The Dove & the Darkness (Ceasefire Series book 5) Read online

  Sagging back into Master’s chest, I let the beauty soak into my pores. I cling to the moment of freedom. Revel in the moment not sure if I’ll ever get one again. He says he’s going to keep me, but I remember his angry words. Tomorrow I could wake up chained in my cell. Shackled to the wall. His to torment and scorn. His pet to humiliate. Master’s moods shift like quicksand. I’ve seen the agony churning in his soul. The demons he keeps hidden along with his ruined face.

  “Would you like to explore?” Master asks with slight hesitation.

  Astonished at his offer, I tilt my head up to meet his watchful gaze. “I thought you wouldn’t allow something like that?”

  “As long as I’m with you, you can enjoy the garden whenever and for as long as you like, but you are not allowed to touch the fruit growing from the tree.”

  “Why?”

  I look at them with curiosity. Dark red, the bounty that weighs down the branches hang so plentifully and temptingly. My mouth waters at the sight.

  “Because they are forbidden,” he tells me gruffly.

  28

  Soren

  Cassandra moves around the garden out of my reach. She’s skittish, and I can’t blame her. I’ll need to see to the cuts and scrapes she received in her failed bid for freedom. The dark bruises of my lust and carnal hunger mark her skin. I was a brute. Caused her pain. Broke my vow to fix her and all I’ve done is smash her down even more. I don’t deserve to touch her again.

  Finding her gone had snapped something inside me. I’ve experienced the bitter taste of pain and betrayal. I’m still reeling with the speed of how my darker emotions overtook me.

  My brother is right. I am losing myself to my madness. Before the girl arrived, I had it in check. In her presence it has only become worse. She’ll be my ruination. Spiral me down until all shreds of sanity are nothing but tatters.

  Yet I can’t give her up.

  Won’t. Cassandra has brought a light to my world I never realized was missing until I found her. With rebellion and fire, she challenges me. With me is where she belongs. I won’t be parted from her now.

  She is mine.

  From the tip of her onyx-haired head, down her graceful body to her pussy, and ending right at her bare little toes.

  I’ve been harsh and demanding. Cruel and ruthless in my training of her, dominating her with my punishments. Made her afraid and miserable thinking I was going to give her up to another. Hidden from her softness and the emotions she’s awakened with her presence.

  I need to make amends. Show her the only reason I kept her restrained was to keep her from leaving me. Her willing surrender to my control is all I crave. To care for and protect her in return. I’ve never cared about a slave the way I do her. I’ll protect her from Mistress Kalia and the others who live in Tartarus. If they dare touch her again, I’ll kill them with my bare hands.

  “I know who you really are.”

  The soft words pull me from my shame filled reflections. Instead of anxiety, I feel only a sense of relief that my beautiful Dove has figured out the truth. An unburdening of some of the secrets and lies that have become my existence.

  Naked and barefoot, she looks like a nymph, her skin iridescent, midnight black hair loose and flowing around her slender shoulders.

  I remain on my knees not wishing to spook her. “Say it. Say my name.”

  Caressing the softness of a phosphorescent petal, her tongue darts out to wet her lips. “You’re Hades, God of the Underworld.”

  A forgotten God twisted by bitterness and loneliness. Once revered and worshipped by mankind, now I’m nothing but a myth along with the rest of my kind.

  Her eyes boldly hold mine. There’s no fear in their depths, just inquisitiveness and wariness.

  29

  Cassandra

  Emotions I can’t define dance in the depths of Hades’ intense brown irises. “I am.”

  The pieces click together, and I’m not sure how to feel, knowing I’m right.

  He’s an enemy of my Father.

  Lucifer has mentioned this Greek God in the past. Covets his Kingdom.

  It’s the reason he allowed Raziel, his second in command, to take Jane as his mate. The great great Granddaughter of this abandoned deity. Her offspring can lay claim to his throne. I foresaw her coming. The rainbow-haired harbinger of my doom.

  “You had a wife. I remember reading about that in Greek Myths and legends.”

