Ra tilted his head at Rory and studied her as if she was a new species of bug. “That is a convoluted phrasing,” he said, his voice cool as ice. Ra’s eyes seemed to grow darker. “The correct way to ask that question would be, ‘Were you at the Devil's Heart battle?’”

  Rory felt her blood begin to boil. This man talked about summoning demons as if it was no more dangerous than calling a plumber to fix a clogged sink, and now he was giving her a damn grammar lesson. “Excuse me?”

  “What I mean is, how should I answer your question? If I say no, then you will take that to mean, no, I was not at that Devil’s Heart battle. But that would be incorrect. My ‘no’ would actually mean ‘no, I was not not at the Devil’s Heart battle, meaning I actually was there. Likewise, if I answer yes, you would take it to mean I was at the Devil’s Heart battle, when that, too, might be inaccurate. I would actually be saying, ‘yes, I was not at the Devil’s Heart battle. That would also imply I do not understand the seriousness of summoning demons, but I do. All of this confusion could have been avoided if you would have simply asked me directly if I was at the Devil’s Heart battle.”

  “Rory,” Aston said softly. He leaned down until his lips nearly touched her ear. “Let him explain, please. I mean about the demons. I don’t want any more grammar explanations.”

  Rory wanted to tell Aston that no explanation would be good enough. There was nothing Ra could say that would convince her that summoning a demon would ever be a good idea. Had Aston forgotten already what had happened the last time the witches had consorted with a demon?

  She turned her head to look up at her soul bonded. Rory stared daggers at him, but he didn’t look the least bit intimidated, not even after he’d felt her attempt to bring down an entire mountain. If Rory wasn’t so pissed, she’d tell him she admired him for having a backbone and not letting her walk on him. But she was pissed, so instead she just kept staring at him.

  “I promise you I wouldn’t support Ra if he didn’t have a good reason,” Aston said.

  She shook her head. “There is no reason you could give me that would convince me that consorting with the inhabitants of hell is ever a good idea.”

  “What about for love?” Ra asked.

  Her head whipped around at the sound of his hard voice. She was about to give him a piece of her mind, but Rory snapped her mouth closed when she looked into his eyes. A moment ago, they’d been partially dark. Now, the darkness covered them completely, even the whites.

  “What the hell?” She breathed out and stepped back, bumping into Aston’s chest.

  “Ra,” Elias, the British one, said, “what’s happened since we saw you only a few hours ago?”

  “My eyes,” Ra said. “I know.”

  “What the hell is it? And how long have you known your eyes do that?”

  Rory glanced at Liam and saw him pointing at Ra’s face. Liam’s lips were drawn tight across his face, and his own eyes seemed to flash with something that looked very much like the swell of an angry ocean. And she thought she was weird.

  “That’s not what’s important,” Ra practically growled and his body had a stillness about it that was unnatural.

  “I bloody disagree, mate.” Elias walked closer to his friend. His hands clenched into fists at his side. Tara grabbed one of them and tried to open it, hoping to calm him by holding his hand.

  “I’ve got to agree.” Gabby cocked her hip to the side and placed a hand on her waist. “And I make it a point never to agree with the males in our merry little band. Eyes like yours only happen to demons, dark elementals, and elementalists with the blackest of souls.”

  “How do you know that?” Liam asked.

  “She’s not wrong.” Aston lifted his chin in Gabby’s direction.

  “Well, I expect you to know, A,” Liam pointed at Rory’s bonded. “You live to research that kind of crap, but Gabs is more likely to destroy a computer than use it to actually learn something. No offense, babe.”

  “None taken,” Gabby said.

  “Ra.” Aston’s voice was firm as he narrowed his eyes on his friend. “Have you already been in contact with a demon?”

  Ra shook his head. His brow drew low, and he bared his teeth. The Pharoah looked ready to murder someone. “If I tell you why I think my eyes are doing this, will you then shut up and let me explain what we are looking for in the library at this coven?”

  Everyone’s heads nodded, even Rory’s. For the moment, this was actually more important than warning against the perils of summoning a demon.

