The beginning: Shackles—Day 1, hour 0
Flames crackled louder as I struggled with control.
Arabella eyed my fire with disgust.
“Men are so unwell.” She pushed against my chest.
I took a step back, glad to put space between us. She repulsed me.
She rubbed at the large bruises beneath her eyes. The glass cuts on her face had healed and were fading, but dark circles remained. The coloring was stark against her pale skin.
Yet again, I couldn’t help but compare Arabella to her male disguise.
As a boy, she’d been skinny with a wide frame that promised to fill out with enough exercise and food. Arabella’s frame was much narrower. She was covered in lean muscles, but barely had any shoulders.
The girl would never be a warrior.
My top lip curled as I remembered how she’d struggled in training and battles.
Female devils were never allowed in combat or war for that very reason. They could wield fire swords, but they were weak and abhorred violence, so they never used their abilities.
Women crumpled in violent situations.
They needed constant attention and pampering or they’d refuse to function. They were useless for anything but child-rearing, which happened infrequently for devils. Most of the time they just lazed about.
My jaw cracked with disgust and I fisted my hands.
While Scorpius and Orion silently waited for me to regain control, they touched my arms to offer comfort.
It didn’t work.
The past and the present were converging.
My biological father and his mates had died when I was a baby, and I’d never known my mother. She’d been nothing but a whore who’d been paid lavishly to breed and raise me. She had deceived my fathers and immediately abandoned me.
Arabella was just like her. Lazy and pampered, she’d deceived us to get what she wanted.
Sweat poured down my face and the temperature in the room’s corner spiked.
Arabella pulled out the neck of her oversized sweatshirt to cool herself.
When she tugged the material away from her skin, I saw straight down her chest.
Abruptly, I was parched, and it had nothing to do with the flames pouring off me.
I stared at the small swell of her breasts.
I licked my lips.
What the fuck.
I tore my eyes away.
It was because she used to have a male’s chest; that was why I was looking. It was pure curiosity.
Nothing else.
No other reason.
I worked my jaw back and forth until I regained enough control to speak without scorching her.
“You’re disgusting,” I growled.
There was a long pause as my words seemed to echo between us.
Arabella sighed deeply.
She nodded like she’d come to a decision.
She looked me straight in the eyes and smiled. “What was it Lothaire said? You can’t find your mate anywhere in the realms. That’s too bad.” She smiled wider. “It must suck to be you.”
I didn’t think. I reacted.
I lunged forward.
I needed her to be afraid.
The closest I got to satisfaction was exerting myself over a willing woman. I’d used men before, but their compliance wasn’t as sweet. A humiliated woman temporarily gave me the illusion of control.
It helped fill the hole of our missing mate. Marginally.
Even now, as I towered above Arabella, shedding flames, she refused to cower before me. She refused to give me what I needed.
I’d hated Aran for his weakness and his secrets, but I loathed Arabella with every ounce of my being.
She smirked. “I hope you never find your mate.”
That was it.
I was going to burn her.
Flames shot forward.
Orion yanked me away from the most worthless creature in all the realms. My fire just barely missed her.
He pulled me back to the center of the room. Away from her.
Scorpius stepped towards the bitch as my Revered dragged me away.
I immediately stopped struggling.
I would never hurt my Revered. Ever. It was the foundational tenant of my existence.
We’d almost lost Orion during the competition to become kings, and I’d never known such soul-rending torment. Scorpius and I could not function.
All we could do was stand vigil over his healing body. Ignises and Protectors were extremely defensive and territorial of their Revered. But what we’d experienced had gone beyond that.
It was called bond sickness.
Just thinking about it made me break out in a cold sweat, and I pressed myself against Orion as he held me.
Bond sickness occurred if a Revered was exposed to unimaginable pain.
When an Ignis and Protectors failed their mate, the bond became corrupted to ensure this wrong never happened again. We’d learned you didn’t need a full soul bond to experience sickness.
The unfinished bond between us hadn’t let us eat or sleep. It had punished us, and we’d gladly accepted the pain.
