I clutch the dragon close. He shakes in my grip. Lucian is more dangerous than I feared. I lean against the wall and prick my hand on a sharp rock. My fingers trace the rough stone. "Why?"
"For that, you will have to wait. But I assure you, in the end, it will be glorious." His eyes stare into the distance, into a vision only he can see.
"Why tell me this?" I ask.
He grins, humorlessly. "Because the High Fae once took something very precious from me."
A moment. "Your wife."
"Yes. And I want you to know, that one day, I will take something special from you as well." He looks again in the general direction of Yami, a hunger in his eyes.
"I'll tell Asher. I'll tell everyone."
"Try. Try to call out."
"Asher, I—" Pain grips my throat. It burns my lungs. I fall to my knees, choking.
Lucian steps forward, his shadow a giant over me. "Remember, Princess. You signed a contract. You may not share what you know of me." He smiles. "You may not speak of anything I do."
I tremble, the magnitude of my mistake crushing me. "I—"
Lucian grabs my hair, yanking me up against his armor. His face is close, his breath heavy on my face. He runs a hand down my cheek. "Now Princess, perhaps I will take what I desire—"
"Is something wrong?" Asher appears beside us, his eyes serious.
Lucian lets me go. His eyes glimpse what I drew on the wall with blood. Asher's mark. "Nothing, my son. I was just saying goodbye." He turns to leave. "Remember me, Princess. In the end, when you think everything you set out to do is done, remember me."
He fades into the darkness, and I fall to my knees and weep for the fool I was.
Chapter 8
HOME
"You can look now, Princess. Welcome to hell."
—Asher
Asher holds me. For what feels like hours, he holds me. When my crying stops, he finally speaks. "What happened?"
"Your father—" my throat burns, my mouth snaps shut.
Asher trembles. "What did he do?"
"He—" The pain is too great. I bite down on my tongue.
Asher falls back, his eyes wide with realization. "I was a fool. I proposed that contract, and now…"
"Dissolve the contract," I say. "Do it."
"No. Lucian will feel it. He will know something is wrong, and he will return. No. We must wait. We must get you back to Fen. Perhaps one day, I can dissolve it, but… we must be careful. My father, my father is a dark and devious man. He has played this game of deceit and lies far longer than I."
I manage to stand, the pain fading. "So we do nothing?"
"No." Asher stands and grabs my hands. "We unite Inferna and Avakiri. Unite the Fae and vampires. Then nothing can stop us."
I pull back my hands, trembling, a new realization filling me. "If I marry you… this can really happen. We can really have peace. But…" My thoughts drift to Fen, to his arms around me.
Asher grins, and does something I will be forever grateful for. "Now, now, Princess, don't get too hasty," he says. "We must get to know each other first, after all. I do believe it is my month to spend with you." He offers me his arm. "Ready to go back to hell?"
I wipe my eyes, smile, and take his arm. "Definitely."
He guides me through the cavern and into a small cave lit by blue torches. This is not the path I first traveled to reach Avakiri. "How many secret elevators to hell are there?" I ask.
He chuckles. "Enough. Before Inferna was hell, it was simply the other half of the Fae kingdom. The Four Tribes were spread over both sides of the world, Avakiri and Inferna, and these elevators connected them easily."
"There must have been a lot of Fae back then."
Asher frowns. "There were. And we slaughtered them." His eyes go dark. "My people were thrown to this land like wolves thrown upon sheep. We did not understand our own carnage, our own bloodlust, until it was too late. One day, I will find the one who sent us here. And I will make him pay."
I touch his hand. "Your uncle."
He nods. "He stripped us of our wings, cursed us with a lust for blood, turned us into beasts, and unleashed us upon a peaceful people whose blood was an addiction to us. He doomed the Fae. He doomed us all."
"You had wings?"
"Once, yes."
"You… Fen… you were angels?" It fits the mythology, but it's hard to picture the vampires flying.
"All of us who were banished here—those of us who are the Fallen—once had wings." He smiles mischievously. "But we were never angels."
We arrive at a stone door covered in markings. I stick my hand on the spiked imprint in the center, and my blood fills the ancient runes. The earth shakes and the door slides open, groaning in the dark. Dust falls from the ceiling as we enter.