Darkness Avenged (Guardians of Eternity #10)(91)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

Santiago tightened his arm around her. “Our clan.”

Siljar smiled in satisfaction. Not the most reassuring sight considering the razor sharp teeth. “The sorcery created by the witches was enough to hold it prisoner for centuries.”

Santiago lifted a brow. “So you had no nefarious purpose in allowing Nefri to lead her people beyond the Veil?”

“She came to me with a request for a place of peace.”

“And?” Santiago pressed, ignoring Nefri’s frown. He wasn’t fooled for a moment by the Oracles display of innocence.

The tiny demon gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “And we hoped that having her people living beyond the Veil would give us an early warning if the spirit did start to waken.”

Before Santiago could say something even more stupid than usual, Nefri smoothly cut him off. “But the spirit never disturbed my clan,” she pointed out. “At least, not that we ever noticed.”

The dark eyes suddenly held a deep, unfathomable wisdom. “Unfortunately, we didn’t realize how thin the walls between dimensions had become. The spirit was able to remain hidden while manipulating a handful of vampires into killing the witches, and then slipping past the Veil using Gaius’s medallion.”

Styx snorted at the understatement. Nefri didn’t blame him. The thinning of barriers had been more than unfortunate. It had been a breath from the apocalyptic.

“Oh yeah, and while the spirit was sneaking around, we were all nearly killed by the Dark Lord,” he said dryly. “You remember that, don’t you?”

“Of course.” Siljar squared her shoulders, smoothing her hands down the robe that was once again a pristine white. “The Commission was concentrating on trying to locate several missing prisoners that escaped through the weakened dimensions while you put an end to the threat.”

“Several?” Nefri muttered as the two males hissed in shock. “Do you mean—”

“Do you have the medallion?” Siljar interrupted, holding out an imperious hand.

Santiago hesitated, clearly consumed by a need to demand a further explanation of the missing prisoners.

Such as whether they’d been captured or were lurking in the shadows to cause yet another catastrophe.

Thankfully, her sharp elbow to his ribs helped him recall the dangers of antagonizing a member of the Commission.

With a grimace he dug into his pocket and pulled out the medallion. Nefri lightly touched his arm, knowing he would be suffering from the loss of his sire.

No matter what Gaius had done, they’d shared a connection that could never be truly broken.

“Here,” he muttered gruffly.

“I’ll take it.” Siljar reached up to snatch it from his hand.

Santiago frowned. “It needs to be destroyed.”

“It will be taken care of,” Siljar promised, and with a wave of her hand, the medallion disappeared.

Whether it was hidden in the folds of her robe, or something more mysterious, was impossible to know.

Santiago wasn’t satisfied. “Taken care of? Does that mean destroyed?”

Siljar offered her unnerving smile. “I must go.” She paused to bid Nefri a low bow. “Nefri. We are in your debt.”

Straightening, the tiny demon disappeared, leaving behind three vampires who were struggling to accept that they had actually survived.

“Someday . . .” Styx growled.

“Not now, Styx,” Santiago said in soft but startlingly commanding tones.

“But . . .” Styx turned to glare at Santiago, then seeming to catch some unspoken message, he slowly smiled. “Right. I’ll leave you to it.”

They watched in silence as the massive vampire left the ruined room in a less dramatic fashion than Siljar. Still, it wasn’t until they could sense the Anasso jogging away from the warehouse that Santiago grasped Nefri’s shoulders and gently turned her to meet his somber gaze.

His lips parted, but Nefri had been waiting from the moment she’d been released from control of the spirit to offer her apology.

Not that an “I’m sorry” actually made up for trying to kill your lover, she wryly admitted.

“Santiago,” she began, only to be outmaneuvered when Santiago placed his hand over her mouth.

“It’s over.”

She grasped his wrist to tug his hand away. “But I need to say I’m—”

“No.”

She arched a brow at his arrogant tone. “No?”

“From this point forward, the past is done,” he said, his eyes dark with a plea that tugged at her heart. “The only thing that matters is the future. Our future.”

She hesitated, desperately wanting to accept his offer.

How many years had she wasted with guilt and regret?

How long had she denied her emotions out of fear?

“You think that’s possible?”

His smile held an edge of sadness that spoke of his own loss. “We’ve both spent too long being haunted by events that neither of us could control.” He cupped her face in his hands, his touch tender. “I want a fresh start. Don’t we deserve it?”

She didn’t know if they deserved it.

Her past wasn’t entirely blameless. And the gods knew that Santiago was not an innocent.

But, deserving or not, her heart urged her to snatch at the happiness with both hands.

Well, after she’d tormented Santiago just a bit. He’d certainly done his share of tormenting over the past weeks.

“I’m not entirely certain,” she murmured.

His brows drew together, his struggle against his instinct to toss her over his shoulder and demand capitulation etched on his beautiful face.

Their combined arrogance and demand for control would make life together a delicious battle.

“Why?” he at last rasped.

She offered a faux pout. “You hit me on the head.”

“Ah.” His frustration melted to wry amusement. “Yes, I know.”

“That’s it?” she demanded. “‘Yes, I know’?”

He reached to curl her hand into a fist, pressing his lips to her knuckles. “You can hit me on the head if you want.”

She trembled, heat exploding through her veins to sear away the lingering chill from the spirit.

“As hard as your head is, it would probably break my hand,” she teased, moving forward to press against his lean body.

“True.” He smiled with a wicked promise that made her toes curl in anticipation. “Which means you might as well mate with me instead.”