Katie's Hope (Book II, Rhyn Trilogy)

Chapter Four

Jade waited for Darkyn to return from his meeting with Kris. He gazed into the black flames of the fire in the hearth. This had been Sasha’s study less than a few days ago. He clenched his fists, not wanting to think about Sasha or Kris or how quickly he, too, could have the tables turned on him as he had done to Sasha.

He’d decided to sleep in here last night, unable to sleep in his bedchamber with the thought of Iliana’s body in the trunk beside the bed. He’d accidently hurt someone innocent, and he didn’t want the reminder. He wouldn’t do it again.

“It went exactly as expected,” Darkyn said as he walked into the study. “Kris refused to turn over Sasha or the vial. He underestimates me.”

“Kris values the Code and his duty more than he does anything,” Jade said with some bitterness.

“You said there is a weakness to the castle that will render the ground no longer sacred.”

“There is.”

At his silence, Darkyn moved closer, his dark eyes piercing and the growl in his chest audible. Jade looked away. Until now, he’d always thought he could turn back. No one but Iliana had died, and the only person he’d betrayed was Sasha, whose death Kris might eventually reward him for by welcoming Jade back into his life and his bed.

“I will have it from you!” Darkyn said and struck him hard enough to knock his breath out as he slammed into the wall. Jade gasped for a moment and steadied himself.

“I … can make it happen,” he said. “You cannot. You have to be in the castle to make it work.”

“You seek to betray me as your predecessor did.”

“No, Darkyn. I want my revenge against Sasha and Kris both, but there are innocent people there.”

“No Immortal is innocent.”

“Let me go to Sasha. I will make him our tool,” Jade said, his mind working fast to find a way to keep Darkyn from destroying everyone. Darkyn studied him and then withdrew a thin collar and approached. Jade flinched as it snapped into place around his neck.

“If you do not return by dawn, this will bring you back to me, and I will show you no mercy,” Darkyn warned.

“Will you consider sparing the rest of the Immortals, master?”

“You came to me to destroy those who have wronged you. I want revenge for my daughter’s treatment at Sasha’s hands, and I want the vial or the girl. I own you now, Jade. Do not question me again.”

Darkyn strode out, and Jade watched him, torn. Sasha and Kris were his enemies, not the rest of the Immortals! He had come to Darkyn in desperation, after Sasha had invited him to his bed and then dumped him off with the demons. He’d been spared for what he knew of the Immortals, and Darkyn had taken a personal liking to him.

A violent liking to him. Jade shuddered. Demons knew no other way.

It’s better to reign in Hell …

As Kris’s confidante of several hundred years, he knew most of the Immortal’s secrets. He’d been unable to shake the empty hole in his heart resulting from Kris flinging him to the side to pursue a human female. Even as he thought of his last moments with Kris, he felt his anger turn to resolve.

The Immortals deserved neither mercy nor peace, especially their leader. He was doing Kris’s next lover a favor. He’d use the tricks of manipulation he’d learned from Kris and Sasha both to get Sasha to do what he wanted. And then, the both of them would be gone. Forever. His revenge was all that would make him whole again.