Ebony Rising (The Raven Queen's Harem 2)

I don’t believe in luck.

“Who gave you the tickets?”

“They were just delivered to my apartment. Said I’d won them.”

Xavier coughs again and I notice a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. I nod at him. “You may want to get him home. He’s not looking too great.”

“Not feeling so great either,” he replies.

I walk away, realizing the girl doesn’t know much, if anything at all. I head to the back and grab my cello before making my way back out to the street. Hailing a cab, I think about that moment during the concert between me and Morgan. I knew she was out there the minute I walked on stage. I sensed her. Smelled her. I felt the heat of her body and the powerful runes etched onto her skin.

When the magic spilled from my bow, igniting a fire in her soul, something happened. She left. The man, Xavier, followed.

I don’t know how. I don’t know why, but the Morrigan was summoned. I could hear her voice through the strains of my music. I heard her as clearly as I knew Morgan did. That’s how it starts. That’s how the Darkness takes over.

A yellow cab pulls over. It’s a van—big enough to transport my instrument. I hop in the backseat and give directions. The street lights flash out the windows.

A smart man would cool off for a bit before going home after a night like this. I may be strong. I may be powerful, but no one ever told me that I’m smart. I am cunning, a warrior, and I have a feeling I’m about charge into battle.

Chapter 20

Morgan

The door is unlocked when I arrive home. Thankfully no one greets me. My lips are still hot with shame, my mind a jumble of the Morrigan’s whispers. Want and desire and need and yearning war in my mind. They tug at my body. I close the heavy wooden door with a click of the latch. Carrying my heels I run up the steps, past Clinton and Damien’s rooms to the third floor. Sam’s light is off. I enter my room, dropping the shoes with a too-loud thud against the hardwood floor.

My skin crawls. I think of Xavier and the way his body felt. The way the Morrigan responded to him. I’d never heard her before. Not like that. Not off the page.

I cross the suite and enter my writing study. On the window seat is my notebook with the last chapter I’d written. I’d been struggling to convey what happens to Maverick when she opens the gateway between one world and the other. What happens when the Darkness crosses over?

The fair-haired prince stands next to her. His eyes glint with deceit.

“What is this?” she asks.

“Your destiny,” he replies. His teeth are white and sharp. A gust of cold air passes through the gate, the kind that chills a person to their bones. Maverick feels it deeper than that. In her soul. Black smoke wafts into the green forest. The ravens caw overhead but it’s hard to hear them.

The cold air turns warm—hot, even—blistering her cheeks. A voice calls to her, “Join me, Goddess of War. Unleash your powers from this world to the next.”

She turns and faces the prince, who continues to smile. Maverick takes his hand and tugs him down with one hand. The other is heavy with a surprising weight. But she knows. She knows what to do with those that are disloyal. With her lips close to his she leans in to steal his breath, while raising the other hand and stabbing him with the tip of her blade.

He jerks back—the smile vanished—but he knows. He knew. As does Maverick.

In every story this is how it happens. This is how the Darkness begins.

A hand lands on my shoulder. Startled, I drop the book and spin, using the moves from my training. I land a punch in Clinton’s gut.

“Oof,” he grunts, taking a step back.

“Mother fu—” I clench my fist. It’s bruised for certain. “Clinton!”

“Sorry.” He takes my fist and kisses the bridge of knuckles. “I called your name.”

“What are you doing here?” The twist of fire in my belly from the concert is still there.

He holds my gaze. “It?

??s time.”

“Time?” I’m confused by his statement but the warmth in my belly gives me an instinctive clue. “Because of tonight?”