When Darkness Ends (Guardians of Eternity #12)(94)

There wasn’t much to see except for the small altar in the center of the floor, but it was enough to make her heart clench with fear.

On top of the altar a fire was burning with a strange blue light.

Magic.

He was in the middle of casting his spell.

“A true Chatri,” the druid murmured, crouching down as he studied her with a mocking curiosity. Like she was some bug he’d captured and pinned to the wall. Sicko. “I was beginning to think you were a myth.”

She forced a cold smile to her lips. “There will be no mistake we are real when my father arrives.”

“Why should I fear your father?”

“He’s the King of Chatri.”

“Ah.” A shockingly intense hatred flared in his eyes. “So you’re a royal.”

Pure menace crawled over Fallon’s skin. This man not only wanted her dead. He wanted her to suffer.

She squashed the urge to panic. Cyn was depending on her.

Hell, the entire demon world was depending on her.

This was her chance to do that big, important thing she’d always dreamed of doing, she desperately told herself. The opportunity to make her life matter.

Right?

All she needed to do was to keep him distracted for a few minutes so she could gather her power.

“My father will kill you,” she said, scooting until her back was pressed against the wall and her hands draped to the side of her body to hide them from the creepy druid.

A human shouldn’t be able to see the glow of her powers, but he was clearly more than just another mortal.

“Demons are no match for me,” he boasted, thankfully too bloated with his own sense of self-importance to wonder at Fallon’s distraction. “Especially not that bastard Sariel. I hope he does come. I would dearly love to watch him die.”

Fallon barely listened to the idiot’s claims, instead focusing on her magic.

Usually it bubbled through her like vintage champagne. An intoxicating promise that she could tap into whenever necessary. Now it ran through her veins with a sluggish, growingly painful lethargy.

Damn.

There was no way she was going to be able to focus enough power to send a blast toward the druid.

To hurt him, she would actually need to touch him.

“You’re mad,” she muttered, her mind racing. She had to get him closer.

But how?

“The madness belongs to my forefathers,” he was saying, tiny spots of spittle spraying from his lips. “That’s the only excuse for them to have sold out the human race to a bunch of filthy fey.”

She hid her urge to shudder. What a pathetic, disgusting excuse for a human being.

“Why do you hate demons?”

“They have invaded our world, preying on us like we’re nothing more than mindless cattle,” he snarled.

Fallon continued to concentrate her power into her hands, silently cursing the iron that was searing into her flesh. Not only was the pain distracting, but it was making it almost impossible to gather enough magic to cause real damage.

“Why do you call it your world?” she asked, her voice laced with disdain. Maybe if she could make him angry enough he would be compelled to grab her. Like any petty bully he no doubt resorted to physical violence when he couldn’t mentally intimidate his opponent. “Demons were here long before humans began to walk upright.”

He sniffed, waving aside the truth of her accusation. “And now the time has come to claim it for our own.”

Her lips twisted. “So you’re doing this for humans?”

“Naturally.”

“And you have no interest in becoming some sort of messiah for your people?” she demanded.

A smug smile curved his lips as he tried to pretend a false modesty.

“The humans will need a leader and I’m not opposed to being worshiped.”

Oh . . . bleck.

Her hands warmed, a golden glow beginning to surround them. She pressed them beneath her leg.

“Have you considered what will happen once the demons are dead?”

He leaned forward, slowly enunciating his words. “Every. Day.”

He was close. So close. But still too far.

She flicked a dismissive glance down his pudgy form that was swathed in a rough, brown robe.

“Without demons your magic will die,” she taunted. “Do you think you’ll be worshiped if you’re just another human in a silly costume?”

“I have enough potions in storage to last for several centuries.” Without warning the feral hatred transformed into something even worse. Lust. Ew. She struggled not to cringe at the hot gaze that lowered to the swell of her breasts. “In fact, I have enough that I might be willing to share with a female who was willing to please me.”

She flattened her lips, biting back her words of revulsion. If she couldn’t get him to touch in anger, then she’d settle for a horny grope.

“Really?” She tilted her head, allowing her hair to slide over one shoulder.

He licked his lips. “How long do you think you’ll last once the portals are closed?”

She shrugged, glancing beneath her lashes. It’s what her older sister, Dellicia, used to do and it always seemed to make the males take notice of her.

“A few weeks, perhaps months,” she murmured, dropping her voice until it was a husky whisper.