Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

I’m still sane, the prisoners are free, and the captors are mostly dead or in retreat. We actually did it.

Kimber’s triumphant grin falls as her face turns fearful before she shoots an arrow. I whirl around, ready to kill whoever it is, and see the arrow suspended midair in front of the eyes of a ghost and an army we’re not prepared for.

Chapter 18

KIMBER

There are too many, but they’re not firing yet. Instead, the dark-haired man stares at Gage as though they know each other, and Gage’s jaw tightens.

“Should have known this is the one you’d pick to hit. I have to admit, I’m impressed you found my rings so fast,” the guy says while plucking my suspended arrow from the air and tossing it to the ground as though it’s no big deal.

Our smaller army is ready for a fight, just waiting for the word, but Gage doesn’t give it. We have maybe fifty people. They have at least two hundred, and the air around us becomes heavier with each passing second.

A girl steps up from behind the unknown guy with a familiar face, but I don’t know him. And I don’t know her.

Her dark hair frames her face and drops to her chest in board-straight fashion, and her long, black dress doesn’t look like something you’d wear to a fight. Her eyes are soft, her skin is pale, and even in the darkness, I see the look in her gaze. She looks sad, beaten down… broken.

“Morgana,” Gage says on a gasp, and my eyes widen.

Morgana? So this is the girl he lost and the guy who stole her away.

She gives him a tight smile, but the guy beside her smiles bigger. “What’s wrong? Think she was dead?”

Gage narrows his eyes on the guy.

“No, but I thought you sure as fuck was, considering I thought I killed you over two centuries ago.”

The guy smirks mockingly, dusting lint from his jacket as though this isn’t a big deal.

“You always were envious of me. Then again, sibling rivalry isn’t uncommon, is it, brother?”

My eyes widen in shock, and several gasps follow the revelation. My phone—which has been blessed by my mother’s magic—chirps. I only look at it in hopes that it’s someone saying their own their way, but instead, it’s the incubus with horrible timing and no damn sense.

Dice: #OMG!! #WeAreSoDead

I don’t have time to glare at him or roll my eyes, instead, I send a quick message to Ella, hoping she and the split up armies have been successful and can come help. We just have to stall until they can.

“You,” Gage scoffs. “I should have known. Only someone as sick and twisted as you could run the rings.”

Gage’s brother casts a sideways glance at me, eyeing me as I step closer to Gage. Then his eyes return to my dark user.

“Me?” he asks him. “Oh, come on, brother. You know as well as I do that I learned from the best. You’re far sicker and much more twisted. Just because you kiss the queen’s ass now doesn’t mean you aren’t a sicker fuck than I. Tell me, does your sweet queen and her darling family know what a monster they have entrusted their lives to?”

Gage’s jaw clenches and his fists tighten. “Morgana could always enlighten them,” the guy adds, trying to get a rise out of Gage.

Gage takes a steadying breath, reining in his anger, and the army behind his brother pulls up their crossbows, taking aim.

“That won’t be necessary,” Gage’s brother says over his shoulder. “I’ll handle this all on my own.”

Gage snorts derisively. “Overly confident, aren’t you, Gavin? The last time we were in this position, I was the one to walk away.”

Gavin’s eyes darken as his sinister smile crawls up, sending a shiver down my spine. I really wish Gage wouldn’t goad him. I thought he was stalling.

“Things have changed, brother. A lot of things have changed. For instance, the company you keep has changed. Pretty little thing, but she’s pure, isn’t she? Untainted? Unlike the way you left Morgana when you slaughtered hundreds right in front of her eyes.”

His eyes shift to me, and he watches for me to react. I don’t, and it seems to irk him.

“But I bet she doesn’t know who killed her parents, does she?”