  “When I rescued Shelly from the underworld, as you know”—his jaw was so tense Rory was surprised he didn’t break some teeth—“she made a deal with Osiris. It was necessary because one cannot leave hell without paying. I offered my own soul, of course, but my Mery wouldn’t hear of it.”

  “I thought her name was Shelly,” Rory said, as she pursed her lips.

  Ra shot her a look that made it perfectly clear he would be all-too-happy to burn her to ash, just as he had done Tucker.

  She held up her hands, and Aston wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “My bad. Not my business what you call your chick.”

  Ra took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if attempting to get himself under control. “My Mery,” he continued, “refused to allow me to give up my soul because it meant that I was guaranteed to spend eternity with my ancestors in the underworld. She offered her own soul.”

  “Then how on earth did she come back topside without turning into an evil witch?” Rory quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she said, sounding muffled through her hand. “I have a bad habit of blurting.”

  Aston pulled her hand down. “Quit glaring at my soul bonded, Ra. Cut her some slack.”

  Ra did not look inclined to cut anyone any slack, as his black eyes shifted from hers to Aston’s and back again.

  “I really won’t interrupt again.” She made the sign of a cross over her heart. She didn’t add ‘hope to die’ to her wordless mime of the classic saying because death was not exactly on her list of to do’s.

  A single brow rose on his forehead as he stared at her. After a few moments, Rory shrugged and added, “Maybe.”

  The large male finally looked away from her, and Rory felt as if her lungs suddenly remembered how to work. She sucked in a ragged breath and leaned back against Aston. “Has anyone ever told that dude he needs to dial it down?” Rory whispered.

  “No one really tells Ra what to do,” Aston replied just as quietly.

  “Fair enough.”

  “When my mate,” Ra continued, “offered her soul up to Osiris, he took it. But there were consequences put in place. And though, as far as I know, neither myself nor Shelly have done anything to cause those consequences to come into play, they’re happening anyway.”

  “What are those consequences, Ra?” Tara’s voice trembled. “And what do you mean, ‘as far as you know?’”

  Rory watched Ra’s face, and her heart squeezed tightly. She had known him all of half an hour, maybe, but even she could see pain etched on his strong features when he met Tara’s gaze.

  “Shelly’s soul belongs to Osiris.” Ra’s voice sounded like sandpaper. “And in order for her to live in the upworld, she is bound to me fully by my soul, and we are never to be parted. If we give ourselves to another—” He paused and squeezed his black eyes closed while his hands fisted at his sides. The tendons in Ra’s neck stretched so tightly they looked ready to snap. “If we give ourselves to another, then our fate is with Osiris. My”—he emphasized the word with a pound to his chest—“fate is with him, with my ancestors. Our fates are so bound that even the order of our death determines our eternity. If she dies first, we both die, but we both belong to Osiris. If I die first, then we escape the underworld.”

  “You must die first to fulfill your oath?” Aston said.

  Ra nodded.

  “What oath?” Rory’s head moved back and forth looking from Aston to Ra.

  Ra shook his head. “It’s not really important.”

  “Sounds like it is.” Tara’s brow rose. “It seems like Shelly’s presence in the underworld has triggered the magic. Because she is in the underworld, the magic itself assumes she has died.”

  “That’s not what’s happening,” Ra said through clenched teeth.

  “But—” Tara started. Ra’s eyes snapped open, stopping her in her tracks.

  “Bloody hell.” Elias wrapped an arm around his soul bonded and pulled her farther back from Ra.

  “It has nothing to do with my damn oath,” Ra snarled. His eyes, no longer simply black, now showed an emblem etched in fire. They burned with the fury that radiated off of him. Rory swore she could feel the heat.

  “Osiris said if either of us ever gave ourselves to another, then our fate would be with him. The power in that magic when he spoke that over us was fueled by his power and the power of my ancestors,” Ra explained. Though Rory had no idea what the hell he was talking about. “Because my ancestors are in the underworld under his rule, he is able to draw on their power.”

