Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress #2) - J.L. Weil Page 0,78

I had been unable to sit still for an hour now, pacing the common area of our suite.

Ashor was lying on the sofa, staring out into the large window. Day was coming to a close, giving off the barest of light as night peeked along the edge of the horizon. “Days. Weeks. Years.”

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, I sprawled myself out on top of him, tracing the lines of his blood oath mark on his arm. I needed a distraction, something to take my mind off the waiting. “She can’t possibly mean to keep us here forever.”

His fingers stroked over my hair. “Eventually my mother will come for me.”

My head rested on his shoulder so I couldn’t see his face. “And how long will that take?” I asked, my voice edged with impatience.

“Days. Weeks. Years.”

“Ashor,” I groaned, thumping my hand on his chest. “You’re not helping.”

“Perhaps not, but it is the truth. Time is useless in the underworld when you’re immortal,” he replied, doing nothing to curb my boredom. In fact, he was making it worse.

Shoving off his chest, I sat up and glared down at him with a frown. “Well, I’m not immortal. And I’m tired of waiting.” Each day I spent trapped inside Verena’s castle, I lost a shred of hope for ever getting back home. “If she doesn’t make up her mind soon, it might be too late.” The Queen of Darkness might already be on her way with an army backing her up. She was eager to claim her prize.

The Crown of Envy.

My being at court, being at Ashor’s side would unnerve her. This was something she’d waited years to set in motion. Kali’s patience might have finally run out, and I was feeling the bitter cold. She was coming.

I shivered.

“Are you cold?” Ashor asked, concern breaking into his violet eyes as he wrapped his arms around me.

I took comfort in his embrace. “No, I was thinking of your mother.”

“That would make anyone shiver.” His fingers tucked my hair behind my ears before cradling my chin and tipping it upward so I looked into his face. “You don’t need to worry about her. As long as I am by your side, she can’t hurt you. No one can.”

And what of the times when he couldn’t be by my side? I didn’t belong here. I came for a purpose, to abduct the prince. I needed to regain my purpose. “Run away with me,” I murmured.

“And where would you have me run?”

“Anywhere but here,” I said.

“If I thought there was some place we could be safe, we’d already be there.”

A thought popped into my head. “I know a place. Well, a temporary house we could hide. My mother used it.”

“You’re referring to when Cayden helped her. They both paid for their insubordination. How do you think Cayden became my mother’s official punisher? There is nowhere my mother won’t be able to find us.”

My stomach dipped. “You really know how to suck the hope out of a situation.”

“Besides, luv, I am bound to the Wild Hunt. The oath I took nearly a century ago forbids me to enter the mortal realm except for four nights a year. I couldn’t run there even if I desired it.”

I grimaced. The Wild Hunt collected souls during the solstices and the equinoxes, the nights when the veil between our worlds was at its thinnest. “So my plan to hijack you from the underworld was destined to fail.”

He pressed a wintery kiss to the tip of my nose. “I’m afraid so.”

Why hadn’t Cayden or Kira warned me? What were they playing at? Having my plans to bust Ashor out of Hell crushed by his bond to the Hunt put me in a sour mood. What was I to do? If we managed to succeed in stopping his mother from taking Verena’s throne, and that was a mighty if, what happened to us? To our relationship?

Those were choices I didn’t want to make, nor did I want to think about them.

Until the time came, I would put them into the back of my head. One problem at a time, and without a way to stop Kali, it wouldn’t matter anyway. “If Verena does agree to ally with you in this war against your mother, will the other courts be inclined to join us?” Angel had abandoned her court, and the demons in it were queenless and unruly because of it, but if it meant saving the world, I knew my best friend would put on