Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(48)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

“His lover. Such a pity,” the spirit crooned, his words dripping like poison. “She has obviously clouded his mind. They are plotting to come and kill the child.”

Tearloch scowled. The treacherous wizard wasn’t fit to speak Ariyal’s name.

“What does it matter? You said your powers would prevent us from being followed.”

Rafael grimaced. “His ability to sense you is greater than I suspected. He should never have been able to follow us from London.”

“I warned you of his power.”

The spirit shrugged. “He couldn’t know your precise location or he would already have attacked.”

“Then why are you bothering me?”

“Because of this.”

There was another wave of his hand and the scene changed, revealing the graveyard overhead. It took a second for Tearloch to notice the misty shadow that drifted toward the entrance of the caves.

“A spirit,” he said, tensing in surprise.

It wasn’t a full-blown apparition. Merely a ghost that was easily called and easily dismissed. Which meant that it had been conjured to gather information rather than to perform a specific task. Ghosts were incapable of taking solid form.

“One of yours?” Rafael murmured.

“ No.”

“Can you get rid of it?”

“Yes, but the moment I do then Ariyal will know that I’m here.” Tearloch pressed a hand to his aching head. “Damn. We have to leave.”

“Wait.” Something in the wizard’s voice suddenly eased Tearloch’s panicked urge to flee. “Do not be so hasty. I believe we can use this to our advantage.”

“How?”

“The ghost is clearly approaching us as a spy.”

“I’m not stupid,” Tearloch snapped. “I know why Ariyal conjured the ghost.”

Rafael pressed his hands to the pendant hung about his neck, a faint smirk curving his thin lips.

“Then why don’t we allow him to see what we want him to see?”

“And what’s that?”

“The babe.”

“That’s your plan?” Tearloch’s sharp burst of laughter bounced against the polished wall of the cavern. “To lead the most powerful of all Sylvermyst and a vampire directly to the child we have risked everything to keep hidden?”

Rafael smiled with an eerie anticipation.

Gods. The Cheshire Cat from hell.

“The child will merely be the bait.”

“Bait for what?”

“To lure the two of them to a very special section of the caverns that was specifically designed for my enemies,” the wizard explained.

Tearloch swallowed a resigned sigh. Of course there were caverns devised to capture, and no doubt torture, the wizard’s enemies. He suspected that Rafael had been even more of a paranoid, ruthlessly brutal bastard when he’d been alive than he was dead.

“A trap?” he demanded.

“Precisely.”

Tearloch hesitated, revolted by the thought of deliberately luring Ariyal into Rafael’s trap.

It went against everything he believed.

But what choice did he have?

Ariyal had lost sight of the true path during their time on Avalon. Now it was Tearloch’s holy duty to restore the Sylvermyst to their former glory.

Of course, he didn’t have to like it.

“This had better work, wizard,” he warned. “Or we’re both on our way to hell.”

Chapter 14

Jaelyn paced from one end of the kitchen to the other, refusing to glance out the window where Ariyal stood in conversation with a blob of mist that hung in the air.

It was just … wrong.

Who used a ghost to do recon?

It would give any sensible demon the shivers.

Which was why she was hiding in the kitchen instead of questioning the creature herself.

Wasn’t it?

Reaching the wooden table she came to an abrupt halt, heat blasting through her at the memory of being perched on the edge with her legs wrapped around Ariyal’s thrusting hips.

She had told herself that she didn’t want to be around the creepy blob of mist, but if she was entirely honest with herself she would admit that she’d needed a few minutes away from Ariyal to try and patch back together her shattered defenses.

Yeah, like that was going to happen anytime soon.

She wrapped her arms around her chilled body, unable to ignore the tug of awareness nestled deep inside her.

Dammit, she didn’t want to dwell on her connection to Ariyal.

Even if she wanted to mate with a Sylvermyst who was as annoying as he was gorgeous, it was never going to be in the cards.

Not only would the completion of the binding mean that Ariyal would have to commit fully to becoming her mate and exchange blood with her, but she would have to convince the Addonexus to release their best Hunter when the potential end of the world hung over them all like Damocles’s sword.

Accepting that being alone wasn’t doing a damned thing to help, Jaelyn was relieved when Ariyal’s voice cut through her dark broodings.

“You can come out now.”

She moved to the door, scanning the darkness. “It’s gone? I mean gone, gone?”

Ariyal’s lips twitched, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Those remained guarded, unreadable.

“Yes, he’s been returned to the underworld.”

“Good.”

“I can’t believe a vampire could be squeamish about a spirit,” he said, folding his arms over his chest as he watched her descend the wooden steps and cross the yard to join him.

She shrugged. “The dead should be allowed to rest in peace.”

“Moving on to the afterlife doesn’t guarantee peace, poppet. It’s a rare spirit who rests easy in their grave.”

Well, wasn’t he a bundle of joy?

“Have you considered the possibility that they might be perfectly content until you start messing with them?” she asked wryly. “Anyone would be cranky at being jerked out of the underworld and forced to become a slave to a fairy.”

There was a fleeting heat in the bronzed gaze as it skimmed down her body.

“There are some who are positively giddy to be my slave. I have that effect on women,” he murmured, as if she needed a reminder of his potent sexuality. Hell, he literally screamed sex. “And a surprising number of men.”

“Conceited ass.”

“Confident,” he corrected, a fleeting heat flaring through his bronzed eyes before he lowered his head to kiss her with a harsh frustration.