Page 41 of To Crave Madly
“Oh, I know this one.” Saskia chimed in, bouncing in her seat with excitement. “It carries on from there…
The depth of his despair shall know no bounds,
His heart shall echo with hollow sorrow.
His pain will fracture the thin mortal veil
And his dark rage will burn the world to dust.
I always thought it sounded so sad and it kind of struck a chord with me. It’s probably the only one I remember. Apart from the prophecy, of course.”
“But what does it mean?” I didn’t understand it. Riddles were not my strong suit. I’d much rather be organising an infiltration deep into enemy territory than figuring out some crazy old witch’s poem. I turned to Lucifer, hoping to find some sort of answer, but he just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. I took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose before I let my frustration get the better of me. I could feel my inner beast clawing at the walls of the cage I kept him in. He was hungry and he wanted Lori. Now that I’d had a real taste of her, I didn’t want anyone else. I’d rather starve than feed from a donor. The mere thought of it had my skin crawling and my mouth turning down in a grimace. No one but Lori would satiate my thirst now. She was mine and I wanted to claim her as my own.
I knew she had a connection with Lucifer, and what the three of us did in her mind was fucking hot, but I wasn’t sure I was wholly on board with sharing her with anyone else. It was going to take some time to bring my inner beast round to the idea of sharing. He did not share, and he certainly didn’t like the idea of sharing with Lucifer. I could almost feel him recoiling at the very idea. I laughed to myself at the thought. But he hadn’t been recoiling when Lucifer had suggested delving into the realm of voyeurism. Oh, no. He’d rather enjoyed that idea. I just wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
There was a sudden scuffle outside the door, and I turned in the direction of the intrusion. No one should be on the premises without permission, only the team and de Santis could enter without us having to lower the wards. So, who the Hell was this?
The team jumped to their feet, senses alert and ready for action. Even Lucifer lost his casual stance and adjusted his weight on his feet, stepping one backwards slightly so he was poised to move at a moment’s notice.
The doors burst open with a loud crash and in walked Octavius Crowe, Arch-Mage of the Arcane Forum and the most powerful mage on the planet. He was also an evil bastard who liked to throw his weight around. What the fuck was he doing here?
“Where is she?” he demanded as he strode further into the room. “Where is this female mage?”
“Father?”
All eyes swung to Fenris as he stepped nervously towards Crowe. I pitied Fenris for this family connection. How Fenris turned out to be as sane as he is, with a father as cruel and vindictive as Octavius Crowe, I would never know.
“Hello, son,” he replied, a mean curl to his lip. You could tell they were related. Octavius was an older version of Fenris. They had the same mop of brown hair and deep, brown eyes, same build and stature. But Fenris was a lot more approachable and definitely more well-liked than his father.
“What are you doing here?” Fenris asked, trying really hard to keep the tremor from his voice.
“Were you not listening to me, boy? I am looking for this female mage you seemed to have forgotten to tell me about. I am disappointed that I had to discover her existence from someoneotherthan my son.”
I winced. This guy really was a nasty piece of work. Relaxing my body slightly, I walked towards Octavius. I was still ready to attack if I needed to, my muscles primed to launch my body towards him if he even so much as looked at my team the wrong way. He looked pissed. His mouth was drawn back in a snarl and I didn’t trust him to remain calm. Not when I was about to throw him out. “Master Crowe, you have no place here and I must request that you remove yourself from the property. I am sure Sire de Santis would be happy to receive you.”
His steely gaze met mine and all that aggression was now solely focussed on me. He smiled maliciously. “If you had more superior wards, I would have been forced to go there first. This pathetic excuse for protection is no doubt the handiwork of my son.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fenris shrink back from his father’s harsh words. I knew exactly how he felt. I was the unwanted bastard son of a noble and I had felt it every second of every day of my childhood. I was apprenticed out to a Kingsman and learnt how to be the greatest assassin in the land. My father did not live long enough to regret his poor choices. The worst decision he ever made was to send me out to learn the tools of my trade. What a fool.
Octavius was the same sort of man. I could see it in the way he looked at Fenris, like he wasn’t worth his attention or time. To him, Fenris was a disappointment and always would be. The sooner Fenris could learn to value his own self-worth, the better he would be for it.
“Our wards are not your concern. I am only asking out of respect for your position, but you must leave this building, or we will have to remove you.”
“Jasper, that’s no way to speak to such an honoured guest,” Lucifer drawled as he brushed past my shoulder. What the fuck was he doing?
Octavius raised a brow condescendingly as he looked the Devil up and down. “And you are?”
“Lucifer,” he said simply, a knowing smirk curling his lips.
“As in…” Octavius suddenly looked like Christmas had come early. Lucifer certainly would be a great acquaintance to flaunt in the faces of other people. The penny dropped. Lucifer was turning on the charm to diffuse the tension and, judging by the way Octavius’ eyes were lighting up, it was working.
“Yes. Now then, why don’t we discuss this like normal, rational beings? I am sure Sire de Santis would have far more superior rooms to discuss this in.” He placed his arm around the Arch-Mage’s shoulders and walked him out of the room like they were the best of friends.
“What an excellent idea. I am glad someone around here has some sense,” Octavius replied, completely lost under the sway of Lucifer’s manipulative skills. As they disappeared through the doorway, Lucifer looked back at me over his shoulder and gave me a wink. I snorted and shook my head in disbelief. I never thought I’d be glad that he was here, but Lucifer had managed to handle Octavius better than any of us would have done. I would never be able to bring myself to stoop to the level of licking his ass, but I suppose it helped that Lucifer was so much more powerful and therefore worth adding to his collection of powerful friends.
The hairs on my neck prickled.
Someone was behind me.