  “What?” Aston asked. “He used your Egyptian ancestors’ power to fuel a spell that only kicks in when one of you cheats? Why? That seems like an oddly specific thing to do, especially considering he had to know the chances of you cheating on your soulmate is slim to none.”

  Rory wanted to give her man a high five for throwing the whole Egyptian bloodline thing out there, because she knew it had simply been for her benefit. Ra obviously knew he had an Egyptian bloodline.

  “Wait,” Rory said, her mouth running away with her again. “As in, the royal Egyptians? Like pharaohs? Ramses and Tutanwhatsawhosit?” She looked at Ra and knew her face had gone from scared witch to awed fan girl.

  “Sweets,” Aston murmured against her hair.

  Rory crossed her arms in front of her and huffed. “Sorry, but pharaohs are freaking awesome.”

  “Why is it important that Osiris blended his own power with Ra’s ancestors?” Liam asked.

  “Forget that,” Tara said. “What does cheating have to do with it?”

  Ra walked in a circle, baring his teeth periodically as he growled like a caged animal.

  “Ra,” Tara yelled. “What does cheating have to do with this?”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong—” Aston began.

  “We all know you won’t be wrong,” Liam interrupted.

  “But,” Aston continued, “what I think Ra’s trying to explain is that when Osiris said they—as in Ra and Shelly—would be his if they ever cheated on one another, he meant it in two different ways.” Aston paused. Rory watched his face as her soul bonded seemed to work through his ideas. “He meant Shelly would literally be his, as in, like, his mate, his. And Ra wouldn’t simply be a captive in hell. He would become like his ancestors, which, if I remember correctly, turned into demons.”

  “Your ancestors are demons?” Rory asked. At the same time, Tara walked right up to Ra and slapped him clean across the face. “Shelly would never cheat. Not even with the devil himself. Whatever you think is happening, isn’t.”

  Chapter

  Eight

  "There has to be another explanation. I know it. But I also know the rules of Osiris’s spell. It leaves no wiggle room. And I know my soul is being ripped in two. The only way that could be happening is if… Well, I’m not going to think about it. If I do, the thought will send me somewhere dark—a place from which I cannot return." ~Ra

  Ra couldn’t breathe. The four walls were shrinking, like the bars of a cell, caging him in. He had given voice to his suspicion, and now he knew he’d made a mistake. He shouldn’t have given the thought so much as a tiny toehold in his mind.

  “She wouldn’t cheat!” Tara roared at him, the sting of her hand still on his cheek. He heard Elias’s voice attempting to calm her, though the words were muted and indistinguishable. Ra couldn’t focus on anything other than trying to keep the flames inside of him from burning the building down around him. He needed to get outside. Now.

  He held up his hand and opened a portal without even thinking about where to go. Vaguely, Ra heard his friends shouting his name, but he ignored them and stepped through, closing the portal immediately behind him so they couldn’t follow. His control was gone. They weren’t safe around him; no one was.

  His feet hit the ground at the same time his body lit up like a torch. Ra did not know where he was, only that he was surrounded by trees. Praying to Mother Gaia that there were no humans around, he released his rage.

  Flames exploded outward from his body. For a moment, his power flew unchecked in all directions, the heat sucking all the oxygen from the surrounding area. But suddenly his power slammed against something solid.

  Ra turned to find Viscious, the dark fire king, standing behind him a few yards away. The king held his own fire—dark and oily—against Ra’s bright flames. Ra’s eyes widened, and he pushed his flames harder, but they gained no ground against the dark king’s magic. The pharaoh drew in all of his power and channeled it toward Viscious. The flames flowing outward from Ra’s body coalesced into a single channel of flame. Viscious grinned. The two elementalists were like swordsmen locked in combat, each pushing their magic forward, but neither able to move the other.

