bedeviled & beyond 06 - bedeviled & befouled (3 page)

He nodded but made no move to leave. Instead he grabbed the metal polish and started cleaning his own blade. “Have you gotten any word on Emo yet?”

I moved around my desk and sat down with a sigh. “Not yet. I’m hoping Myra will tell me when she comes back today.”

“If you need someone to keep the business going while you’re gone...” He let the words trail away when I frowned. I hadn’t even thought about that.

“Yeah. Actually that would be great. Thanks. But you’ll need to work with Darma. She’d eat my gizzard if I put you in charge over her.”

He grinned. “We’ll be partners. Got it. Just stay safe, Astra. And come back happy.”

“You don’t ask much do you?”

He set the rag down on my desk and stood staring at me. I focused on the work before me, hoping he’d leave so I could be alone with my thoughts.

A breath later I felt his heat at my back and his hands grasped my upper arms. Warm lips touched the top of my head. “Come back soon, Astra.”

I nodded, unable to speak for fear I’d start bawling like a girl.

The air behind me shifted softly and he was gone. My head hit my arms on top of the desk and I let myself cry for just a minute, quietly. Despite my assurance to Slayer, I was far from convinced that putting my poor mind into celestial training was a good idea. For about the hundredth time since Emo left me, I wished I had him to talk to. If anyone knew how effective angelic counseling was, it would be Emo. He’d been whisked skyward when his Settling started to take a turn for the dark side, in an effort to save him.

I still didn’t know if it had worked. All I knew was that I’d been bargaining with the Big Guy for weeks to bring Emo home. We’d soon see how much good it did.

A cool draft of air slipped over me and I looked up, panicked. It couldn’t be time already.

I was both relieved and disgusted to see that it wasn’t Myra and Aubrey. Unfortunately for me it was someone worse. Much worse. “Brina. What are you doing here?”

The royal looked leaner than the last time I’d seen her, when she, like me had been magic-raped in the Shadows by Slayer’s ex, Crisanne. Her thick black hair was longer, touching her slim shoulders and curling up slightly on the silver-tipped ends. The last time I’d seen her she’d had a short, spiky cap of hair touched in gold. One thing hadn’t changed though, she still glared at me through gorgeous, almond-shaped black eyes, fringed with thick arcs of midnight lashes. Her bow-shaped, cherry-tinted mouth twisted with disgust as she looked at me. I knew I was a little disheveled, but I hadn’t thought I looked that bad. “What’s wrong?”

“Why are you here? The court needs you.”

“I’m always here. This is where I work. Is there a specific problem I need to be aware of?”

Her pretty lips twisted further, losing some of their appeal. “The king is fighting demons while you fight air and pretty friends in your safe little office.”

I grabbed my sword. “Demons? Why didn’t you say so. I’ll need you to shift me.”

She rolled her eyes, crossing slim, muscular arms over her chest. “No, you half-wit, the demons are his own. Have you paid any attention to him at all over the last weeks?”

I frowned, dropping the sword back onto my desk. “What demons? He seems fine to me.” As soon as I said the words I realized they weren’t strictly true. Dialle had seemed different the last few times I’d seen him. More vulnerable and kind. But I’d appreciated those things so much that I hadn’t questioned them. “He was just here yesterday and he seemed fine.”

The royal shafted a hip and glared at me. “Yesterday! Have you not spoken to him today?”

Okay, her snotty attitude was starting to piss me off. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, Brina, but I no longer have powers. I can’t talk to Dialle telepathically any more. I can’t shift over to the court at a moment’s notice. I’ve tried to contact him the old-fashioned way...” I indicated my televisual. “But he hasn’t responded. What exactly do you want me to do?”

“And you didn’t find it strange that he isn’t responding?”

I blinked, my chest tightening with fear. She was right. I’d been so focused on my own issues I hadn’t even thought about it. “I’ll admit it is strange—”

“Strange?” She dropped her arms to her sides, her hands fisting. “The king languishes, evil stains his soul, darkening his countenance, and his queen barely notices. You fail him, Astra. You fail the court. And you fail yourself.”

I felt the sting of her power against my skin and my hands came up, instinctively grasping for a magic I no longer had. By contrast, Brina brimmed with energy. And that was what put me over the edge.