  “Persephone. Murdered at the hands of another God. The first of us to lose his sanity. My retribution was swift, but it did not save her.” He stares into my face, eyes shifting into pools of pain.

  I see he’s broken. In that second, his soul is bared. Ancient, raw, exposed. Hollowed by loss and simmering with rage. I hear the bitterness in his voice. Her loss still hurts him.

  I quell the urge to reach out to him. “Where are all the other Gods?”

  “Gone.”

  A frown creases my brow at his simple answer. “Where?”

  Still on his knees in a pair of jeans, his position is disarming and nonthreatening. “Time is a beast not even we can slay. Mankind’s faith dwindles. Our powers declined. We either fade into oblivion, become mad living a half-life, or others come to murder us and take our Kingdoms.”

  A soul that has lived through countless centuries. How long has he been alone?

  Examining a bloom, I trace the velvety petals with the tip of my finger. “Is that what happened to you?”

  The heat of Hades' regard sears me with its intensity. A shiver skates across my skin, which has nothing to do with my earlier fear.

  “I am the dark. Once I controlled it. Now it’s all I know. It’s become my home. A prison and a haven. My soul is thirsty for revenge toward all those who have hurt my own. It’s all I exist for now.”

  Unable to resist, I turn back to him meeting his scrutiny. “Is that why you're hiding behind another name and a mask?”

  “I gave up my Kingdom a long time ago to be ruled by my advisors. I’m content with my simple life working in Tartarus, conditioning slaves, and performing interrogations. Purpose prevents me from fading like others of my kind with my powers diminished.” His eyes glow softly, gold flecks mixed with brown.

  “But you’re a God. This is your Empire. Shouldn’t you be ruling over it?”

  “That desire fled me long ago.”

  “So, you’d rather kidnap women and murder people? For what, money?” I accuse, letting him know my distaste for his actions.

  Master’s features darken ominously. “I already have wealth in abundance. The rich pay for the services we provide. The work we do gives the beings who live here jobs. Although we are hidden away, we still have links to the worlds outside, and it stops us being cut off completely.”

  “It’s wrong…”

  “You would rather I become a demented living shade drained of power, preying on the weak, and abandoned by mortal men?”

  “Isn’t that what you’re doing already? Snatching people from their homes and families…”

  “Enough, Cassandra. It is not your place to question my actions especially with the countless misery your father, the Devil, has sown for his own amusement and gain.”

  His snarl silences me.

  More questions burst inside me, but I keep silent. I’ve already tasted his madness once. It’s something I don’t want to bear again. Shivering with the cold, I wrap my arms around my waist. It makes me more aware of my nudity, something I’ve grown accustomed to over the long days of confinement.

  The garden melts away so suddenly I take a startled step back. Blackness envelopes us, and for a moment, panic rises at the thought of never seeing anything as simple as the early morning dawn ever again.

  Warmth bathes my skin, chasing away the chill. The light is dazzling. Blinking I cover my eyes until they adjust to the radical change. Confused I glance around. Fields stretch around us. Miles of golden swaying corn. Beyond lay green vibrant forests and babbling rivers. Deer graze quietly
lifting graceful necks to glance our way. Above a sun burns brightly overhead. It’s tranquil rays bring with it a pang of loss for having been kept in the dark for so long.

  “Where are we now?”

  Master stands tall beside me. Every flaw on the disfigured side of his face is harsh and stark. Eons in the Underworld has left his skin pale, lacking the color you gain from time under the sun. A lock of curly hair brushing his forehead, his chin averts from the brightness, ink black lashes veil his eyes.

  “I wanted to show you that my Kingdom isn’t completely a place of pain and darkness. These are the Elysium fields.”

  “That’s your version of the afterlife?”

  “Yes. Tartarus is your version of Hell and Asphodel is limbo.”

  “I thought this place was supposed to be filled with food, singing, and dancing?”

  Master chuckles in amusement at my assumption. “It’s whatever you imagine paradise to be.”

