Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress #2) - J.L. Weil Page 0,107

anger, it isn’t yours. Resist her.” Ashor’s warning was more clear and persistent in my head, expanding the crack in my hatred.

Resist who? What was he trying to tell me? If I only had a minute to think, but I barely had time to process what my body was doing.

What are you waiting for? Kill her. The menacing voice slithered into my thoughts.

Then I understood. It wasn’t my demon that was urging me to murder a demon queen, not entirely. It was the bitch of darkness herself. I should have recognized the signature of her magic. I had once before felt it weave through my pores, into my bones. Verena’s gifts were illusions, but Kali’s were just as poisonous and deadly. Perhaps more so. She implanted ideas, could force me to believe things, to do things, like murder a queen and get myself killed in the process. Unlike Verena, who spun visual lies, Kali’s deceit was of the mind—control.

I just bet she would love to see Verena tear me into shreds right in front of my mate. That was a new level of torture. Creative, I’d give her that, but neither of these demon queens understood the lengths Ashor would go to protect me.

My gaze shot from Verena to Ashor. Cold rage flickered over his features, turning the handsome face into one of predatory beauty. “You are no longer her prisoner. I refuse to let you be her prey. And I will always stand in her way if it means protecting you.”

I was no longer a prisoner.

I was not prey.

I was the hunter.

His words shattered the hold Kali had on me—or perhaps I did that on my own as the chains on my demon broke free.

A flash of pain ripped through muscles, bones, and tissue. It lasted only seconds, but in those brief moments, I felt every change my body went through. My canines lengthened inside my mouth, the sharp points touching my tongue like Ashor’s did when he shifted, but that was where our similarities ended. No wings sprang from my back. My senses had always been heightened, but now, even more so. I couldn’t find the words to describe what it was like, mostly because the situation didn’t allow me to analyze the shift.

“I was beginning to wonder if you had any demon inside,” Verena sneered, as if I wasn’t adequate enough to be in her court. The joke was on her. I didn’t want to be a part of any court in Hell.

Raw and savage power filtered in a rush through me, and the flames surrounded Verena, erupting like a geyser of darkness that sent the queen flying backward into a wall.

I don’t know who was shocked more. Me, the Queen of Envy, or Ashor, but it only took an evil laugh from behind us to wipe the incredulous expressions off our faces. Kali was a deceitful little bitch. And someday, I was going to run her through with a blade.

If I survived the night.

“You had that coming, Verena dear. You really did, thinking you stood a chance against me.” Kali laughed again as the Queen of Envy composed herself, radiating undiluted white fury.

She wasn’t the only one pissed off. Icy wrath crawled through me, and I curled my fingers, tightening them around— What the fuck?

Where had that come from?

My fingers gripped a blade. Not like the daggers I had at home. This one was made of shadows and unforgiving magic.

Verena lifted a hand, producing a gold spear of thorns, and my heart plummeted. I had to do something. I had to stop her. If she managed to sink the weapon into Ashor, she could kill his soul—kill a part of me. We were tied together, body and soul. But for me, it was more than just the physical and emotional pain losing my mate would cause me. It was the thought of Ashor gone that caused everything inside me to panic.

The Queen of Envy flipped the gold spear in her hand so it was over her head, and the long, spiked handle gleamed through the darkness. Verena’s power, like Kali’s, was ancient and struck with precision as she hurled the spear straight for Ashor.

A low, vicious snarl vibrated close by. It was insignificant, because nothing mattered but my mate.

I knew I would never be able to stop the spear, not when he was staring at me and I was too far. This couldn’t possibly be the end. Ashor was too damn arrogant and prideful to die.