The Darkest King (Lords of the Underworld 15)

As Sunny continued to pet Dawn, the hound closed both sets of eyes and drifted off with a little puff of breath.

All right. Time to get back to work and decode that freaking book. Sunny stood and strode toward the desk but halfway there, a sudden, unexpected storm of arousal hit. Her nipples hardened, and her panties flooded with desire. A full-body shiver nearly rocked her off her feet, wrenching a moan from her.

When it past, she wanted to curl into a ball and cry. More storms would be coming now, only worse.

Focus now, while you can. Right. Upon Axel’s arrival, William had secured the book’s case with a (magical) lock. Had the silly man not realized she could siphon that magic away? Which she did. Voilà! Access to the book.

For one...two...three hours Sunny pored over every page and symbol without success. Why couldn’t she break through the barrier, an extra layer of mystical protection, the equivalent of wrapping an enigma around a mystery? Or maybe a better description was a ‘magical encryption.’

Every encryption had a key, even the magical ones. She just had to figure this one out.

She texted William: Bad news. I’m stuck at a roadblock. When you’re done playing chase with your family, tell me why the witch cursed you. The info could unlock the code!

His reply came within seconds: She told me she loved me, and I laughed in her face.

Ouch. Should have guessed. The key must center around the witch’s rage. It’d be a word, phrase, thought or emotion. Something simple, or the curse would never reach fruition. So...not a word or phrase. Probably not a thought, either. There were too many possibilities. As for the emotion...

Yeah. That one had real potential. Think! The witch wouldn’t have wanted anyone who admired William to decode the book, only someone who’d enjoy seeing him suffer.

The answer crystalized, and she gasped. Had to be anger or hate. Since anger was far more susceptible to change and hatred more deeply rooted, she’d go with the latter. Which was easy for Sunny, considering her dual nature. She could both like and dislike someone at the same time; she just had to focus on one side of her nature. So, that was what she did. She flipped a switch in her heart, placing her vengeful side in the spotlight.

How she hated demons and the princes of darkness who led them. How William was Lucifer’s brother. How William had locked her away. How William had broken up with her, demanded space—

There it was. Hatred. The emotion filled her up.

She focused on the book, and a shaft of warmth suddenly shot through her, the rest of the world fading away. So dizzy. As she released a heavy breath, the dizziness dwindled and—she gasped. Multiple symbols morphed into words.

Once upon a time...

She bounced up and down with excitement. She’d finally done it?

Problem: the words vanished from the page only a moment later, the symbols returning.

Her excitement dimmed. She refocused on the hate but...

No new passage opened up, but a thought whispered through her mind, as tempting as a shiny red apple. I should kill William. Yesss. I should...so I will. I’ll transform into a unicorn and sink my horn into his black, rotting heart.

Fires of fury burned in her belly, her muscles tensing, readying for action. He deserves this. And I deserve to be the one who ends him.

Sunny released the book and reached for her medallion. She would hunt William down and—whoa! The whispers ceased, and the urges fled.

Ice-cold terror seeped into her bones. Oh, hellebore! According to William, the curse would activate as soon as he fell in love, spurring the object of his affection into killing him.

Had he just realized he had feelings for Sunny?

Maybe yes, maybe no. But she shouldn’t—wouldn’t—tell him about this development. She could already imagine the end result. Once upon a time, a dark prince met a beautiful woman named Sunny, who made him crazed with desire. When he fell in love with her, the curse activated. She tried to murder him, so he did his best to put her down. The end.

She would weather this alone. No, she would master this. She squared her shoulders and stiffened her spine, determined.

She’d told William the curse would hold no sway over her, and she’d meant it. Now she knew exactly what to guard against: insidious thoughts and desires that would sneak into her mind, amplified by a need to think horrible things about William in order to decipher the symbols...which meant she had to stop being so charming before he actually fell in love with her. And he would. If she decided to win his heart, he soooo would. She had so much love to give. Love he needed.

But first, she had to decode the book. And she had to do it while resisting William...who’d been right to want to wait, she realized now.

Maybe she wouldn’t bail on him, after all.

Turning on the hate, Sunny spent another hour working on the book and managed to decode an entire paragraph. As she jotted down the translation in her diary, exhaustion set in, segments blurring together. She needed to rest before she tackled another section. Which she would do, after she read over the handwritten page to check for typos, so she could text a photo to William. He’d be so happy.

Only two words into her read, the blood rushed from her head. Freesia! She hadn’t written what she’d deciphered—a rehashing of everything William had told her about Lilith and Lleh. Hell spelled backward. She’d written “Kill William” over and over again.

No, no, no. Her mind was playing tricks on her; that was all. Queasy, and maybe a little magic-drunk, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head, then refocused.

The translation remained the same.

Sweat beaded on her palms. Had the curse already activated?

No. No way, she thought next. Despite what she’d written, she had no desire to end his life.

Her phone buzzed, a text coming in. Her heartbeat went from zero to sixty in a split second. Only William had the number.

She closed the book with a snap, locked it inside the case and tried not to tremble as she checked the cell’s screen.

The Panty Melter: Any luck with the code?

Gulp. She replied, Yes. Your witch patterned the curse after a fairy tale. As the symbols are deciphered, they tell a story.

She typed what she remembered, leaving out what she’d written: Once upon a time, in the faraway Realm of Lleh, there lived a beautiful, powerful witch who fel

l in love with a handsome but conceited prince of Hell. Though she only wished to please him, he spurned her advances. In return, she decided to teach him a lesson he would never forget.

“I’m the only one who gets to teach William King a lesson,” she muttered, jabbing her finger into the Send button.

The Panty Melter: How soon until you’re finished?

Five words, zero emojis, yet his impatience and excitement pulsed through the phone.

Sunny: Translating that one paragraph wiped me out. I’m going to rest. I’ll begin again in a few hours.

The sooner she finished, the sooner she and William could figure things out.

The Panty Melter: Don’t wait up for me. Remember when I mentioned needing space? I’ll be out all night.

Out all night? Bailing on her for the second time without offering an explanation? She leaped to her feet, the chair skidding away. Anger turned her core temperature to boiling, roasting her insides. Had he met someone? Did he plan to bed someone who’d caught his fancy?

If he didn’t, Sunny would be even more furious with him! That would mean he’d made her worry—twice—for no reason.

She wouldn’t ask him what he would be doing. Nope. If he cared about her, even the slightest bit, he would volunteer the information.

If you cared about him the slightest bit, you would trust him, even the slightest bit.

What a stupid thought!

Forget resting. This single girl was going to have herself a night on the town, one way or another. Because yes, she’d just broken up with William again.

Her index finger the hammer and her phone the nail, she jabbed at the keyboard, forming the words, No worries. I have plans.

The Panty Melter: What plans? With whom? You can’t leave the stable and others can’t enter.

Ignoring him, she checked the phone’s address book. Sweet! He’d included other numbers, with notes.

Pandora—only if there’s an emergency.

Baden—only if there’s a really bad emergency.