  Sunlight. Freedom. Away from the claustrophobic walls of the prison I’ve been caged in. This open nirvana is exactly what I crave.

  Turning in a sedate circle, I search my tranquil surroundings. “Why is it so empty?”

  “Souls move on to be reincarnated. When the humans stopped believing in Gods like me, they no longer came here when they died. Now Lucifer is the keeper of human souls. The sinners at least.”

  “He took your job?” I ask, already knowing the answer and not completely sure how to respond.

  Hair blowing in the gentle breeze, Master’s expression becomes shuttered and closed. “Among other things.”

  “Is that why you took me?”

  Gazing off into the distance, I finally see him register the beauty of my chosen heaven. “No. I already knew of your existence before you came here. I’d heard of your bloodline. I’d planned on visiting you as a child to see if the rumors of the strength of your gift were true, but the Devil beat me to it.”

  “You were going to see me?” Shock laces my tone. My mother had entertained clients in the past. Not just the ones who paid for sex. She’d sold her predictions for a heavy price before the drugs she’d become dependent on had hollowed out the woman she’d once been. The poison that had eventually killed her at the age of thirty-five.

  “I would have brought you home with me,” Master admits quietly. Winding his finger into a lock of my hair, he gently rubs the strands. “Your heritage is linked to mine. You would have been happy here in my palace, and things might have been different for both of us.” Regret hangs heavily in his tone.

  We wouldn’t be enemies. He’d have given me a home. Yet thinking of him as a father figure as I do the Devil brings a soul deep refusal. I’ve learned to feel lust at his hands. Wanton needs to satisfy the sexual urges of my body. He’s taught me about pleasure and pain. We’re two lost souls. Both set on different paths. Enemies and lovers. There’s so much bad blood between us that this can only end in bloodshed.

  30

  Cassandra

  Feeling dreamy I stretch out on the bed waking gradually. My visions for once hushed and replaced with real dreams of sunshine and warmth. Something I’ve never experienced before. A place of peace.

  Master had bathed me before tending to my cuts and seeing to my bruises when we’d returned to his rooms. He’d done it in silence. Through the night he’d held me close like I was something precious and fragile. Never once has he tried to take my body only caressed me and made me feel safe, secure.

  I know his secret. It’s strange how it makes a difference. That we share something no one else here knows.

  Rolling over I find him sitting fully dressed on the edge of the bed. Between his hands he holds a large box. Drinking in his raw handsome virility heat pools low in my groin.

  His enticing smile lets me know I’ve been caught staring too long. “I have something for you.”

  Clumsily I sit up. “What is it?”

  “A present for you.”

  Taking it gingerly, I turn it over in my hands gauging the weight. The wrapping paper is velvety soft to the touch. Setting it down on the mattress, I rip if open with an eagerness I can’t contain. Flipping open the lid, I stare at the objects inside feeling a blush heat my cheeks. Nestled in the bed of satin at the bottom of the box the first thing I see is the silver anal plug. A larger diamond glitters at the end. Beside it are matching nipple clamps also decorated with the precious gem. Lastly a black leather collar studded with the jewels gleam and shimmer.

  “I fashioned these myself crafting them to match,” Master explains matter-of-factly.

  He’d made them with his own skilled hands? I’m lost for words. What he said last night about keeping me is only made more certain by these gifts. They will mark me as his. A clear sign to anyone who sees us. The thought fills me with a rush of warmth that makes me smile.

  “Do you like them?”

  Glancing up at him through my eyelashes my teeth sink into my lower lip. “They’re very pretty.”

  “I’ve made you shy.” His laughter rumbles out just making me blush deeper.

  “No one’s ever given me jewelry before.”

  “I should hope not.” His features blacken with the passing thought. “I enjoy creating things in my workshop. It will make me happy to make things for you to wear. Things to please me and give you pleasure as well as pain.”

  Examining the nipple clamps attentively I squirm at the thought of the pain. How much will they hurt? Would I be forced to wear them all the time?

