“No. You have saved the world. Love your children, and they will defeat their greatest enemy.”
The Triad’s words offered him some comfort, but Arawn couldn’t help but wonder if his children’s greatest adversary was him.
Chapter Five, plus next book preview
The world opened up beneath Arawn’s feet. He fell through another portal. Air rushed by him. He caught glimpses of clouds, mountains, and trees. The sights blurred as he picked up speed. He tensed in anticipation of hitting the earth, knowing as a human it would kill him but didn’t fear the fate. Dying too soon would mess up the Triad’s plans.
A flap of an angel’s wings carried over the howling air. Feathers brushed his skin, and unyielding hands gripped his arms. His descent slowed as a barrier formed around him, protecting him from the biting air. He pried his eyelids apart.
Michael’s face filled Arawn’s vision. Despite being a god, awe gripped Arawn. It was the same sense of wonderment all beings experienced in the midst of the angels. The natural entrancement was part of the arsenal they wielded in order to carry out their heavenly duties: both ones of comfort and condemnation.
Arawn let his gaze roam over the being. The winged warrior was breathtakingly beautiful, yet his cold, hard eyes betrayed the soul trapped inside the unforgettable body.
Moments later, Arawn’s feet met the ground. Michael landed next, his solid form fading to the ethereal one capable of walking among the humans.
Arawn dipped his head. “Thank you.”
“I will return for you when you have completed your task.”
Arawn ground his teeth. Pain radiated across his jaw. He eased the hard bite and stepped forward. “You knew what would happen?”
“No. I did not.”
Some flicker of emotion passed through Michael’s eyes, but Arawn couldn’t discern what it was in the fleeting moment it had hovered in the angel’s lavender orbs.
“What do you know of my outcome or that of my children?”
Michael shook his head. “Nothing that would comfort you.”
“Then tell me how I will find the women chosen for me.”
“They too are marked with the curse meant for your children.” Michael raised his left hand. “A jagged line bisects their palms. You will know your seed has taken root when it disappears.”
Transferred to his child, no doubt. The deal he’d struck grew worse by the moment.
And he had no one to blame but himself.
Michael tossed a pouch at Arawn’s feet. “Take it. Your wealth is unlimited. Enjoy being a king beloved by the humans. It will not last.”
With that, a flash of bright light burst from the spot the angel had occupied. Arawn shielded his eyes against the burning purity of the heavens. It faded, and he was left alone.
He snatched the coin sack and attached it to his belted tunic, then glanced at his temporary home.
Chirping birds sang in the distance, and butterflies danced around him. He spun on his heel. The garden he stood in was peaceful, but the tranquility of the spot didn’t comfort him. Only knowing his confinement was temporary did.
“One year and one day.” He hoped it would pass quickly.
With no other options, he followed the stone path leading deeper into the gardens. The scents of human life—smoke, food, and animals—drifted on the breeze. The faint murmur of voices grew louder the longer he walked. He crested a hill. A small village of huts dotted the valley below him. He knew without being told the first female he was meant to find lived within one of the homes.
He stared at the humans going about their daily lives but couldn’t make himself join them, even though, for the next year, he was one of them.
After several minutes, a woman slipped from behind a tarp blocking the entrance of one of the houses. She glanced in his direction. The wind blew strands of her long, dark hair across her face. She shoved them back, never breaking their gaze.
He sighed. Even with the distance separating them, he saw the jagged mark she wore.
Guilt landed in his gut, and disgust choked him, but he went to her, following her inside the dimly lit shack. She moved to the center of the room and faced him. He swept his gaze over the woman he would soon know intimately.
Short, curvy, with shiny brown hair, a full mouth, and breasts that spilled from the bodice of her gown—she was beautiful. He waited for a physical reaction to her, but his cock remained limp. He hung his head.
How will I ever do this?
The answer, he knew, was the same he’d offered Minerva. He had a duty to fulfill. It had nothing to do with love. A bitter laugh escaped. The conviction he held close didn’t comfort him any more than it had his mate.
And the only way to return to her was to play his part.
Checkmate.
“Arawn?”
He forced himself to look at the brown-haired female. “Yes?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
He took her hand and traced the black line marring her skin, then lifted his gaze to hers. “You know who I am and why I am here?”
Although he towered over her, she held his gaze. No fear showed in her deep chocolate-colored eyes. No lust did either, only acceptance.
“I do. You are the Lord of the Underworld, and I am to bear your child.”
“And you accept me willingly?”
Her expression remained blank. “Yes.”
He opened his mouth to ask if she too had been played, but he knew better. She had, and no doubt needed to fulfill her bargain, just as he did, or suffer the consequences.
He sighed. “You shall name our son Tegan, and I will send my hounds to retrieve him on his seventeenth birthday.”
“And if our child is a girl?”
A girl.
Arawn’s heart skipped a beat before pounding hard. He hadn’t considered the possibility he would have daughters.
Daughters who would suffer along with his sons—offering their pain, blood, and tears to appease the curse the fairies should have been forced to bear in order to uphold the barrier between Hell and
