Page 58 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
“Around halfway, you will meet the lake. Do not wade in and do not drink from it. The water is more harmful than even the rivers of Aidesian.”
Something that was worse than the amnesiac Lethe? The Stygian river, where souls went to perish? What horrors lay beneath that darkened body?
“You will want to rest there. The mountain is only a few miles from the lake, but the last part is the most treacherous. Once you reach the mountain, there is no light within, none until the chamber in the center, only creatures that would feast on your bones, play with you as they rip you limb from limb. You’ll need to save whatever power you have for there. That is where terror can consume you, deep within the caves where the darkness is spurred by spells of bones and madness. It is different from the power you all wield. This is the blood magic of Hades himself. An abomination to the balance between life and death. It will win if left unchecked.” His voice was haunting and Katrin felt like they hadn’t experienced half of what that magic could do. Not Ander in the dungeons, not meeting Kohl in the forest.
“And once we are in the caves,” Ember asked, “how do we know we have reached the right chamber?”
“There is a creature, Cerberus, who guards Hades’ tomb, a three-headed monster you will need to defeat to pass. But even if he was not there, you would know, Ember. You would know.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Ajax
As most self-loathing men did, Ajax had somehow avoided seeing Ember since the full moon. It was torture—sneaking about the castle, awkwardly lingering outside her door to make sure she was safely tucked away at night. Unable to face the woman he loved—see that look of distrust and disgust at what he was—regardless of what she’d said.You don’t scare me, Commander. He should. With a single swipe of his paw he could rip shreds through her skin, gods forbid if he lost control after not shifting for so long. It was a risk he would not take, not let her take, even if he longed for what his parents had—more than thateven.
Yes—the Kirassos were like family, but he had not had an actual family since his parents passed over to Aidesian. Not a single person who loved him unconditionally, who felt the same life-altering charge through their bones at the idea of losing one another. But to see that glimmer of fear, of angst, when he spoke those three words. Ember did not feel the same way, and yet Ajax was reckless and quite honestly desperate, which led him now to the confines of the corridor outside her quarters.
He could hear the slow pace of her breathing through the wooden door. Gentle. Calming. At ease. More likely than not, asleep. Rustling his hand through his hair, guilt crept in his gut, roiling about—a present reminder that what he was about to do was entirely selfish. Breath steady, Ajax reached for the handle, pulling back just as quickly. Maybe he should leave her be—end this game of back and forth. He could walk back to his quarters and she would never know the difference. Never see the anguish he hid behind his eyes. Ember didn’t deserve it, to bear this weight and burden of someone she could never love in return.
Wood creaked under his feet as Ajax began to retreat from the door. His decision was made. A tortured soul filled with regret sailing to his death. Low chuckles drifted past his ears, raising each hair on his entire body, sending goosebumps over his arms.
“And here I thought you were avoiding me.” Ember stood before him in little more than a blue, silk chemise and bottoms that curved high enough that nothing could be left to the imagination. Gods, he was done for. He shouldn’t have turned back around to face her. He should have walked away and left her to whatever dreams she might have had. But seeing this—the way her golden hair fell past her shoulders, swaying gently above her peakedbreasts, those pouting lips as she pierced him with her amber eyes—it was that night in Nexos all over again.
“Yes, well I—Ander just wanted to make sure you were prepared for tomorrow,” Ajax stammered.
Ember stepped closer to him, invading his space until she was mere inches from his chest. “Is that so? I’m sure Alexander is much too busy with my sister to worry about little old me, Commander. Do you think I haven’t heard you outside my chambers all these nights? Yet you never once came to speak to me.” Her breath was hot against his skin. “I will repeat myself one more time—and only one more time. I am not afraid of you, Ajax. I will never be afraid of you.” Then she leaned up on the tips of her toes, meeting his lips with her own in the lightest of kisses.
Ajax stepped back. “You shouldn’t have done that.” His breathing was shaky, mind racing. He couldn’t think straight—not with her this close, not with cinnamon and honey wrapping its heavenly scent around him.
“If I am walking to my death, I do not want to leave this world with regrets.” Her face scrunched in that utterly heartwarming way it did when she was determined.
“And what would you regret, Ember?”
“Not being with you.”
Four words—four simple words, and yet they were his undoing. Not the three he craved to hear—those would never come—but these, a close second, a desperate need, begging him to lean in once more, to devour the fiery woman before him. “Is that so?”
“Yes, although I do think some serious groveling needs to be involved. I mean, you did put me through a lot.” Amber eyes lit up behind her fluttering eyelashes, before she turned, swaying herhips back and forth as she walked over toward her bed, the bottom of her ass just peeking out from below those tiny silk bottoms.
“Well, it is a good thing I am excellent at apologies.” Ajax stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him.
He prowled up to Ember, who now sat at the edge of the bed, propped up on her elbows. Her thick golden locks were loose down her back, just grazing the dark velvet blankets she sat upon. Just watching her shimmy down onto that bed, her feet hooked on the edge of the footboard with that soft smile and entrancing gaze, had his cock hardening beneath the sleeping trousers he wore. There was nothing to hide the way it swelled up toward his stomach and it only made him want to thrust into Ember more when her teeth rolled over her bottom lip at the sight.
When he was just close enough to lean into her, Ember stopped him with her foot against his chest, dropping her gaze from his eyes to the ground. “I said grovel.”
Gods, her melodic voice was enough to put him under a trance. Ajax knelt before this stunning woman, letting his hands travel up her pale thigh. “Oh, Drakos, you know how much I love receiving orders from you.” Lurid memories raced through his mind, of all the dreams he’d had with her in this exact position—the images seared into his soul, ready to let loose.
“And how exactly will you show me how sorry you are?” Ember questioned, her voice heady as Ajax trailed his mouth along her inner thigh, eliciting a soft moan from her lips.
“I could think of a few ways,” he mumbled back, hooking one of Ember’s legs over his shoulders, slowly slipping her silk shorts to the side.
“I’d like to—” Ember’s breath hitched as Ajax dragged his tongue right up her center in a long, languid motion. “Never mind.”
Her scent was intoxicating, his utter undoing. Any man would be lucky to claim this woman, mark her, have her scent plastered over their body, but for a wolf—for him—it was something so much more. It meant she was his. Irrevocably his.
He moved in unhurried, lazy circles, taking his time with her, ruminating in the taste of honey and cinnamon, the way she would buck against his mouth every time he took a pause.
She tasted like sweet reprieve.
