Heart Of Darkness (Transfusion Saga #10) - Stephanie Hudson Page 0,1

down here? Would admitting it down in Hell end up as some kind of stain on his rule as King? The thoughts had me pausing my steps more than once when upstairs. Had that been the real reason for his brutal act in front of his kingdom, a large part of that I now knew included his brother?

It was a painful thought and one that had quickly overtaken the reasons he had given me, which had been and always seemed to be so that he could keep me safe. But surely as King he would have had the power to do that, just declaring me his… wouldn’t that have been enough?

I honestly didn’t know but since that Hex had been removed, I found my mind in a crumbling state of vulnerability. I just needed to get back to him and save him from doing anything to his brother. Like condemning him to death for a crime he didn’t commit, after first questioning the Hell out of him. And when I say question, what I really meant was beating the crap out of him and kicking words from him like bouncing rings from Sonic the Hedgehog characters! Because this was Lucius we were talking about, what was he going to do, ask nicely and hope for the best? No, not my ruthless, brutal boyfriend.

Although, I did have hope that he would at the very least try and hold back, considering this was his brother we were talking about. In fact, I didn’t know what I would do first when seeing him, scream a barrage of information at him or just fall into his arms and cry.

Seriously, my backbone was going to be a wobbling jelly mould by the time I finally got back to him. But with the reality of where I was now, I also knew I had to be stronger than that. And my biggest hope of all, was that it was only just for a little bit longer. Because I couldn’t afford to fall to pieces now!

This had been the pep talk I had needed to give myself back in the room, after looking towards the floorboards where I had hidden the Eye. I had done this a little time after Trice had kicked open the door to his room and put me down. This, of course, was after first finding me downstairs in the tavern about to be lynched by an angry mob of Demons. Seriously, was a normal day ever going to be on the horizon for me ever again?

But one look at the Eye and I knew my mission was far from over. Hence why I hid it, at the same time telling Trice all that had happened to me and Nero. Although, I had to say, this wasn’t the most ideal place to store what was essentially Hell’s most powerful weapon. Then again, it wasn’t exactly the type of room to come complete with minifridge and a safe in the wardrobe, so I did what I did best and improvised.

Talking about security…

“We are nae 'ere tae hae a drink,” Trice said, making me look around him at the table behind and say,

“Could have fooled me… what you doing, playing invisible checkers?” He rolled his eyes again and said,

“If ye mist know, we are waiting fur th' portal keeper tae finish fucking th' barmaid before we kin be granted access.” At this my eyes widened before I snapped,

“Are you serious!” He folded his arms across his leather strapped chest, one that tensed and looked even more muscley thanks to his new pissed off position.

“You’re waiting while some guy gets his rocks off whilst Lucius’ brother’s life is on the line?!” I snapped making him once again lean closer to my face, bending slightly because of our height difference.

“Nay, I am waiting fur oor strength tae return by havin' a drink, sae that as soon as we mak' it through th' portal we kin shift 'n' git there a lot bloody quicker than walking. Noo, if some demon is getting his cock worked on 'n' havin' a jolly good polish whilst we wait, then good fur him… as fur us, we be getting a drink,” Trice said, making my mouth open ready to argue again, only for it to then snap closed the moment his explanation was done. Meaning the next time it opened, it was proof that I had quickly lost my attitude,

“Can I have one?” I asked and at this, Trice smirked, making him