Kissed by a Dark Prince (Volume 1) (34 page)

Olivia expected the agony to render her unconscious but the pain faded as she breathed, and she swore she could feel her bones mending and damaged flesh knitting back together. The bond had made her stronger. It had made her immortal.

She lay on the floor, buying herself time to recover fully and fearing another blast of that power might just test the limits of her new regenerative abilities and knock her out.

Poor Vail. He had done the only thing he could in order to stop Kordula from killing Loren and establishing herself as ruler of the elf kingdom, turning on his own beloved people and turning his brother against him, and he had been paying for it ever since. Kordula had been using him to attack the elves, and other kingdoms, and Olivia had no doubts that he had fought Kordula every step of the way too, only bringing more of her wrath down upon him.

Vail had done all he could to stop Kordula from fulfilling her plan to seize the elf kingdom for her own.

“Now you want to use me to make Loren suffer because he almost killed you.” Olivia pushed herself up and got to her feet, coming to face Kordula.

“Not just Loren.”

Olivia frowned at that admission. She wanted Vail to suffer too, and he would if Kordula made him hurt Olivia and in turn destroy his brother.

“Why?” Olivia said and wondered if Vail was with Loren now, fighting him or fighting Kordula’s command to kill him. “Loren told me you attacked the kingdom after he almost killed you, and you caused vast devastation and a huge death toll. Isn’t that vengeance enough?”

Kordula’s red lips compressed. “I used the power of the blood of almost forty warlocks to give me the strength to bring hell down on the elves and your bastard prince, and it would have worked but the battle left me depleted, and Vail used that as his chance to teleport me away. He sacrificed much of his power to seal the access points in the elf realm to me and he learned his lesson... he paid in blood for what he had done to me.”

Olivia repeated everything Kordula had said in her head, piecing it together with what she had read about sorcery. Kordula could gain power through drinking blood. How much of Vail’s blood had she drunk in order to restore her strength and punish him for daring to seal the elf kingdom to her?

No wonder Loren hadn’t seen his brother for centuries before the night that had brought them together.

“It was your idea to find me.” Olivia stared at Kordula, reading the fluctuations in her expression and her body language, and using her new super senses to detect even the most minute change in her heartbeat.

“I had wanted to find you but had thought it impossible, as there was every chance you were an elf, locked in a kingdom I could not enter.” Kordula moved a step forwards and then she was right in front of Olivia, her hands closing around Olivia’s throat. Kordula drove her backwards, into the pale blue wall behind her, pinning her against it. “Imagine my joy when Vail discovered your location.”

Kordula’s eyes burned red around the edges and ribbons of crimson and black rushed up her arms towards Olivia’s throat. Her heart leaped in her chest, pounding wildly, and she grabbed Kordula’s arms and kicked with all of her might, trying to break free before the magic could touch her.

Olivia cried out as the first thread burrowed into her flesh, searing her, the pain so intense that darkness crowded her mind and she could no longer feel even a hazy connection to Loren.

She screwed her eyes shut and tears streamed down her cheeks as another spear of Kordula’s power penetrated her skin and whipped through her, the pain debilitating, stealing all of her strength and leaving her unable to fight back.

Kordula’s voice broke through the darkness pulling Olivia under.

“Imagine my joy when I make you bleed before your bastard prince and watch him suffer.”

Olivia desperately clung to consciousness as fear of what might happen if she succumbed to Kordula’s terrible power rushed through her and focused everything she had on Loren and her love for him, determined to re-establish the link between them.

It was hazy but she felt him.

He was in pain too.

Vail had found him.

Before she could figure out a way to strengthen the link, another barb pierced her skin and darkness flooded her mind.

L
oren led Bleu and the demon king, Thorne, away from the Archangel facility where Vail had snatched Olivia, concerned that his brother would attack again and kill the hunters and staff. Archangel had no part in his battle with his brother and didn’t deserve to end up dragged into it because Loren had lingered there. He would lead his brother somewhere away from humans and take him down.

Although, escaping one human had proved impossible.

