Twisted Luck

The Goddess of Fate & Destiny

Book 3

Serenity Ackles & J. S. Lee

Axellia Publishing

Twisted Luck

Copyright © 2020 Serenity Ackles & J. S. Lee

All rights reserved.

First edition, December 2020

Published by Axellia Publishing

Print ISBN: 978-1-912644-56-8

eBook ASIN: B08P5VTVMG

Cover design by Natasha Snow Designs;

www.natashasnowdesigns.com

Edited by Natasha Larry at Natasha’s Book Polish

Proofread by S. Harvell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, distributed, stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval systems, in any forms or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without express permission of the author, unless for the purpose of a review which may quote brief passages for a review purpose.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locations are used fictitiously. Other characters, names, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, or persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

ALSO BY SERENITY ACKLES & J. S. LEE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

DEDICATION

Ji Soo

If you’re going through hell, keep on going.

You might get out before the devil even knows you’re there.

Serenity

Are you… quoting Rodney Atkins…?

Ji Soo

나를 묶고 가둔다면

사랑도 묶인 채

미래도 묶인 채

커질 수 없는데

자유롭게 비워 놓고 바라봐

오직 너만 채울게

너만 가득 채울게

ALSO BY SERENITY ACKLES & J. S. LEE

Serenity Ackles & J. S. Lee

Reverse Harem

The Goddess of Fate & Destiny

Cursed Luck

Stolen Luck

Twisted Luck

Coming soon

Chosen Luck

Serenity Ackles

Reverse Harem

Grounded

Ji Soo Lee

Reverse Harem

(As J. S. Lee)

H3RO

Idol Thoughts

Idol Worship

Idol Gossip

Idol Threats

(available exclusively in the Wicked Souls Reverse Harem Romance Collection)

Onyx

Onyx: Truth

Onyx: Heart

Onyx: Love

Onyx: Unity

Onyx: Forever

Young Adult Contemporary Romance

(As Ji Soo Lee)

Zodiac

The Idol Who Became Her World

The Girl Who Gave Him The Moon

The Dancer Who Saved Her Soul

The Leader Who Fell From The Sky

Coming Soon

The Boy Who Showed Her The Stars

CHAPTER ONE

Tendrils of foul-smelling smog swirled around me, trying to wrap me in its grasp like it had long clawed fingers. I could taste something in the air, and although I couldn’t identify what it was, it had me wanting to retch.

I could barely see past the end of my outstretched hand. The fog was thick, and it was dark. It was also hot and dry. The scientist in me was telling me it wasn’t possible; fog was water vapor, so how could it be dry?

But this was the Dark World… Hell…

Or, as Jae had been adamant, somewhere worse than Hell.

One minute I had been in New York’s Central Park, in the middle of a hot summer’s day. The next, I had been pulled through a doorway to Hell. Literally.

I hadn’t gone through alone.

Rok had grabbed my hand and been the one to pull me through.

Now, he was nowhere in sight.

Panic was threatening to rip through me, and I was desperately trying to keep it under control, if only because the quickened breathing was making me inhale more of this smog than my taste buds could handle.

Biting at my lip, ignoring the coppery taste of blood, I tried to focus on the air in front of me, seeking out the magic.

I was a…

A temporary conduit for the magic of Luck, and maybe the daughter of a god…

The latter half of that sat uncomfortably on my shoulders.

There was no way, after everything I’d seen and experienced, that I could ever deny the presence of magic. But I’d been brought up in a single-parent household, with no knowledge of who my dad was. The only clue I had was that he was Asian. So, for him to turn out to be a Korean god who was hellbent on destroying me and anything that stood between the two of us, just so he could take Luck from me was something I was not prepared for.

Yeah, I was happily in the land of forced Denial.

Thankfully, there were a multitude of things to focus on before I had to deal with that one. The first being where I was right now.

Which meant searching out the magic.

I let my gaze drift, not really focusing on anything in particular. Doing so would allow me to see the magic in the air.

Magic was beautiful. It was like small particles that swirled around in the air, settling on anything and everything, moving like a current until it was used. Each dot, no bigger than a dot on an ‘i’ had a different color. With so many shades, I hadn’t worked out even a fraction of them and I couldn’t tell exactly what magic they held. But I could tell something.

There were almost none in the Dark World.

It was their absence which sent a jolt of fear through me, bigger than the sulfur ridden smog had.

The magic wasn’t completely missing, but it was noticeably thinner than on earth. The strongest collection was around me. Mainly gold, the color I associated with Luck.

With my teeth still clamped on my lower lip, I turned. I’d walked back through the door, and I could just walk back the way I had come, to sunlight and magic and my guardians.

There was nothing but smog behind me.

By my side, my hands started to shake, and I clenched them into fists to stop them. I was on the brink of losing my shit, and this was not what I needed right now. Alone in the Dark World, I needed to keep all my sanity, logic, and level-headedness about me.

“Come on, Kia,” I muttered to myself. “Everything Jae said about this place was that it was dangerous.”

Just thinking about him sent a pang of longing through me.

Okay, that was unexpected.

“Is it really?” I muttered. I shook my head. “Safety first, then guys.” If I didn’t have Jae, Song or Gun with me, and the magic was lacking in this place (not that I really knew how to use it), then I was left with a sword.

Hell, I didn’t really know how to use that either. My guardians had given it to me when we’d been in Busan, trying to get information from the mu, but they’d never showed me how to use it.

Attached to my belt, hidden under a cardigan that was only wrapped around my waist to conceal the weapon while walking around New York, was the sword.

The Dark World had all the hairs on the back of my arms and neck standing on end. Figuring the safest thing would be to have it out, ready, I unsheathed it.

I might have no clue how to use it, but at a basic level, the opposite end to the handle was the pointy one and that was what I needed to stick in any demon that I came across.

Behind me, I heard something—footsteps on the dirt.

Taking a deep breath, with my grip tightly holding onto the sword, I whirled around.

And found Rok, watching me in amusement.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his lips quirking up at the sides.

Rok was gorgeous. He had a pointed face, with high cheekbones and dark eyes. He was also tall, broad shouldered, and had a stomach I could play like a xylophone.

He was also the one that my guardians had called a traitor, and the one to bring me to the Dark World without them.

Readjusting my grip, I brought the sword up, holding it like a baseball bat. “Contemplating decapitating you.”

Rok laughed. “While your anger is sexy, your sword skills are laughable. You wouldn’t be able to decapitate a balloon animal like that. They really haven’t taught you anything, have they?”

I didn’t lower my sword.

Rok held his hands up in front of him. “You’re the one who asked me to bring you here.”

The sword dropped an inch. “Where are Jae, Song, and Gun?”

“Probably back in New York?” Rok raised a shoulder, but his nonchalance told me he really didn’t care.

“I asked you to bring us here,” I growled. Irritated, I swung the sword at him. I missed his chest by a few inches but Rok didn’t flinch.

“Technically, you didn’t” he said, folding his arms. “You told me that you wanted to rescue Hwanin and you followed me through the door. You never said anything about those loser guardians.”

“Loser guardians?” I arched an eyebrow before swinging my sword again. This time, Rok stepped to the side to avoid it.

“Easy there, beautiful. I’m a lot harder to kill than you think, but if you do, who is going to take you to Hwanin? Think you can navigate the Dark World by yourself?”

Hesitating, I looked around, still unable to see much through the swirling smog. And then I lowered the sword. “This doesn’t mean I trust you.”

“If you don’t trust me, why did you come with me?” Without waiting for an answer, Rok turned on his heel and immediately started walking away.

Irritation set in, largely because, despite my protests, there was something about Rok that I did trust. It was like with Jae, Song and Gun: a little voice inside of me which was telling me that I could trust them.

Annoyingly, there was something else the voice was telling me which I was pointedly ignoring…

Before Rok completely disappeared into the smog, I hurried after him. He didn’t look at me as I joined his side. “Jae and Song had built this place up to be more like a city on steroids,” I told him.

That had Rok letting out an impatient snort. “Of course they did. Next time; ask them for a postcard. Experts who have never visited the Dark World…”

“Is this it?” I looked around, trying to make much out, but all I could see was a sea of gray.

“This is the wastelands, the place where the ilhoeyong breed and live before they’re bound to a higher-level demon in order to do their bidding.”

That would explain the smell. It was like a more concentrated version of the stench which followed the ilhoeyong. This was what I was breathing? My stomach churned.

But it also sent a shiver down my spine, despite the heat. I had seen the ilhoeyong creep out of shadows. How many were around us now?

Without realizing what I was doing, I stepped closer to Rok. He glanced down at me, arching an eyebrow. “Regretting your decision?”

“I would feel more comfortable if the others were here,” I muttered.

“I wouldn’t. Your empath is about to crack and that’s a whole problem right there. Add in the fact your sorcerer is useless without magic—something severely lacking in this realm—and your warrior is looking to slide you onto his cock, the three of them are going to get you killed here.”

“And you’re going to keep me alive?” I asked, as dubious as I was hopeful. If my three guardians couldn’t do it, what chance did Rok have? But then again, he’d spent time living here… and… wait… “Warrior? You mean Gun? He doesn’t like me.”

Rok stopped abruptly, turning to look at me. “Are you shitting me? If you can’t see that, you stand no chance in this place. He’s practically walking around with a hard dick pointing directly at you.”

“I think you need your eyes checking. Gun doesn’t think that way about me.”

“What he says and how he acts are two very different things.”

I rolled my eyes. “More like you’re projecting.”

“Onto him, or onto you?” Rok asked. Suddenly, he leaned in close, his face inches from mine. “Because I’d take both of you. At the same time. Without any hesitation.”

My breath hitched in my throat as heat seemed to pool between my legs. Rok and Gun? Together?

The smirk that spread over Rok’s face snapped me out of my daydream. As hard as I could, I punched his shoulder.

“Fuck,” I cried, shaking my hand out.

With a movement as quick as lightning, Rok’s hand shot out and grabbed mine. “They really did teach you nothing,” he muttered as his thumb rubbed over my knuckles. “Thumb on the outside or you’re going to break it, and don’t hit with your knuckles, but the backs of your fingers,” he added as his thumb traced lower over the area he was referring to.

I tried to pull my hand free, my cheeks on fire, but he held on. “Rok—”

“And if you’re going to punch someone, go for somewhere that’s soft or easy to break like the face or throat.” Still holding onto my hand, he pulled me to him, leaning down to my ear. “Or just keep doing that. It was much sexier than your sword skills.”

My lungs felt like they had forgotten how to work. Instead of the sulfur ridden air, all I could smell was Rok and the cologne he was wearing.

He moved closer so his lips were brushing my ear. “You’re imagining Gun pressed up on the other side of you, aren’t you?”

“Ugh!” I cried, shoving him away from me. Given how he had been holding onto me, he had allowed me to do so, but I didn’t care. Ignoring his chuckles, I stepped away from him, marching ahead.

Gun was not interested in being anything more than my guardian. He had made that perfectly clear. I didn’t need Rok making it so I could never look him in the face without imagining him—

I shook my head.

Nope, no more of those images in my head.

Rok was a dick. He was trying to get under my skin, and he was close to achieving that.

Sensing him coming up behind me, I started to turn. All of a sudden, my stomach felt strange. I looked down and found the cardigan missing. “What the hell are you doing?” I demanded, turning and finding him slinging it over his shoulder.

“Ignoring the fact you have no idea how to use that sword, you’re practically dragging it in the dirt. Unless you’re ambidextrous, which I highly doubt, you threw the punch with the other hand, which means the sword is currently doing fuck all. Put it back in its sheath and leave it there until you need it.”

My eyes narrowed. “You’re annoying.”

“I’m also right. And sexy as fuck.”

I stuck the sword back in the sheath and continued to scowl at him. “Just because Jae and Song aren’t here doesn’t mean you get to be all flirty.”

“Why not?” he asked, tilting his head. “It’s not like anyone’s going to stop me.”

“I will,” I growled. Whatever Jae, Song and I were—and I was still trying to understand that—it was the three of us and I was going to respect that.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked, his head suddenly appearing next to mine, making me jump.

This time, I used my elbow to slam back into his chest.

The satisfying sound of the thump was quickly erased by him chuckling.

“If I’d have known I was going to be stuck here with just you, I wouldn’t have come,” I grumbled.

CHAPTER TWO

“Why would Kiaria just walk blindly through a portal with him?” Jae was seething.

“Because he’s her guardian,” Song said, irritably, for the umpteenth time.

We were in Rok’s opulent apartment, trying to work out where he had taken Kia. It had been a day since she had left and after tearing the place apart, we were no closer to an answer. Rok had taken her to the Dark World… somewhere.

“But she doesn’t know him!”

Meanwhile, I was stuck in a time loop, listening to Jae and Song have the same conversation on repeat, and it was beginning to wear on my patience.

Which was probably why Song was even more irritable than usual.

“We told her he was a traitor. I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”

“Damnit, Jae, either shut up, or come up with some new material,” I snapped.

When both Jae and Song looked at me, I blew out a breath and stepped out of the room.

Normally, I was good at keeping my emotions at bay. Now, I was tired, far from home, and…

… And worried about Kia.

In one of Rok’s spare bedrooms, I stared at the bed I had been lying a day ago, my blood still on the silken sheets, but dried into a rusted red. The scratches on my back itched, but it was all in my head—I’d checked in the mirror and they had all healed thanks to Rok’s elixirs. Thankfully, the demon that had scratched me had been a seeker and didn’t have toxic claws.

