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  SHADOW DESTINY

  Shadowlands Book 3

  AMOS CASSIDY

  Published by Amos Cassidy

  Text Copyright © 2017 Amos Cassidy

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover, other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Copyright © 2017 Amos Cassidy

  All rights reserved

  Published by

  Amos Cassidy

  ASH

  I couldn’t stop smiling. It felt strange on my face after so many weeks of frowns. It felt good. Even the fire ants crawling under my skin couldn’t distract me from my joy. The Prince and his mark could go suck it—I had my big brother back and everything was going to be okay.

  I could do this.

  I could fight the hunger the mark provoked.

  So I continued to smile, and probably looked completely insane in the process.

  Clay laughed. “We must look like idiots sitting here smiling at each other. Especially after what just happened.”

  I sobered and glanced around the lounge. Asmeus, Clay’s strange new friend who’d kept him safe in the Shadowlands, and a huddle of humans were by the coffee machine, pale and shaken, gulping caffeine as if it was going out of style. So many were dead, so many injured. I really didn’t have the right to be so happy, but I couldn’t help it.

  “I know,” Clay said, as if reading my mind.

  I reached across the table and took his hand. “I can’t imagine everything you must have gone through, but I always knew you were a survivor and you made it, Clay. You found me.”

  Clay’s expression darkened. “Ryder didn’t make it, though. I should never have dragged him into this.”

  “From what you said, he saved your life; he got you into the Beyond. His loss won’t be in vain, we’ll make sure of it.”

  His mouth remained turned down. “I couldn’t save Ryder, but I wish there was some way I could get back to Saul and save Pearl.”

  “Pearl?”

  His lips quirked. “Yeah, I named the dragon.”

  That was so Clay. “So, you were in Saul with her?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. You know it?”

  “Never been, but one of the Shadowlanders that runs this place comes from there. What happened there?”

  “I’m not entirely sure. At first I got the impression they were merely covering their backs, you know protecting their borders and all that, but then this guy Jiva got all funny, and I honestly think he would have kept me there indefinitely if the Prince hadn’t attacked.”

  Okay, now this was just getting weird. It couldn’t be the same Jiva, could it? And the Prince? What the heck was he doing attacking Saul? My gut told me that there was a connection between our experiences, something bigger under the surface.

  “The Shadowlander I was telling you about is called Jiva, and the Prince,” I held up my arm and pulled back my sleeve, “did this to me.”

  The next few moments were filled with the strangest catch up session. We agreed that there was no way of knowing for sure if Clay’s Jiva was my Jiva, not until he returned and Clay saw him. With regards to the Prince, there was no way of knowing why he was collecting the items he was, but it was clear that the darkness he was siphoning through me was just another kind of collection.

  “I can’t lose you again, not to this messed up hunger or this elusive Prince,” Clay said.

  “You won’t. We have a plan, starve the mark and hopefully weaken it, force it to fade away. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll find a plan B. I’m not going anywhere, and after we’ve dealt with the humans that attacked us, I’m going to speak to Avery about bringing our people over and setting them up in Jiva’s museum.”

  Clay frowned. “You call them humans as if you’re no longer one of them.”

  I locked eyes with him. “One of them?”

  He blinked and dropped his gaze.

  “Yeah, I’m not human and I’ve accepted that, and I think you’re almost ready to accept that neither are you. We’re both different, Clay. I have this Shadow thing and you . . . you can manipulate aether. We are no longer human, probably never were. Doesn’t mean I don’t care about our people, and it doesn’t mean I’m gonna turn my back on them.”

  Asmeus, who had been silent up until now, leaned forward. “When you mentioned a museum, were you referring to the residences not too far from here?”

  His voice made my scalp prickle with awareness; there was something familiar about its tone, its timbre.

  Clay squeezed my hand. “I stumbled across some residences a few days ago, they were filled with food.”

  I tore my gaze from Asmeus and settled on Clay. “Strange, I thought Jiva’s museum was the only place stocked up.”

  “Maybe it is,” Asmeus said. “You must remember that the Shadowlands are constantly shifting. You could very well have been near here before, but a shift could have pushed you off course, away from this place.”

  I watched as the implications of what Asmeus had just said hit home and Clay’s face paled.

  “I was close?” He shook his head. “I could have found you a week ago.”

  “It doesn’t matter, we’re together now and nothing is gonna tear us apart.” I squeezed his hand, noting the dark circles under his red-rimmed eyes. “You need to get some rest, and once you’ve had some proper sleep we can start planning how we’re going to help our people.”

  ***

  I had no idea who to ask about getting them rooms. Reamus would have been the go-to guy, but he was now a pile of ash. My eyes stung and I blinked back the tears as I pushed open the door to my old room, the one they’d given to Ryder who hadn’t really been Ryder.

