His breaths shortened as he leaned forwards, as he peered harder into the darkness, determined to shatter it. He was a master of shadows and they would obey him.
He flinched and grunted as heat speared his mind, as his teeth ached and darkness writhed within him, snarled and gnashed its fangs at the threat before him.
Keras pushed it all back down inside him, shoved aside the fear and the pain, and tried again, pressing forwards into the darkness.
Eli whimpered. A pathetic sound.
From the darkness, a new place constructed itself, greenery rising to tower over him as blue and white tiles fell into position around a fountain, and golden dirt rolled across the ground beneath his feet.
Seville.
A female lay before him, eyes fixed on him in a sightless stare.
Lisabeta.
Anger rolled through Keras, fury that stole his breath and had him wanting to lash out.
He lifted his head and glared at the ones responsible for her death.
His brothers.
Keras growled and pushed past the memory, seeking another. When it was one of Lisabeta again, he sought another. This one had the female daemon on her knees before him, naked and smiling. Keras tore it down and cast it aside. Sought another. Cold trickled down his spine and his hands shook as he flipped through the memories of the female daemon, following them deeper, sifting through layers and layers of them.
Eli was using them to hide the information Keras wanted. He was sure of it.
The wraith was resisting him.
Keras dropped to his knees and gripped the bars of the cage, rattled it as he snarled at the daemon it contained.
Muscles clamped down on his bones, his limbs trembling as he leaned hard against the cage, pushed deeper into Eli’s mind.
Pain wracked him, fire that devoured every inch of him as shadows twined around his limbs and dragged him deeper still, under the next wave.
He pushed through it, dived deeper and deeper, tearing down the memories of Lisabeta, racing back through time.
Jagged black lines spread across his eyes, forming fault lines like lightning that forked in all directions.
He caught a glimpse of a mansion. European.
Then another memory.
This one a building that looked more American. He tried to focus on it, but the black lines were spreading too rapidly, obscuring too much of it and it was gone before he could seize hold of it and watch the memory play out.
He spun into the next one, bile rising up his throat as his entire body ached and his muscles turned to water.
Darkness surrounded him.
Not darkness caused by the fault lines.
Keras stood on a bluff, cold air buffeting him, his eyes fixed on the valley below him and a small village.
Fixed on two golden-haired children where they hid behind a boulder.
His targets.
Pain lanced him, straight through his heart as he recognised them. Calistos and Calindria.
He tried to stay with the memory, but it fractured and shattered, crumbling around him as another one replaced it.
A beautiful blonde female.
She was slow to come into focus.
He pushed through the pain that seared him to piece together the memory.
A cage shimmered into being around her, suspended by a thick chain from the roof of a cavern.
Black rock blended with the darkness in all directions, making it impossible to pick out any details.
Other than her blonde hair.
And tattered scraps of sky-blue material that hugged her curves, looked as if she had pieced them together from a garment that had been too small for her womanly frame.
He stilled as a huge male dressed only in leather pants trudged towards her, as she noticed him and backed into the corner of her cage that was furthest from him, causing it to sway.
Couldn’t breathe as she shook her head, her blue eyes pleading the meaty warrior.
The male flexed fingers around a spear tipped with a black blade.
Crusted with blood.
Keras fought to move, snarled and struggled when his feet refused to cooperate. He looked down at them, at the jagged black shadows snaring his legs, creeping up them. Devouring him.
He had pushed too far.
He lifted his head and looked at the woman.
Swore she looked right at him as the male drove the spear towards her.
As she screamed.
Keras screamed with her.
The shadows engulfed him.
Chapter 30
Daimon stepped the moment the harrowing scream cut through the night air, landing in the building where he had left Keras.
Keras gripped the bars of the cage, his eyes locked with the daemon’s, his fangs long and irises black as he unleashed another pained bellow.
Daimon grabbed him by his shoulders and tore him away from the cage, shattering the connection between him and the daemon. His brother hit the floor in a sprawl and Daimon’s heart hammered in his throat as he crouched to check on him, fearing the worst.
Ares and Calistos appeared in the doorway.
Cal was quick to reach Keras and feather his fingers over his neck, his sigh saying it all as it escaped his lips and he sank back onto his haunches.
Relief washed through Daimon, and through Ares too judging by the way his shoulders sagged, the tension draining from him.
Ares raked his hands over his tawny hair and stared at Keras, his dark eyes lit with gold and red sparks. “What the fuck did he think he was doing? I told him not to fucking do this.”
Ares hadn’t been the only one to lay down the law with Keras either. Daimon had told him the same thing, and so had the rest of his brothers. Keras had agreed he wouldn’t probe the daemon’s mind and then he had gone ahead and done it anyway.
It wasn’t like Keras to be reckless.
Valen and Marek appeared beyond Ares and Cal, Caterina and Eva in tow.
“What the hell happened?” Valen looked at Keras, his golden eyes bright. He stooped, his violet hair falling forwards to obscure his face as he grabbed hold of Keras and helped Cal get him onto the nearest bench.
Keras remained deathly
