Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress #2) - J.L. Weil Page 0,67

not helpless.” Especially now. There was something about our bond that was different. Ashor’s darkness was a part of me.

“Oh, I know just how lethal you can be.”

“I can’t sit here and do nothing,” I retorted. “I will find a way with or without you.”

Ashor swore low and viciously, and the first stirrings of victory fluttered within me. “If you insist on putting yourself in danger, you’re going to need your demon. Are you prepared to not just accept that part of yourself, but unleash it? Embrace it? You’re in the big leagues now.”

Did that mean he was relenting? Images rose of Ashor in his full demon: glorious silky black wings, razor sharp canines, and the glowing eyes. Our human side prevented us from fully shifting into a demon like my mother or Kali. A Divisa’s transformation kept traits of their human side, but which traits differed for each of us. I was half afraid I’d grow horns.

I sucked on my lower lip, weighing the consequences. Giving in to the one thing I’d worked my entire life to suppress went against everything I stood for. I would essentially become the very thing I hunted.

Could I do that?

Would it make me a hypocrite?

What would my family think?

“Can you promise me that I will be able to shift back at will?” I asked.

He nodded. “With proper training and full acceptance, you will work together, not against one another. You won’t lose yourself, but you will gain something so powerful.”

I held his gaze, letting him feel the truth behind my words as I said, “I don’t want more power.”

He smiled crookedly. “That’s what everyone says until they’ve tasted it.”

“I have tasted it,” I informed him. My mind went to the dark flames. They frightened me, what I could do with them. My flames didn’t burn like Angel’s, but sucked the very life out of a person, soul and all.

Ashor tilted his head, regarding me in a way that made me feel as if he could see straight through all my barriers. “Seems someone has a secret of her own,” he mused.

No more secrets. Not anymore. That was part of the sacrifice of being mated. I took a gulp of my cooling tea and set the mug back onto the table and announced, “I have something to show you.”

A single dark brow inched up. “I’m intrigued.”

Summoning the unusual shadowy flames inside another queen’s home felt a bit… weird, and kind of naughty. “I don’t know how it works,” I started off explaining as I concentrated on that dark cloud inside me. “Sometimes it just happens.”

Ashor sat up straighter, watching me intently as I rapped my fingers on the table. “What just happens, luv?”

My eyes found his. “The flames.” And as if they heard me call their name, the darkness kindled inside me. I closed my eyes, centering all my attention on the growing seed in the heart of my chest, crumbs of darkness that cast themselves into my veins. My demon giggled with glee as the flames spread, and I fought to keep a handle on both before they spun out of my control. It took all my focus, my brows pinched together as I gripped the edge of the chair.

It was Ashor sucking in a breath that snapped me out from that inward place I’d gone.

I felt them before my eyes opened, the wintery chill the darkness emitted playing over my hand. My gaze landed immediately on Ashor, who was gaping at me with fascination. Sooty flames danced on each of my fingertips, their coldness tingling under my skin.

“Impressive,” he whispered, lifting a hand to run it through the fire as he reached across the table. The flames burned brighter and clung to him as he moved his fingers back and forth.

I swallowed. “You would think so.”

“The darkness troubles you,” he murmured.

More or less. Unlike him, I hadn’t grown up enwreathed in this kind of power. It was foreign and yet was like having a slice of Ashor with me at all times. If that even made sense. “How is this possible?” I asked.

He gazed at the flickering darkness another moment or two before responding. “Not everything in this world has rational answers. But,” he added, seeing I was about to protest, “if I had to hypothesize, a part of power adhered itself to you when your soul attached to mine and mine to yours.”

I lifted my hand, watching as the black flames left ribbons in the air. “Did you know that would