  I stepped back to allow them to step inside. “I know its small, but the bed is big enough to share and you guys need to rest. I’ll make arrangements for an extra room as soon as I can.”

  Clay flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes. “Thanks.”

  Asmeus hovered by the door looking uncertain. I cocked my head. “Have we met before?” His brows shot up and I shook my head. “Course we haven’t, sorry. There’s just something really familiar about you.”

  Asmeus smiled. “They tell me I have that kind of face.”

  It wasn’t the face, it was the voice. I sighed. “Yeah, anyway take care of him. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

  I pulled the door closed.

  ***

  I had a list of things to do. I needed to find Viola and tell her how sorry I was, how grateful I was. I needed to find Avery and find out what the hell we were going to do about the mini-army we had captured. I needed to find Asmeus a room, but there was one burning need that I had to satisfy first.

  I found him behind the bar sweeping up broken glass in full view of the humans he always avoided. I noted their eyes on him, some wide with awe, some filled with fear, and I noted the tense set of his shoulders visible through the thin material of his cream shirt. His skin was no longer tinged red, and strands of his hair had come undone from the tie at the nape of his neck, brushing against his strong cheekbones. He kept his gaze averted when he could have glared them down, made them wet themselves with fear. He allowed them to watch him li ke a specimen on display.

  Anger mingled with compassion as I strode across the floor, glass crunching under my boots.

  He paused in his sweeping and looked up. Our eyes locked and my pulse missed a beat.

  He sees you.

  Yeah, he saw me.

  I walked right up to him and grabbed the top of the broom, yanking it out of his hands. Standing on tip toe and winding my arms around his neck, I pressed my lips against his. For a moment I thought he would resist, but then he melted into me, pulling me against his taut abdomen, claiming my mouth in a kiss that tore the breath from me and made me buckle so the only thing holding me up was him.

  He ended the kiss with a soft peck and eased back enough to look into my face. “What was that for?”

  I lifted my chin and offered him a smile. “For being you.”

  His pupils flared and then he closed his eyes and tucked in his chin to rest his forehead on mine. We remained like that for beat, my chest tight with words unsaid, and then he gently set me on my feet and picked up the broom.

  I turned back to the room, back to the eyes that had watched the exchange with obvious interest, but were now looking anywhere else but at us.

  I understood his reluctance to be around them, his need for constant privacy. He was no sideshow; he was no freak for them to view.

  He was mine.

  One of the humans looked our way and my lip curled in a snarl. He quickly averted his gaze. Satisfied, I walked through the door behind the bar and into the corridor that led to the kitchens. I had a Hob to console.

  The door to the kitchens was locked. I knocked and hammered, but Viola didn’t answer. My gut clenched in fear. She’d been so upset earlier, so distraught. What if she’d done something stupid?

  I kicked myself for my little snog pit stop, and turned and legged it back into the bar. Daemon was gone and the humans and Shadowlanders had dispersed.

  I needed to find Avery, he’d know what to do. He may even have a key to the door.

  I took the stairs two at a time, jamming my finger against the button to the lift as if that would summon it quicker. It arrived sedately, doors sliding open slowly as if it had all day.

  I slipped in and began the button jabbing until we were on the move.

  I landed on Avery’s floor and half-ran to his office, bursting in without knocking.

  Cal and Freya sprung apart.

  I took a step back. “Shit! Sorry, guys.”

  Freya turned a flushed face my way. “It’s okay. You looking for Avery?”

  I nodded, my eyes straying to Cal who had turned his back to us. I quirked a brow at Freya who shook her head in warning.

  “You know where I can find him?”

  “He’s in Daemon’s lair. The prisoners are chained up there and he’s interrogating the woman who tried to stand up for us.”

  I barely registered what she said; I was too worried about Viola. “Cal, can you check on Viola? She’s locked herself in the kitchens. I’m worried she might hurt herself.”

  Cal turned to face me, his brows low over his eyes, his jaw set. “Viola’s gone.”

  “What?”

  “She left for Enchansa an hour ago.”

  I sagged in relief, at least she was safe. And then Freya’s words finally made an impact, especially her emphasis on the word interrogation.

  Avery was interrogating Em.

  “When you say interrogate you mean ask questions, right?” I addressed Freya, but it was Cal that answered.

  “They killed our people, they killed Reamus. Avery will do what he needs to ensure our safety.”

  “I don’t care what he does to that bastard Charles, but Em’s different. She’s like us, she sees us.” I turned and strode out the door.

  I needed to get to Avery before he hurt Em.

  EM

  He was in her head, he was in her mind, and she was powerless to stop him. Images flitted across her vision—her home, her room, the control room, the corridor leading to the lab, and then nothing but darkness.

  Her vision bloomed and the dimly lit cavern she was seated in came back into view. Em blinked and glanced behind Avery into the darkness beyond. The chair she was tied to was hard and uncomfortable, and her arms ached from being pulled around the back of the seat and tied together.