“Shall we talk about the dragon in the room?” Jae asked, appearing in the doorway.

“I’d rather not,” I muttered, refusing to turn around.

“Shame,” Jae said, sounding anything but. “You like Kiaria.”

Continuing to stare at the bed, I didn’t move.

I did.

“You lied to her—to us.”

Spinning around, I shook my head. “When I told her I didn’t like her, I wasn’t lying. I held no attraction to her.”

Jae leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms as he fixed me a look. “But you do now.”

It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway. “The more I am around her, the more I want to protect her. The more I want to…” I rubbed at the back of my neck. I didn’t like talking about feelings and all that mushy stuff. I usually left it for the other two.

That was one of the reasons Hana and I hadn’t worked out. Prickly as she was, she loved feelings, always wanting to know what I was feeling. Like she couldn’t tell—she was a damn mu.

And the fact Hana was crackers—too long spent talking to the dead.

I finally turned to look at my leader and shrugged. “Yeah, I like her. But I can’t tell her. Not when it risks jeopardizing your relationship with her.”

“You think continuing to lie to her—and to yourself—is the way to go?” he asked me.

“I can take it.” My hand went to the back of my neck again. “I’ll do what I need to, to protect her. But you heard her when she said she was worried it was all because of the magic. And what if it is?”

Jae pushed himself off the door and in a few quick paces was in front of me, jabbing me in my chest. “Don’t you dare say that. I know damn well that what I feel for her isn’t because of the bond. This might have been our fate, but it’s real, Gun.”

“She won’t believe it.”

With narrowed eyes, Jae frowned at me. “Have you met Kiaria? Aside from being beautiful, she’s smart. And strong. She’s had a lot thrown at her in the last couple of weeks and she’s still standing. She marched straight into the Dark Realm with that dickhead traitor. When we get her back, you can tell her, and you damn well know she’s going to realize it’s real.”

“At least you’re finally admitting it,” Song said, stepping into the room as he rubbed at his temples. “You are so exhausting.”

“Sorry, Song.” My training was standard for a warrior, but with Song it was something I practiced daily. He picked up on it all. Even when he wasn’t tainted with demon blood.

“If I suggested we get some rest, would anyone actually do it?” Jae asked.

I shot him a pointed look.

Song shook his head. “I wouldn’t be able to.”

“Yeah, figured as much.”

“But we did find a cupboard full of elixirs, so maybe we could get some food, swallow it down with a bottle of elixir, and work out what we do next.”

Jae nodded his head. “That sounds like a good plan.”

“I’ll go,” I started to offer.

“I’ll go,” Song said, forcefully. “I need a break from the emotions radiating off you two, and humans are much easier to block out, even in their thousands.” Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked out of the room.

I turned to Jae and shrugged. “I am going to shower.”

Jae nodded, distracted. “Sure.”

Moving over to him, I clamped a hand on his shoulder. “She will be fine, Jae.”

“It’s not Kiaria that I’m worried about,” he muttered, wandering out of the room.

Seeing as though I had already made my mark on this room and Rok had left toiletries in the bathroom and clothes in the closets, I stripped off where I was. I didn’t take long in the shower, and after changing into a fresh pair of clothes, I walked out into the kitchen to find Song was already back and dishing up food.

He and Jae looked up as I walked in, Jae’s nose turning up. “You look like Rok.”

“And my clothes are covered in demon remains, blood, and sweat.” I pulled at the collar to the shirt I had chosen. I could tell it had been made from the finest of fabrics, but Jae was right—this strange style was Rok’s taste.

Song pushed a plate of steaming dimsum towards me.

“At least it’ll be his clothes which get ruined.” Sitting down at the table, I attacked the plate with my chopsticks, devouring my meal quickly. The food in New York was good, but it didn’t compare to back in the Heavenly Realm and I desperately wanted to return there.

As Jae handed out some elixirs, I settled back into the chair, staring out of the enormous window at the city skyline. At mid-afternoon, the sky was a clear blue without a cloud in sky.

What kind of sky was Kia looking at?

“We need to get into the Dark World,” Song said, probably picking up on my mood.

I hurriedly drank the elixir and focused on tempering any emotion I was feeling.

“Why would she follow him?” Jae asked, staring at the shimmering liquid in the bottle in front of him.

“He’s her guardian.”

“You keep saying that.” Jae shot Song an irritable look.

“And you keep asking the same question.” Song shrugged. “I have told you countless times, she followed him willingly because she sensed he was her guardian. She trusts him.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“None of us do,” I said, calmly. “But maybe we should consider holding out on our judgment of that. Rok was banished from the Heavenly Realm and branded a traitor because he suspected Hwanung of colluding with demons. Which he was.”

“Rok was also fucking a demon,” Jae pointed out, his nose turning up.

“He also said that he wanted to go home. The easiest way for him to do that is to rescue Lord Hwanin and get a royal pardon,” I continued.

Jae swiveled in his seat to stare at me, his eyes boring into the side of my head. “Is Rok leaching out of the clothes and into you? Do you hear yourself?”

Releasing a slow breath, I turned to Jae. “I need to believe that Kia is safe with him, Jae.”

“And we need to work out how to get to the Dark World,” Song said, jumping in before Jae could respond. “It’s obvious that there’s nothing that can help us here.”

“Kiaria had the idea of capturing a demon and using it to open a portal, but it didn’t work.”

“But that wasn’t her only idea.”

I glanced at Jae; he was as clueless as I was. “Want to give us a clue?” I asked Song.

Song reached for another elixir and gulped it down before answering. “Reapers.”

“Won’t work,” Jae shrugged. “We already established that. They’re all blocked.”

“Actually, I may have stayed quiet on that. We told Kia it won’t work, but I think she’s right.”

Jae’s eyes narrowed. “And instead, you had us—Kiaria—risking her life to capture an agma?”

Song set the empty bottle on the table. “Because Reapers expect something in return: a soul. We’re gods. They can’t reap us. But Kia; she’s half human. More, if you believe her.”

“Which I don’t,” Jae said, firmly. “Not about that. She’s Hwanung’s daughter.”

“I agree,” I said with a nod of my head.

“But she was so certain that she didn’t have divine blood in her, I wasn’t willing to risk it. Now she’s not here.”

“But we still need to find a Reaper.” I shrugged.

“Hana was performing a gut when we arrived at her place. She said she was still communicating with the spirits and that she wasn’t able to contact any of the gods in the Heavenly Realm. We don’t want to go to the Heavenly Realm. We want to go the Dark World, and if there are still spirits, there are still Reapers.”

“The gods are trapped,” Jae repeated.

Song nodded. “But Reapers aren’t gods. They inhabit purgatory and they take souls to their afterlife. If Yeomra, God of the Afterlife, is trapped in the Heavenly Realm, what’s happening to all the spirits that have been reaped? I’ll bet they will be begging us to help them.”

“But if we need a Reaper, we need Hana.”

I leaned forward, my head slumping into my hands. Surely there was a limit on how many times in a year you could see an ex. “Do we have to?”

“Unless you know any other mus?”

“Shibal.” Continuing to mutter curses under my breath, I stood. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

Leaving the two alone, I made my way to the master bedroom. When we’d been searching the apartment earlier, I had found a small armory. Aside from a couple of human handguns, there was a selection of weapons Rok must have swiped before he left the Heavenly Realm.

It was doubtful that we would return to this apartment, so I was making sure I had a small collection of weapons for the Dark World. I was sure we would need it.

Sadly, there wasn’t much in the way of armor, but there were a couple of chest plates. I put one on and carried the other into the kitchen, tossing it Song.

Neither Jae nor Song commented as Song put it on. Song was an empath which meant his strength lay in shields and defensive magic. He would be stationary and would need any additional protection we could find him.

My sword kept me at close combat, but the moment I found Kia, I would be giving it to her anyway. Then the demons would have to get through me as well as through her armor.

“You ready to do this?” I asked Jae.

The two had gathered their own supplies, both with a bag slung over their shoulder. “Let’s go,” Jae said with a nod of his head. He crouched down and held his hand up. Slowly, a portal started to grow in front of us.

“If you could take us somewhere a little dryer than last time, that would be appreciated,” Song muttered.

“It’s not my fault the last time I was in Busan was a couple of centuries ago.” The portal reached full size. “Just go through.”

Without hesitating, but my hand on my sword, I stepped through.

We didn’t land in the ocean.

We walked straight back into the apartment we had stayed in.

And straight in front of two humans who were busy fixing a worktop Song had broken.

“Shibal,” I muttered as the two humans started shouting in terror, brandishing their power tools at us. “Shibal.”

CHAPTER THREE

We had been walking for hours. With no phone and the last time that I had seen my watch, it had been having Luck sucked into it and taken by Gun to the Heavenly Realm. Not that it would have done much good as it had stopped anyway.

The place was lighter. When I had arrived, it must have been the Dark World’s version of night-time, because after what felt like a couple of hours of stumbling in the darkness, the sky seemed to brighten.

Dark gray became light gray and the smog also seemed to thin. In places, it was almost like it wasn’t there.

That was when I could see the ground we were walking over. As the dry heat had indicated, the place was arid and barren. Rock and pebbles which would have been uncomfortable to walk on if it wasn’t for the boots I was wearing, were littered around as far as the eye could see.

Unfortunately, the boots weren’t stopping the blisters from forming. They were the reason I hadn’t asked to stop, despite how exhausted I was. If I stopped, getting back up would be even more painful.

But now, with sweat running down the center of my back in rivulets, and just about every other inch of me hot and sweaty, I was close to collapsing.

Rok still looked like he was walking down the middle of a damn runway, with the smog seeming to part as he glided through it. He hadn’t even mentioned needing a drink.

“How much further?” I asked him.

Glancing down at me, Rok arched an eyebrow. “We’re nearly there.”

“You’ve been saying that for the last couple of hours.” It could have been a couple… it was probably more. As we passed a large rock, I shook my head, diverted to it, and sat down, groaning in relief.

“And if you walked faster, we would be there.”

“If you’d have taken us a little closer instead of some weird wasteland, maybe it wouldn’t have been a problem.” I sounded like a petulant child, but now that the weight was off my feet, they were throbbing, and all my leg muscles were protesting at me.

“I thought you were a goddess?” Rok moved closer, but his attention wasn’t on me. He was busy scanning the area around us.

Fat lot of good that was going to do when visibility was only a few meters at best.

“I guess this is just further proof that I’m not.” I picked the bottom of my shirt up and used it to wipe my face. Considering how damp it was, it didn’t really do much, but at least there was a temporary let up in the sweat dripping down my temples.

When I dropped it, I found Rok staring at me. “Take it off if it’s cooler.”

Honestly, I nearly stripped to my underwear. The top was thin cotton, but the pants I were wearing were thick. Only, with Rok looking at me like I was a lollipop he wanted to run his tongue over, I decided against it. “Rok, I need to rest for a bit. I need something to drink.”

“Sure,” he agreed. I didn’t miss the sarcasm in his tone. “Let me just nip in that 7-Eleven there and buy us a couple of ice-cold drinks.”

I raised my hand and flipped him the bird.

Letting my hand drop to my lap, I sighed, trying to catch my breath.

“We should keep moving.”

“I can’t, Rok. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I need a break.” I wasn’t unfit. I ran. A lot. But now I was exhausted.

“This place isn’t safe,” he said, slowly.

I nodded. “It’s the Dark World. I’m taking that as a given.”

Rok glanced around once more before running his hand through his hair. “Fine. But no more than ten minutes. Our best defense in this place is to keep moving until we get to mine.”

Closing my eyes, I nodded. I raised my head to the sky, imagining a cool breeze blow on my face. “How did you meet her?”

“Meet who?” Rok asked. I could hear the frown in his voice.

“The demon you fell in love with.” After fighting so many ilhoeyong and agmas, each with their hideous faces, it was hard to imagine a female demon he could fall in love with. In the end, the only female demon I could imagine was Mara—the demon hooking up with my… father.

“Jealous?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” I said, dryly.

“Don’t be. She isn’t as beautiful as you.”

I finally opened my eyes and looked at him. “I didn’t ask what she looked like. I’m curious as to how a guardian of Prince Hwanung met a demon and fell in love.”

Rok tilted his head, staring off into the smog as he ran a tongue over his lower lip. “I had my suspicion about Hwanung. We’d been on earth in the city you call Las Vegas, and when we returned, he started talking about magic. How, if he was a king of the gods, he should be able to control it all. When I questioned him, he made it sound like it was to stop the Dark World gaining power, but it didn’t sit right with me.”

Apparently, even the gods weren’t immune to the draw of the City of Sin.

“Then he started taking more trips to Vegas, insisting that me and the other guardians didn’t enter his room.”

“Are you sure he didn’t just have a gambling problem?” I half joked.

Rok shook his head. “He was fucking demons.”

I blinked. “So eloquently put.”

“I didn’t realize what they were at first. When I first saw them, I thought they were three very beautiful women. Until I followed them and watched one of them disappear in front of me.” He looked at me, his eyes narrowing. “Only pure gods and demons can do that. The rest of us need either a key or a portal.”

Rok opened his mouth, ready to continue with his story—or give me some form of lewd comment. Instead, he paused, looked out at the smog, and then turned back to me. “Get down!” he bellowed before shoving me.

