Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,40
within. Despite the fortress threatening to collapse around them at any moment, this corner of it seemed eerily peaceful.
The eye of the storm.
Donning the mask she always wore when in his presence, Ashlu inhaled deeply and pushed the door open.
A tall, dark-haired boy with man-child features and long, lean limbs stared arrestingly at her as she stepped across the threshold. As if he’d been waiting for her all this time. Most likely he had been.
They regarded each other for several silent beats.
There was a powerful stillness in the boy, his obsidian eyes glittering intelligently, his gaze keen and penetrating.
Such an unnatural creature, Ashlu thought.
Good thing she was an accomplished actress, or her profound mistrust and fear of him, someone so much more powerful than she, might bleed through her thick, invisible mask and contaminate the adoring expression on her face.
When you kept a weapon that could raze your enemies to the ground with a thought, you might be recognized as the strongest ruler of all. But that same weapon could be used against you, as well, especially if it had a mind of its own.
Ashlu was always very careful in how she handled the young Elemental. Thus far, he had not questioned her actions and motives. But the older he grew, the less easily manipulated he became.
The Consul was right. She could only play on his emotions, not appeal to his logic. No matter how powerful one was, “love” was a blind spot the afflicted individual could never overcome.
“Were you stretching the extent of your powers again, my little prince?” Ashlu inquired with a fond smile, letting her eyes warm as if the sight of him gave her cheer.
He didn’t repulse her, no matter her mistrust and fear, that was a fact. The Earth Elemental was growing up to be quite alarmingly beautiful. Even amongst the perfection of Immortals, he stood out. And even at only eleven summers, he possessed more raw, masculine gravitas than those hundreds of years older than he.
He didn’t answer her immediately, watching her intently with those fathomless dark eyes.
“I am not little, any more,” he said in a voice that was strangely erotic, on the verge of deepening into a man’s rough husk, but still retaining the purity of an innocent child.
“No, I can see that,” she tipped her lips up and beamed at him. “You are as tall as I am already. I know you will grow much taller in another few summers.”
“Will you wait to Claim me then?” he got directly to the point. “Is that why you take other males to your bed? Because I am still not enough to please you?”
She walked into the room and circled him slowly, glancing her fingers lightly across his shoulders and chest.
When he was smaller, she used to sift her fingers through his ebony curls while she hugged him to her bosom as a loving mother would. She doted on him and carved time out of every day to spend with him. Playing, dreaming, making him laugh, feeding him food and drink from her own hands.
Was it any wonder that he loved her unconditionally? His beautiful, magical Dark Queen.
He never suspected that it was all pretense.
“So you come all the way to the north tower to pout and vent? Setting the whole fortress in an uproar?” she rebuked quietly, keeping her smile, showing that she wasn’t truly angry.
He was her darling little prince, after all. She could never stay angry with him for long. At least, this was what she led him to believe.
“I am not doing it on purpose. I cannot help if my emotions create the quakes.”
“Then you must learn to control your emotions,” she said, coming around to face him, standing toe to toe, eye to eye.
He gazed deeply into her, searching.
She hoped he wouldn’t see through her façade. She’d always been careful around him, always showing him affection and care, never a hint of what she really felt. Which was disdain at best, derision at worst. He was a necessary evil. A means to an end.
Though she had to admit—he was incredibly beautiful for all that.
“It hurts me when you are with them,” he said finally.
Simply.
Dark Goddess above, but he was naïve. So terribly, deplorably innocent.
“What would you have me do?” she murmured, smoothing her palm gently along his face.
He leaned into her touch like a sunflower seeking the sun.
“I am a grown female. I have needs. Wait another few years, and I shall be glad for you to service them,