Page 4 of Darkness Consuming
My eyes narrow on him. Closer, I lean toward him, his gaze eating up my every move.
“Either do it or don’t. I’dlovea reason to kill you, Jer.” My lips tilt in an unrepressed smile.
He’s big; massive really. But I was once the most powerful woman in the Court of Darkness. My short time here, being locked away from society, has made me careless and reckless.
Never fuck with a woman who has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Before he can make up his tiny mind, I drift away from him. I trail down the steely hall just as I have day in and day out.
“Stop making empty threats, Sister.” Amandria’s voice is pure and melodious. It makes her sound kind and serene.
The tone of her voice doesn’t seem to reflect her personality at all really.
“Father wants us in the lab.” My voice echoes down the hall, ignoring her words entirely.
When I enter what my father calls the laboratory, my gaze skims over the dark, shining floors and the tables of experiments he’s done for days. Scribbled notes litter the white tabletops, and glasses clutter the space. It almost gives me anxiety just to look at it all.
I wonder if Jeriko and I will eventually be making these concoctions for my father. Not that Jeriko’s meaty hands could manage. He’d shatter the glasses with a simple touch, I’m sure of it.
But what is all of this for?
His steps are silent; stealthy from the centuries he’s lived within the Wild Hunt. But I might always sense Jeriko’s brooding energy.
“You think I could make your death look like an accident?” His awful words only make a sweet smile pull at my lips.
I turn to him, my boots twisting on the iron floor. The dark magic that shadows half of his face only makes his features a harsher sight to look upon.
My reply is a steady and promising sound.
“Of course, you can.” I take a stalking step closer until I’m staring up into his glaring eyes. I speak as if I’m telling him a bedtime story. As if it’s something I want to say just as I tuck him in at night. “If it were something I’d want to do, I’d sneak into your room in the middle of the night. You’d never hear my steps. Only sweet dreams would caress you while I smothered the life out of your lungs. Maybe you’d struggle. Maybe I’d watch. As I said, it’s not something I’ve thought too much about. My magic is repressed here, but unlike your weak power, if I push hard enough it could surface. It’d take little effort to take away the one true thing you need most in this life, Jer.” A taunting smirk highlights my features. “So yeah. That’s how I’d do it. Not that I’ve considered it in the least.” I blink innocently before my shoulders raise with a slight shrug and his gaze continues to dart between my eyes.
“Are you two bonding?” My father’s words cut through the tension in the room. I step past Jeriko, forgetting him the moment I see what my father’s carrying.
The sight of the vials and syringes make an ominous feeling skitter through my veins.
“I thought I’d give you a taste of what real power feels like.”
The needle pierces the top of the vial and an inky color coats the syringe as my father fills it completely.
“What’s that?” Jeriko takes an eager step forward while I almost shrink away.
Whatever it is, it isn’t good.
“It’s a sedative of sorts. It’s infused with magic that’ll open her mind. As Fae, there is so much strength within us that we never even use. Our minds shut some parts of us away. This sedative will open her entirely. It’ll relax her enough to be who she really is deep down inside.” His attention slips to me, his gaze warming in an eerily affectionate way.
Worry twists through my stomach.Who I really am deep down inside.I don’t want to release that person. I especially don’t want to release that magic.
It’s dangerous. I can feel it. It’s like this tingling energy that never sleeps. It’s always there just beneath the surface.
“Violence, come here.” His gaze pierces right into me.
In life, there are make or break moments. I know this is one of them.
I’m powerful but he’s more powerful. If I concede, if I let him have his way, my life may never be the same.
And if I don’t …
He’ll kill me.