I went flying off the rock, just as a clawed hand swiped over my head.

The fall had me tumbling across the rocks, the sharp edges tearing at my arms and legs. Only moments ago I had been cursing the pants I was wearing, but now I was grateful for them as they seemed to take most of the damage.

Somehow, I landed without stabbing myself in the side from my sword.

Although there was blood streaming down my forearm, I ignored it, my attention on the thing with the claws.

It was a demon like I hadn’t seen before. More dog-like than anything. Snarling mouth with razor sharp teeth, and a head with no eyes.

The demon dog also wasn’t alone.

There were three of them in total.

And their breath was terrible.

“Rok?” I called, hesitantly.

“Unless you can fight these things, stay exactly where you are, because you’re not going to do anything other than get in my way,” Rok warned me. He held out his hand and his sword appeared in it.

Rok was a masulsa. I didn’t know how it worked exactly, but I did know he could conjure things from thin air. Including swords.

At that moment, I didn’t really care how the masulsa magic worked. I was just grateful Rok had a sword.

The problem was that I couldn’t just do nothing.

I had no intention of jumping in and attempting to fight the demons, but if these creatures had even a shred of intelligence about them, they were coming after me whether Rok liked it or not.

Which meant I needed to protect myself until he could finish them off.

Carefully, I got to my feet, unsheathing my sword as slowly as I could as I tried not to startle the demon dogs so they went for me.

“I told you to stay where you are,” Rok snapped at me. “If you’re going to insist on not listening to that, at least don’t die.”

I would have rolled my eyes if a demon hadn’t snarled its teeth at me, swiping a claw.

Jumping back out of the way to avoid it seemed to be the cue they needed to attack.

Two lunged at Rok and one for me.

Whatever Rok was doing, I left him to it. He was a trained god who had been living in this realm for some time. I was not.

I stepped to the side, trying to slice the demon as it flew past me. The blade barely nicked it, and it landed heavily a few feet away, turning to roar at me. Keeping my movements as limited as possible we seemed to enter a stare-off, which was creepy as hell with a thing that had no eyes.

Whilst holding its stare, I also tried to get a feel for any magic in the air. Just like earlier, it was barely there. There was nothing tangible enough to do any damage.

But Luck was there, lingering over me like a blanket.

“Okay, Luck, I need your help,” I muttered, calling the magic to me. I had no idea how it was going to work, but right now, I needed luck on my side.

The demon took a couple of steps towards me, moving in a circular motion around me. I kept my attention on it, raising my sword, continuing to urge Luck to do something.

The demon dog jumped.

As it did, I dropped to a crouch, sticking my sword up, aiming for its side. Whether it was luck or my aim, the sword sliced the side, but it didn’t stop it. If anything, it made it angrier.

Black sludge oozed from its side, dripping onto the rock below.

And then something exploded.

I barely had time to react as I flew backwards, but somehow, as my back slammed into the rock I had been sitting on and I subsequently slumped down to the floor, I managed to keep the sword upright.

The demon surged forward, and the next thing I knew, my sword had gone straight through its head.

Pungent gunge splattered all over me.

I sat there, my back in agony, as the weight from the demon dropped into my lap. With a cry of exertion—and pain—I kicked the demon dog off me. Leaving the sword stuck in it, I scrambled behind the rock, fighting to keep the tears from my eyes.

One of those miracle elixirs was needed, stat.

Just as I ducked down, there was a second explosion.

There was a cry of pain, almost masked out by the shrieking snarl of the last demon, but before I could stick my head out from behind the rock, Rok leaped over it, ducking down beside me. He was barely down before the final demon exploded.

Breathing heavily, the pain in my back pulsating through my nerves, I sat there. Finally, I turned my head, finding Rok’s face close to mine. He was watching me, breathing just as heavily as I was.

Up this close, I realized his eyes weren’t completely dark brown. They were more walnut, with an almost black outline which made them look darker than they were.

Slowly, Rok’s gaze dropped to my lips. My heart sped up and it wasn’t from the exertion.

“You have demon crap on your chin.”

My hand flew to my chin and when I pulled it away, there was a black smear on my fingers. As my face flamed, I hurriedly used the sleeve of the cardigan to wipe it off. “At least I killed it.”

“You or Luck?”

“Does it matter?” I grumbled as I got to my feet.

Or tried.

The moment I attempted to straighten my back, it protested, and a cry of pain escaped me.

“What’s wrong?” Rok demanded, a hand shooting out to support me.

I wafted his hand away. “I hit my back.”

Frowning, Rok stuck his hands in his pockets and then pulled out a small bottle. “Drink this.”

Not even a small part of me was tempted to turn that miracle elixir down. I took the bottle, uncorked it, and quickly drank the contents. Within seconds of it passing down my throat, I could feel it take effect. The pain in my back disappeared, as did the heat and throbbing in my boots.

I slumped back against the rock and breathed out a sigh of relief. “I have got to learn how to reproduce these.”

“Unfortunately, that takes time and supplies we don’t have, and that was my only elixir, so how about you try not to get yourself killed before we make it back to my place.”

And just like that, I was done sitting. I got up and marched to the other side of the rock to pick up the fallen sword. Despite the explosion, it was still in one piece without a scratch on it.

“How much further is your place?”

Rok shrugged. “A couple of hours.”

“And that’s your definition of nearly there?” I asked in disbelief.

“It’s closer than we were when we arrived.”

I stuck the sword into the sheath before scowling at Rok. “You are so damn annoying.”

“But at least I’m hot as sin.” He gave me a toothy grin which I was sure he thought was either charming or flirty—or both. The grin turned into a grimace as he finally dragged his ass off the ground.

“What’s up with you?” I asked, my eyes narrowed.

“You got the demon shit over me.” Rok gestured to a wet, black smear on his side.

“Cry me a river,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. Ignoring his shuffling, I moved past him and started walking in the direction we had been heading.

It took about… I had no idea how long it took because I had no idea what time it was… but a while later, I realized that there was something wrong with Rok. Before, he had been leading the way. His strides were long and strong.

Stones and pebbles scattering around us forcing me to look up at him. He was just behind me now. His damp hair was plastered to his forehead and there was a damp sheen to his skin.

I stopped abruptly and he nearly tripped over me. “What the fuck, Rok?”

“Keep going, Kia,” he mumbled. “We aren’t there yet.”

“You don’t look like you’re going to make it to wherever we’re going. What’s wrong with you?”

Reaching up, I tried to rest the back of my hand on his forehead, but Rok batted it away. “If you want to put your hands on me, you need to go a lot lower, beautiful.”

“Like here?” I asked before punching him in the side. Rok staggered sideways, slumping to the floor with a cry of pain. I rolled my eyes. There was no way on this world that I had hit him hard enough to cause that reaction. “Nice.”

Only, Rok didn’t get up.

“Rok?” I dropped to my knees, rolling him over. His eyes were closed, and his breathing labored, but he still seemed conscious. When I went to put my hand on his forehead, he didn’t stop me. He was also burning up. “Rok, what happened?”

“’Tis nothing but a flesh wound.”

“Flesh wound?” My gaze snapped to his side and the black, wet smear. I pulled the dark shirt up, and in doing so, revealed a slash in his side. “What the hell?”

“I’m quoting Monty Python. I can’t believe you didn’t get the reference,” he mumbled, weakly.

“I am not talking about snakes. I’m talking about the damn gash in your side!” I exclaimed, gently running my fingers underneath it as I tried to see how deep it was. “Damnit, Rok, this is deep. This was the demon dogs, wasn’t it? Are their claws toxic?”

“Demon dog?” Rok coughed, trying to sit upright. “Ilhweyonggyon.”

I pushed him back down. “Not the important part, Rok: are their claws toxic?”

“Of course, they are. They’re ilhweyonggyon.” With a grunt, he pushed me away and forced himself to his feet.

I stood, just in time to steady him when he swayed. “Why the fuck did you let me drink that elixir?” I exploded.

“Because you’re more important and I need to keep you alive,” Rok mumbled.

“Cute as that is, I had a bruise. You’ve got an infected wound that’s probably going to kill you and then how am I going to stay alive?”

Rok’s hand shot out, and he grabbed hold of my shoulder, using it to help with his balance. “Relax. You’re getting high pitched and it’s giving me a headache and I already have this shit to deal with. I’ll be fine.”

“Rok!”

“I mean it, Kia. That screech is bat-worthy.” He sucked in a deep breath and then continued walking. “I can’t believe you didn’t get my Monty Python reference,” he muttered.

I hurried after him. “Rok, that scratch—”

“Will heal. You don’t think I haven’t been living here long enough to build up an immunity?” He reached up, scraping his sweaty hair back off his face, leaving his forehead bare. “We really are nearly there now. I can grab an elixir when I get home and speed it up.”

I chewed at my lip as I stared ahead at the swirling smog. How could he even tell?”

“If you want to help, come here,” he muttered, lifting the arm on the opposite side to the wound.

Blowing out a breath, I stepped beside him, allowing him to put his weight on me. The moment I did, that bolt of something—trust and lust—shot through me.

Seeing as though the latter was wholly inappropriate at that moment, I pushed it down, focusing on the trust.

I had to trust him that he was going to get us both to our destination.

CHAPTER FOUR

Rok had the worse concept of time. His pace had slowed us right down and the lighter sky was darkening by the time the landscape started to change.

I didn’t notice it at first. I’d spaced out, making myself put one foot in front of the other, but Rok’s sigh made me look up.

Ever since Jae or Song—I couldn’t remember which—had said the Dark World was like New York City on steroids, the image of the place I’d conjured had been that. What I had in front of me was something much more archaic.

A cliff face which had to stretch up thirty stories, if not more, rose out of the ground. Along the ground were a dozen doors twice the size of Rok. They looked like they were made of stone. Then, in the middle, was the mouth to a cave.

Considering all the rock and smog, I was disappointed in myself for expecting more.

Rok stopped, holding me back. “Kia, this place is going to be swarming with demons, all ready to pick up on the scent of magic and non-demons.”

“Considering that describes me pretty accurately, what do you want to do?”

“The non-demon part I can take care of. The magic part is up to you.”

I stared blanked at him. “You’re not turning me into a demon.”

“No, but we’re going to make them think you are one.”

And then he started unbuttoning his shirt.

My gaze locked onto his abs, following them up row by glorious row, almost the entirety of one side covered in tattoos of flames, then continuing up to his dark gold nipples.

The urge to lick him was back.

“What the fuck?” I demanded, unsure if I was asking him or myself that question.

“I know exactly what’s going through that mind of yours, beautiful, and once we’re safely in my room, you can put that mouth of yours anywhere you want to, but right now, I need you to put this on.” Rok held out his shirt, smirking.

My mouth fell into a thin line. “Getting in there requires you being half naked?”

“It requires you wearing a shirt which is covered in even more ilhweyonggyon blood, which means the other demons hopefully won’t be able to smell you.”

“Smell me?”

Rok shrugged, and then winced, clutching at his side. “Haven’t you noticed they have no eyes? They smell their prey. If you smell like them, you should be able to walk amongst them.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve been here long enough that they will recognize me.” He grinned. “Which means you get the added benefit of smelling like me, too.”

Given the repulsive smell of the demon blood, I would have loved to have his scent. Irritated, I pulled his shirt on, fastening up a few of the buttons. “This had better work,” I grumbled.

“Not that alone.” Rok waved his hand vaguely, up and down my body. “You need to hide that.”

I glanced down at his shirt before looking back at him with my eyebrow arched.

“The fucking magic,” he said, impatiently. “I’m surprised we’ve only just had the one pack ilhweyonggyon attack. Maybe that Luck of yours is working.”

“Isn’t hiding it counterproductive if we’re going into the belly of the beast.”

Rok glanced back at the cliff. “Belly of the beast…” He turned back to me. “There are far too many demons in there for even you to get Luck working in our favor. Hide it, Kia.”

Biting at my lip, I focused my attention on the magic around me. There was even less than there had been when I first arrived, but there was still a thin coat settling over me.

How the hell was I supposed to hide this?

It was mostly gold, which I had associated with Luck… if Luck was supposed to be residing in me currently, maybe I could make it… go back in…?

Concentrating on the gold specks until they started to pulsate, I requested that the return to me. Damnit, they listened.

Like a bit of dust, there were only a few other bits of magical residue on me, and I brushed them off, watching them disappear into the smog. I turned to Rok and nodded. “That’s as good as it’s going to get.”

Without responding, Rok sucked in a breath, tried to hide his wince, and started walking towards the cave.

As we grew closer, the smell got worse. I had known nothing like it. It was like opening a packet of meat that had gone off… and then opening another thousand. The smell had permeated the air so much, I could taste it again. This was what the smog tasted like, amplified.

There were also snarls and growls echoing from the entrance to the cave.

It was that which had me moving closer to Rok.

If the demons worked out I was there, there wasn’t much Rok was going to be able to do, but his tall muscular build was comforting and made him feel like a shield.

“Stay close,” Rok said, nodding his head in approval. “It will help if they think our scents are one. And no matter what you do, do not speak, do not touch anything, and do not leave my side.”

I had no intention of doing any of those things.

And then we entered the belly of the beast.

Inside, the noise was worse. Demons of all shapes and sizes were milling around.

The cave opened up to reveal more doors. There were slopes carved into the rock, heading upwards to the next level of doors. Every now and then, another cavernous tunnel appeared. From all of them, more demons appeared and disappeared.

