2. Lexa

Chapter 2

Lexa

I sighed with relief once Arim and Jonas disappeared. Peeking out from one of the dressing rooms in the lingerie shop, I'd witnessed the entire scene as if watching a movie. The infamous Arim Valens had annihilated the small contingent of wraiths no doubt searching for me .

Apparently, Sin Garu had yet to forgive me for nearly killing him. Just another in a litany of crimes against the hated blood-drinker. And I'd been so close to ending our tie, so near to forging a new life for myself…

Hell. Why bother with regrets and what could have been? If that's the case, I should be pining after that hardheaded Light Bringer sorcerer .

I closed the curtain of the dressing room, staring at the silken bra and panty sets I planned on buying. More expensive than a cinnamon bun, but they were much easier on my figure unless I fixed my troubling waistline using illusion magic.

I dressed again and checked myself out in the mirror. Long, black hair. Ice-blue eyes. An oval face with a pale complexion. A petite frame with a full bust. I admitted to a blessedly enthralling package that normally glowed with power.

Not so anymore. Typically disguised in this realm as a tall, attractive young human, since the demon attack, I could not hold the transformation for long periods of time and now looked like my true self. A dangerous position to be in with the forces of Light and Dark after me.

I felt a disturbance in the air moments before powerful arms encircled my waist. Gathering my faltering energy, I prepared to visit death upon the fool bold enough to attack me flesh to flesh, no matter the cost to my health.

"You know, Lexa, you can't hide forever."

Instantly relieved to hear my friend Sava's voice, I relaxed in his embrace, amused despite the precariousness of my position. "You can't be in here, you idiot. This is a woman's dressing room."

He let me go, and I turned to face him with a smile. Lord Sava, king of the Aellei — a more mischievous and troublesome race than my own — was one of my few friends. He stood with a pinch of annoyance on his striking face.

Sava wore his long, white-blond hair shoulder length now. He had sensual features and a striking frame, both muscular and lean. And his paleness matched my own. A Shadow Dweller, Sava aligned closer to the Dark than the Light, but he was more welcomed in Tanselm by the Light Bringers than I would ever be.

His niece had married one of the Royal Four, the Wind Mage. That pair had magic brewing between them as if blessed by the archaic gods. Tanselm cooed like a giddy new mother whenever Aerolus and Alandra drew spells together, teasing me with images of a future I would never have.

"I can go wherever I want, my dear." Sava jerked the curtain to the dressing room wide and prodded me to leave, grabbing my lingerie as we walked out. He touched my shoulder, and I felt a surge of power run through me.

"What did you just do?"

"A little something to help, that's all."

As I passed by a mirrored column, I stared wide-eyed at the stranger looking back at me.

"Not bad." I fingered my new short cap of red hair framing a heart-shaped face. Tanned and green-eyed, I looked nothing like myself or my fake identity. "You could have made me taller, though."

And taken a little off my hips . Damn those sweet rolls.

"Then you would have needed a different set of silk." He eyed my underwear sets with a connoisseur's appraisal and winked at me. "Though I wouldn't mind watching you try them on, we're a bit pressed for time."

"Lech."

"Witch."

I sighed and paid for my clothes at the counter. "Arim's not going to be happy about your involvement in this."

"Yeah, well, I'm not too pleased with the way either of you have conducted yourselves over the years. I've decided to finally put my foot down."

Once the clerk handed me my bag, Sava grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me out of the shop.

I kept staring at him in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. How is my relationship with Arim your problem?"

"Since my niece, whom you know I just dote on, married one of Arim's nephews, and since many of my people moved with her into Tanselm, I find it my business to keep abreast of things. Not that I haven't before now, but I feel justified in fixing some problems that Alandra finds… disturbing."

I vowed to have a talk with the sly little princess about overstepping her bounds. "Oh?"

Sava grinned, and two women walked into each other, busy staring at him. Not that I could blame them. Had I not been immune to his charm, I might have done the same. Even for an Aellei, a race of inhumanly beautiful people, Sava stood out.

His dark brown eyes twinkled with humor and carnal promise, his full lips rosy with seduction. And that was to say nothing of the perfection of his form, masculinity at its rock hard finest. I couldn't help being impressed but refused to give in to the vanity reflected by his knowing grin.

"Your tone has just the right amount of frost. No matter what Sin Garu and those demons did to you, you're still a prickly little thing." He chucked my chin as if humoring a child. "I like that. The reports I've been getting from the Storm Lords aren't good, Lexa."

I wished I didn't care so much about Sava's opinion. Dark Lords cared about nothing but themselves. Hadn't I learned the hard way what love and affection could do? Visions of my dead foster family swam in my memories, and I hastily countered the pathetic welling of grief with angry remembrances of Arim and his hated Light Bringer sorcery.

"Who cares what the Light Bringers say?"

"Who cares?" Sava's smile faded, and he drew me into a narrow hallway leading to the restrooms. "I'm trying to keep my temper, but around you and Arim lately, it isn't so easy."

In seconds, I felt myself teleported into the house I used when living in Seattle. The old days, I thought with a sigh, wishing my friend, Ellie, were here and not worlds away in Tanselm, married to a Storm Lord. Yet one more tie Arim and I shared. My friend had married one of Arim's nephews — the one who most resembled Arim in temperament.

