The Darkest Secret (Lords of the Underworld #7)(24)
Author: Gena Showalter

Or what to do when one vomited on his favorite sword. But damn if he didn’t get a kick out of imagining his friends struggling to cope.

“Oh, and get this. Gideon married Scarlet, the keeper of Nightmares.”

“You’re kidding.” Fickle Gideon? Married? Scarlet was gorgeous, yeah, and feisty as hel . Powerful, too. And Gideon had been a tad bit obsessed with her when she’d been locked in their dungeon. But marriage?

Everyone in the fortress had lost IQ points, it seemed.

“He couldn’t have waited until I got back to sign on for double occupancy?” Strider mumbled. “What a great friend.”

“No one was invited to the ceremony, if you catch my meaning.”

“Wel , the decision to get hitched is gonna give him nightmares.” Strider snickered. “Get it?

Nightmares?”

“Har, har. You’re a borderline f**ktard, you know that?”

“Hey, I’m not going to apologize for being on my A game.

Why don’t you step up to the plate and join me, Junior League?”

Torin ignored him. “It’s weird, don’t you think? Two demons hooking up?”

Strider peered at him, blinked. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Why?”

“One word—Cameo. And you. Okay, so three words.”

Torin snapped his teeth at him. “Whatever. We were talking about Scarlet. Which brings me to more gossip. Turns out she’s the only daughter of…wait for it… Rhea.”

What? Rhea? And he hadn’t known? Strider had been way more self-involved than he’d realized. Rhea was queen of the gods, the estranged wife of Cronus, and the bitch helping Galen, keeper of the demon of Hope—and an al around ass**le—leader of the Hunters. “How’d Gideon take the news?”

“Wel , he tried to kil his mother-in-law.”

“Sweet. But such romantic gestures aside, our boys have gotta start picking their significant others with more care.

Gwen is Galen’s only kid, Scarlet is Rhea’s. What’s next?”

A Hunter? A participant in Baden’s kil er?

Yes, he was a f**ktard.

“I’l tel you what’s next,” Torin said. “Lucifer’s brother.”

“Come again.”

“Did no one tel you? Wil iam is related to Lucifer. And Lucifer is the devil, in case you didn’t know.”

“Come again.”

The corners of Torin’s lips quirked with amusement. “I know. Whacked out as hel , but kind of fitting.”

He wouldn’t ask again. He wouldn’t. “How?” Damn! The question escaped before he could stop it.

“Don’t know. Wil iam refused to spil . Needless to say, things have been pretty festive around here. So, anyway.

You’re back, and you’re kind of healthy, so I can ask the question I’ve been holding in for three days.

Where the hel is the Cloak of Invisibility? I looked through your stuff, your room, but couldn’t find it.”

Oh, shit. Now it was his turn to drop a news bomb. “About that…”

CHAPTER EIGHT

HAIDEE PROWLED THE CONFINES of her cel .

She had no idea how much time had passed since she’d been pushed inside. She was alone. Food and water had been brought to her only once. The fruits and nuts and crisp, clean water had somehow curbed her hunger completely, strengthening her in a way she couldn’t explain.

Oh, and the food had been delivered by an angel—a freaking angel living in a demon’s den. That stil had her reeling. But she now knew beyond a doubt she was in the Budapest fortress. As they’d dragged her down here, she’d spotted wear and tear from a recent bombing. A bombing she hadn’t been involved in, but one she’d heard al about.

Enough time had passed for Micah—“Amun,” Defeat had cal ed him—to have suffered countless fates.

Torture, relocation, even death. The thought of each had sent her into a near hysteric state. She’d clawed the wal s until she had no nails left. She’d beaten the bars until her knuckles had cracked and swel ed.

She’d screamed for answers until her voice had fractured.

Now, in the silence, al she could do was think, one sentence echoing over and over again. Defeat had cal ed him Amun. Was he Amun, a Lord? Or was he Micah, a Hunter?

He’d known her, shouted for her help. That had to mean he was Micah. But, on the flip side, he hadn’t known anything else about her. Not their history, not their purpose. That had to mean he was Amun.

Argh! The back-and-forth, was he or wasn’t he, was driving her as crazy as her confinement. Could he be a mix of both? Amun’s demon stuffed into Micah’s body? Because real y, two men couldn’t look that much alike. Could they?

No matter the answers, she wasn’t leaving without him.

Even though, deep down, a part of her suspected the worst.

That two men could easily look alike—especial y if powers beyond a human’s comprehension were involved. That he was Amun, that he’d always been Amun. That Micah was someone else completely, out there somewhere, stil searching for her, and she was simply trying to convince herself otherwise so she wouldn’t feel guilty.

That kiss…something else she couldn’t get out of her mind.

Micah had never kissed her like that. Fiery, consuming.

Necessary.

Despite the danger they had been in—were in—she would have al owed him to strip and penetrate her.

She would have met him thrust for wild thrust, taking, giving, claiming.

She would have clung to him, desperate for more, for everything.

Hel , she would have crawled inside him if she could have.

She’d wanted them fused, never able to part. How crazy was that? A kiss had never affected her like that. Never. A man had never affected her like that.

Always before, she had remained detached. From everyone. Maybe because she’d known the people around her would die, while she would continue on, eternal y brought back from the grave. Maybe because there was darkness inside her. So much darkness. A living entity, as real as the ice that flowed through her veins, a presence in the back of her mind, muted but always there, urging her to despise people, places, life, death. Anything, everything.

For the first time, she hadn’t had to fight to feel or garner affection. She had looked at Amun—

That’s how you think of him now? Amun?

Yes, she realized. Somehow he was Amun to her now.

Micah didn’t fit those ful er lips and wider shoulders. So, she had looked at Amun, and sensual awareness had sizzled inside her. Connecting them. She had heard his voice inside her head, and that sensual awareness had deepened.