The further in we got, the darker it became. If demons didn’t have eyes, it made sense that they didn’t have lights.

But it didn’t make it easier for me.

Unable to ask Rok to turn a light on, I reached out, hooking my fingers through his beltloops. Years of living here made him able to see in the dark.

And then I realized there was a small glow from in front.

Wrapping around his body like he was a pole, I peered around him. There was a small ball of flames in his hand. Rok looked down and I pointedly looked between him and the fireball. Since when could he do that?

Whether or not he could understand the silent question I was asking him, with his other hand, he held a finger up to his lip and glowered at me.

I rolled my eyes but kept at his side, grateful that the light was there as we navigated the uneven floors, climbing up several slopes. Or at least I was appreciative of it until I realized it also lit up the hordes of demons swirling around us.

And then one of them bumped into Rok. The movement had me bouncing off him as I lost my grip, and I fell to the floor.

Although I managed to catch my weight with my hands before I faceplanted the floor, it wasn’t without a small yelp of pain.

In an instant, Rok yanked me to my feet, shoving me up against the wall and covering me with his body. He was so close, I could barely breath.

Considering I was holding my breath as the demons turned their attention on us, it wasn’t an issue.

I could sense them on the other side of Rok.

How good was their hearing? Were their other senses heightened if they couldn’t see? Could they hear my heart pounding in my chest?

Rok backed up further, crushing me into the cliff face and I had to bite down on my lip not to cry out again.

Finally, after an age of not moving, Rok stepped forward.

Before I could suck in a breath, he turned. Keeping the flame away from me, he grabbed my hand with his other, pulling me close to him.

He stared at me, either asking if I was okay, or if I was ready to move again.

I just nodded.

Together we walked up more slopes, past countless, faceless demons. And all the while, I couldn’t help but notice that the fire was growing dimmer.

Finally, we stopped outside of a door. Rok placed his hand on it and shoved it. It opened and he practically dragged me in, slamming the door behind me as he extinguished the fire.

Rok spun, pushing me back up against the door as he boxed me in. He stared down at me, but the expression on his face was anything but sexy. “You don’t look so good.”

Barely able to focus on me, he shook his head. “There’s elixir in the bathroom. Take some. Make yourself comfortable, but whatever you do, do not open this door. You will not…” he swallowed, shaking his head again, “you will not survive out there and I will not be here to help.”

“Where are you going?” I demanded, a sliver of fear shooting through me.

Without answering, Rok pushed away, stumbling into his apartment and through a doorway.

I followed after him, only to witness him collapse face first onto a bed.

Darting over, I rolled him over. “Rok?” His skin felt like it was on fire.

Even though he had seemed pretty adamant he had built up a resistance to the toxins, I was worried. I might not have been a doctor, but I was a nearly a qualified veterinarian, and had he been an animal brought into the surgery, I’d have him on broad-spectrum antibiotics and a drip while I tried to figure out what was wrong.

I had neither.

But apparently, there were elixirs here… somewhere.

Looking around, I saw another doorway leading off the bedroom and I hurried over. It led to the bathroom—if you could call it a bathroom. Even though we were high up in the cave, the ‘bath’ was a pool in the floor, steam rising up from it. It looked more like Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park than it did a bath. And the toilet… I glanced over at the hole in the floor. I had no idea where that led to and I didn’t want to find out.

Glancing back into the bedroom, I looked around. His apartment was more like a cave than an apartment. It was lit by small fires, each one on its own ledge part way up the wall, like they were a decoration. They’d all been burning when we’d walked in and I was curious as to what was allowing them to continue to burn.

I could figure that out after. Right now, I needed to keep Rok alive.

As he had so kindly pointed out, leaving this room was a death sentence.

Plus, irritating as he was, I was starting to get used to having him around.

There were several large chests in the corner of the bathroom, and I hurried over to them. The first held towels—clearly something he had brought back from earth. I opened the second and found the small bottles of elixirs. I pulled out a couple and placed them on the pile of towels I’d gathered. And then I opened up the third chest.

This one held toiletries…

Gathering up everything I had found, I hurried back into the bedroom and placed them onto the floor beside the bed. Short of his chest rising and falling, he hadn’t moved an inch.

I moved back into the main room of his apartment—if that’s what you would call the cave dwelling. I could see why he liked to live in New York. There was something which resembled a kitchen area and another small pool of water. This one had a slight current to it. It also had a bowl next to it.

Filling the bowl up with the water, I returned to the bedroom.

I grabbed a bottle of elixir and climbed onto the bed beside Rok’s head, raising it slightly to slide my knee under him. He moaned something incoherent, but he didn’t fight me.

After uncorking the bottle, I stuck my finger in it before running my finger over his lips. “Rok, wake up,” I said, gently. It took a few more swipes before Rok’s tongue appeared to lick the elixir away.

He released an audible sigh, and the frown on his forehead lessened. Carefully, I placed the bottle at his lips, tipping it up so the liquid was just touching them. “Just a little more.”

Although his eyes remained closed, Rok slowly drank the liquid. Half of it seemed to dribble down his face, but as he was swallowing it too, I wasn’t too worried. These elixirs seemed to work miracles with a small amount.

When he woke up, I’d get him to drink more.

As it was, he seemed to drift off to sleep after finishing the first bottle.

Setting his head back on the bed for him to be comfortable, I slid off the bed. using my sword, I ripped one of the towels up into smaller pieces and dunked them in the water.

I would have given anything to be able to take him to a hospital, or even the veterinary practice I was working at. Instead, I made do with questionable water and cleaned his cut as best I could. As I cleared the demon gunk and dirt away, I could see that the elixir was already working its magic, stitching the skin back together.

Rok was still hot though. Chewing at my lip, hoping this was just the normal reaction to the body fighting off an infection, I grabbed a fresh piece of towel and wiped the rest of his torso down.

I hadn’t noticed before, distracted by the masterpiece that was his body, and the tattoos, but Rok’s skin was covered in hundreds of scars. The seemed to avoid all the tattoos which covered his torse, which was odd.

But I was also beginning to work out how his masulsa powers worked. The sword tattooed on his arm was identical to the one which he had fought with. Fire had appeared in his hands, just like the tattooed flames which licked over his body.

And, although I hadn’t seen the key, I was willing to bet the one tattooed on his side had been the one that had brought us here.

The ilhweyonggyon’s claws had cut the key in two, but it was thankfully in the process of knitting back together.

My gaze drifted down to his pants, wondering what tattoos were under there…

With a sigh, I shifted my weight, leaning over to brush Rok’s sweaty hair from his face so that I could clean it. As my fingertips touch my forehead, that fuzzy sensation reappeared.

The same one I felt when I was around Jae and Song: trust and lust.

“Who are you, Rok?” I asked in a whisper. “And who are you to me?”

And why was it the more I experienced that strange feeling, the more the lust felt like it was something more?

CHAPTER FIVE

“I can’t believe we’re back here,” I muttered, staring down at the two unconscious humans.

Jae had stepped through the portal and before it had closed, thrown a sleeping spell at them. They wouldn’t awaken for a few hours, and when they did, with any luck, they would both assume that the three gods stepping through a magical portal which appeared from nowhere was just a dream.

At any rate, the three of us wouldn’t be here to serve as proof.

“I know, so let’s just get this over with,” Jae told me, walking towards the door.

Dragging my feet, I followed.

Hana and I had dated about a century ago. I’d been chasing after a goblin who’d attempted to break into the Heavenly Realm and lost him when I stumbled across Hana bathing in the sea.

Women back then were meek and had a giant of a man—never mind a god—found them naked, they would have run screaming.

Hana hadn’t. She’d picked up a jellyfish that was practically as big as I was and launched it at me. Then, while I’d been temporarily blinded by the tentacle hitting my eye, she had attacked. It was only when she’d discovered I was a guardian that she had stopped.

I had as many fond memories of Hana as I did unpleasant ones, but that jellyfish hurtling towards me was one of my favorites.

Surprising her with jewels only to find her in bed with two other men I knew nothing about was my worst memory.

She opened the door, dressed in pajamas, rubbing at her eyes until she saw the three of us. “I thought you’d gone on a shopping spree in New York.”

“Let us in, Hana,” Song requested.

Hana shook her head. “My kids are asleep.”

I rubbed at my face before glancing back at the room we’d just come out of. “What time is it here?”

“About six.”

Looking back at her, I jammed my thumb in the direction of the other apartment. “Do you know there are two guys in there fixing the kitchen?”

“I should hope so, considering the amount of money I had to pay them…” she closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please tell me you didn’t just suddenly appear in there.”

“They are sleeping,” Jae told her, hurriedly. “They’ll be out for a couple of hours.”

“Great. I have someone renting that room today and I need it to be ready by then.” She glowered up at us, hands on her hips. “Go downstairs and wait. There’s a little park across the way. I’ll meet you there.”

“Hana—”

“No,” Hana cut Jae off. “Whatever it is, I am not discussing it here.”

And then she shut the door in our faces.

Jae and Song looked at me and I shrugged. “There’s a reason we’re not dating.”

Actually, I liked Hana’s spunk. That was part of the reason we had dated. But they didn’t need to know that.

We took the elevator down to the ground floor before walking through the small, empty shopping mall to get outside. Directly across from the entrance was the place Hana was talking about.

The skyscraper apartments Hana lived on were right on the edge of the water. The trees surrounding the small square of grass blocked out the sea, but I could taste the salt in the air.

Impatiently, Jae started tapping his foot as Song sat on a bench as far away from us as possible. Using the back of my hand, I smacked Jae’s shoulder, nodding my head over at Song.

“The elixirs aren’t working as well as they should,” Jae muttered, but he stopped his fidgeting.

I nodded my agreement as Hana walked into the park.

“You used a sleeping spell on them?” she asked, her voice raising several octaves at her indignation. “Are you insane?”

“Well the other option was letting them run all over Busan telling everyone how three sexy as hell gods walked through the wall in front of them.”

Hana snorted, rolling her eyes. “What are you doing back here? I thought you’d shacked up with that goddess.”

“We need a reaper,” Jae told her.

Switching her gaze to me, before looking back at Jae, Hana shook her head. “Go back to New York.” She turned on her heel and started to walk back towards the gates.

“You know we’re gods, right?”

Hana glanced back over her shoulder, arching an eyebrow at Jae. “Yes, but you’re gataekshins—guardians of the higher-ranking gods, and considering you’re now on earth, we’re pretty equal.”

“Kia isn’t,” I said.

“Gun!” Jae hissed.

“Kia is the daughter of Hwanung.”

Hana stumbled. Slowly, she turned around, her eyes wide and disbelieving. “What?”

“And she followed Rok into the Dark World,” I continued despite the fact Jae looked like he was about to turn me into a giant fireball. “We need a reaper.”

Hana held a hand up. Without saying anything, she pinched the bridge of her nose, muttering something I couldn’t catch.

“Why did you tell her that?” Jae hissed at me.

“Jae, we’re out of options. We’re back here asking Hana for help and—”

“There aren’t many reapers around,” Hana said, cutting him off. “Like I said last time, everyone has accepted that the three worlds are about to go to shit. The ones that are still working are trying to work out what to do with all the souls they’re reaping.”

“But there are still some around?” I asked as Song rejoined us.

Hana arched an eyebrow. “You’re awfully talkative today.” She tilted her head and then her eyes went wide. “Oh wait… are you…? The three of you…?”

“You already know we’re bonded.”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. She pointed at Jae and Song. “I knew they had accepted the bond. The last time I saw you, there was no trace of it on you. You care about her.” Although her tone sounded accusatory, she was regarding me with surprise and not jealousy. “Shibal… you found her.”

“Found who?”

“The love of the life and the center of your universe.” Hana ran a hand through her short hair. “I just never expected it to be her, or with these guys.”

I glanced over at Song and Jae and found them looking as confused as I felt. We had been together for so long that it seemed only natural that Kia would be with us. “Why not?” I asked.

“The way you went off on me when we broke up, I always figured you were the one-woman kind of god.”

“About that reaper?” Song said, snapping slightly.

“Fine,” Hana sighed. “I will get you a reaper. But I can’t promise they will take you to the Dark World.”

“Let us deal with that,” Jae told her.

“Fine,” Hana said again. “But I can’t do it here. The traffic is already getting busier. We’re going to have to go somewhere more private.”

“I can take us back to New York?” Jae offered.

“No, this is going to require a drive…”

CHAPTER SIX

I had the most awful crick in my neck. At some point, still unconscious, Rok had grabbed my hand and I couldn’t get him to let go.

Maybe there was a teeny part of me that didn’t mind this, but I refused to let her get too vocal.

While I’d done my best to clean him down and make him as comfortable as possible, there was nothing more I could do until his fever broke. I was so used to having medical equipment around me—even if it was for animals—that every time I dozed off, I woke up with a start and checked he Rok was still breathing.

With no windows, I had no concept of how much time had passed. There was no day or night, just constant flickering flames.

I didn’t suffer from claustrophobia, but I was certainly starting to feel panicked. Yes, I had wanted to come to the Dark World to find Hwanin, but my plans had involved Jae, Song and Gun being included in that.

That same voice I was trying to ignore with her sly comments about Rok was also quick to point out that we would never have been able to get all five of us into this room.

She could fuck off.