When Orion had finally awakened, Scorpius and I had openly wept with relief.
Fresh pain and regret squeezed my heart, but I focused on the man pressed against me.
Your Revered is healthy, I reminded myself as I let him pull me away.
Scorpius leaned toward the bitch and whispered all the painful ways she’d die.
My Protector didn’t need to touch people to hurt them.
Scorpius used words to tear people apart, and by the time he got around to physical violence, they were already broken.
Words were his favorite form of pain. He wielded every word with surgical exactness. He was purposeful. Meanwhile, she threw sentences around haphazardly, like grenades.
I wanted to scream in her face.
Scorch her.
“Calm down, Corvus.” Orion’s soft, lyrical voice washed over me. He wrapped his arms around my flaming body and whispered softly, “We’ll find our other Protector, and then we’ll know peace. Setting her on fire won’t do anything. There are other ways…”
He trailed off, and I shivered as he kissed my neck.
Orion was so fucking handsome and sweet.
He was the perfect Revered for us because no one else could ever handle the darkness that lived in me and Scorpius.
I stood still with flames pouring off me as he cradled me. The fire plumed around Orion but didn’t touch him.
I forced myself to relax.
Arabella would learn why the crest of the House of Malum was a dragon—we incinerated anyone who hurt our mates.
Long moments passed as Orion held me.
Minutes later, in the front of the room, Lothaire stopped shuffling through papers on his desk and mumbling about a conspiracy.
He stood up straight.
Orion and I slowly pulled away from each other. Scorpius walked back to join us in the middle of the room.
Arabella stayed in the corner.
We feigned nonchalance because we weren’t stupid.
Lothaire was still the vampyre who’d casually snapped the necks of the famed half warriors.
We needed his cooperation to find our missing mate.
If Lothaire noticed the tension, he didn’t mention it. Instead, he looked across the room at his daughter and asked with annoyance, “Must you constantly smoke?”
Arabella blew out a cloud of smoke in the shape of a gun and grabbed the incorporeal weapon.
She pulled the trigger.
A bullet poofed harmlessly off Lothaire’s chest. He gritted his teeth, but otherwise didn’t react.
Her crow cawed with delight while the gun dissipated. For some reason, the crow was the only smoke shape she blew that remained corporeal.
I asked Lothaire, “You thought it was prudent to bind our lives to this pathetic creature?”
Scorpius grunted in agreement.
Orion made a noise of disagreement in the back of his throat.
“You will not speak ill of my daughter.” Lothaire’s scar pulled tight.
Arabella laughed.
Pop. Pop.
It took us all a second to realize the noise came from another smoke gun.
“Really? Now you want to be a father figure?” Pop. “This has to be the pinnacle of dramatic irony.” Pop.
She unloaded a magazine clip of smoke bullets into Lothaire’s chest.
“You will show me respect!” Lothaire roared.
She made a dramatic crying face, then frowned as she pointed the gun at her forehead.
Pop-p-p-p-p-p-p-p.
The magazine unloaded into her skull.
“Charming,” Scorpius scoffed as Orion whispered in his ear what she was doing.
Lothaire glared at her like he wanted to wring her neck. He’d have to get in line.
She was uncontrollable.
Disrespectful.
Petulant.
I said to Lothaire, “We bound her life to ours like you asked. We’ve completed our end of the deal, so you need to uphold yours.”
Lothaire nodded distractedly as he stared at his daughter. “I will have my scouts focus on finding your missing mate. You may stay at the academy until you find them.”
“Good,” I said. At least one thing wasn’t ruined.
Every recorded mate bond in the last few centuries had been among male devils, so we were sure that our missing Protector was a male devil living in another realm. Lothaire was still our best bet at finding him.
A chill ran down my spine as the five of us stood silently in the quiet room.
Would we not be able to recognize our mate because of the slave tattoo?
The House of Malum motto was written in my bones: Ut sicut meus—to keep as mine.
