Set In Flames (Morningstars Book 1) (22 page)

There would be a time for dark thoughts, but it was not here, not now, in Jaden’s arms.

Maya was gone. She meant to kill her, but still had wanted to torture her just for shits and giggles and now. She. Was. Gone.

“How did she get out? That beast must have more powers than I ever guessed,” Destra screamed and Nox raised his perfect head.

He had warned her and just his expression said it all.
She’d be dead if you’d have listened to me
, it said.

“You wanted her, so don’t judge me. Even now it’s all but visible on your face. You still think about how it would have felt to have her under you, don’t you? Can you imagine how it would make you feel if you’d press her into the mattress, pulling her head back until it almost snapped while you’d fuck her hard?” she snapped, keeping her eyes on the body part that would betray his fantasies.

“Jealousy truly doesn’t suit you, Mistress,” he smiled, being his usual charming self. She couldn’t decide whether she needed to be mad at him or simply crawl into his arms until he proved to her that there wouldn’t be anyone else for him.

She knew she had double standards, but truly, she didn’t care. Tymon was her mate after all, and Nox didn’t have one. He needed to be true to her and she would always put Tymon first.

“I don’t think she hid that much power. If she would have, we couldn’t have made her see what we wanted her to see,” he remarked and she knew he was trying to change the subject while coming closer to her.

“It wasn’t her powers,” they suddenly heard and Destra felt her control slip almost instantly.

“You are supposed to be on a trip … you shouldn’t be home, Ty,” she stuttered and he just shrugged, looking at Nox.

“You again,” Tymon said, looking over at the magician. Destra usually avoided having those two in the same house, but her husband seemingly wasn’t as gullible as she had thought.

“Sir? I’m just here to…” He usually was so clever, but he couldn’t think of a tiny little lie.

“He brings me my cosmetics. They are rare and special,” she explained sweetly and Tymon rubbed his chin. It was then that she saw he was soaking wet and looked more than just a little exhausted.

“And here I was, thinking that he helps you lie to me. I mean, someone must have brought Maya to our basement after all,” Tymon explained, walking around the two of them as if he wasn’t really seeing them. “When she was little I knew she was different. I loved our son, and I loved the other three, too, no matter what happened to them, but Maya just was everything to me. She was amazing. I held her and I just knew she would be my everything. She was my life. I couldn’t bring myself to turn her over to one of those camps and I never could get myself to believe that she’d turn into a monster. It just didn’t seem possible. So I brought her to a Morningstar – couple, pretending her parents had died. I always felt so guilty for having lied to you, but I wanted her to have a great life until she … you know, until the inevitable would happen.”

He walked over to the window, opening the blinds even though it was daylight outside. No sun came through though. Instead heavy clouds and a thunderstorm greeted her senses. “You always wanted her gone. I thought it was because you couldn’t stand the thought of loving her when you knew she’d have to die. I just wanted to make your life better. I gave her away because I thought it would break your heart to see her as a monster.”

Destra felt her sanity vanish. Every lie, every construct she had built up over the last twenty-odd years was slowly crumbling down right in front of her. Tymon had freed his daughter, had found her where Destra last wanted him to see her. She had lost Tymon the moment he had laid eyes on Maya again. How had he even found her? It wasn’t that someone had been able to hear her screams upstairs.

“You wanted her gone not because you loved her, right? You wanted her gone because you hated her. You hate your daughter, don’t you?” he inquired, not even bothering to turn and look at her.

“How did you know that she was here?” Destra wanted to know instead of answering. She saw him shrug, saw his beautiful face reflected in the window and even though at that moment she was angry beyond saying, she wanted to walk over to him and rest her head against his back like she had done so many times before.

“She was bleeding. I’ll never be able to forget the smell of her blood. That raspberry-vanilla mix… Remember when she was like three and fell in the foyer? She scratched her knees. I’ve never forgotten that scent, so the moment I entered I knew she had been there. It wasn’t just weak, the traces actually got stronger the closer I came to the basement. And then I knew. I just didn’t understand,” he explained, hanging his head as if he relived the worst moments of his life.

“I hated what she meant to you from the moment she was born. The way you looked at her. The way you treated her like she was the most precious thing on this earth. You are my mate! I am your Origin! Aren’t you supposed to put me first?” she spat, pulling on his shoulder so he’d be facing her.

“I always did. Every damn day of my life I put you first! I had your best interest in mind when I gave up our daughter! I agreed to more children because I just couldn’t turn down any of your pleas! I did what I did because of you! Each time we lost a child I thought it was going to kill you! Instead you were ready to kill
her
, weren’t you? Our sweet, innocent Maya…”

“Innocent?
Innocent
? Maya has done despicable things!” she screamed, leaving out the part about Maya doing those things to escape her torture. “That bar you tried to shut down some time ago? Your daughter has been a bar slut there,” she then added, but Tymon just picked up a brow. How much had his precious daughter told him? How much did he really know?