We’d have worked out a way, or not come here at all. And if they had been here, they could easily have helped Rok with defeating the ilhweyonggyons and then Rok wouldn’t have been injured.

Then we wouldn’t have needed to get to Rok’s place, and we could have gone straight to wherever Hwanin was. As soon as he was free, we could kick the demons out of the Heavenly Realm, and then we could…

I sighed, resting my head into the crook of my elbow.

We could what?

Live happily ever after?

“What happened to no strings attached, Kia?” I muttered. “Conduit, goddess, princess… this is crazy.”

By this point, I wasn’t really trying to convince myself that none of this was real. I was in hell—literally—and deep inside me, I could feel Luck. I still wanted to have a conversation with my mom about my father, but I knew, even if I didn’t want to admit it, that it was Hwanung.

I’d been happy not knowing who he was, and now my goal was to defeat him.

But then what? I had a life in New York. Okay, my final year was clearly going to need repeating, but I hadn’t worked my ass off my whole life to drop out of college.

Would they—the gods, my father… my guardians…—expect me to live in the Heavenly Realm?

“At least there would be great sex.”

“I have no idea what internal monologue you had going on, but if that’s your conclusion, I’m in agreement,” Rok said, squeezing my hand.

My head shot up to find him staring at me beneath hooded eyes. “You’re awake!” I rose up on my knees and slapped the back of my free hand against his forehead, only slightly harder than was necessary.

Rok grunted and snatched at my other hand. “Are you always this charming with your patients?”

“Of course not,” I snorted. “My patients are usually animals.”

Still holding onto both hands, Rok eased himself into a more upright position, bringing his head closer to mine. “You were worried about me.”

“Yes,” I said, nodding my head. “Because without you, I’m trapped in this room while a billion demons swarm around outside.”

“More like a couple hundred thousand.” Rok didn’t break his stare. “But you really were worried?”

I didn’t respond. Aside from that weird sensation the longer I was around him, I had no real reason to have been this worried. But he was right. “So, what fucked up thing is going to happen now?” I asked, instead.

“How fucked do you want to be?” Rok smirked.

Realizing he was still holding onto my hands, I pulled them free. “Not me. You.” I shook my head and pointed at his side. “Demon blood is toxic. It’s turned the dial up on Song’s empathic abilities and Jae can only shift into a squirrel.”

Rok stared at me, his eyes going wide before he burst out laughing. “A squirrel? Are you fucking kidding me?” When I shook my head, he laughed harder. “That is priceless.”

I slapped his arm, frowning. “And what is it going to do to you?”

“Don’t you remember me telling you I’ve been consuming demon blood for some time?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Yes, and that was ten minutes before you passed out because of the demon toxins,” I said, dryly. “Clearly that immunity you’ve built up is working a treat for you.”

Rok reached over, stroking my hair. “Fear not, beautiful. Everything is working exactly as it should be.” He gave me a wink.

Rolling my eyes, I batted his hand away. “Prove it.”

Eyes widening, Rok smirked. His hand dropped to his pants and started pulling his zipper down. “I thought you would never ask.”

“Not that!” I yelped, batting his hand away. “Your masulsa thing!”

“Well, you’re no fun,” Rok pouted.

He looked utterly ridiculous doing so.

“Fine,” he huffed, holding his hand out.

I watched as the sword tattoo disappeared from his arm, only for him to wrap his fingers around the hilt. “That’s pretty cool,” I muttered, forgetting I was irritated by him.

“I know I am.” Rok allowed the sword to disappear, the tattoo returning to his arm. “You, however…” He wrinkled his nose. “You might be beautiful, but you stink.”

“I stink because you made me wear your demon blood stained shirt,” I protested, my face growing warm.

“I had to get my shirt on you somehow. I was curious how it would look.”

Swiping at his arm at the smirk he gave me, I stood, moving away. “Not funny.”

“I’m glad you think so,” he nodded. “It wasn’t supposed to be. But you do still smell. Why don’t you go clean up?” Rok swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I mean it, Kia. You looked after me, and I’m grateful. Go clean up.” He gestured towards the bathroom area.

A bath was looking like an amazing option right now. Plus, I didn’t want to smell—even if it was a round Rok.

I made my way back into the bathroom, pulling out some towels and leaving them beside the pool of water. It had a slight milky appearance to it, like there were already bath salts or something in there. The water was also still steaming—some kind of natural hot spring?

Stripping off my clothes, I flung them to the other side of the room. Tentatively, I stuck a toe in the water. By this point, I wasn’t expecting a pool of acid, but I was concerned about how hot it was.

Not quite hot enough to scald skin off, but definitely not cool. I sat down on the side, slowly lowering my legs into the water. Invisible until my feet touched it was a ledge.

Smiling to myself, I lowered myself in. A moan escaped me. The heat and the silkiness of the water felt incredible on my body.

I closed my eyes and let my head lean back against the side. I was going to stay in here until my fingertips and toes turned wrinkly… maybe longer.

At least there was one good part to hell.

A splash had me opening my eyes.

Completely naked, water up to his mid-thigh and doing nothing to hide the cock hanging practically in my face, was Rok.

“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded, covering my breasts up even though the water was cloudy enough to hide them.

“Your moaning was too tempting to ignore. Plus, you know, we were just talking about great sex.”

My mouth fell open, but I was too distracted by the other tattoos which covered him. one thigh had chains wrapping around it, the ends disappearing under the water. The other thigh seemed to be swirling continuations of the flames over his torso.

“Instead of staring, why don’t you touch it? Better yet, why don’t you wrap your—”

“Why don’t you get the fuck out of this tub?” I finally dragged my gaze away.

“It’s big enough for two.” Rok sank into the water beside me.

The ‘tub’ was big enough for Jae, Song and Gun to have joined us and still have space. But that didn’t mean I wanted Rok in here with me. “Not when your ego is in here too.”

“Is that a euphemism?” Rok asked, looking aghast. He raised his hand to his mouth. “Why Kiaria? How scandalous of you.”

“Fuck off,” I grunted.

Rok shrugged. “If you don’t want to be in here with me, you’re more than welcome to get out. But I absolutely will not be turning around.”

Shifting to the other edge of the pool, I glowered at him. “Rok, I’m kinda seeing Jae and Song.” I could feel my cheeks heating up again. “This is hardly appropriate.”

“Ah, yes, you’ve bonded with your guardians.” Rok raised a hand above the water and waved it dismissively. “That’s great, but the golden rule down here is what happens in the Dark World stays in the Dark World.” He frowned. “Or is that Vegas?”

“Do you have any idea how annoying you are?” I asked, grinding my teeth together.

“Why don’t we just enjoy bathing? You’ve got to admit that this is better than any bath you’ve ever been in on earth.”

I was a shower girl, so I didn’t have a vast amount to compare it with, but annoyingly, he was right.

“Thank you for looking after me last night.”

I stared at Rok in disbelief, blinking. Did he just say thank you? “You’re welcome.”

“But you’ve got to learn to trust me. When I said I had been consuming demon blood to build up an immunity, I meant it.”

And there it was.

Before I could respond, he closed his eyes, leaning his head back. I blew out a breath and stared at him. How had someone so irritating been gifted with a face and body like he had?

Yours.

What the fuck was that? “No,” I said, firmly. I had Jae and Song to deal with and countdown on whatever it was that we had.

“No what?” Rok asked, poking an eye open.

“What do we do next?” I asked.

Rok turned his head to face me, the smirk back. “I’m seriously still down for—”

“About Hwanin and getting him out of here.”

With a frown, Rok stood, this time keeping his head mercifully on the bottom of the pool and not the ledge we were sat on so that the water came to just below his nipples. “Why do you keep fighting it?”

“Fighting what?” Slowly, Rok started to advance towards me. Although I hadn’t dropped my arms, I tightened them around me. “You can stay over on that side of the pool.”

“I could,” Rok said, doing anything but as he stalked over to me, moving effortlessly through the water. He stopped in front of me, a hand gripping either side of my head. The action brought his face close to mine. “But how can I kiss you from the other side of the pool?”

“That’s kind of the point,” I muttered.

“Why? Don’t you trust yourself around me?” His dark eyes seemed to sparkle.

Slowly, I shook my head. “Not really.” That’s why I needed him at the other side of the pool.

I had no idea if it was the fact we were both naked, I’d had no sleep, adrenaline after all it had taken to get here, but I could almost hear his body calling for me.

Rok leaned in closer. “Do you feel it? The bond between us?”

Was this water getting hotter?

“Rok—”

The rest of my sentence was swallowed up by his mouth. His lips mashed against my lips, and he wasted no time sliding his tongue along mine.

As his tongue explored my mouth, I felt it. Fuzzy familiarity. That our bodies were supposed to be doing this.

Rok’s kisses were claiming and possessive, and I couldn’t fight them, even if I wanted to.

I didn’t want to.

Instead, I reached up, wrapping my arms around his neck as my fingers gripped his wet hair.

Hands grabbed my waist and in a movement, which sent water cascading everywhere, Rok turned. I slid down his body, legs either side of him as he sat down in the water.

The sensation of his cock, thick and hard beneath me, with not even a shred of fabric to separate us, had me gasping.

Like I had been pulled out of a trance, my hands went to his chest and I pushed back, putting some distance between us. “Rok—”

“Whatever you’re going to say, just don’t. Don’t think about it, Kia. Listen to what your body is telling you.” His eyes were fixed on mine, but his hands slid up so his fingertips could brush over my nipples.

I gasped, the action making me shift my weight. Which, in turn, had my clit graze across his cock. “No,” I said, wishing my shaky voice sounded firmer.

“You don’t sound convinced,” Rok muttered as he went in towards my neck.

Shaking my head, I pushed myself back off him, even though my legs were shaking, and put some distance between us. “It’s still a no, Rok.”

The guardian pouted. “Are you saying you can’t feel the pull between us? The bond is there as much as it is with those other losers.”

“Maybe it is,” I said as I shrugged. The mu had claimed there was a bond between me and the others, and I could sense it. I could sense the same thing with Rok. But that could have just been the magic and the fact they were Luck’s guardians.

There was something more important than that.

“But it’s there with Jae and Song, and if there is something between you and me, I’m not acting on it until I’ve at least spoken with them. It doesn’t feel right.” Reaching for the towel, I pulled it to me as I got out of the water.

“Where are you going? Don’t you trust yourself around me?”

There was a cheeky smirk on his lips as I stared down at him. Slowly, I shook my head. “Not as much as I don’t trust you around me when we’re both naked.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Hana’s driving was the worst I had ever come across. I hated it. For someone who’d had one as soon as they had started selling them in Korea, and therefore had nearly a century to practice, she was shit.

I hadn’t liked it back then, and I hated it even more now.

At one point on our drive out to the country, I was sure she was going to kill us before the damn demons did. There had to be something of Kia and her Luck lingering for us to still be alive when we stepped out into the bamboo forest.

There were people here. It was a popular tourist destination, according to the mu. But that didn’t stop her leading us along one of the well-worn paths until we reached a small bar. I glanced at Jae, arching my eyebrow at him.

“This place is teeming with humans, Hana,” he pointed out as she led us to the building.

“It also serves the best makgeolli in this part of the country.” Without looking back, Hana pushed open the door and walked in.

I’d never cared for the rice wine myself, but it surprised me that this was what the reapers liked.

Bypassing the poor woman at the door who looked too terrified at our presence to protest, Hana led us through the tables to one in the back. The bar was very traditional, with low tables for people to kneel or sit at, in groups. This table, as big at the others, had one guy sat at it, and people seemed to be giving him a wide berth.

With his hood pulled back, despite the robes, he was pretty average looking. Reapers could be as old as time itself, but he looked to be about fifty, maybe?

“Taemin,” Hana greeted him with a false warmth. “Long time, no see.”

“Fuck off, Hana,” the reaper grumbled. He looked up and saw us before letting out a very exasperated sigh. “You brought gataekshin? My eternal life isn’t tortured enough?”

“They need your help.”

“Of course they do. The Heavenly Realm is blocked off. But I can’t help you with that. You’re as fucked as we are.”

“We don’t want to go to the Heavenly Realm,” Jae said as he slid in opposite the reaper, folding his legs beneath him.

The reaper arched an eyebrow.

“We want you to take us to the Dark World.”

The laughter that erupted from the reaper was loud enough to make every table in the bar look over at us. “I think I need cutting off,” he declared before promptly reaching for the bowl of makgeolli in front of him and downing it in one.

Keeping calm, Jae leaned forward. “King Hwanin is in the Dark World and we want to get him out.”

The reaper set the bowl down with a clunk. “King Hwanin is dead.”

“We believe he is alive and being kept prisoner in the Dark World,” Song said as he took a seat beside Jae.

I remained standing but nodded my agreement.

“The only way we can get the Heavenly Realm back and things back to normal is if we rescue the King,” Jae continued. “And the only way we can do that is if you take us to the Dark World.”

Taemin rubbed at his eyebrow before shooting a glare at Hana. “Why did you bring them to me, mu?”

“Because I knew I could find you without performing a gut.” She shrugged. “And I figured you’d do it for a price.”

The reaper snorted. “Hell! I’ll do it for the laugh alone,” he said, standing. “No one is insane enough to go willingly to the Dark World. Even us reapers don’t like going there.” He glanced over his shoulder at the other occupants of the bar and sighed. “Mortals,” he muttered under his breath.