By all rights she should be as bereft of magic as I was. She’d been drained too. In exactly the same way I had, but she’d recovered her powers almost immediately. For that reason I could barely stand to be in the same room with her. And having her stand there, superior and sure of herself, and berate me for something I couldn’t control...suddenly it was all too much.

Before I even realized what I was doing, my sword was at her throat and her hands were filled with spitting balls of bright orange fire. “Do you think I like being this way? Don’t you think I would help Dialle with the court if I could? I know he needs me. Of course I know I’m letting everybody down. You bitch! I can’t do anything about it.”

Brina looked down at me, disgust shaping her features. “Stop sniveling Astra and do what you need to do.” The power disappeared from her palms with a whisper and she grasped my shoulders.

I didn’t even have time to cry out before we entered a space-shift. I had no doubt where I was going. To the Royal Devil Court.

~SC~

Sound returned as my feet touched the hard stone of the floor in Dialle’s throne room. The room appeared empty. I shivered, rubbing my arms against an unaccustomed cold. I also noticed the small cracks in the walls and floor. Brina caught my eye and jerked her head toward the far wall.

A sense of déjà vu struck me as I followed her glance to where Dialle stood with his back to me, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked over the distant skyline of Angel City. He had his hands clasped behind him, his long, muscular legs spread wide. In that moment he reminded me so much of his father King Dialle the First, who was currently warming his sexy behind in the fiery environs of Hell. First had been standing just that way the day I’d been introduced to him.

But there was a marked difference. Dialle’s father had stood with cocky assurance, broad shoulders squared, chin high. Dialle the son looked, in that moment, like a defeated man.

Brina disappeared with a wisp of sound that I barely noticed.

Debris crunched under my boots as I crossed the enormous room. Dust and chunks of rock from the decaying court lay in a ragged blanket over the once-pristine stone of Dialle’s throne room. It was a disparaging portent of what was to come if the court didn’t regain its strength . That vigor was tied to the health and happiness of its leaders.

That would be Dialle and I. ’Nuff said?

He didn’t even turn as I approached, though he couldn’t have failed to hear me coming. When I reached him, I touched his back, softly saying his name. His head turned slowly. A gentle smile curved his lips when he saw me. “Hello, my love.”

I looked beyond Dialle’s smile, to the dark pain in his black eyes. His eyes were his most changeable feature. When filled with vigor they swirled with gold and silver. When working for the celestial army they often changed to a clear, ocean blue. It was the feature prophesied for the great unifier. The royal who would eventually merge the dark and the light worlds to create a safe environment on Earth for non-magic humans and magic users alike. He’d realized that prophecy several times over, fighting at my side to beat back the forces of evil that would have destroyed us all. But looking at his handsome face in that moment, his black eyes swirling with a color that looked like blood, I wondered if the man I loved wasn’t facing the greatest evil of all.

An evil that came from within.

“How are you?”

He nodded and turned back to the window. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

Angel City spread across the horizon, glowing as if on fire under the burning sun that dipped below its ragged silhouette. Dusk hovered in the foreground, ready to mute the details of the skyline and embrace the lights that would paint its form once darkness fell. “Yes. I love this view. I always have.”

“Me too.” He shuddered slightly and turned away, pulling me into his arms. For the first time since I’d entered the throne room, he really looked at me. I knew the moment he turned away from his painful thoughts and embraced more pleasant things. His eyes swirled with the purple of passion rather than pain and his sad smile turned heated. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve missed you.” He said the words as if he hadn’t seen me in weeks. My heart took a painful twist and I gave in to the impulse to wrap him close in a hug. “I’ve missed you too, bud.”

The air shimmered and I was suddenly falling backward onto his soft, soft bed, a hot-eyed devil falling over me. I laughed. “You weren’t kidding.”

Since his smile had turned playful, the pain pushed away for the moment, I shoved my worry back and allowed myself to get lost in the pleasure of his touch, his taste and the exquisite feel of his long, hard body against mine.

Dialle’s leather-clad leg skimmed up mine, gently nudging my knees apart as his long-fingered hand covered the vee between my thighs. Heat and lust rolled together in a spiral that suffused me, turning my skin to fire and lifting my pulse until it beat a delighted staccato in my clit.

