I should have stabbed myself in the ears.
“Did you know tattoos are exactly like vodka?” A familiar feminine voice echoed from the dungeon walls. But then, a familiar feminine voicealwaysechoed from the dungeon walls. “They make my clothes fall off. Wanna come to my place for a drink, gorgeous?”
Behind him, snickers abounded. Roux stood guard near a cell filled with ten harpies. A spot he rarely vacated. Hadn’t taken him long to learn the prisoners never, ever, shut up. In a bid to disconcert him and escape, they constantly ridiculed and propositioned him, doing their best to harass him.
“Be honest,” another said. “That’s a Breathalyzer in your leathers.”
“Excuse me, Officer Sexy,” a third piped up, bending over to wiggle her backside in his direction. “I’m ready for my total body frisking.”
Roux never deigned to respond. The object of his obsession preoccupied him, plaguing his thoughts day and night.
He saw her waking or sleeping, if he dared to close his eyes and sleep in this dreadful place. He sensed her presence at odd times, too, but so far he’d found no sign of her nearness. Once, he thought he heard her whisper into his ear, teasing him.
I don’t know if you can handle the heat.
The statement taunted him. The heat of what? Her gaze? Her words? Her touch?
A moan nearly slipped past his lips. A part of him wanted her hands on him. A desire he shouldn’t entertain! No one could touch him for more than a few seconds without inciting an internal cringe. At the very least! Thanks to his father, he was damaged goods in any way that mattered.
He knew this, accepted it, because he had a chosen family now. His brothers-by-circumstance loved him, as he loved them. They squabbled, yes, but none of them ever lost sight of a simple but profound truth: they would willingly die for each other.
Sometimes, though, he couldn’t help but wonder if they should be doing more than killing and conquering, amassing a bigger army all to do more killing and conquering. But only sometimes. And in the near future, they could do more. They would. Once he and the other Astra successfully completed this newest round of blessing tasks, they would ascend and kill Erebus Phantom, their greatest enemy, along with his legions of soulsuckers. No greater outcome than that.
But of course, he also wondered what would come afterward for him. Would the Astra split?
What would Roux do with his free time? Other Astra employed a concubine. He kept a maid.
Did the beauty in his thoughts have a male?
How had she stood before Roux one moment and been gone the next without flashing? She hadn’t ghosted inside him. His impenetrable inner shields had been engaged. More than that, he’d played host to many of the spectral species in his early years. Phantoms, ghosts, wraiths, and demons. This was not any of that.
The mystery rolled on, consuming his days. And his nights.
The timing for this couldn’t have been worse. He should be focused on Roc’s task. How the Commander seemed to be doing the unthinkable—falling in love with his latest bride.
If, at the appointed time, Roc failed to sacrifice her, the Astra would lose everything they held dear. A circumstance Roux could hardly fathom. To betray the males who had served you for eons, merely to save a specific female? Couldn’t the Commander select another?
A sharp pang tore through Roux’s temples, a slight puff of air leaving him. For days, these pangs had attacked him with greater frequency and intensity.
The next one nearly dropped him to his knees. As something warm and wet leaked from his nose, Roc’s wife, Taliyah, snaked around the far corner, approaching the cell.
Roux tensed, but weakness invaded his limbs. His vision blurred. The world spun. The next thing he knew, he was laying on the floor, looking up at the pale firebrand who’d waged war against the Commander’s heart.
Taliyah loomed over his fallen form, patting his cheek. “There you are,” she said.
With a roar, he launched to his feet. “Why did I black out?” He’d heard no screams. “What did you do to me?” The questions shot from his tongue like poison-laced daggers. Shemusthave done something. Phantoms were liars and manipulators, all of them.
The current Astra queen with a stubborn streak a thousand miles long held up her hands, palms out. “Okay. Let’s de-escalate a notch, soldier. I did nothing, m’kay, but I now recognize what’s wrong with you. I even understand how to fix you...kind of.”
She could fix him? He ground his teeth, rocked back on his heels, and inclined his head, saying, “My...apologies.” However he felt about this woman, she did bear a higher rank. Not only was she Roc’s wife, she was also the new harpy General. For the time being, he owed her respect. “You have answers?”
Despite the sharpness of his tone, his words placated her, and she nodded. “The woman you saw during the battle did, in fact, possess you. I can confirm that. She is a phantom like me.”
In his veins, blood froze. No. No! His shields were not so feeble.
Phantoms were mystically created by Erebus, the god the Astra battled for the blessing. Usually. But Taliyah was Erebus’s biological daughter and unlike any phantom they’d ever encountered.
Taliyah wasn’t done, either. “Here’s the thing. She probably possessed her daughter first. Meaning, yes, you’re carrying both mom and child inside your body. Knowing Blythe, she hoped you’d whisk them both to safety, where they could exit without your knowledge.”