When Darkness Ends (Guardians of Eternity #12)(54)

“Unless he’s been replaced,” he mocked.

“But . . . it isn’t possible.”

Anthony adjusted the cuff of his tweed jacket, his voice dangerously soft. “You really need to stop saying that to me.”

Yiant licked his dry lips. “I mean that his home is protected by layers of magic that prevent the opening of a portal.”

Anthony shrugged. “Have you been there?”

“Naturally I traveled to pay my respects after he’d settled at the lair with his mate.”

“And to scout the terrain in case you wanted to spy on the Anasso?”

“Of course not,” the fairy denied, his eyes wide with innocence.

A lie. One that Anthony ignored.

He had no interest in demon power games. All that mattered was that Yiant had been to the vampire lair, so he could create a portal.

“Then you will take me as close as possible.”

Yiant was shaking his head before Anthony finished speaking. “The vampires will kill us. The Ravens patrol the grounds.”

“I don’t intend to linger long enough for the vampires to know we’re there. Besides, it will soon be daylight there.”

“But—”

Anthony slashed a pudgy hand through the air. “This isn’t a request.”

Pacing from one end of the library to the other, Tonya told herself to go to bed.

It wasn’t as if she could be a damned liaison when the two people she was supposed to be liaisoning between were both too busy with the exquisite Chatri princess to need her services.

Her hands fisted, her jaw clenched as she recalled her brief glimpse of Fallon as she’d led Styx from the porch to the front gate.

She’d been perfect, of course. Tall and slender with a glorious cloud of golden hair and the features of an angel. And she’d moved with a hypnotizing grace, making Tonya feel like an awkward lump in comparison.

It was no wonder that Magnus had been so eager to follow them when he’d caught the faint, champagne scent of his fiancée.

Now the two would be happily reunited and no doubt headed to their fairy home where they would live happily ever after.

Blah, freaking blah, blah.

Telling herself that she’d be happy to see the last of Magnus, Prince of Chatri, Tonya watched as the automated curtains silently slid across the windows to block out the cresting sun. It wasn’t as if she cared about the bastard.

No. Way.

The fierce words had barely formed when her heart gave a renegade leap at the sound of angry male voices echoing through the hallway.

Mere seconds later Styx and Magnus stormed into the library.

Halting in the center of the room, Magnus spread his arms, his expression mocking. “Satisfied, my lord?” he sneered. “I have returned as you commanded.”

Styx narrowed his gaze, clearly in a mood. “Not nearly. Keep your fairy ass in this lair. If I have to chase you down I’m not going to be happy.”

With his warning delivered, the Anasso turned on his heel and headed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“As if he has the right to tell me what to do,” the prince muttered.

Tonya’s lips twisted with grim amusement as she studied the painfully beautiful male face. It was obvious the prince’s arrogance was taking a battering from the King of Vampires. So why had he returned?

And without his fiancée.

“What did Fallon want with Styx?”

“She needed him to repair the vampire who’d been injured.”

Tonya blinked in confusion. “Cyn was injured?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God, is he okay?”

Magnus sent her a glance of disgust. “Why should I care?”

Tonya narrowed her gaze. “Hey, don’t be pissy with me. I didn’t do anything.”

“I’m not pissy,” Magnus denied, his slender fingers toying with the emerald pendant hung around his neck. Tonya suspected it was an unconscious habit that revealed he wasn’t quite as composed as he wanted her to believe. “I’m quite justly aggrieved.”

She shrugged. The two men were too alpha not to strike sparks off each other.

“Styx isn’t happy unless he’s making someone feel aggrieved. I wouldn’t take it personally.”

“I’m indifferent to the vampires.”

“Of course you are.” She rolled her eyes. “Then what has you so aggrieved?”

“My fiancée has broken our marriage contract.”

Tonya stilled. A tangle of emotions twisted her stomach into a painful knot.

“Oh,” she at last breathed. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

“It’s extremely rare.” Magnus paced toward the fireplace, the scent of aged whiskey teasing at Tonya’s nose. “Only a fool would choose such an extreme path.”

Tonya watched as he poured himself a glass of the nectar that had been left on the mantel to warm.

He sounded so . . . cold. As if he didn’t care that the female he’d chosen as his wife had decided to remain with Cyn.

“What do you mean by ‘extreme’?” she prodded.

“She will be shunned by our people.” He finished the nectar and set aside the glass. “It is the worst fate a Chatri can suffer.”