His beautiful lips found my throat and branded me with possessive heat. He lingered briefly over the place where his mark used to create a powerful link between us and I held my breath as his kisses stuttered...almost as if he’d just remembered it was gone.

But Dialle didn’t delay long, his sharp, white teeth nipped the spot and his tongue came out to lave it in a soothing swirl. I moaned at the jolt of awareness his playful caresses caused in my lower belly, where lust tightened almost painfully. I reached up and tugged his white shirt over one golden shoulder and, opening my lips, layered them over his fragrant skin and tasted him. My eyes dropped closed in ecstasy as his warm, masculine scent rolled through me, bringing my senses to life and infusing me with his powerful essence. I gave in to the urge to suck the delicious skin of his muscular shoulder and he moaned, nipping my throat in response.

“Too many clothes,” I murmured.

In a blink we were skin to skin, writhing against the bed. I might have lost my powers but Dialle still had his, and his ability to remove clothing with just a thought was one of his finer skills, in my humble opinion.

Dialle’s long, thick shaft nudged my belly, and I opened for him, anxious to feel the wonderful pressure of his hard flesh inside me, stretching me wide and stroking delicious caresses over the pleasure center of my body.

Dialle dropped his head and placed a tender kiss on my breastbone, sliding a trail of heat over the mound of my breast and encompassing a perky nipple in moist heat. He sucked hard and the pleasure of it speared through me, taking my breath away.

I reached between us and wrapped his erection in my hand, stroking it in a firm grip and sliding my palm over the sensitive head with each caress . Dialle showed me his enjoyment by biting my breast before soothing it with his tongue and then moving to the other nipple.

Moisture touched my palm as I fondled him. The drop of pre-come lubricated my gliding strokes, allowing me to increase the pressure of my hand around his rigid shaft. Dialle groaned against my nipple and I arched into his mouth, desperate for the feel of his lips and teeth on my hungry skin.

My legs wrapped around him and I lifted my hips, pressing against his hard shaft. “Make love to me, Dialle. Now. Please?”

He rose to his knees between my legs. His strong hands wrapped around the back of my thighs and lifted. His beautiful shaft danced between us, its thick tip glistening with hopeful moisture. My hand reached out, longing to touch him, but he moved away. “No, Astra. Look at me.”

I lifted my gaze, finding the wildly swirling magic of his beautiful eyes focused on me. I felt their pull immediately, felt myself falling under their spell, and a delightful sense of awareness rippled through me as I let myself succumb to their magic. My body tightened like the string on a bow, every muscle quivering with anticipation. The magic spun and called, newly infused with startling gold as well as the vibrant colors of passion. My eyes opened wider, seeking more of the magic pulling on my senses. Heat pulsed at my core, my clit throbbed in desperate need, and pressure made the pulsating awareness grow.

He entered my channel slowly, in a rigidly controlled stroke, until his groin met mine and his balls pressed warmly against my flesh. Still the magic held me, moving soft fingers of pleasure over my skin. I felt as if every cell in my body had opened wide and waited to be filled with the bliss only Dialle could give me.

I was an empty vessel, needing only his touch to overflow with contentment.

My fingers clenched on his arms, like claws, grasping as if I were afraid letting go would send me spinning off into space. I thought the loss of his body might just kill me. If I’d been an empty husk before, losing Dialle would finish the process, until I dried up and just blew away.

Dialle’s hands grasped my hips, holding me firmly in place. His gaze held mine, like an anchor. He drove into me with a slow, steady stroke. Each controlled thrust sent a wave of bliss sliding through me, exploding outward to create mini-explosions over every inch of my sensitized skin.

My nipples hardened to the point of pain. The knot of need in my sexual core tightened, and my breathing became more taut with every thrust. Lust intensified in my lower belly...drawing my energy toward the time when it would all come together in a violent wash of ecstasy.

Still his gaze held me, sending me deep within my mind to the place where only lust and love lived. To a place where worry was crushed beneath an avalanche of bright rapture. I clutched him tighter, feeling the pleasure welling up inside my chest, choking, terrifying, until it broke and sent cool bliss sliding through me.