Sable had insisted that she come with them, pointing out that Olivia was her friend and a member of Archangel, and someone from their company should be with them to act on her behalf. Loren considered himself as acting on Olivia’s behalf, but Sable had refused to listen. She had practically forced him to agree to bring her with them by turning to Bleu and demanding he teleport her.

That had sent Thorne into a dark rage that had simmered below the surface of his red eyes, but hadn’t gone unnoticed by Loren. The male felt protective and possessive of Sable. It was not a good sign.

Demons were notoriously violent and aggressive when it came to their fated females, worse than elves, and with good reason.

There were no female demons in the world and a demon could only produce offspring with his mate.

It was a method born of a blood curse placed on the heads of all demons by the Devil when the demons had dared to rise up against him, claiming a large expanse of land in Hell for their own and forming kingdoms. The Devil had made them pay for their insubordination by wiping out all female demons and making it difficult for the males to keep up their numbers because they would have to seek out their fated female in order to procreate, and it was hard for demons to move around in the mortal world. Their horns, fangs, claws and size tended to draw attention.

Loren still wasn’t sure whether Sable was Bleu’s fated female, meaning there was a possibility she was one of the rare fabled females who potentially had two eternal mates. The last thing Loren needed right now was Bleu ending up in a competition with Thorne for her affection.

He had a brother to kill, a mate to rescue, and had agreed to side with Thorne in a war against another demon kingdom. That alone meant that Thorne and Bleu would be around each other for days or weeks. Loren didn’t want to imagine how dire things would be should they both be Sable’s mate.

Thorne stood opposite him and Sable, his eyes glowing faintly in the near-darkness of the rectangular park, the wrecked Archangel building where Loren had met Olivia as his backdrop.

Bleu stood a short distance away, close to the larger male, his gaze on Sable as she checked her crossbow and the assortment of blades and other weapons strapped to her body over her black combat clothing.

Loren wanted to remind both males that the huntress was not the reason they were here and felt like warning them that if they allowed Olivia to come to harm because of their mutual desire for Sable had led them to bicker over her, he would murder them both.

Sable finished checking her weapons and kept her crossbow handy, the loaded bolt gleaming wickedly in the light from the surrounding buildings.

“You think he’ll show?” she said, her black eyebrows pinned high on her forehead as she looked up at Loren and her golden eyes a dark shade of amber.

He nodded and formed his armour over his fingers, arming himself with his claws, and then held his hand out before him. The air shimmered and his black blade appeared in his grip.

Bleu did the same with his sword and then swept his hand over it, his purple gaze focused on the blade. It transformed into his favoured double-ended spear and Sable stared in fascination. It was probably the first time she had seen Bleu perform that trick.

Thorne snorted and held his hand out, his palm facing the grass. The glowing red pommel of a sword rose out of the ground, followed by a long leather-bound hilt, and a wide steel blade. It edged upwards towards the demon king’s hand and seemed endless as it rose. Bleu arched an eyebrow. Sable looked stunned.

Loren wondered just how big the demon’s sword was.

The blade showed no sign of tapering to a point.

The pommel reached Thorne’s large hand and he turned it, running his palm down the length of the black hilt, and then pulled the point free of the earth. The broadsword stood almost as tall as Thorne’s shoulder, the height of Sable. A formidable weapon.

Bleu did not look impressed when Thorne grinned at him, revealing fangs, a cocky edge to it.

Loren could almost see the mood between the two deteriorating and turning into a competition to gain Sable’s attention.

The Third King shoved the tip of the huge sword into the ground and casually leaned on the guard, his grin holding.

Until Sable went back to checking her weapons, a disinterested look on her face.

“I’m bored of waiting.” Sable scowled at Loren. “Isn’t there something you can do to make your brother show up?”

“Not really. He will come, and when he does, I will make him pay for taking Olivia.”

“Not until we have her, big guy. Remember that. If Vail pops in for a chat, we have to find out where she is before we cut off his head. Okay?”

