Page 88 of A Heart Of Bitter Poison
I swipe more of the blood from the wound. A gold and black tattoo emerges in its wake. It’s a vertical line that tapers to a fine point at the bottom. Sweeping away from either side of the staff are the images of two lion heads, each facing outward.
“The Mace of Nergal. The symbol of peace and war. Life… and death,” I whisper, tracing my finger across the face of each lion.
Ashen’s brow furrows as he meets my eyes and then looks down to my chest. He licks his thumb and uses it to wipe away our mixed blood from the mark on my skin. Like his, it’s a dark shade of shimmering gold but with blue the color of lapis lazuli. It’s also a staff, but at the top is a blue crescent moon cradling an eight-pointed gold star.
“The Scepter of Ereshkigal. The power to command light and shadow,” Ashen says. His eyes raise to mine as he lays his hand over my heart. I feel him in every beat that drums beneath his palm. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know. Probably something we should be worried about, given our track record,” I say. I keep my eyes on Ashen’s as I flip him onto his back and press my hands into the wall of muscle across his chest. “But tonight, you’re going to fuck those worries right out of my head.”
Ashen gives me a wicked grin. I raise my arm to my lips and bite into the marks on my wrist that are already nearly healed.
“You know I can’t deny you anything, my vampire.”
CHAPTER33
Iwipe a towel across the bathroom mirror and look at myself for a long moment in the muted light of a storming dawn. I’ve been shafted of a fucking hairdryer yet again, and outside of our room the castle will be cold as fuck with the fierce snow squall brewing outside.
I lean forward and look at my new chest ink. It’s pretty badass, I have to admit. The gold and blue details shimmer as though lit from within. Out of the two of us, I definitely got the cooler tattoo, and I can’t wait to push Ashen’s buttons with it. Like I told him, I’ve never seen mated marks like ours, but then I seriously doubt a vampire and a demon of the Shadow Realm have ever mated before. Immortal enemies, questionable morals, mutual distrust… basically all the things that typically don’t make for sustainable relationships. Ashen and I didn’t get that memo, I guess. Thank fuck.
I know there’s probably more to our odd markings than just our unusual union. And yeah, I realize I’m simplifying things for the sake of my sanity. But, like,come on. I’ve had a pretty shit go of things recently. It’s been a roller coaster, and aside from the interlude with Eryx at the amusement park, not of the fun variety. So wouldn’tyoujust go with it for a bit? I mean, what am I really able to change about fate or destiny if those greater forces are at play? I’m just one person. I might as well hang on and see where this takes me.
Unsurprisingly, myc’est la vieapproach is not really Ashen’s cup of tea.
I step out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my hair to find Ashen sitting in the center of the bed surrounded by dusty, leather-bound books and smelly sheafs of parchment.
“I see you found the library,” I say as Ashen looks up from the book that lies open in his lap. His eyes dart down to the mark on my chest and they narrow just a fraction before meeting mine again.
“Yes... Valentina has quite the collection,” he says, his voice distant with thought as he turns his gaze back down to the pages in his hands.
I pull a gray merino sweater and jeans from the wardrobe. “I guess she would. It’s not like she gets out and about much. Gotta have something to entertain herself with, aside from her little human plaything.” I pull on my clothes and then turn back to the bed, picking up a volume on Sumerian mythology. It’s not a human text attempting to interpret early civilization, but one of our own, a record of city states made by immortals who were actually there. “Find anything?”
Ashen takes in a deep breath and sighs. “Nothing that we don’t already know about the meaning of the symbols, no. There’s no record of them appearing on any immortals or what that could possibly mean.”
I feel the frustration in him for coming up empty. His emotions are like a ripple beneath my skin. It’s like water finding the boundaries of a lake and drifting back toward you with tales of the opposite shore.
I climb the edge of the bed and pull the book from Ashen’s fingers, placing it face down next to us. “It’s okay,” I say, crawling into his lap. His brows twitch with suspicion as I trail my fingers down his shirt to where his new tattoo lies beneath the dark blue cotton. “I know you’re jealous since my mark is so much cooler than yours. Fear not, mighty Reaper. Modern human technology will save you. We can take you to get it lasered.”
Ashen rolls his eyes and huffs a laugh.
“Or maybe we can book you with a tattoo artist and they can blast over it. Add a couple circles down at the bottom, a curve at the top, a few lines here and there… wouldn’t take much to make it look like a dick and balls.”
“Christ,” he groans.
“No, no, I know. I’ve got it,” I say as I squirm away to swipe his dagger from the nightstand before straddling him once more. “I’ll stab you again. I bet that will work.” Ashen tries to grab the blade from my hand as I wave it around just out of his reach. “Just… hold… still… you don’t want it to end up looking like Alberto’s dick…”
“I am already questioning my life choices,” he says as he yanks the blade from my hand and tosses it across the room. I smile and lay my hands to Ashen’s face and press a kiss to his lips. When I pull away and look into his cognac gaze, I know he feels me as much as I feel him. I see the worry and frustration soften in his eyes as he locks his arms around my back.
“Did you see Valentina when you went to get the books?” I ask, running my fingers over the mark beneath his shirt.
Ashen shakes his head. “No. Nor Florin. But we should find them and make our plans to leave here safely.”
I nod and press one last, lingering kiss to Ashen’s lips before we leave the bed and the books behind.
Our mission is largely futile. We find Florin downstairs in an office, hovering over some paperwork. According to Valentina’s mate, the vampire left for Câmpulung last night after we were settled to hunt down the witch that sold us out to Ember’s group. Ashen lets out an irritated sigh at the news that she won’t be back until noon, maybe later with the snow that’s been falling all morning in heavy, wet flakes.
We leave Florin to his work and drift through the house like wraiths, checking out some of the rooms as we go. It reminds me of when I was first getting to know Ashen and he was poking around the Swan Hotel, scoping out security cameras and testing emergency doors. I smile to myself at the memory of him reporting back to me at the end of every day about his findings on the Swan and the town of Sanford. I brush my fingers along my mated mark that’s hidden beneath the strands of soft wool, thinking how those days seem like a lifetime ago.
After a few hours in the library, we eventually give up the pursuit of knowledge to fuck against a bookcase (because, why not), then make our way to the living room where the others have congregated. Eryx and Cole sit next to the fire around another game of chess. Davina sits in a wingback chair near a tall window with a book in her lap. She glances up at us as we enter, the light of the window highlighting the dark circles beneath her eyes and red rims above her lashes. She holds my gaze for just a moment before a sorrowful smile fleets across her lips, then turns her attention back to her book.
