When Darkness Ends

“Damn,” Dante drawled. “It was ballsy of him to come here.”


“My thought exactly,” Styx agreed, clearly still holding a grudge against the imp who’d helped to destroy the previous Anasso.

“Did you kill him?” Dante asked.

“I threw him into the dungeon.” Styx grimaced. “I wanted to know why he’d risked his life to spy on me.”

Cyn hid a smile. There was a time when Styx would have cut out the bastard’s heart without giving a shit what information he might have.

Becoming the leader of the vampires had given him at least a small amount of restraint.

A very, very small amount.

“Did you get answers?”

Styx gave a sharp shake of his head. “When I returned from your lair he was dead.”

There was a collective sound of astonishment.

It would be easier to sneak into a harpy’s nursery than Styx’s dungeon.

“How?” Cyn asked.

Styx flashed his fangs. “Magic.”

“Is that even possible?” Dante muttered, referring to the hexes that were etched into the walls.

Styx shrugged. “That’s what the Pestilent Prince claimed.”

Dante lifted his brows. “Pestilent?”

“Magnus.” Styx’s tone revealed his opinion of the Chatri royal. “He said that witches used to have the ability to activate a death spell in an assassin that remained dormant until they set it off with a word of power.”

“You think a witch killed the imp?” Cyn asked with a frown. It didn’t make sense to send an imp that was already on Styx’s shit list to try and kill him.

An assassin had to blend into the shadows, not piss off the mark and get themselves thrown into the nearest dungeon.

Of course, the creature might have just been there to spy on Styx.

“I don’t know,” the king admitted. “I assume it could have been anyone capable of magic.”

Cyn glanced toward Styx’s lair. “Where’s the prince?”

“He was supposed to track whoever had killed the imp then return here.” Styx’s jaw tightened. “He never showed.”

Cyn shrugged. It was hard to give a shit what happened to the annoying twit.

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“He has Tonya with him.” Styx’s lips twisted into a humorless smile. “Viper has threatened to have me disemboweled if she isn’t returned.”

Cyn glanced toward the silent woman who’d moved to stand at his side.

“Would Magnus kidnap an imp?”

She shook her head. “Absolutely not. A Chatri male is trained from birth to treat females as mindless creatures, but they would never, ever bring harm to one. It would go against everything he believes in to hold her against her will.”

Cyn grudgingly nodded. He might think Magnus was a silly ass, but he didn’t truly believe he’d hurt Tonya. And he doubted that Styx did either.

He studied the Anasso’s grim expression. “You’re worried about more than Tonya.”

“I don’t like coincidences,” Styx rasped. “You were nearly killed by a human magic-user and now one has just destroyed my prisoner before I could question him.”

“You think this is connected to what’s happening with the Oracles?” Cyn demanded.

“I intend to find out.”

Cyn knew Styx was right.

It could be nothing, but they couldn’t afford not to discover if there was a connection.

“What do you need?”

“I want to find the prince.”

Before Cyn could answer, Fallon was walking toward the center of the street, her expression distracted.

“He was here,” she abruptly announced. “Along with a fairy and . . . a magic-user.”

Styx joined her, bending down to study the faint marks on the road that revealed where a portal had been opened.

“Human,” he murmured, glancing up at Fallon. “Can you trace him?”

Cyn was instantly at Fallon’s side, his arm wrapping protectively around her shoulders as he glared at his king.

“Are you out of your bloody mind?”

Styx slowly straightened, holding up a hand as he sensed Cyn’s barely restrained fury.

“Easy, brother.”

Brother, his ass.

“The Oracles already put her in danger,” he said, his voice flat with warning. “I’m not going to allow you to put her in even more.”

Fallon clicked her tongue with impatience. “Isn’t that my decision to make?”

Cyn kept his gaze locked on Styx.

“No.” Blunt. Uncompromising.

Levet sucked in an audible breath. “Sacre bleu. I thought you were supposed to be some female killer?”

Cyn sent the tiny pest a furious glare. “What did you say?”

“Lady killer, idiot,” Dante corrected.

Levet wrinkled his snout. “Either way, he is remarkably incompetent.”

Wicked humor glinted in Dante’s silver eyes. “Can’t argue with that.”

Cyn couldn’t either. Especially when Fallon was roughly pulling away from him.

“Princess—”

She faced him squarely, her hands on her hips. “Do you intend to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

He grimaced. Holy shite. His every instinct was screaming at him to lock her away so she couldn’t be hurt, but he’d be damned if he acted like her father.

“No.”