Even among other devils, Ignises from the House of Malum were renowned for our possessiveness. We hoarded our mates like dragons with priceless treasures.
We were obsessive.
Borderline psychotic.
The mere thought of being in my mate’s presence and failing to recognize them made bile burn my throat.
Lothaire’s jaw clenched as he said to Arabella, “You’re my daughter, and I will atone for my wrongdoings.”
She made a gagging noise. “I’ve chosen to believe that I was conceived through immaculate conception. The sun god endowed my mother’s deranged loins. You aren’t my father.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Lothaire looked unconcerned that his progeny was a moron. “Someday you’ll feel differently.”
Her expression darkened. “Since you enslaved me to devils who hate me, I probably won’t forgive you. Ever.”
“You’re not enslaved!” Lothaire snapped.
“Wait.” Dark-blue eyes widened, and long dark lashes fluttered with confusion. Her jaw dropped. “You don’t even know what you did, do you?”
Awkward silence filled the room.
Lothaire bristled.
Arabella waved her hands impatiently at her father. “You gave me a slave tattoo! I recognize it from my history studies.”
“No.” Lothaire rubbed at his forehead. “You’re mistaken. Dick assured me it just binds your lives, and he said there were no side effects.”
The three of us shifted.
How did he not know?
Suddenly, things made a lot more sense.
“Technically you’re right,” I said awkwardly to Lothaire as Scorpius swore under his breath. “It binds us because it’s a slave brand, but I’ve never heard of them having side effects.”
I didn’t mention that they were taboo to discuss because they were a dark enchantment, so no one talked much about them.
Lothaire clenched his hands and growled. His muscles widened as he flexed like he was going to explode, but then he went still.
He shook his head dismissively and said to Arabella, “We’ll discuss this later. The important thing right now is that the binding is complete. I have a safe house set up in a realm, and you’ll RJE there immediately.”
She blanched. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Lothaire ordered. “You’re going to get checked by Lyla to make sure you’re still healthy after getting that tattoo, then I’ll take you to safety.”
Before Arabella could move, Lothaire stalked across the classroom, grabbed her arm, and dragged her out the door.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked my mates tiredly.
Long moments passed as we just stared at one another and grimaced. Scorpius opened his mouth to respond, but stopped.
Screams.
Pain erupted in my gut like I’d been stabbed by a dagger, and I fell to my knees. My mates did the same beside me.
I gasped at the unexpected agony, but as swiftly as it had arrived, the pain disappeared.
Only anger remained.
How dare he take what was ours?
The three of us got to our feet as the screams in the hall increased.
He threatens Arabella.
Must protect her.
Must get her back.
Must keep her close.
She’s ours, nobody else’s.
Power bristling, we stalked as a unit to retrieve what had been taken from us. Orion led the way, and Scorpius and I flanked him.
Crack.
Lightning lit the dark marble hall.
We turned the corner and walked down another long hall, led purely by instinct.
Fire and ozone filled my nose.
We turned another corner, and I balled my fists.
Lothaire was shouting and kneeling, and Arabella was seizing and twitching like she’d been electrocuted.
I growled like an animal.
As we stalked down the hall toward what was ours, her screams became whimpers.
Finally, she stopped convulsing.
Arabella’s ragged breaths were too loud in the quiet hall.
Orion whispered and his lyrical voice had a hard edge as he stared at Lothaire. “Never take Arabella away from us. Ever again.” He shook with rage.
Scorpius’s voice had a strange lilt to it as he said, “You dared to take her from us.”
He reached down to grab Arabella. His scowl disappeared, and he smiled tenderly as he ran his pale fingers across her cheek.
Eyes hooded with contentment, she nuzzled his fingers.
Scorpius’s tender expression transformed into horror, and he snatched his hand away.
Arabella scrambled backward.
“What just happened?” I asked as I shook my head to clear the haze from my mind as I pushed Scorpius and Orion behind me protectively.
Scorpius spat, “What did you just do to us?”