Sava tugged back his power, restoring me to my natural form. He tossed me onto my couch before setting my bag on the coffee table. "Now I want the truth. What the hell happened to you? The last I heard, you and Arim had put away your hostility long enough to conspire to kill Sin Garu. You two had some foolish plan to defeat the most powerful Dark Lord in existence while saving Cadmus from sure death. Next thing I know, my people in Tanselm are battling the Netharat. Cadmus has been saved. And you're near death.

"From what Alandra told me, the others involved in the battle suffered minor harm. But you were unconscious for nearly three months." Sava's white-blond brows drew close. "Even for a Dark Lord, that's not a normal sleep. You should have healed much faster than that." His gaze was critical. "There's something more that's wrong with you. Your aura is much Darker than it should be. Then you ever were."

I crossed my arms over my chest, uncomfortable at being so easily read. After being kicked out of Tanselm, I'd spent most of my life trying to be something I was not, hiding behind one fa?ade or another. The few people I'd allowed myself to care for had been on my terms.

I'd befriended Ellie and Jonas out of necessity, and had found, to my surprise, that I liked them. So I kept them at a comfortable distance. They noticed about me what I wanted them to see.

But Sava had a disquieting tendency to see through bullshit. Maybe because he was so familiar with dishing it out.

As much as I longed to confide in him and stop being so fucking alone, I couldn't do it. "I'm fine." I glared at him and wasn't surprised when he dropped the hard-ass attitude and flopped next to me on the couch.

He never had won an argument with me.

"Say what you want; your aura doesn't lie. Your Djinn protector isn't fooled either. Yes, Jonas and I talk on occasion. You know, he's very amusing. I've noticed he irritates Arim nearly as much as you do."

I smiled at that, and Sava chuckled.

So when he latched onto my arm and muttered a spell under his breath, I was unprepared to relive the memory of my hellish imprisonment.

* * *

H undreds of eyes stared at me through green, unearthly flame. Thousands of mouths fed on my spirit, gnawing at the energy of my soul. Pinpricks of pain shot through my brain, icy daggers that demanded relief. If only I could move my hand to rub away the pressure. Trapped apart from my body, caught in the limbo between life and the Next, the constant torture stirred a loss so profound it caused me physical, mental, and spiritual devastation.

"A life for a life," the demons around me echoed through gurgling laughter, choking on the essence of corrupted souls as they taunted me. They'd said the same thing to me repeatedly, eating away at my spirit until I looked forward to the bliss of true death.

"Your Killer of Shadow is safe. But at what cost, Dark Mistress?"

They spoke of the one man in all creation I didn't understand and apparently never had.

Arim.

Just the mention of his name was enough to stir my anger enough to fight, and I gladly embraced his memory, needing it to survive.

Here in the heart of Mount Malinta, my form was all energy. I thrashed against the demonic bonds holding me tight, still not finding that opportunity to escape. For what seemed like an eternity, I'd been fighting to be free, to rejoin my body before I dwindled away into nothing.

I knew my body remained alive, though I couldn't see it. And I'd felt, oddly enough, a forceful presence by my side. As if someone who cared about me wanted me to battle and live on. It was that strength that had given me the power to continue the struggle.

But my energy was fading. And all because of the Malinta demons that bloodsucking bastard, Sin Garu, had unleashed upon me.

Sin Garu, the last living member of my blood family, and the person I refused to acknowledge as brother. We shared a mother — the extent of our hate-filled relationship. Through no fault of my own, I'd been born of the same blood.

He had made a bargain with these demons. I'd be damned — literally — if I'd allow Sin Garu to escape the deal he'd made with the Malinta demons. I had a life to return to and quite a few scores to settle, the least of which was with Tanselm's great sorcerer, too stubborn for his own good. After all that I'd sacrificed for Tanselm, I had no intention of succumbing to death to fulfill Sin Garu's pledge.

My thoughts strayed to Arim again, to the thought of finally putting matters between us to rights. I called on the power deep within me. Like before, the green flames of the demons burned brighter, feeding on my Darkness.

But I pushed through the agonizing pain and sought the small source of Light still beating inside my heart. Arim's face shone bright and steady within my memories. A small shard of love for the man stunning me even as I knew to embrace it.

Shrieking with dismay, the demons loosened their hold in shock, giving me the opportunity I needed. With a burst of energy, I pushed past the hatred binding me and shot through the demons' plane toward my own.

But as I left, I felt a tug and an agonizing pain as they ripped away part of my soul. Glancing back as I floated toward the boundary of the demons' world, I saw them cage and contain that bright blue piece of me.

"A life for a life," the masses ranted as they surrounded the cage. Confined in flame, the bit of my soul flickered but remained strong. The contract was not met, my life not yet forfeit.

"You'll get your life, that I promise." But it won't be mine . I stared grimly at the monsters and fires of damnation as I merged into the Between …

* * *

"H oly Mother of Shadow and Dark." Sava stared at me in shock. "They've got a part of you. I can't believe you're awake and breathing." Admiration battled the worry in his eyes. "Lexa, you have to tell Arim about this."

I shook my head, trying to focus on what really mattered. That I'd let my guard down with one of the few people I trusted. Damn it. Friend or no friend, Sava's going to pay for that.

"He's the only person I know of who can help you retrieve your soul," Sava insisted. "You need Light more than Dark and Shadow, I'm afraid. Despite the problems Tanselm is having, she'll give everything she has to repair the damage you've been dealt. Tanselm needs Dark magic. The land needs you, Lexa."

"No, she doesn't."

Sava continued as if I hadn't spoken, his eyes hard and knowing. "Almost as much as you need Arim."