Page 40 of Branded By Shadow
16
Summoned
Cora
After Damon left, it was quiet. Too quiet. I stared at the door, considering my options.
For a researcher, knowledge meant everything. It had already cost me my freedom, maybe more. Logic told me to stay put, like he’d asked me. Everything else screamed otherwise.
I braced myself and stepped forward. “Come on, Cora. You can do this.”
A part of me expected the door to be sealed shut, but it wasn’t. It opened easily and closed behind me with an ominous, almost silent hiss. My heart hammered against my ribs as I crept downthe corridor. The air grew cooler with each step I took, making goosebumps rise across my bare arms.
This deep beneath Blackwood Manor, sound traveled strangely. My careful footsteps echoed off black marble floors despite my attempts at stealth. I paused at each intersection, listening for signs of security personnel or Damon’s return.
“Where the hell am I even going?” I whispered to myself. The maze of underground corridors had no answers for me. The only thing it could give me was a way forward.
My skin still tingled from the moment I’d shared with Damon in the conservatory. The brush of his fingers had triggered something neither of us had been prepared for. And then, there had been his strange words, his acknowledgment of the weight I’d been carrying.
Something fundamental had changed in that moment, before the intruder had interrupted us.
Was it stupid of me, that even after everything, I still craved Damon Blackwood? Maybe. But I was realistic enough to accept my own irrationality.
Besides, this wasn’t just about me. Damon had acted oddly earlier, and no matter how much I reveled in his compliments, a primal voice inside me screamed at the wrongness. “He needs you,” it said, and I couldn’t deny it.
The corridor opened into a wider passage, and beyond into a larger foyer. I’d been here before, the day we’d left for the lab, but now, there was something extra ominous about the place.
Voices drifted from ahead, sharp and heavy with tension. The echoes of their hostility rattled inside me like thunder. But I didn’t let it stop me. I inched closer to the wall, hiding in the shadows that had almost killed me.
Up above, the ceiling soared into darkness, three stories of open space impossibly built underground. Heavy velvet curtains flanked false windows displaying exterior views of the estate. It was a reminder of my time in the Omega Suite, but also an unexpected refuge.
I slipped behind the closest curtain, the fabric cool against my skin. Holding my breath, I waited.
Damon should have found me in moments. The estate itself seemed to speak to him, and he always seemed to know where I was. But for whatever reason, he didn’t notice me at all.
He remained in the center of the hall, shadows coiling around his feet like angry pets. His posture had changed completely from the man who’d brought me food in the conservatory. Gone was any trace of tenderness or curiosity. This Damon radiated pure territorial dominance, primal and dangerous.
Elara flanked him, her posture rigid with a tension that mirrored my own.“This is insane, Damon. Do you really think they’d attack us outright?”
House Hades security personnel lined the walls, their stillness a threat in itself. Clearly, they all knew about the intruder. Damon didn’t acknowledge any of them. He didn’t even look at his cousin. “At this point, nothing would surprise me. But let them come. I can’t wait to introduce them to the Shadow Realm.”
Elara frowned, almost as serious as she’d been when I’d been dying in front of her. “Damon, we can’t let it get to that. Focus.”
“That’s my line, cousin.” His words cut through the air, sharp enough to make even Elara flinch. “Stop worrying about me and worry about House Zeus.”
My heart fell at the tightness in his voice. Back in the conservatory, I’d felt it coming and sensed the quiet danger lurking underneath the surface. It hadn’t scared me, even if Damon had hurt me before.
But now… I didn’t know what to think.
The massive entrance doors swung open without physical contact. A chill that had nothing to do with Damon’s power rushed through the hall. The unfamiliar scent of rough leather and aged parchment tickled my nostrils.
A lean man with quicksilver hair strode in, his movements too fluid to be human. Each step blurred slightly at the edges, as if he existed partially in another reality. His perfectly tailored gray suit changed color when he moved. The House Hermes insignia gleamed silver at his collar.
Waves of darkness surged forward like a tide, flowing across the marble in aggressive patterns. The temperature in the hall plummeted. Security personnel shifted subtly, hands moving closer to weapons without drawing them.
The messenger seemed completely unimpressed by the display. “Loren Swift of House Hermes greets House Hades,” he said. “I come bringing summons from the Olympian Council.”
I’d never met anyone from House Hermes in my life. They were a Beta House and somehow involved in every single communications element I could think of. But regular humans rarely received the honor of a House Hermes visit.
