Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress #2) - J.L. Weil Page 0,49

to stop him.”

“I’m going to fucking try.”

Cayden eyes were glowing emeralds. “This is where my journey ends. I can’t go through the gate with you.”

“I know,” I replied reluctantly. It surprised me that I wasn’t ready to let Cayden leave. I didn’t know what waited for me on the other side of the gate, and perhaps that was where my trepidation stemmed from.

His eyes shifted to my crown. “Tell the prince that I said, ‘you’re welcome.’”

I gave the demon a funny look.

“He’ll know what it means.”

“Will you be okay?” I asked. The queen was bound to make him pay dearly for his betrayal.

“Don’t tell me you’re worried about me?” He winked, the corners of his mouth twitching. There was the facetious demon I knew.

“She is going to make your life hell.” I pointed out the obvious.

He backed away, grinning. “It wouldn’t be Hell if she didn’t.” Then he was gone, the mist devouring him, and me never getting the chance to thank him.

Exhaling, I stared at the entrance of the underworld, and doubts crept in. Was I doing the right thing going after Ashor and against his mother? Was I sentencing us all to death? I chewed on my lower lip while I had an epic stare down with the Gate of Envy.

“Lex?” Chase prompted, brows lifted. “What is it?”

“Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts now,” Travis moaned.

I was, but that wasn’t what I had to say. “No. There’s something I need to tell you.” Before I took the final step into the underworld, I had to get this off my chest.

Chase’s silver eyes narrowed. “And you decided seconds before you cross over into Hell would be an appropriate time?”

“When is there ever a good time to tell my family that a part of the Prince of Darkness’s power attached itself to my soul?” I blurted out.

Silence followed and lingered in the air as they each processed my outburst. Angel blinked, the first one to understand what I was trying to tell them. “What are you saying? That you can… what? Summon shadows? Spit darkness? Or rain night upon the earth?”

Those were pretty damn good theories. “Maybe,” I admitted. “To be frank, I don’t know the extent of what I can do, but when our soulbond snapped into place, a fragment of Ashor’s power transferred to me. I only just recently became aware of it.”

“How long?” Chase demanded. “How long have you known or suspected?”

“Shortly after I came home,” I said with regret.

“And you never said anything,” Angel said, pain clouding her crimson eyes. She was my best friend. We were supposed to tell each other everything. The good and the bad.

“Why wouldn’t you come to us?” Emma asked.

“I didn’t want to involve any of you more than I already have.”

Emma wasn’t having it. “When are you going to get it into that head of yours that what happens to one of us, happens to us all?”

If the situation was flipped, I would have said the same thing. I shrugged. “I can’t control it. Not really. But Ashor, he can—”

“Hello, luv.”

13

Like synchronized swimmers, five heads whipped toward the direction of Ashor’s silky voice. Before my gaze even landed on him, the sound of that ancient dialect poured into my veins like liquid darkness, sending a chill through my body. I raked my gaze over him, searching for injuries, but he stood as arrogant as ever, leaning a shoulder against the other side of the gate. His midnight hair hung over the side of his face as shadows draped over his form. He kicked the gate open and raised a brow as if to say, are you coming in, or are you just going to stare at me all night?

I darted through the gate and was in Ashor’s face, my repressed anger and hurt bubbling to the surface. “Don’t ‘Hello, luv’ me!” I shrieked, poking him in his firm chest. My finger more or less bounced off. “Really? That’s the first thing you say to me after leaving me. You selfish, arrogant, prince of asshole prick.”

The stupid grin on his lips only widened. “I missed you too.”

“God. You are so frustrating. Why do I even bother? I don’t know if I want to hit you or…”

“Or what?” he prompted, his hands curving around my hips and pulling me closer.

He didn’t play fair. “Kick you in the dick,” I said with smug satisfaction, crossing my hands over my chest before I got any funny ideas about touching him. Nope. Not going