Arabella’s already fair skin somehow paled further. “Really? Screw you.” Her fingers trembled as she shoved the pipe between her ruby lips and mumbled, “I was the one in agony. Not you.”
Lothaire looked back and forth with his hands fisted, and he vibrated with rage. “What is going on?”
The possessive rage had drained away, and I was left with an uncomfortable mix of contentment and confusion.
I snapped at him, “You tell me.”
On the marble ground, Arabella made a choking noise and blanched like she’d realized something.
“What do you know?” I whirled on her.
Flames erupted across my arms, and I had the irrational urge to throw them at Lothaire for standing near Arabella.
He was a threat to her.
No. I shook my head again to clear my jumbled thoughts. Arabella is the threat. She killed Horace and deceived you.
Her voice cracked, and a sharp pang clenched my heart at the sound of her distress.
I ignored it.
She said to Lothaire, “You will supply me with every expensive enchanted drug in the realm, and you will never talk to me. Ever. Again.”
Lothaire arched his scarred brow just like his daughter loved to do and asked, “Why in the realms would I do that?”
She cracked her head against the floor.
“Stop,” Orion and I snarled, both of us vibrating with inexplicable rage that she dared to hurt herself in our presence.
“Because, Father.” She choked on the word. “You enslaved me to these vile men. And some brands have more sinister implications than others.”
Lothaire opened his mouth to argue, but she held up a hand to silence him.
Arabella spoke slowly like it pained her to voice the words aloud, “I can’t leave their presence without excruciating pain. It must be a consequence of this type of brand.”
My jaw dropped.
Scorpius swore.
Orion choked.
Our sudden feelings of irrational possessiveness and rage made sense. It wasn’t our emotions; it was the tattoo.
We were stuck with her disgusting presence. Somehow Arabella kept ruining our lives.
Scorpius smiled, and Arabella shuddered.
It wasn’t a friendly expression.
It was a promise.
We were going to destroy her.
Lothaire staggered back like he’d been struck. “No.” He grabbed Arabella by the arm and resumed dragging her down the hall.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a monotone voice, eyes blank as she let her father manhandle her.
Orion’s pretty features darkened, and Scorpius made a harsh noise.
I agreed.
Arabella didn’t belong to him.
She was ours.
Lothaire’s jagged scar was stark against his tight features as he looked back at us and ordered, “You three, stay close.”
I fisted my flaming hands and wanted to snarl at him to stop touching her.
Instead, I nodded curtly at my mates and said, “Let’s go.”
Lothaire pulled Arabella into the bedroom, and we followed him inside.
Sparks leaped around him as he looked at us. “You four are going to stay in this room and not leave until I figure out what’s going on.”
Arabella yanked her arm out of his hold and flopped down on her bed. She mumbled under her breath, “Good plan. Leave me with the fucking crazy men. Real smart.”
Lothaire whirled around. “Language!”
She rolled her eyes.
He turned back around to address us, and she mouthed, “Go fuck yourself,” behind his back.
Lothaire ordered, “The three of you will not talk to my daughter. You will not look at her, touch her, or even breathe in her direction until I come back. I will handle the situation.”
He waved his hand at the wall, which was vibrating with the music from the party still raging in the great hall. “The celebration should last for the next three days. I will be back before it’s over. No one leaves this room. Do you understand?” His voice dripped with menace.
“Yes, sir.” It took every ounce of control I possessed to bow my head like I was subservient.
If Lothaire wasn’t the key to finding our missing mate—flames trailed up the back of my hand and crawled up my arm—he would be dead.
“I’m trusting you,” Lothaire said as he took another step closer. “All three of you.”
Then he was gone.
Scorpius wrapped his arms around me and Orion and dragged us into our bed. Orion reached over and pulled the string that closed all the blinds on the stained-glass window.
Red light was replaced with darkness.
A yellow sheen glowed across Orion’s eyes, and I knew mine had a similar glint.
Devils had night vision.
Arabella smoked and stared at the ceiling, unaware that predators were watching her.
And she was our prey.
