I sent her a silent snarl. "That was part of your plan, wasn't it?"
She grinned. "Clever shifter, smart and handsome…you must get it from your mother’s side." Gliding past me she stared out over the seas, the sun dipping into the water. "It really was a beautiful view."
I stared at her back, imagining my claws wrenching her cowardly spine straight out from her body.
Her red eyes gleamed sinisterly over her shoulder, as she looked back at me. "It was the last view your mother had, you know. She was standing right where you are now…before I killed her."
I lunged, unable to hold back. Deirdre's laughter echoed around me and the picturesque ocean scene spun as I fell to my knees upon a shallow grave of diseased ridden earth with my mothers dead unseeing eyes looking up past me. She was barely recognizable between the burns and the rotten decay where she had been cruelly tossed away without any remorse or respect even in death.
And yet, I could not pull myself away from the horror of it all. Frozen, I stared down at her lifeless body, bile rising upwards and burning the back of my throat.
"I thought you might like to visit your mother's grave, since you never did get to say goodbye. She did make quite a charming decoration hanging on my city gates, finally giving purpose to her pathetic life, a warning of what would happen to any and all who opposed me."
I couldn't look away, Deirdre's words like a distant echo in my hallowed mind.
Then the image of her blurred, her body disappearing only to be replaced by the shredded remains of my soulmate.
"No," I choked.
Remnant's flawless pale skin was marred by hideous slashes and puncture wounds, dark red blood splattered across her skin, and her throat had been completely slit open, blood still pouring out of the mortal wound.
"My my, someone lost their temper," Deirdre tutted behind me. "I dare say she had it coming. All that time you spent caring for her, protecting her, loving her even…and still she betrays you? I do not blame you for snapping but I do know what it is like to have a soulmate who betrays you, sometimes love simply cannot change nature."
Roaring, I stood to face her. "You are insinuating I would do this to my mate!" My body trembled while I prayed feverishly for the universe to change its laws and to allow me just this one time to rid it of this evil filth.
"Thereis no insinuation…you will do this." Her eyes gleamed. "You will not be able to stop yourself…especially since Remnant Dark is the reason your mother is dead."
I threw my head back and laughed. If this fucking cunt expected her words to do more damage and break me so easily than she was sorely underestimating me…which meant when the time came she would be an easier prey than I ever expected and I—-I was a patient predator.
Waving at her while still laughing, I turned my back on the pathetic creature. Not understanding at all why the fuck the ancients put a crown on her head in the first place. "You can play your fucking games by yourself, pathetic goddess of nothing." Walking away from the image of my slain soulmate and the furious glare of the manipulating fae behind me, I stated, "now how the fuck do I get out of this place? You bore me."
Chapter 12
Myeyesshotopenthe moment I left Deirdre behind in the spirit realm. Blinking up at the twilight sky, I allowed the soothing moonlight to steady my pounding heart, unsure of what was worse. The nightmare memories of my soulmate’s screams or the decaying of my mother in an unmarked grave.
Next to me, my cub snored adoringly, her heartbeat soft and steady in her peaceful sleep. There was no indication that she suffered the same dreadful sleep as I but there was for her mother…who was absent from the bed, her own soft breaths no longer adding to the melodious sound that seemed to become my new heartbeat.
Immediately my gaze searched within the room, finding it empty as shadows crept across the wall. Sniffing, I scented the air, knowing my soulmate was not far as her scent was still strong. My eyes fell on the balcony that was across the room, semi transparent black glass blocking the tantalizing silhouette of my mate.
Easing myself carefully from Riella's side, I stiffened with gritted teeth when she stirred then rolled away from me, trailing all the covers with her. Smiling softly, I was transfixed by her sweetness cocooned in soft bed sheets, her dark hair spilling across a bed made of clouds, her cherub face from which tiny snores escaped was what blessings were made of.
Gently, I pulled the bed sheet down under her chin to allow her to breathe easier and left her to her peaceful sleep. Padding across the moonlit room, darkness danced with each prowling step I took before I stepped through the enchanted glass barrier out into the night. A comet burned brightly overhead, highlighting the gorgeous figure of Remnant as if she was just beamed down from the skies for me to soak in her splendor. She was in her element here—her long blue black hair flowing around her in silky straight strands, calling for me to run my hands through them just like I had at dinner while her exposed legs peeked out from the billowing night shirt she wore. Everything about her standing here was a fucking tease, beckoning me to reach out and touch that soft moonlit skin.
I shivered with sudden passionate need that had nothing to do with the night breeze that was neither cold nor warm. If it wasn't for the sinful desire that just the sight of my soulmate caused, I would have said that the temperature was peaceful…relaxing even—the kind of lazy happiness that sated lovers could sit together in for hours never wanting anything more from its dark caress.
"I couldn't sleep," Remnant whispered, sensing my presence, her arms hugging her body, forcing the black silk shirt to ride higher up her legs, just before the delicious curves of her ass met her thighs.
I inhaled her lily scent deeply and burned it deep into my mind before I shoved my raging desire down and prowled, closing the space between us. Circling my arms around her small frame, my body engulfed hers, and I relished in the way she submitted into me. It was powerful and sweet at the same time, especially when a shaky sigh escaped her lips.
Dropping my mouth to her soft hair, I breathed against the strands. "Nightmares?"
Her fingertips traced along my forearm that rested over her chest, drawing swirls along my skin making me shiver. "Not since we solidified our bond…I keep waiting for the panic to start anew but it has not. What plagues me is something entirely different.” Her confession ended in a soft whisper and I knew then this was difficult for her. To open up and speak about her fears.
I squeezed her tightly to me, trying to permeate my own strength into her. "This is likely the only sleep any of us will get for some time, little umbra. What remedy can I conjure so that you can be sleeping restfully in our bed?"
Her head fell back into my chest and a worried frown creased her forehead while we both stared out into the exposed cosmos. "I could say the same to you, shifter. I know that your sleep just now was anything but restful. I can feel your fear and unease in our bond too, Emon. It's Deirdre, she has come to you in the spirit realm hasn’t she?"
I hummed, turning my nose into her hair and inhaling her scent to burn away the image of her dead body, her throat torn open by animalistic claws. "Yes," I breathed.