  Hand settling over mine Master caresses my knuckles in a soothing gesture. “You don’t need to be frightened, Little Dove. The madness I felt has passed. I’ll always make sure your needs are taken care of. I want you to gift me your submission with trust not out of fear.”

  Because he’d thought I’d left him. Like he’d lost his wife? His family? Even his purpose was snatched away from him. Floating in his own version of limbo without drive or meaning the devastation and loss must have been crushing. Existence without direction. From ruling so much to going to nothing.

  “You’re not permitted to leave my room but inside my domain you have free rein to move around as you please when I’m away working.”

  Master’s gruff voice pulls me from my musing.

  Surveying the room, I look for distractions. “And do what exactly?”

  “I have many books you can read.” Rising from his place on the mattress beside me he strides to the overburdened bookcases he runs the tip of his finger along the book spines. “Dante. Shakespeare. Poe. Jewels Verne. There’s poetry…If there’s any you desire that I don’t have I can arrange to have them delivered along with anything you wish to eat.”

  “You’re going to fuck other slaves.” The realization sends my stomach sinking. Of course, he is. I’ve been stupid not to let myself think he’d be conditioning other women. He’d said it was a business. Master had admitted fucking others in the past. Breaking them. Taking them.

  Cocking his head, his brows knit together at my question. “It’s not always required…”

  “But you do.”

  “Are you jealous, my Dove?” Lips twitching, they curve up in a subtly smug smile.

  “Yes.”

  I shouldn’t be but I am. The thought of him touching someone else the way he has with me sends unfamiliar violent impulses through every one of my nerve endings. His attention should be all mine not shared with others.

  My honest answer surprises him. “You don’t need to be. I don’t feel anything when I’m conditioning them.”

  He feels something for me? Cares for me? Then it should matter. His confession does nothing to quell my building anger. In fact, it only intensifies.

  “You mean brain washing them like you tried to do with me.”

  “That feisty tongue of yours is going to get you into trouble. I’ve already proven I have no problem punishing you.”

  Closing the lid, I toss the box of gifts off the bed letting it hit the floor with a whack. “I’m only stating th
e truth.”

  “We’re not going to discuss my work.” The wicked scars puckering his cheek, deep into a fearsome scowl. Moving to the bed he crouches rescuing his creations. Carrying the box to the wooden table he opens it retrieving the collar.

  “Stop sulking Cassandra. If you act like a child, I will treat you as one. Brats get disciplined.”

  Fuck you hovers on the tip of my tongue, but from his expression, he’s waiting for a foul-mouthed response. I know it will earn me a punishment. One I’m not ready to face.

  Coming to a halt before me he slips the cool leather around my neck. Since I barely had time to get used to the previous one this feels just as restrictive. Our gazes collide as the click of the padlock sounds loudly in the room.

  Lips pressed together I sit sullenly.

  Reaching for me, his long fingers trail down my cheek. “Choose a book, and I’ll read to you.”

  When I don’t answer he sighs roaming back to the table loaded with food. Plucking something from a bowl he tosses it in my direction.

  I catch it automatically. “I thought I was forbidden from eating fruit?”

  The apple is firm and ripe. It’s red skin shiny, encasing the juicy sweetness I know lays within.

  Selecting his own, Master inspects it. “These are from Earth not grown here in the garden. I told you anything you desire I can have ordered.”

  “Pizza?”

  “American or Italian?”

  “I can have anything I want?”

  Master gives me an indulgent look bringing his snack up to his lips. “Within reason.”

  Taking a deep breath my one desire rambles out. “Please let me contact my Sister so she knows I’m safe.”

  He freezes poised to take a bite. The light fades from his eyes until they’re as stormy as the river Cocytus. “You’ll never go back to Hell.”

  “But my family…”

  “Forget them.”

  “I can’t. Please Hades…” I use his real name tentively hoping it will spark some softness within him. “If you care about me let me tell them I’m safe. I promise I’ll stay with you. Do whatever you want. I won’t try to run away again. I’ll stay and be your pet.”