  “Curiouser and curiouser,” the creature named Avery said.

  Em kept her gaze averted, not wanting to look upon his stunning beauty. It was some kind of allure to make her bend to his will. He wanted to break into her mind, see what secrets lay within. As much as she disagreed with Valance’s orders, as much as she hated the man that had killed her father, she was not about to betray her people. None of this was their fault. He had seen some things but not enough, surely not enough.

  “Listen,” she said. “You can’t blame us for going on the offensive. Your world pretty much annihilated ours. We’re dying, our pocket of existence is shrinking. We deserve to live just as much as you. This land is ours and we want it back.”

  “So you kidnap my people, experiment on them to build your little weapons, and then you attack?”

  Em swallowed. “We didn’t know what you were, that you were so human.”

  He drew near, she could sense him, smell his fresh heady scent. “There’s nothing human about us, little girl, and if it didn’t serve my purpose to keep you alive then I’d kill you now.”

  Yes, of course, he still needed to know where her pocket was. “I’m not giving away our location. There are innocent men, women, and children there. This is not their fault.”

  “Then whose fault is it?”

  Valance’s face flashed through her mind. She could give him up, let them have him. He deserved to die, just as he had killed her father. “His name is Valance. He gave the order, he made the serum, he—”

  “Serum?”

  She bit her lip. Had she said too much?

  “Look at me.”

  She wanted to resist, but his voice was a compulsion. She lifted her head and looked into his startling blue eyes. “Tell me about this serum.”

  “No.”

  She felt his will pressing against hers, probing her skull with strange, ethereal fingers that stroked her mind, pushing into her thoughts, searching.

  His brow furrowed. “Curious.”

  “You keep saying that.”

  He released her mind and sighed. “Your mind is strong. I could push you, but it would kill you. So you have a choice. Tell me what I need to know willingly, or die while I extract it from your mind piece by piece. Just to make you aware, we already have the location. Your second-in-command, Charles, wasn’t so resilient once I applied some...pressure.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  Avery’s brows shot up.

  “What? He was a crazy arsehole, a murderer.”

  “And you’re not?”

  Em sat up straighter. “I’m a soldier.”

  “Who doesn’t follow orders.”

  Em dropped her gaze. “I didn’t say I was a great soldier.”

  He dropped into a crouch before her. “Unlike your people, I’m not a murderer. I kill to protect my own, I kill to survive. If your people are led by an unjust ruler, then they are not at fault and I am willing to spare them, but if they fight me then they will die.”

  There was no running from this. He had the coordinates he needed. What did it matter if he knew about the serum that Pop had created?

  She raised her head to meet his gaze. “My father made the serum from the blood of a Shadowlander. A primal specimen. It was supposed to give us strength and stamina, all the things to make a super soldier.”

  His gaze travelled over her. “You don’t seem that super.”

  “Maybe not to you, but compared to the other humans I’m shit hot.”

  He quirked a brow. “And your ability to see us...that’s a recent development?”

  She nodded.

  He stood and began to p ace. “You don’t reek of our DNA, not like the others here, but then neither did Ashling...” he muttered. “But she saw us for what we were from the start, and you’ve been taking Shadowlanders for years and not seeing a thing so...something must have triggered—”

  “Pop!”

  Avery stopped pacing and turned to look at her. “Excuse me?”

  “My father, he injected me with something the day before he was executed. It has to be something to do with that.”

  Avery’s brow furrowed. “You think he gave you the sight?”

  The sound of running footsteps had him spinning away from her.

  “Avery! Don’t hurt her!” The red head appeared.

  “Your concern for our guest is touching, Ashling. As you can see, I haven’t harmed her in any way. Yet.”

  The woman, Ashling, moved toward Em and tugged at the ropes that bound her. “Dammit, Avery, do you have some kind of bondage fetish?”

  “Why? Did you want to join me?”

  Ashling yanked at the ropes, and after a few minutes they loosened enough for Em to wriggle free.

  “Thanks, Ashling.” Em rolled her shoulders and rubbed her wrists.

  “No, thank you for trying to save us, and you can call me Ash, no one but that one over there calls me Ashling.” She jerked her thumb in Avery’s direction.

  A cacophony of gurgles and gasps filled the air.

  “What the hell?” Ash rushed off. Avery close behind. Em followed.

  They rounded a pillar and stopped short before the bound bodies of the rest of her unit. Em watched in horror as they thrashed about, blood pouring from their mouths, ears, and eyes.

  They were dying.

  It had to be the serum

  Which meant...she was next.

  ASH

  It was over.

  The Prince’s mark 1, Ash 0.

  I barrelled out the exit to Calypso’s parking space, the hunger a scream in my head, the need fire in my blood.

  I reached for her, my breath shallow.

  I needed to speak, to explain what I needed from her, but when I opened my mouth all that emerged was a low growl.