Maricha says. “I vowed to heal her wound, and I did.”

  “Breaking your vow will end the bond,” he warns.

  “I have broken nothing,” Maricha snaps.

  She looks back at me and whispers some words I can’t make out. The blade twists as if moved by an invisible hand, and a force like I’ve never known slides over me, claiming me with its iron grip. I’m sucked into its depths of unconsciousness, my scream never making a sound.

  I wake propped up on the floor of a stone cell. My tongue feels thick, and my head pounds with a searing headache. That’s nothing compared to the pain of trying to get up. My ribs burn with agony that only intensifies with each movement. Careful to keep my torso as still as possible, I pull my blood-soaked shirt up and inspect the damage. It’s not the stab wound I expected—especially considering the last thing I remember is being impaled by that bitch Maricha and her poisoned knife. But instead of a single wound, my skin is an intricate map of shallow cuts. They mar my skin in thin red lines that look like pure chaos until I notice a strange pattern they’ve cut on my flesh.

  Some kind of symbol.

  Beneath the burn of pain, dark magic pulses through it.

  I try to move again, gritting my teeth against the resistance that meets my efforts. The thin red lines inking the strange symbol blacken as the agony worsens. It reminds me of the curse and the dark veins it caused when it activated.

  Fear grips me as I wonder if she somehow learned the curse was broken and cast it all over again.

  I’d rather anything else than to be kept from Legion’s touch again. The thought of him alone has me thinking of strategy. I need to conserve my energy if I’m going to have any hope of escaping this hellhole.

  I go still, letting my shirt fall and my hands rest on the cool stone floor. With my head tipped up against the stone wall behind me, I survey the space. Thick stone surrounds me on three sides. The fourth is nothing but iron bars that have rusted and begun flaking from age. The air is stale and musty. Wherever I am, it’s old and likely forgotten by the rest of the world.

  Through the cell door, I see more stone extending down a wide hall until the space opens into what looks like a larger cavern. Dim light emanates from fixtures mounted on the stone walls.

  If I squint, I can make out an iron door on the far cavern wall. Symbols have been carved into its surface, not unlike the one currently carved into me. A window with iron bars offers a glimpse of a stairwell that leads up.

  I don’t see even a shred of daylight anywhere. The damp, musty smell suggests a windowless space all around.

  Underground then.

  The question is in which realm?

  No, the question is where is Legion?

  I refuse to leave without him even if escape becomes an option.

  Settling in to wait, I remember Kendall’s prediction that Legion would go alone and it would end in his death. She gave no indication she’d seen our failure as a team, and I cling to that now.

  It’s not over.

  It can’t be.

  I don’t have to wait long before the distant door opens and a figure steps through. Not Legion, judging by the slimmer stature, but not Maricha from the height.

  Footsteps sound, echoing off the stone walls as the figure approaches my cell. Finally, the visitor’s face appears from the shadows as he steps up to my cell.

  “Hello, Torissa,” Uziah says smoothly.

  “Where is he?” I snarl, the sight of him sparking instant rage.

  “My son is no longer your concern,” Uziah says. “Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything?”

  “Comfortable? Are you fucking serious? I’m laced with some kind of poison and locked inside a dirty dungeon who knows where. What do you think?”

  “Maricha’s mark was a necessary precaution,” he says. “We had to make sure you wouldn’t resist transport. As for your accommodations, you’re right, I’ll get you a blanket.

  “A necessary precaution. Of course. Well then, I forgive you since you explained your reasoning.”

  His crimson eyes flash with impatience. “If it’s any consolation, the original plan was to kill you outright. But it seems you are a strong motivator for the death dragon, thus your value to him has kept you alive a little longer.”

  “Gee, I’m so grateful.”

  His eyes narrow a fraction. “Sarcasm won’t get you that blanket.”

  “I want to see Legion.”

  “You’re not exactly in a position to make demands.”

  Fury heats me from the inside. I call up my magic, whispering to the vines that have proved faithful so far. Nothing happens.

  I look back at Uziah, who watches me knowingly. “Your magic won’t work here.” His gaze flicks to my ribs.

  I frown, realizing the symbol Maricha carved into me must have something to do with my fae magic being blocked. I take comfort in knowing the power is only being cloaked and not gone forever. I’m going to need all the help I can get to defeat these two assholes.

  “You will regret this,” I tell him.

