Page 82 of Daman
I repeated what happened, leaving no details out. Including the bits where Asa said he wanted to fuck me. I knew it would anger Envy, but I hated keeping secrets from him.
Daman’s nostrils flared as he listened, and he glared at the fire. “So he wants you to switch sides. He wants you to betray me.”
“That won’t happen.” I shifted closer and put an arm around him. “I am yours. I swear it. I told him he can’t have me or my army.”
Daman softly whimpered, and the sound cut right through me. If Envy was riled up, he was fighting against it. Hard. He pulled away and grabbed his phone. “I need to call Alastair. Asa hasn’t shown himself since the battle in the underworld. To do so now is…” He shook his head and clicked on his brother’s name in his contacts. He put it on speakerphone.
“What’s wrong?” Alastair answered after two rings. As if he knew Daman wouldn’t call him unless there was a problem.
“Some shit happened tonight, Al.”
“Tell me.”
“I met Asa,” I said before repeating everything I’d told Daman—time freezing, his proposition, and how he’d mentioned some sort of key.
Alastair was quiet after I finished. “A key?”
“To open the heavens,” I said. “What does it mean?”
“I don’t know. Stay inside the barrier for the time being. The shades were nothing but a ruse to lure you out.”
“And if they start slaughtering people?” Daman asked. “We’re supposed to do nothing? That’s a shitty plan, Pride.”
“He could’ve killed you tonight, Daman,” Alastair snapped, his voice heavy with tension. “I knew Asa was growing stronger, but I never thought he’d be able to control time like that. I need to tell Lazarus. Tell him about the key too. Whatever it is.”
“Though a powerful ability, it’s limited,” I said, remembering the snowflake that had landed on my arm. “He can only hold it temporarily.”
“He only needs seconds to slit all of our throats.” Alastair sharply exhaled. “The best course of action right now is to focus on your army. War is a lot closer than we thought.”
He disconnected the call.
Daman scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck. This feels familiar.”
“Familiar how?”
“I don’t know.” He threaded his fingers through his hair and paced in front of the couch. “You know when you’re trying to remember something and it’s righttherebut you can’t fully reach it? Something about this whole thing just feels… I don’t know. Like I’ve heard it before. Or dreamed it. Snow freezing in the air. A key.” He exhaled. “Maybe I’m losing my mind.”
I watched him pace, unsure what to say.
“I know one thing,” Daman said with a growl. “I’m going to rip that bastard’s throat out for touching you.”
“I didn’t return his touch.”
“Did you want to?”
“No.” I pressed my thumb into my palm. “He made my skin crawl.”
Daman dropped to his knees in front of me, pressing between my legs. He held my face in both his hands. “He can’t have you. You’re mine.” A deeper rasp mixed with his voice. It wasn’t only him speaking to me. Envy was too. “And I am yours.”
“I belong to no one but you.” I bumped my forehead to his and threaded my fingers in the hair at his nape. “Never doubt me,kotya.”
He kissed me.
Something was set into motion tonight. It wouldn’t be the last time we saw Asa. My army was too valuable to him. But as Daman kissed me, touched me, I shoved all of that aside and focused on nothing but how incredible he felt in my arms.
The next morning, I woke before dawn. Daman lay against my side, our naked bodies entwined in the sheets. I pressed a kiss into his brown hair, breathing him in.
Asa said I had the power to refuse Daman as my mate if I wanted to. The thing was, I hadn’t felt truly alive until the day he’d come into my life. Although we’d only been married a short while, he made my days brighter. I couldn’t imagine waking one morning and not having him beside me.
