Page 34 of Heavy is the Crown
EIGHTEEN
It is with great honor that I can report I have been offered the princess of Hell. All the hard work over the last few years has paid off.
The Order will rise.
– Personal entry from an unknown individual in The Order of Infernal Sin Manuscript
Ava
Three Weeks Left of the Deal
My brother, Jackson, smiles at me as he pulls another drag from the cigarette. A smile that doesn’t reach his silver eyes and sends chills down my spine. He still has that boyish charm that made all the men and women of Hell swoon, but under it is a darkness that only the prince of Hell can exude. His normally clean-shaven face has a few days’ worth of stubble grown out and his dirty-blond hair is untidy in layered pieces.
“What are you doing here?” I try to keep my voice even. Steady. Ignoring his comment on why I ran.
He pushes his hand through his hair, disheveling it even more. “I wanted you to know that our father is dead.”
I blink. The world is still for a moment, only to resume at rapid speed as I process the information. “Dead?” Shadow pulls me closer to his body, having extinguished his flames so he could clutch me. “How?”
Jackson shrugs. “The Order finally got what they wanted. They did us a favor, truthfully, but Mother is, however, beside herself and demands I find you immediately and ‘put an end to your little vacation.’” He puts the last portion in air quotes, his voice taking on a higher pitch to mimic our mother.
“Vacation?” Shadow growls. “Your sister spent years being tortured, and you think she was on vacation?! Where the fuck were you?”
“Shadow, stop,” I plea. Somehow, having my brother know what happened makes it feel worse, makes it feel like I never stopped being the little sister he needs to protect. And while I still love my brother fiercely, I don’t want that role in his life anymore. I know I’m already on shaky ground; if he wants to rip me back to Hell, he’ll do it, and this piece of knowledge could be the final straw for him.
Jackson blinks once, twice, and on the third, the room is plunged into darkness. His power crackles around us like electricity in blinding arcs of luminous black fractals, the only illumination besides his glowing black eyes, before he pulls his power back in. He breathes deep, cracking his neck and rolling it before looking at me, wisps of his magic still in his eyes as they fade from full black to silver again.
“Explain.” His voice is deathly quiet.
Shadow growls low, his body vibrating. His control on a hair trigger.
“No,” I say firmly. “It’s my story, and I have no interest in sharing.” I edge my body slightly in front of Shadow. His handsnakes around my middle, before he lowers his head to my neck and nuzzles into me. The move is possessive and sweet all at once, and my pussy clenches. “Now leave. You’ve delivered your message.”
My brother growls, frustration a thick layer on his body as he starts talking, using the same voice he used when we were younger and I was in trouble. “Ava, you have a duty to uphold. Same as me.” He takes a deep breath. “You are coming home with me; I should have retrieved you long before this. And when we get there, you will go through the ceremony to fix your magic, and you will tell me what the fuck happened to you up here.”
My restraint snaps and anger colors my vision. “Duty? It’s my duty to be bred like a prize mare? How would you feel being told your body and womb had been purchased? And that is a direct quote from our fucking bastard father,” I seethe. “You can tell Mother I’m not returning. I would rather die free up here than chained to that fucking kingdom.”
The tension between Jax and Shadow could be cut with a knife; Jax is barely keeping a hold on his power, and Shadow isn’t doing much better. But just as my brother moves to step forward, Drago’s voice floats into the room. “I would think twice before stepping toward my mates.”
Drago steps out of the darkness, hands tucked into the pockets of his black pants, and casually assesses the scene. His eyes skate from my brother to me and land on Shadow’s hand still pressed to my stomach. I notice a small smile spread over his lush lips before he schools his face again. “Now, care to explain what is going on here?”
Drago
(“Despicable” – Grandson)
The room is a tinderbox waiting to go up in flames between Shadow and Jackson, the tension palpable as the prince of Hell faces off against his sister and Shadow. Whenever I’m remindedjust who Ava is, I thank the Gods that Alexi never figured it out. Thankfully, he was as dumb as he was ugly. And Kallen seemed stuck on the Harbinger magic; given Ava didn’t possess it, Kallen took no interest in her.Or maybe she had no idea Ava was even held there.
“Hello, Drago. It’s been a very long time,” he says, his smooth voice betraying just a touch of anger directed at me. I avoid looking at Ava but don’t miss her sharp intake of breath. I never told her I had contact with her brother all those years ago. A mistake that I’m sure will come back to haunt me.
“Not long enough.” I shrug. “I believe I told you what would happen should you try and take what’s mine.” I casually walk over to my mates.
He narrows his eyes at me before shaking his head. “I didn’t come to fight.” He pauses to take a long drag of the cigarette, and the scent of tobacco and Eufori fill the space.
I look at Shadow, but his focus is solely on Ava, not the drugs. Pride fills me, alongside a sense of relief. My worry about him has grown exponentially over the past few months, and I fear what will happen when our three-month time limit is up in another two weeks.
“Leave, Jackson. You got the point across,” Ava says again.
Jackson looks crestfallen for a moment, hurt in those silver eyes. “You aren’t safe here, Ava.” He takes another drag of his cigarette. “You are a princess. You cannot stay in this city playing the part of a club owner. Not anymore.”