  His smile doesn’t reach his eyes, but it holds the full weight of his certainty as he says, “If I do, you will not live to see it.”

  He turns to go before I can figure out what the hell he means.

  “Wait,” I call.

  He turns a bit impatiently.

  “Where are we?” I ask. “What realm?”

  “The Earth realm.” His expression lightens with a hint of smugness as he adds, “Don’t you recognize it? My club has proven to be the perfect stronghold for what Maricha and I are building together.”

  “We’re beneath the Bite Club?” I ask, shocked.

  He winks. “Impressive, isn’t it?”

  “Actually, it’s quite the opposite. I don’t get it. What does a god need with a street gang who uses a nightclub as their headquarters?”

  “The club merely provides a modern-day façade for the prison I carved millennia ago. As for the Crimson Roses, they have always been a means to a greater end. One of many tools and empires I have built for myself over my life. But none of them are greater than the power of my own son. I raised a small army to help me get him back.” He pauses and then says, “Yet, in the end, you did it all on your own.”

  I don’t answer, and he retreats as quickly as he came.

  A moment later, the door creaks and then bangs shut behind him.

  In the silence, I think through his words, turning them over and over until I can find the clues they offer. If we’re underneath the Bite Club, that means we’re in a position to be found. Legion is important to Caius and the people of Tartarus. I have to believe Klyn will come looking when he doesn’t return.

  But how long before they figure out there’s a dungeon below the club?

  In the meantime, whatever Maricha and Uziah are ordering Legion to do, it can’t be good. In fact, it must be pretty terrible if they’re using me as leverage, especially when their order alone is more than enough to compel him.

  Before Legion was cast into Tartarus, he destroyed entire empires and civilizations for his mother. I have no doubt that’s what she plans to order him to do again.

  Guilt pangs through me as I think about what’s happening to the people of the Crossroads. No number of innocent deaths is worth my life. Especially not an entire city of people. But as long as I’m stuck in this cell, I have no way of stopping Maricha and Uziah. No way of breaking their hold over Legion with their blood oath. As long as I’m here, bound by dark magic, my mate is doomed to be a pawn. A very dangerous, very effective one at that.

  Chapter 38

  Legion

  My dragon writhes against the cage of the blood oath. Five thousand years in Tartarus has changed me. Where my dragon nature strained against being bound with such a leash before, the shadow beast I’ve become opposes my restraints with endless fury. Even so, my own capture pales in comparison to Tori’s. Watching Maricha carve into her was the worst torment I’ve ever felt—far beyond the suffering of my own fate. And Maricha knows it too. Maybe letting her discover my weakness for my mate is a good thing. Tori is still alive. Locked in the dungeon of this wretched place but alive. There is still hope.

  I stand before Maricha and Uziah now, my shoulders stiff and muscles tensed with the fury churning inside me. They sit like a ruling king and queen in their high back chairs that one of the soldiers set up on the stage of the vamp club. While the rest of us stand below them, taking our orders.

  Around me, Bite Club is dimly lit and full of Crimson Roses.

  I hate that I didn’t see this coming when I was here before. Then again, who would have guessed a ten-thousand-year-old demon with aspirations for world power ruled from a dance club on the outskirts of an otherwise free city?

  Then there’s Uziah. He’s ambitious and cunning, but he leads with his ego. Already, I’ve seen the way my mother looks at him. She’s putting up with him. There’s no love here. She’s not capable.

  “Legion, are you listening?” My mother’s sharp voice slashes through my thoughts.

  “I’m trying my best not to,” I say.

  Her eyes narrow. “You will listen and obey, or you know what will happen to your little vine witch.”

  Hellfire sears my throat at her words, but I shove it back. “What happened to the civilizations I conquered for you, Mother? You ruled from a real throne last I saw you. And now, you’re sitting in a nightclub, surrounded by subpar security guards. Where are your armies? Your warriors? Your kingdoms?”

  Her eyes narrow. “I will not explain myself to you—a servant.”

  “Fine. What about him? Your partner? My father? Does he know how much power you had and lost?”

  “I understand the burden of immortality and all its consequences,” Uziah snaps, rushing to my mother’s defense. “Time is the thief of power. But we will rebuild and reclaim at last.”

  I shake my head.