“It’s incredible. How could I have missed all this hatred in you? Have you been hunting her? Probably. For how long? Since when do you know that she is not dead?” he asked and she swallowed hard, throwing a pleading glance at Nox. She had no idea how to get Tymon back and she seriously hoped Nox could just cast a spell over her husband.

“She knew your daughter wasn’t dead. I think she still hoped that madness would take Maya, but then it just didn’t happen fast enough,” her faithful slave, now a deceiving back stabber, told her mate. “She wanted to help the process along and that’s when she started hunting down that pretty little thing. It was, too, why Maya worked in that bar. She probably thought it would have been too obvious so Destra would overlook her there. Of course, the Mistress has her spies everywhere. We were close to capturing her, but then she met that Morningstar warrior. Too bad really,” Nox finished, looking at his nails as if this was just a talk about politics.

“I can’t believe you just said that!” Destra’s vision had a red tint now. She had lost every little bit of sanity remaining in her body. Nox had just signed the death sentence on Destra’s mating, and he seemed pretty happy about it, too.

“Actually it doesn’t matter anymore. She is safe where she belongs and you will never get your hands on her again. I am pretty sure Jaden will personally see to that,” Tymon explained. “Nothing matters anymore. Our daughter will save the Morningstar race, she’ll become the Queen and then you can touch her even less. I just came back here to see with my own eyes what a monster my Origin is, and what my heart always refused to believe. Fare well, Destra,” he added, turning away to walk out of her life.

Screaming for him to stop, she grabbed the first thing she could reach, throwing it after him. It was one of those knives Nox and her loved so much. Her aim was flawless, just like it always had been, and it went right through his neck, cleanly severing his head from his body.

Tymon fell, but when he hit the ground, he was nothing more than blood marring the beautiful, old Persian rug that decorated their bedroom. She knew she’d need to clean that, but Nox took her hand.

She watched his expression for a long moment, thinking about ending his life right there as well, but as it was, she would be all alone in the world then and her reason for living had just left this earth for good.

“Why,
why
on earth did you tell him that? You could have lied. You could have charmed him,” she asked, hearing her own voice come out as a sob. She hadn’t cried in … ever. Actually she couldn’t even remember ever having shared a tear.

“He always came between us. I wanted you for myself, always have, but you just saw him. I needed that to change. And now, it wasn’t even my doing that got him killed. You did that all by yourself. You are finally mine, and mine alone,” Nox whispered, brushing his long finger over her cheek. His eyes were black as the night and she watched him for a very long moment.

“We need to get out of here, my beautiful. They will come back. I never blindfolded your daughter and I am pretty sure neither did Tymon. They’ll come to end your life and I will have none of that.” She knew he was right, but still she couldn’t bring herself to leave what was left of Tymon. She would never love another like she had loved him.

“Destra, come on, I promise I’ll make you forget,” Nox coaxed and she finally threw one last glance at the puddle of blood, then she let Nox lead her back to the basement where a hidden trapdoor lead to the garage and to the black sedan that would protect her from the sun.

“She killed him. It’s her fault I did that. We need to get revenge,” she mumbled and Nox nodded. The way his eyes sparkled he obviously already had an idea.

“Are you okay?” Jaden knew he had asked that question a million times so far, but the answer was always the same. Maya just laughed and kissed his chest. There was supposed to be this whole crazy transition going on, but so far… Nothing. He felt her feelings as if they were his own and vice versa, but other than that? She looked the same, smelled the same and she absolutely felt the same to him.

The blood bond they now shared was a thing that he never could have imagined. It was certainly impossible to explain to someone who wasn’t bonded. Whenever she moved he wanted to move, whenever she shifted he wanted to shift, and it had nothing to do with being whipped and everything with being only a part of something whole. It should have left him feeling weak, when instead it empowered him.

He wanted to reach out and grab the stars so he could present them to her in a bouquet, showering her with beauty as unique as she was. By now he had no idea anymore why he had ever considered her too normal for his taste.

“What if my blood wasn’t enough to change you?” he wanted to know, kissing her shoulder. She was warm, no longer shivering like she had when her father had brought her over. She felt content and not the slightest bit worried, stretching like a satisfied cat. It made him smile.

“Stop, okay?” she asked, moving in his arms until she could tease his skin with her tongue. It went up from his chest towards his shoulder before moving her body over his.

He was ready the moment he felt her wet core press against him. She let her fingers go over his abs, embracing his erection, lowering herself onto him while leaning forward. He worried that she’d be too weak until suddenly her lips were grazing his skin and then, the next second penetrating it with sharp fangs. Her sucking had him close to the edge in no time, the whole blood drinking being too strong an aphrodisiac to help him control his needs.

She moved against him, teasing and tasting until he called out her name, digging his nails into her sides. Afterwards he rolled her over, kissing her nose.

“It worked,” he finally smiled and she nodded, lying down on her stomach.

“I am perfect. No queasiness, no pain, no weakness left. I can see as if the sun was shining into this room,” she explained and he couldn’t help but to agree. She was really perfect.