  “What have we here?” Viscious hummed, his voice sounding much too pleased for Ra’s taste. The king should be speaking through gritted teeth, not chatting as if he’s conversing over a cup of coffee. “A baby pharaoh has fallen right into my lap. And ooh, what’s this?” The dark king’s eyes widened, and his grin grew even wider. “I’ve known many elemental royals in my time, pharaoh, but I’ve seen precious few with eyes as black as yours. No, no, no, little pharaoh, you look much more like a demon than an elementalist. This is a pleasant surprise, indeed.”

  Ra looked around quickly, not wanting to take his eyes off of the dark king for more than a second.

  Viscious shrugged. “I’m not attacking you, young king,” he said. “You need not have any fear of me. I’m simply defending my territory from a light elementalist who has decided to attack unprovoked.”

  “How did I get here?” Despite Viscious’s assurances, Ra kept his flames pouring toward the dark king. There were pit vipers Ra trusted more than Viscious. The king began to circle Ra, and Ra matched his movements, turning slowly on the spot, keeping the king in front of him. Flames filled Viscious’s eyes, and they danced like a kid hopped up on soda and sugar straws.

  “There’s only one way you could have been brought before me like this,” Viscious said. “And that’s if you killed someone marked by me.” The dark fire king’s chin lifted as his brow rose. “Did you murder one of my acolytes, baby king? Have your eyes changed because your true power has been unlocked? Do you no longer believe the lies the light royals feed you?”

  Tucker’s face filled Ra’s mind. For a split second, his stomach filled with regret, but it fled as quickly as it appeared. He didn’t have time to worry about the life of a boy who’d already attempted to kidnap Tara multiple times, not to mention thrown Ra’s own female into the underworld.

  Ra didn’t think Viscious’s face could show any more glee as he said, “You did kill someone.” The fire king tapped his chin, all the while holding his power effortlessly against Ra’s. “I’m going to take an educated guess and say it was that Tucker boy. I sent him out to retrieve someone of interest, and he has yet to report back.”

  “You should keep closer tabs on your pets.”

  Viscious waved off Ra’s words and clucked his tongue. “Don’t worry yourself about that. Pets come and go. I’ve always found it’s better not to get too attached. I am a bit miffed he didn’t complete his mission. But his failure seems to have revealed an opportunity that is much more intriguing: namely, why exactly you are here.”

  Ra frowned. “You said it was because I killed someone marked by you.”

  The dark fire king nodded. “Mmm-hmm, yes, yes. You certainly couldn’t have shown up here without killing one of mine. But that’s not the true reason you showed up in my territory. Elementals kill my people all the time and then go on about their merry lives. You made the choice to open a portal after killing the little water elementalist.” His voice rose as he looked at Ra with open curiosity. “You stepped right into my backyard.” He pointed behind Ra. “Quite literally. That’s my house. Right there.”

  Ra’s eyebrows rose. He couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder to look at where Viscious was pointing. At first, Ra missed it. After a few moments, however, Ra could perceive through the tangle of trees and bushes a grand mansion nestled in the forest. Ra was pretty sure he only saw the building because Viscious allowed him to detect its presence. When Ra turned back to face the dark fire king, he felt a pulse of power, stronger than he’d ever felt from another elementalist. It reverberated through his body, all the way to his core, and then Ra’s flames made a poof and disappeared.

  “I told you,” Viscious said, “I’m not attacking you. There’s no need to leave your weapon on display. Impressive though it may be, it pales in comparison to my own.”

  Ra wasn’t surprised the king could extinguish his flame. Viscious was, after all, the dark fire king. Though Ra was a royal in his own right, elemental kings became kings for a reason. Power mattered much more than bloodline, and Viscious had power in spades. But that didn’t make the fact any easier to deal with. Ra’s go-to move when he was threatened was to cover himself with fire—a fire few were powerful enough to penetrate. Without his fire surrounding him, Ra might as well be naked. “Are we going to stand here comparing sword sizes, or are you going to tell me why my portal led me here?”

  “I might,” the fire king said. “But I have some questions of my own. Quid pro quo, pharaoh.” Viscious chuckled at himself.

  Ra knew better than to agree to anything when it came to dealing with dark elementals. He simply stared back at the dark fire king.