Without any further explanation, he walked to the door. The woman who had tried to stop us did stop him, but he waved her in our direction. “They are paying.”

When Jae looked at Hana, she rolled her eyes. “Of course, let me.”

Letting her pay, I followed the reaper outside. He hadn’t waited for us and was already stepping over the low fence which lined the edge of the path. I hurried after him, the others quickly catching us up as he led us deep into the bamboo forest.

Finally, he reached the spot he had been heading for and turned back to us. “I might be a reaper, but we’re nothing more than passing visitors to the Dark World. I will take you there and then I’m leaving.”

“How do we get out?” Song asked.

Taemin pointed at Jae.

Gods, I hoped his portal creating abilities would work. Hopefully, with Kia with us and a little bit of luck, he would be able to make a portal back to earth. Or better yet, with King Hwanin back to the Heavenly Realm.

The reaper looked us up and down, pursing his lips. “The Dark World doesn’t have wards like the Heavenly Realm does, because no one but the demons want to go there. I will take you the wastelands. Demons do prowl this area, but they’re rogue packs. Your problem is going to be getting inside of the castle. It’s like walking into an anthill.”

“I can create a barrier,” Song said.

Jae arched an eyebrow. “How are those toxins working for you?” He turned to Hana. “Do you have anything to protect from demons?”

Hana’s laugh was dry. “Given the current situation, don’t you think I’d be mass producing it if I did? You’re on your own on that one.”

“I have an idea,” I told them, not wanting to let on just how unconfident I was to its success.

“Does that mean you’re ready to go?” Taemin asked us.

Jae nodded. We’d left New York with all the supplies we had—or Rok had—and there was nothing left for us here.

“Well, it was nice knowing you,” Hana said. “I hope you find your girl and save the world and all, but I’m going to head back to Busan and drink.”

“Hey Hana,” I called as she stated to walk away. She glanced back. “For someone who’s convinced the world is going to end, why are you so keen to fix a kitchen sideboard overnight?”

Hana raised a hand and flipped me the bird.

“Charming,” Taemin muttered, dryly. “Let’s get this over with.” He held up his hand and spread his fingers. The reaper seemed to create a portal with less theatrics than Jae. It appeared like a door, shadows drawing the outline, including a handle. Taemin turned it and pushed open a doorway to another world.

Inside, it was dark, and I could smell the demons from here.

“Let’s do this,” I said, taking a breath as I drew my sword and stepped through.

It smelled even worse on the other side.

“That is revolting,” Song said, gagging.

“Keep heading straight and you’ll arrive at XX. Have fun!” Taemin gave us a cheerful finger wave and then closed the doorway.

“I hope you can get us out of here,” I told Jae.

“I can if we have Kia with us.” He rubbed at the back of his neck before turning to me. “What’s your great plan for protecting us from the demons?”

“You like watching horror movies, right?”

Jae looked at Song. “There’s no way I’m going to like what he says next, is there?”

Song shot me a look before shrugged. “He hasn’t said it and I already don’t like it.”

“We just need to find some and skin them.”

Jae and Song stared at me, barely moving. Slowly, Jae turned to Song. “Jeongchalbyeong definitely don’t have toxic claws, right?” he asked as though I wasn’t there.

“I’m beginning to question that,” Song muttered.

“Gun… demons explode.”

I nodded. “Yes, but some explode quicker than others.” I shrugged. “Look, I never claimed it was the best idea, but unless you have any other suggestions…?”

Jae ran a hand through his hair, looking around before looking back to me. “This is insane.”

“More insane than walking into the Dark World by ourselves?” Song asked.

Song sucked in a deep breath, his nose wrinkling as he looked around. The air was filled with a pungent, cloying smog. “How are we going to find them in this?” He lifted his hand, scooping some of the smog onto his hand before if flowed off.

“You let them find you,” a voice boomed out.

In an instant, Song had a shield up, my sword was drawn, and a brightly burning fireball was in Jae’s hand. “Who’s there?”

“Just your friendly neighborhood welcome party.”

As the three of us repositioned ourselves so that our backs were to each other, the smog seemed to flow backwards, away from us. As it did, my heart seemed to plummet into the bottom of my stomach.

Hundreds of demons—agma and ilhoeyong—were surrounding us.

“Shibal,” Jae muttered.

Indeed.

I tightened my grip on my sword, found my center, and then charged.

Keeping within the safety of the impenetrable shield Song had created, I swung, stabbed, and sliced at the ilhoeyong, as one after another they flung themselves at the shield.

Behind me, Jae was sending firebombs into the enemy. Their burning bodies merging with the smog.

They didn’t stop. For every ilhoeyong I killed, three more seemed to appear. It was like trying to stop an arterial wound with a band aid.

“I can’t keep this up,” Song mumbled.

After decapitating a demon, I turned back to the younger man, ignoring the series of explosions behind me as the demon carcasses exploded. I was growing weary, but Song was already on his knees, sweat running down the side of his face in rivers.

“We keep going, for Kiaria,” Jae instructed us as he launched a fireball into the unending crowd. The fireball was a lot smaller than the one he had started with.

“Surrender now, and we will not kill you,” the agma announced, his booming voice making the attacking ilhoeyong pause.

“We won’t surrender,” Jae barked, his words directed more to Song and me than the demon.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” I said, crouching down beside Song.

“Gun—”

Getting up, I quickly closed the gap between me and Jae, placing a hand firmly on his shoulder. “They keep coming. We are no match for them.”

Jae’s eyes searched mine before he turned back to the agma. “How do we know you won’t kill us?”

The agma gave us an evil grin.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Sat on the edge of Rok’s bed, my head in my hands, I closed my eyes. My body felt like it was humming, begging me to return to Rok and his inviting body.

For the first time in my life, I felt like understood how Alice had felt when she’d gone down that rabbit hole.

It wasn’t even because I was in this strange new world. Yeah, it sucked, but my brain was apparently having a much easier time accepting this place.

My emotions, on the other hand, felt like they had been flung into a washing machine and someone had set it to its fastest setting. Only, instead of cleaning things, everything was getting murkier.

I had feelings for Jae and Song. The kind of feelings that made you want to drag them into bed and do that on repeat for a lifetime.

No strings attached…

What kind of idiot was I to think I could do that?

Even though I wasn’t with them, the strength of my feelings, the ones I had chalked up to that connection to Luck, had just grown.

If they hadn’t, what had stopped me from having sex with Rok?

And Rok…

He wasn’t a guardian of Luck, and yet I felt the same pull to him that I did the others.

Everything was upside down and I was willing to accept advice from a smart-ass cat at this point.

“You should wear this.”

Rok’s voice made me jump. I looked up and found him holding out a clean shirt. “I don’t really feel like I’m going to be able to kick ass in this.” I took the shirt off him and held it up against my body. It was barely going to cover my ass.

“That’s to sleep in.” His smirk was back. “Unless you want to skip the clothes part.”

He was wearing a pair of designer boxers, but nothing else. I held up a hand and flipped him the bird. “Your ex didn’t leave anything behind?”

Rok’s eyebrow quirked up. “You’d be willing to wear another woman’s clothes?”

“If it meant I could leave this cave-apartment with a little more covering my vagina, then yes, I would.”

“Leave this apartment?” Rok shook his head. “That’s to sleep in.”

It was my turn to shake my head. “We’ve wasted enough time. We need to get to King Hwanung.”

“Yeah… no.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Cute as your cave is, I didn’t come here to spend a staycation in it.”

“And you are more than welcome to explore.” Rok gestured grandly to the door to the bedroom and the rest of the cave beyond there. “But I need to rest. And considering you look like you haven’t slept in days, you do too. This place is swarming with demons—as you witnessed—and there are just as many higher-level demons in the palace.”

Maybe he had a point. I was exhausted.

But it felt like we had already wasted so much time here already.

“Fine,” I conceded.

“Come through when you’re dressed.” Before I could question what he meant, Rok walked out of the room.

“At least he let me dress in peace,” I grumbled as I hurriedly pulled the shirt on.

Rok was in the kitchen, busy sliding wooden chopsticks over the lip of the pot of ramyun to allow it to cook. He picked one up and continued walking through the cave without so much as looking to see if I was following.

Picking up the other pot, I took off after him. Aside from grabbing some supplies when we’d first gotten there, I hadn’t seen the rest of his cave-apartment. It seemed to be as big as the one in New York.

“You seem to like the life of luxury.”

“Luxury?” Rok snorted as he looked back at me. “Kia, it’s a fucking cave.”

It was a cave with several pieces of human furniture which didn’t seem like something a demon would make, much less care about.

When I walked into the next room, I nearly dropped the ramyun. The room—the cave—had a second entrance.

No…

It was a window.

The room had a freaking hole in the side of it, giving me a breathtaking view of the Dark World. There was a distance of what had to be a couple of miles where you couldn’t see anything other than the hateful smog we had walked through, and then, rising out of it was a castle.

Admittedly it was a castle which looked like it had been made of sharp spikey black rock. It also looked ominous and rather terrifying, like Satan himself was going to be sat on a throne in the heart of it.

Forgetting about the ramyun, setting it down on a coffee table—seriously, Rok?—I walked over to the hole. There was no glass in it, and until you got close, you couldn’t feel the air outside. I held my hand up, tentatively pushing it forward, but there was no resistance.

Instead, I peered over the edge.

And instantly took a step back.

We had to be about forty stories high and there was nothing to stop anyone from falling out.

“It might be a shitty neighborhood, but it’s one hell of a view.” Rok appeared at my side, busy stirring his ramyun with his wooden chopsticks.

I took another couple of steps back from the edge. “If it’s that shitty—and frankly, that’s an understatement—why the hell do you live here?”

Rok gave me a sideways look. “I live in New York. I’m back here because of you.”

“Fine.” I moved back to the ramyun I’d briefly abandoned and picked it up, getting comfortable on one of the couches. “Why did you live here?” With my chopsticks, I gestured to the furniture. “I highly doubt anything in here was created by a demon.”

Snorting, Rok shook his head. “Picture this place without anything in it, and that’s what demons live in. Plus, with, you know, a load more demons.”

“So, I ask again, why they hell would you choose to live here? I get making sacrifices for someone you love, but there’s living in hell, and there’s living in hell.”

There were two other couches in the room, but Rok moved over to the one I was on and sat down beside me. Instead of answering, he fixed me a look and started eating his noodles.

Rolling my eyes, I pulled back the lid, gave my ramyun a stir, and then started eating too. It was only because the smell was making my mouth water and reminding me of just how hungry I was.

I wasn’t done asking questions. Just pausing.

Rok finished his food before me, leaning forward to set the empty pot on the coffee table. When he sat back, he somehow managed to close the microscopic gap between us and suddenly his bare legs were touching mine.

His skin was scorching and doing an excellent job of transferring heat to me.

“You’ve been making a lot of assumptions, beautiful.”

I refused to move, even if his close proximity was making me feel hot under the collar. “If this is where you tell me you were dragged here kicking and screaming, I’m not going to believe you,” I told him, dryly.

Rok turned his torso, his muscles flexing making the fiery tattoo seem to dance as he rested his elbow on the back of the seat. “That I loved her.”

The chopsticks hovered between my mouth and the pot. I carefully lowered the ramyun back into the pot, set it in my lap, and then turned to him, arching an eyebrow. “You chose to live in hell for some woman you didn’t love?”

“She had a pussy like—”

“Like fuck she did,” I said, cutting him off. I shook my head. “No. No one would choose to live in a place like this. Not unless there was love or—”

“Or what?”

There was something in his expression which had me narrowing my eyes. “What was it, Rok?”

“What was what?”

I rolled my eyes. “You think now is a great time to piss about? Why did you choose to come here?”

“I fucked a demon.”

My appetite was gone. Not at the idea of Rok sleeping with a demon—and I still had Mara’s image in my head with that—but because I was tired of his half-truths and evasive answers.

Taking my nearly empty pot of ramyun with me, I walked back through the cave. After depositing the pot on the side of the makeshift kitchen area, I continued to Rok’s bedroom.

Annoyingly, he was right. I was tired. And it wasn’t like there was a television I could watch. With no clue how to work the lights still, I got into the bed and pulled the covers up around me.

Ugh. They smelled of Rok.

It was almost like being enveloped in his arms, and while it pained me to admit it, I kinda liked it.

Closing my eyes, I blew out a breath and tried to let my mind clear so I could drift off to sleep.

And then the bed dipped beside me.

“If you can’t be a gentleman and take the couch, you’d best keep a respectable distance between us. The bed is big enough,” I told him, refusing roll over and acknowledge him properly.

“The couch was designed for sitting on, not sleeping on, and it’s my bed, goddess. If you can’t handle this hot body next to you, maybe you should take the couch.”

His voice was a lot closer to my ear than I wanted it to be, but I was still not going to give him the satisfaction of looking at him.

“I got kicked out of the Heavenly Realm and I went to Vegas, feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t know she was a demon when I fucked her.”

Keeping my back to Rok, I finally opened my eyes and glared at the wall opposite. “Really? Because you’re the one who said you got kicked out of the Heavenly Realm because you fucked a demon.”

“Hwanung threw me out because I found out he was fucking demons and because I was close to working out why he was doing it.” Rok shifted behind me. “Once I realized he was making deals with those demons, he threw me out before I could get to the truth, and he used his situation as my apparent truth.”