  My mother nods her agreement, her wrath cooling to disdain as she begins her instructions. “You will start with the portal site. We have our soldiers planting explosives at key locations near the square. When they go off, the surrounding buildings will be leveled. You will pile the rubble around the portal to seal off any intervention from Tartarus. When the area is secured, you will return to the air and burn anything that moves to ash and dust.”

  “You want to burn the entire city?” I scoff in disgust at their twisted plan. “If you kill everyone, who will bow to you?”

  “I don’t give a shit about this gods-forsaken city,” Maricha scoffs. “I want to show the Houses what we can do. And when they come for us, we’ll conquer them all. By the time we are finished in this realm, they will all cower beneath us.”

  “You don’t think the Houses will put up a fight?”

  “They can try.” Maricha’s eyes gleam with the familiar light of greed. It has always blinded her, but it’s worse than I remember, even for her. Five thousand years of biding her time has made her reckless. It will be her downfall, though whether I live to see it is another matter.

  “And Caius? He is a god and a formidable enemy. More powerful than even you.”

  “He is busy ruling an entire realm,” she says with a huff of dismissal.

  “By the time he realizes what’s happened, it will be too late to stop us,” Uziah agrees.

  “And what of the other creatures like me?” I press.

  “Shadow beasts?” Uziah asks. “Anything in Tartarus will be trapped when we detonate the portal area.”

  “Dragons. I am not the only dragon shifter in this realm, you know.”

  Maricha waves my claim away. “No other dragon can do what you do.”

  “Are you sure about that?” I ask.

  She levels her calculating gaze on me then turns to look at Uziah. “You told me he was the only one.”

  “He is,” Uziah says, wide-eyed. “As far as I know.”

  I hesitate, debating on whether to divulge this particular information. I don’t want to put another at risk, but Maricha needs a wake-up call. “There is another in this realm,” I say, “I can sense him. And another still in Tartarus.”

  “Where is the one you sense in this realm?” Maricha snaps.

  “I can’t be sure of that. Only that it exists.”

  She eyes me shrewdly, assessing for my lie. But it’s the truth; I can’t sense anything beyond what I’ve told her. Nor do I know whether it’ll come for me if I attack this place. I almost hope it does. These people don’t deserve what she plans to do.

  “Maricha,” Uziah begins.

  “Recon was your fucking job,” she hisses at him.

  “He clearly senses what others can’t,” Uziah says, but that only seems to piss her off more.

  “There are witches for that. Dark magic. Apparently, I must think of everything.” She huffs.

  “None of the witches saw an unfavorable outcome. The female fae’s sister is a Seer. I had planned to use her⁠—”

  “You had planned?” Maricha echoes.

  Uziah’s eye twitches at her shrieking tone. He looks at the soldier closest to his chair and gives a subtle shake of his head. Their division might be something I can exploit⁠—

  “Regardless, you go tonight,” Maricha announces, drawing wary looks from the Crimson Roses. “We’ve prepared long enough.”

  The soldiers look to Uziah, who nods, and they all murmur their agreement. This time, Maricha doesn’t miss the acknowledgment of their leadership. Her fury flashes in her eyes.

  “Legion, you are hereby ordered to choose my commands over Uziah’s should one contradict the other.”

  Uziah rounds on her, his glare lethally sharp. “You are overstepping our agreement.”

  Maricha meets his gaze unflinchingly. “I am only cutting the edges as you have done.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Your men pretend to listen to me but continue to look to you for the final word. I am only evening the playing field.”

  “Maricha.”

  “Legion,” she says, ignoring him. “You have your orders. You are dismissed for now.”

  I’m halfway to the door before I realize the blood vow’s magic has yet to seal her orders. Unsure, I turn back to where Maricha and Uziah are locked in a heated conversation on their makeshift thrones. Clearly, there’s no love between them. Not even trust.

  And I realize it’s now or never.

  Too cautious to hope, I will myself to turn around. My body complies with the movements, and soon, I’m standing before them once again. The shock in me is mirrored in Maricha’s expression when she notices I’ve returned.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demands.

  Uziah’s expression is crinkled in confusion, like he hasn’t fully understood the gravity of the moment.

  “No,” I say simply, bracing myself for the magic of our blood vow to ignite against my words.

  Before she can respond, a weak connection springs to life. One both familiar and welcomed in its existence. The mate bond. Through it, Tori’s life force sings back at me, and I cling to it. A light in the darkness. A loophole in the dark magic forcing my will to bow to my mother’s.