Page 38 of The Dark Rises
Curious, I peer around Cormal to find Madoc staring at something on the far wall. Swiveling around, I find a full-length mirror, reflecting my entirely naked body. With a strangled curse, I clean and dress myself. My eyes meet his slate-grey ones, widening at the heat in their depths. His nostrils flare, and a small carnal smile appears.
Fresh air swirls around the room, and Madoc’s gaze swings from me to Cormal. “Now I know why you were in such a hurry to return.”
“Hard to resist when her dreams are filled with such passionate images,” Cormal reflects with a satisfied smile.“Although I wasn’t the only one in them. She seems to have a thing for dark and broody men.”
Madoc turns to me and crooks his finger. “Come. Tell me what I was doing in these dreams of yours.” His voice is gravelly, as if the thought of me dreaming about him is turning him on even more.
Tossing a glare at Cormal for revealing my secrets, I ignore the ache Madoc’s words are igniting. “We need to get going, but I want to check on Rivan first.”
Cormal smirks and heads out the door. “Let’s go.”
Madoc moves to the door but stops at the threshold. I wait for him to continue, but he mockingly motions for me to go first. Walking toward him, with his eyes watching my every move, my heart races in anticipation. Two feet away. One. There’s plenty of room for me to get through the door without touching him, but it’s like my body has a mind of its own, and I deliberately brush against his. Hard muscles slide across every aching part of me, and I gasp at the sensation.
It’s his turn to suck in a breath. His head dips down, and he huskily murmurs, “One day soon, I’m going to take you up on that offer. The things I ache to do to you. It’s all I think about when I smell you or see you. You wrapped around me. Me buried inside you. And that’s only the beginning.”
Dragging air into my lungs, I stumble past him, reeling from his words, barely resisting the overwhelming urge to throw myself at him.
“I’ll meet you in the lobby,” I stammer as I walk into the elevator, leaving him standing in the hallway with a sinful smile on his face.
I manage to gain some semblance of calm on my way to the training room. When I enter, Rivan’s standing by the door, taking a break. He slowly lowers his water, but thankfully, doesn’t look away.
“Hi,” I say softly, walking over to him. “I’ve come by a few times, but you always seem to be training.” Flicking a glance over his body, I notice the sheen of sweat coating his lean muscles and burnished skin. I swallow hard. “You look good.”
His mouth twists, but he remains silent.
“I’m sorry,” I assure him. “I should have told you I was giving up the crown, but some part of me didn’t want that to be the reason you came back. It didn’t have anything to do with you being weak. You’d been through so much and had so many changes forced on you, I didn’t want to add to them.”
“Instead, you took away my choices,” Rivan says bitterly. “The reason doesn’t matter.”
I look around the training room. “Doesn’t it? You haven’t left this room, have you? All you do is train. Why? Because Brixton thinks you’re weak? Who gives a shit what that deranged psycho thinks?” My voice rises with every question until I’m practically shouting at him. Horrified, I close my mouth.
He gives me a pitying look. “You can’t even yell at me because you’re worried about how it will make me feel.” His hand comes up as soon as I open my mouth. “I doubt you even think twice when you’re yelling at Cormal. Go away, Meri.”
I watch him stalk over to his sword and pick it up. The second his hand touches the hilt, the room comes alive with enemies trying to kill him. Rivan instantly becomes a blur, striking them down with a ferocity I haven’t seen in him. Because of me. It’s obvious my visit only made things worse between us. I sigh and let myself out.
The portal is open when I get to the lobby. Madoc takes one look at me and shares a silent look with Cormal, but I ignore their unspoken conversation.
“Where are we going?” I ask Cormal. There isn’t a place I’ve lived that he doesn’t know. I always knew he had someone watching me, but he would never admit it.
“We’ve got three places to visit today,” he says, taking my hand in his. “The Cauldron, Dead Rock, and the Slag.”
I inhale sharply. “My day might have started out great, but it’s going to hell fast.” With a mirthless laugh, I walk into the portal, holding tightly to him.
When witches began arriving in hell, demons feasted on them. Weak witches were killed on sight. Strong ones were forced to create potions and spells to survive. Over three hundred witches died before they banded together on this very ground to fight their common foe. They won and claimed this land for themselves, calling it The Cauldron.
Designed after a small town in the human world, witches bustle here and there, shopping and visiting with each other, while their children play on sidewalks or in the street. Postcard perfect, or so they want you to believe, but witches aren’t sent to hell for practicing good magic.
Hundreds of years ago, I stepped into this town and fell in love. Clean streets. Lots of food. Nice places to live and clothes to wear. It was a dream come true until I blinked, and it became a nightmare. It took them less than a week to run Leandra and me out of town.
Madoc swivels around in surprise. “It’s nice.”
I snort. “It’s a façade. Deception at its finest. Stay alert.”
He tilts his head. “What happened?”
I wave a hand. “Jealous of Leandra’s power, they wanted her to share it with the entire coven. When she refused, they tried to force her by holding me hostage. It didn’t end well.”
That’s an understatement. Leandra almost destroyed the entire town.