“Then why did you tell me you were in a relationship with a demon?” I was too tired for these games.

“I wanted to see what your reaction would be.”

“How did you end up choosing to live here?” I asked, wearily.

“You were right. It wasn’t a choice.”

When Rok didn’t elaborate, I finally rolled over. He was lying on his back, hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. While he was still only wearing the designer underwear, he was lying on top of the bedsheets. “Were you kidnapped? Is this Stockholm Syndrome?”

Rok let a harsh, dry laugh escape him. “Stockholm Syndrome?”

With an exasperated sigh, I started to roll back over but his next question stopped me.

“Do you know what a masulsa is?”

“Did you ever tell me?” I asked, giving the side of his head a pointed glare.

“A mage—a conjurer.” Rok finally turned his head to look at me. “My abilities as a guardian aren’t that much different from Jae’s.”

My gaze dropped to Rok’s torso, and I tried not to get distracted by the muscles cut into him as I studied the flames tattooed into his body. “I assume you can take your tattoos and make them real.”

“It’s possible with any image with the right incantation and enough skill,” Rok nodded. “She took that from me.”

“I don’t understand.”

Before I could work out what he was doing, Rok yanked his boxers down. Not quite enough to completely have his dick on display, but enough for me to see the scar that travelled down the curve between his crotch and his leg.

I’d not noticed it when he’d joined me in the pool—the thing hanging beside it had been a little more distracting. It looked like a scar from a burn. Like the fire on his torso had somehow set the skin below alight.

“Each masulsa has a birthmark, created by magic—an incantation. It’s personal to them, and only they can read it. To everyone else, it looks like a tattoo.”

I rolled onto my front, propping myself up as I peered at the scar. “Of what?” I asked, trying to work out what could have been there.

It was only then that I realized Rok was slowly pulling his boxers further down and I had effectively been staring at the god’s crotch.

Face flaming, I sat upright. “Sorry, that was a rude question.”

“It’s different for everyone who looks at it,” Rok shrugged. He let go of his boxers, the elastic snapping back against him.

“So how did she know to steal that one?” I asked as I tried not to stare at his other tattoos.

Yes, the tattoos…

Rok half shrugged. “With the incantation gone, it meant that I was limited to calling upon the tattoos on my skin.”

I frowned. “Why couldn’t you just say the words?”

“The power isn’t in the words, but the magic. She removed it.”

“And it didn’t return to you?” Jae had removed Luck from me, but it had returned to me when they’d tried to give it to Hwanung.

“It’s…” Rok ran his tongue over his lower lip as he seemed to choose the words. “Magic doesn’t belong to a god. Magic chooses its owner. It’s kind of like a cat.”

CHAPTER NINE

“A cat?” I repeated, dumbly.

“You know, little furry balls of fluff. Go meow.” He raised his hand and mimicked a clawed paw swiping at the air.

I arched an eyebrow. “I’m a veterinarian. I know what a damn cat is, Rok.”

“Then you know that they’re temperamental assholes who choose their owner. Thankfully, magic is something only gods can use. Whether they are higher-level gods which can control it, or lower-level guardians who can manipulate it, at least the magic stays within the Heavenly Realm.”

“Then why do the demons want to get it if they can’t control it?”

“And that right there is the million-dollar question.” Rok shifted his weight so that he was slightly more upright. “Power. With it, they can control all three realms. The magic might not be used by humans, but the gods ensure that the demons stay out of your realm as well as ours. Or they did.” He shrugged.

“Why would Hwanung make a deal with a demon?”

“Hwanung’s a dick,” Rok responded, bluntly. “Everyone thinks that because he’s the son of Hwanin he must be decent, but the god is cruel and manipulative and carries one hell of a daddy complex.”

“And that’s enough to destroy earth and the Heavenly Realm?”

“Gods don’t die. They get killed, but they don’t die. Hwanung wasn’t going to be king until his father wasn’t there anymore. Orchestrating a demon attack would be enough of a cover that he could get Hwanin and any of his loyal supporters out before moving the demons in. Plus, you know, demon pussy is a whole lot more exciting—”

“If you knew that, why didn’t you stop it?” I asked, cutting him off.

The smirk that had been on Rok’s face fell. “Because I didn’t work it out until I got the demon to trust me. Only, by then, she had already stripped me of my incantation. I can’t get back into the Heavenly Realm without it. Lower-level gods can’t just move about the realms without a portal or a key.”

That was a lot to process. All of this was. Not growing up knowing any of it meant it was a constant fight for information, and then the exhaustion which came from trying to process it all.

Silently, I slid back down, laying my head on the pillow as I stared up at the stone ceiling. “Where is it now?”

I sensed Rok’s head turn, but I didn’t look at him. “My incantation?”

“The magic. If I’ve understood properly, the incantation is what makes the magic work.” I rubbed at my eyes. “I’d give anything for an immunology class right now,” I muttered before sucking in a deep breath. “It sounds like the incantation is what allows you to manipulate it, but the magic—did that go with the incantation, or is it…” I turned my head and stared at Rok, training my eyes to seek out the magic particles.

“You look like you want to take my clothes off.”

“And you really don’t know how to read a woman,” I muttered, focusing on the magic. It was easier now there wasn’t masses of is swirling around. The tattoos seemed to carry a second layer, like magic was in the ink, making them glow red. It made the fire tattoo look real.

Before I could stop myself, I was running my hand over the fire tattoo, watching the magic particles run off Rok’s skin like I was moving water, before they flowed back onto him.

Rok’s hand shot out and grabbed mine. “You say one thing and yet your hands do another.”

My hand tingled in his, and I knew it wasn’t his magic.

“I’m sorry,” I said, pulling my hand free. “I’ve not seen anything like it and…” I shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I said again. “That’s not an excuse and you’re right. It is giving mixed signals. I’ll stop touching you.”

“Please don’t.”

The look he gave me had heat pooling between my legs.

If there was one thing I knew, it was that I couldn’t stay in this place for much longer or my resolve was going to crack…

“Where is your magic and how do we get it back?” I asked, tearing my gaze away.

“She has it, and I can get it back if I can get you to Hwanin.”

I lay there, staring at the ceiling. I wanted to ask what the plan was for tomorrow, but my eyelids were getting heavy and I honestly didn’t think that my brain had it in me to think about this anymore tonight.

And then I was asleep.

The bed was empty when I awoke. Brushing my hands across the other side, there wasn’t even a faint trace of heat left, which meant Rok had been awake for a while.

Propping myself up, I sat there, running my hand through my straggly hair as I let the remnants of sleep fade away. I had no idea how long I had been asleep, but I felt better for the rest.

“You’re awake.” Rok walked into the room as I looked up, carrying a pot of ramyun. He was also still only wearing his boxers.

I took it from him as he handed it over. “Don’t you eat anything else?”

Rok shrugged. “I don’t need to eat, so anything I do is purely for pleasure.”

“Ramyun?” I arched an eyebrow.

“You don’t really get much shelf life on anything down here. Plus, I like ramyun.”

Food was food. He might not need to eat, but I did, and I quickly ate the noodles. Once finished, Rok took the pot from me and wandered out of the room.

Did he expect me to follow?

Just as I had gotten out of bed, Rok reappeared. This time, he was carrying fabric. He tossed it onto the bed. “Clothes.”

I leaned over and picked up a pair of lace panties and held them up. “Do you have a kink I don’t know about?”

Rok leaned against the wall, his smirk back. “I have many kinks you don’t know about, but I’d be more than happy to—”

“Don’t.”

“They are not mine and they are new. They all still have tags and shit.” He folded his arms. “You’re welcome.”

Dropping the panties on the bed, I reached for the bigger piece of material. Black and mostly lace, I held up a dress.

It was the kind of dress you saw actresses wear in movies when they’re going to those super expensive clubs in New York which I always avoided because the drinks cost more than my rent.

Sexy, short, and judging from how the fabric made the dress look like it was designed for a broom handle as I held it up, it was very form fitting.

If I was going to a club, I’d have put it on without any protest.

But I was… I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to be doing, but it involved thousands of swarming demons and rescuing the king of the gods.

“Where’s the rest of it, Rok?”

“Sorry, beautiful, but it’s that, or more underwear.”

“I will just wear what I wore when I came here,” I shrugged, heading for the bathroom. “It’s not like the delightful aroma of dead demon juice isn’t going to be needed.” I stopped in the archway to the bathroom and looked down at the clean floor. Wearily, I turned to Rok. “Where are my clothes?”

“They were covered in demon juice. I burned them.”

I closed my eyes as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Rok, I realize that the media has this warped idea that women can go into battle wearing a damn bikini and be happy with it, but that is utterly ridiculous. How is that slip of a dress going to save me?”

“I hate to break it to you, Kia, but a strappy vest top and pair of jeans aren’t going to stop a demon claw from scratching you.”

Dropping my hand, I shot Rok an incredulous look. “No, I’m aware of that. But if I have to dive out of the way of said claw, one outfit is going to save my knees from getting shredded, and the other is going to show the demon the inside of my vagina.”

“Most demons don’t have eyes,” he responded with a nonchalant shrug.

“Fuck off, Rok,” I snapped, losing my patience. “This just feels like some ridiculous scam for you to get me in a dress for no other purpose than for you to stare at my ass.”

Rok grabbed the dress from bed and strode over to me. Stopping inches in front of me, his naked chest taking up most of the space in front of me, he held up the dress as he leaned down. “I will admit that I am very much looking forward to seeing you in this dress, and I promise I will be jerking off to that image later, but believe it or not, there’s a plan involved with this dress and I need you to trust me.”

My gaze locked with his. The god was as irritating as he was hot, but I couldn’t see any lie in his eyes. Not that I was the expert on that, but if nothing else, that new inbuilt addition to my senses was still screaming ‘trust him’ at me.

“I wish the others were here,” I muttered, placing my hands on Rok’s abs.

“Well, hello there—”

I shoved Rok backwards. He was big and strong enough that if he didn’t want to move, then he wouldn’t have, but he allowed me to shove him backwards out of the room. Once he was out of the bedroom, I snatched the dress from him, grabbed the underwear, and marched into the bathroom to change.

Luckily for me, the tightness of the dress meant that it fit quite nicely. It wasn’t until it was on that I realized how low the back dipped or just how short the skirt was. Apparently, I hadn’t been exaggerating when I had said a demon would see up my vagina. Nice.

But where the hell was I going to put the sword.

… Where was my sword?

I looked around, then walked out to find Rok lazing on a chair. He let out a low whistle as he saw me. “That really is going into my spank bank.”

My anger fizzled out as Rok stuck his hand into his boxers and began stroking himself. The knowledge that I was getting him turned on was powerful.

It was also turning me on.

Whether he could see it or sense it, Rok was on his feet, prowling over to me like a lion. “You look really sexy in that dress.”

My gaze travelled over Rok’s body, fully appreciating all the definition. And then I saw the sword tattoo.

Shaking my head, I stepped back. “Stop doing that, Rok. I told you, nothing is happening between us until after we get out of here—”

“But something is going to happen between us?”

I folded my arms and glowered at him. “Enough. You’re attracted to me, and I’m attracted to you. I get it. But this is utterly ridiculous. Back off and imagine I’m married. Be a decent guy.”

“What if I’m not a decent guy?” Rok tilted his head, watching me carefully, as though he was waiting for a specific reaction from me.

“You’re a decent guy, Rok,” I told him. “And I trust you.”

Rok stared at me, his gaze feeling like it was boring into me, and then he looked away with a sigh. “I wish I was,” he muttered, under his breath, before walking into the bedroom.

I sank into the chair Rok had been sitting on. Truthfully, I didn’t think Rok was a hundred percent decent. He had a habit of wandering around in very little while doing all he could to get a reaction from me. But while he wasn’t exactly a gentleman, I did trust him, and I was certain he just needed reigning in a little.

Trying to get to grips with my thing with Song and Jae was less exhausting than he was.

An aching pang shot through me as I thought of them. It really hadn’t been my intention to leave without them. I wasn’t one of these who thought I needed to do it alone to protect them.

Hell no. I was smart enough to know I needed as much help as possible to do this.

But was Rok going to be enough?

When he walked back out, mercifully, Rok was dressed. “Where is my sword?”

“Where do you expect to put it?”

CHAPTER TEN

As Rok’s gaze travelled to my cleavage, I folded my arms. “I am not about to walk through a sea of demons unarmed.”

Rok released a long sigh. “Please, Kia. Just trust me.”

I bit my lip. I barely knew how to use the sword but leaving the cave without it felt like a big mistake. Looking at Rok, I shrugged. “I don’t want to be unarmed.”

“You’ll have me.” He moved over to me, placing his warm hands on my bare shoulders. “I’ll be your sword and shield.” When I just stared up at him, my heart pounding, he let go and walked into another room, returning a few moments later.

“What’s that?” I asked as he dropped to his knees in front of me.

“You’ve got to trust me, Kia,” he muttered. “Just stay still.” His head, bent over, was blocking my view. I didn’t see his hand until it slid up between my legs.

“Rok!” I yelped. Before I could move out of the way, I felt the back of his hand brush over me as he brought something between my legs. The next thing I knew, I felt a strap tightening around my thigh and then suddenly, Rok was standing a few paces back.

Pulling the short skit up, I found a small knife in a sheath strapped to my leg. I pulled it free of the leather sleave and examined the short but sharp blade. It wasn’t much bigger than a scalpel and felt like it would cut through skin just as easily. “What’s this?”