Loren didn’t need the reminder, not the one about his need to find Olivia’s location because he could no longer sense her, and certainly not the one about the fact he was about to kill his only brother. He had finally lost all hope and desire of saving him. Vail would pay for what he had done and if he had harmed Olivia in any way, Loren would extract that payment slowly and painfully.

A familiar shiver went down Loren’s spine.

“He comes.” Loren readied his blade and turned on his heel, his gaze seeking Vail.

Vail stood where the oak tree had fallen during their last fight, dressed in his black armour, a crazed glimmer in his purple eyes. He crouched and touched the sawdust-littered scarred earth, a frown on his face. Loren felt the pain too. It echoed within him, a thousand hot needles that pricked his bones and dulled his senses. They had both harmed nature in this park and she still bore her teeth at them, her wrath yet to fade. The oak had been ancient, several hundred years old. It would be a long time before nature forgave them for their sin of felling it.

His brother rose to his feet and met his gaze across the tract of dewy grass.

“Where is my ki’ara, Vail?” Loren bit out, unable to keep his anger and pain from his voice.

Vail looked away, a sombre air about him, a marked difference from how savage he had looked when he had taken Olivia from the Archangel cafeteria.

It was times like this, when Vail looked much as he had done before meeting Kordula, that Loren felt he stood a chance of getting through to his younger brother.

“I need her back, Vail. Please. What I did was wrong, but it does not make what you do now right.” Loren flexed his fingers around his blade, preparing himself.

“Speaking with him isn’t going to solve anything,” Sable spat, aimed her compact crossbow and loosed the bolt.

It flew directly at Vail’s head.

Loren’s heart hitched.

Vail calmly raised a hand and deflected it at the last second, using his telekinesis to divert its course. The bolt zipped into the bushes and trees lining the edge of the park.

“Give me my friend back you bastard!” Sable drew two vicious-looking long knives from the harness around her shoulders and ran at Vail.

Fool.

Vail gave her a bored look, flicked his wrist and sent her flying through the air. She shrieked and flailed, dropping her blades. Bleu growled and sprinted, moving in a blur of speed. He pressed down hard on his final step and pushed off, leaping high into the air and catching Sable. He landed safely and Sable stopped shrieking, and instantly pushed out of his arms.

“I’ll kill him for that,” she barked and Loren signalled Bleu, silently instructing him to hold her back before she got herself killed. Olivia would never forgive him if that happened, and she would never forgive herself either.

Loren looked over his shoulder at Thorne. Would the Third King’s plan really work? There was only one way of finding out.

Thorne nodded, his wild dark chestnut hair shifting with the action and falling down to caress his brow. His irises glowed red around the edges, he pulled his sword free of the earth, and wielded it with both hands. He roared, the sound shaking the earth and drawing Vail’s focus to him.

Vail scowled at the demon, snarled and held his hands out. The air before them shimmered and his two shorter blades appeared in his grasp.

Thorne charged him, each heavy footfall rocking the ground beneath Loren’s feet, his sword held at his side, pointed behind him, ready for him to swing when he was close enough.

Vail hissed, his ears flattening against the side of his head.

Thorne lashed out in the demon tongue. “You will pay for what you did, little wretch.”

Those words confirmed the rumours. Vail and Kordula had been the ones to kill the previous Third King and his queen. Thorne’s father and mother.

Thorne swung hard and Vail blocked with both of his swords. The demon king’s broadsword crashed into them and Vail grunted as the force of the blow drove him backwards, his footing slipping on the damp grass, leaving long muddy tracts in it.

Vail shoved forwards and Loren didn’t give him a chance to recover or attack Thorne. He launched himself towards his brother, throwing his free hand forwards at the same time, using a telekinetic blow to send him tumbling across the grass. Vail lost his weapons and eventually came to a halt over twenty metres away, covered in grass and mud. He shakily pushed himself up and growled as he came to his feet.

Vail called his blades and they whipped into his hands. He stared across the dimly lit park to Loren, breathing hard, his eyes laced with pain that Loren could feel in him as the connection they shared via blood grew stronger again.