Three Trials (The Dark Side, #2)

by Kristy Cunning

“If we could have you, I wouldn’t be so selfish. I’d make sure you were well sated before taking mine, and I’d make you crave me as often as possible. The fact that I’m not your favorite kills me. But because of that aching need to be your favorite, I know you’d be the end of us.”

“That’s twice you’ve called me comoara trădătoare. What does it mean?” I ask him. He holds my gaze for so long that I think he’s not going to answer. Just as he closes his eyes, I hear the words that are almost whispered. “Treacherous treasure.”

“And since you came around, we’ve been forced to feel more than we have in a very long time before we leashed those emotions and learned to channel them with Harold’s help and guidance.”

A yawn escapes me as I start leaning on him a little. Talking about killing apparently bores me. Maybe I’m the psychopath after all. His hold tightens, and once again he kisses the top of my head.

Just before I fall asleep, I feel a gentle, almost ghost of a touch at my ankle, but I can’t open my eyes to see who it is.

“Save your energy. We can fight this time,” Jude says quietly to me.

“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like—” “Are you fucking kidding me?” Jude barks in interruption, causing my eyes to peel open as I grimace.

🤣🤣🤣

It’s clear she’s something we’ve been missing. You’re the only one not seeing that.”

“I’m in here because you stared into my eyes and clung to my hand, willing to go into the flames with me so I wouldn’t have to die alone,” he says with no humor or sarcasm. “I’m in a much different place than the rest of them right now, because there’s no reason you did that other than what you said. He’s still worried about what price is to come. I’m to the point where I say to hell with the consequences.”

“We used to always sit in the same spots. For centuries,” Kai says, almost as though he’s thinking aloud. “Until about five or so years ago,” Gage adds quietly.

But I still stand by my theory of the Four Horsemen. Clearly, you’re Death.”

“My feelings were only getting hurt in the beginning. When it was all of you against me. Ezekiel is my special boy because he was the first to gift me with hope. Kai is like a willful drug, because I truly enjoy the attention he pays me, even when he’s so surly he couldn’t possibly have a gentle bone in his body. Gage is my current favorite because I know without a doubt he finally sees me as what I am.” He turns to me, his brow furrowing. “And what is that?” “All of yours,” I state as though it should be obvious.

“So what scares Death himself?” “The answer would be simple if you stopped to think about it,” he says so quietly I almost miss it. “You inspire a fear none of us have known before.”

“I think Kai is Conquest/Pestilence.

“Famine is Gage. I saw what he did to that beetle. It was like he drained it until it was shriveling from starvation,”

“And Ezekiel is War, surprisingly enough. He doesn’t create chaos. Chaos would have them running in a frenzy and spurred by random events. War is a simple-minded thought to kill the opposition at any cost. Ezekiel just confused their minds with who the opposition was and created a civil war from thin air.” He steps closer, tilting his head. “As I said, you’re clearly death. Death can come in any form. You didn’t need a spear to kill them, because you were Death itself.”

“Then why give the quads so much extra attention?” I ask him, arching an eyebrow. “Why not just leave you forever locked in hell’s belly if Lucifer truly wants you dead? Why the theatrics for a man so powerful?”

“Run,” I tell them on a gurgle. “She…wanted…to…know…where you…were,”

“Comoara trădătoare, is what she says—” His words are cut off, when Gage is suddenly in the room and throwing him up against the wall with his hand clutching Harold’s throat. Harold’s eyes widen in horror, as the phone slips from his hand and he struggles to pull Gage’s hand away.

His lips crash against mine for the first time, and it’s like a storm pulses in my body. All the pain is gone at last, and warmth travels up through me, as though he finally just sealed the last piece of something into place and made me truly whole.

“No one has tried to kill us since Jude killed Lake.