“A sword will get taken off you in an instant. This is small enough to go undetected under your skirt.”

Sliding the knife back into the sheath, I then covered it with the short skirt. The ridges and fabric covered the blade as Rok had said. While it wasn’t going to do as much damage as a sword, it did make me feel better. I looked up, meeting Rok’s dark eyes. “Thank you.”

Rok blinked.

I sucked in a deep breath as I finally took in Rok’s appearance. He was dressed, but he was wearing a suit. He looked more like he was going to a wedding than on a rescue mission.

“Rok, why do we look like we’re about to go on a date?”

“We’re dressing the part,” Rok said, vaguely. “Shall we?”

Pointing at my bare feet, I shook my head. “Or do you have a pair of heels to match the dress?”

“Heels?” Rok repeated with a disbelieving look. “Have you seen the terrain out there? You’d break your neck before we left the caves.”

It took everything in me not to point at the hemline of my dress. Instead, I waited patiently.

Rok wandered off before returning with my boots, cleaned up from the demon blood splattered. “I didn’t have any shoes in your size.”

Seeing as I still couldn’t understand why I was wearing this dress; I pulled the boots on. If nothing else, at least I would be able to run in them. I slid them on, fastened them up, and then started to walk to the main entrance to the cave.

“Where are you going?” Rok asked, amused.

I glanced over my shoulder before pointing at the entrance.

“Not that way.” Rok walked over, his hands straight on my shoulder to turn me around, before he led me back into the depths of his cave.

When we reached the room we had been in the night before, a jolt of panic shot through me, but before I could squawk my protest at even the vague possibility of jumping out of it, he led me straight past it.

At the end of cavernous room was a door carved into the rock, much like the one we had used to get into Rok’s place. With little effort, Rok pushed it open to reveal a narrow passage which wound downwards.

Unlike his own cave apartment, there was no magic fire to light the path. Instead, Rok conjured a fireball in his hand, holding it up to illuminate the path as the door closed behind us.

Dark, narrow spaces had never bothered me, but the stone door slamming shut behind me had goosebumps appearing all over my arms. Or maybe that was from the air which was much cooler in the tunnel.

The tunnel was just about wide enough for the two of us to walk side by side, but only with our arms brushing frequently. After his vague answers the night before, I wasn’t in the mood for conversation and we walked in silence.

Eventually, the slope leveled out and we eventually arrived at another stone door. Rok threw the fire in the air and it hovered above us as he turned to me. “Kia, I need you to trust me.”

“I’ve followed you this far,” I pointed out.

Rok stepped closer to me. “Following and trusting aren’t the same thing.”

“They’re close enough.”

Tilting his head, Rok looked down at me. “That’s been fine until now, but now I need you to trust me. On the other side of that door is the castle,” he snorted, “that might be a generous term—but it’s where all the highest-level demons live, including Edoum. Please tell me you know who he is, right?”

I nodded. “The King of Dark World.”

“These demons will not be tricked in the same way all the ilhoeyong were. They will see you and if you even prod your magic, they will know exactly what you are. So, you have to trust me.”

Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath. It was still there: that gut feeling that I could trust him. It was the same feeling I had with the others, but for some reason, with Rok, it was like I didn’t want to listen to it. There was something holding me back and I couldn’t work out what it was.

The problem now was that I didn’t have the time to work out what or why.

The strange new, inner voice hadn’t led me wrong yet…

I nodded, opening my eyes. “Okay. I trust you.”

“Turn around,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

I paused only for a moment before doing as he requested. His hand took one of mine, pulling it gently behind me, and then something cold and heavy was snapped around my wrist. Before I could pull my hand back, he had taken the other one and done the same.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I demanded, half turning and staring in horror at the chains around my wrists.

Instead of answering, Rok clamped another shackle around my neck, draping a heavy chain over my shoulder as he turned me back to face him.

“Keeping you safe so that I can get you to Hwanin,” he told me.

“In chains?” I asked, my voice shooting up several octaves. There was little movement given to me with my hands, the metal chain keeping them fastened firmly behind my back with another chain leading between the shackle around my throat to my wrists.

The chain in front of me was essentially a leash, and Rok had hold of the other end. He was holding me in place, chewing at his lip. And then, he tugged me forward. The movement was so sudden that I went crashing into his chest.

And then Rok’s lips were inches from mine. “You said you trusted me.”

“And that was before you chained me up like we were in some bad BDSM movie. Let me go, Rok.”

Rok didn’t let go of the chain. Instead, he briefly closed his eyes as his grip tightened around it. “This is the only way to get to Hwanin, and I promise you, I am doing this to keep you alive. But if it makes you feel any better, your safe word is pineapple.”

“You can take that pineapple and—”

Rok’s finger pressed down over my mouth. “Don’t make promises you’re not going to keep, beautiful.” He winked, and then he stepped back. The playful expression disappeared. “I mean it, Kia. This is the only shot we have, and if you keep your head down and don’t attract attention, we might make it out of here alive. Oh fuck it… we might not.”

Rok’s hand twisted, wrapping the chain around his fist as he pulled me too him, gentler this time. The hand and the chain disappeared into my hair as he claimed my mouth, his other hand settled on the small of my back as he pushed me backwards against the wall.

I had no idea what was going through my mind, and even though I didn’t really have many options available to me to attempt to wriggle out of his arms, I didn’t bother to try—not when the second I started to tell him to get off me he slid his tongue in my mouth and ground up against me.

Despite the fact I was bound, I melted into him.

Lust and trust.

Both were shouting at me as loud as they could.

I barely heard them as my lips were taken by Rok’s, again and again, his tongue exploring my mouth as he held me against him.

When he eventually pulled back, I was breathless.

Lightheaded.

It was Rok’s body keeping me upright. “You okay?” he asked.

Weakly, I nodded. That was one hell of a kiss…

And then, as I seemed to regain my senses, I kicked him as hard as I could in the shin.

“Ow!” he cried, stepping backwards. He shot me a dark look before smirking. “Worth it.”

“Whatever we’re going to do, let’s just get this over and done with,” I muttered. Although I was angry at myself—I really did want to talk with Jae and Song—everything about that kiss had felt right.

Rok nodded. He took a deep breath and started to turn; but paused once more. “You have to trust me, Kia.” Before I could respond, he had pushed the door open.

Remembering his earlier words, I kept my mouth clamped shut.

The inside of the ‘castle’ was not what I expected. Although we had walked through miles of dark rock, the castle seemed to be made of black crystal. It still had the appearance of a cave, but there was something about the sparkling gem that the corridor was carved out of which told me this place was more important than Rok’s cave.

The smell was just as bad though.

Unfortunately, with my hands behind my back, I couldn’t cover my nose.

The place seemed to be lit with some strange glow in alcoves. There didn’t seem to be a power source, and from everything Rok had said, there was no magic. The scientist in me was curious… algae? Some other form of life? Or were they just glow in the dark crystals?

While my inquisitive mind was itching for an answer, if I got out of here quickly, I’d be happy never knowing.

There were no windows, and it was a lot colder here. It was also strangely quieter than I expected it to be.

And as though my thoughts had prompted it, a rock pushed out into the corridor. I’d not seen the door carved into the wall, which should have made me wonder how many we had passed up until that point, but instead, I was trying to concentrate on not having a panic attack as an attractive man and woman walked out.

They weren’t human at all, but high-level demons, and from my previous encounters with similar demons, I knew they were dangerous.

And I was chained up with a knife where I couldn’t reach it—not that it would do much against them.

“Oh, it’s the fuck toy,” the female sneered.

Although Rok’s shoulder’s tensed, he carried on walking.

Until the pair of them stepped in front of him.

Clamping my teeth down on my lip, I bowed my head, trying not to make eye contact.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the female asked.

Rok let out an irritated sigh. “Fuck off, Agma 2020.”

“I’m Agma 1200.”

“Still sucks,” Rok muttered, trying to move past him.

The male agma shot his hand out, slamming it against the wall. Sudden flashbacks to high school hit me—only with more bondage and less clothing (although that was debatable with some of my classmates). “Mara’s done with you. Haven’t you seen she has a new toy?”

“Mara?” I repeated before I could stop myself.

Ever since Rok had mentioned he had been in a relationship with a demon, I’d imagined her to look like Mara. Aside from the female demon here, I’d only seen one other before now and that was Mara.

Mara… the daughter of Edoum… the female demon who was hooking up with my father, prince of the gods and the traitor of the Heavenly Realm.

And Rok really was fucking her.

It shouldn’t have bothered me. The demon—Mara—was Rok’s past and everyone had an ex they’d rather not talk about. It wasn’t even like Rok and me were a thing. But it felt like it was going to be and somehow, that made my heart feel like it had just cracked.

But all of this seemed irrelevant as the female demon—Agma 1200—turned her attention on me. “Who are you and how do you dare utter the Queen’s name?” She took a step towards me, sniffing the air. “Human?”

Rok yanked the chain, making me stumble as I went careering towards him. He didn’t stop to catch me, instead allowing my body to crash into the wall behind him. “That’s my fuck toy, Agma 1200.”

“Why are you still here?” the male agma asked him.

“Mara kicked me out of her bed, not out of Dark World. I have every right to be here.” And then he stepped back, allowing them a good look of me slumped against the wall, biting my lip against the pain in my side. “This is my toy and I’m going to have fun with her like Mara is with the god. Would you two like to join us, Agma 47?”

“No!” I yelped, my stomach rolling.

The male agma sneered at me. “A human? They are food, not fuck toys. So ugly.”

Agma 1200 walked over to me and with a clawed hand, grabbed my face. “This one is particularly ugly.” She sniffed me again. “But she smells strange.”

I jerked my head out of her hand and headbutted her. Or at least, I tried to. She saw it coming and met my face with her palm. The slap echoed down the corridor as she seemed to split into two.

“Food shouldn’t fight back,” she screeched, going to slap me again.

Closing my eyes, I braced myself.

Claws raked at my cheek making me scream in pain. But when I opened my eyes, Rok was holding the agma’s hand. He hadn’t completely stopped the blow, but he’d tried.

“I didn’t go fucking up your toys, so leave mine alone,” Rok snarled.

Barely glancing at me, he jerked me by the chain around my neck and pulled me away. Despite my stinging face, I hurried to keep up, stopping myself from turning back.

“Where do you think you’re going, Rok?” Agma 48 called. “You know you can’t walk in here with humans without Mara’s approval.”

“And when she gets back from the Heavenly Realm, I’ll introduce them,” Rok called over his shoulder.

“She’s in the throne room.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Agma 47’s words made Rok stop suddenly and I only just managed to avoid colliding with his back. He slowly turned, keeping his attention off me and on the two agmas. “She’s back?”

With a smug expression on his eerily handsome face, Agma 47 nodded. “You’d best take your ‘toy’ to see her, hadn’t you?”

“I don’t think that’s anything to do with you,” Rok told him.

“But it is to do with us.”

I glanced over my shoulder, finding six more demons—four male and two female—and all looking lethal. Before I could even process the sight before me, Rok had yanked the chain, sending me flying into him.

This time, he caught me. “No matter what, you have to trust me,” he whispered at me.

“Mara is your girlfriend?” I whispered back.

“Ex,” he said, firmly, keeping his volume low. “Kia, you have to trust me.”

I stared up at him in disbelief. He had lied to me from the beginning and he expected me to trust him?

“Mara wants to see you,” one of the new demons said.

Agma 1200 walked over and snatched the chain from Rok’s hand.

Rok didn’t stop her.

The demon led me down the corridor in the direction Rok had been taking me. I glanced back over my shoulder and say Rok was following, but he refused to meet my eye.

All of the other demons were with us.

Against lower-level demons, without being chained up, I might have stood a slim chance. As I was, there was nothing I could do.

I felt like a trussed-up turkey being led to the slaughter, only I knew what my death was going to be like.

One of the demons opened up an enormous door—something at least three times as tall as I was—and I was led into an enormous hall. At the far end, sprawled out on a throne made of the same dark crystal as everything else, was Mara. She was sitting sideways on the wide chair, her legs hanging over the arm.

She didn’t look up as we came close, her attention buried deeply in the book she was reading. I recognized the cover, and despite my situation, I couldn’t stop my surprise.

Apparently, even the evil demons in the world liked to read dirty books.

Although the demon theme had me wondering if that was classed as contemporary in the Dark World…

Rok strode past us, jogging up the steps to the throne and knelt in front of it, bowing his head.

“Good timing,” Mara practically purred, not looking up. “This book has me wet.” She dropped one leg off the arm of the chair, the action making her skirt ride up. Mara reached for Rok’s hand as she did, placing it between her legs. “Do your thing, Rok,” she instructed him as though there weren’t nine other people in the room with us.

Rok pulled his hand away. “I have something better for you: a gift.”

“Rok, you cannot buy your way back into my favor with gifts.” Mara’s tone turned sour.

“What if that gift is Luck?”

Mara’s gaze drifted back to me. Dropping her book, she turned, lowering both feet to the floor as she stared at me. A grin spread across her face. “Oh Rok, you are a good one.” She stood and walked down the few steps towards me. “Well, if it isn’t Hwanung’s offspring. He tried to kill you.”

“He failed,” I told her.

The grin grew as she reached out and grabbed my chin, squeezing it uncomfortably. “I won’t.”

I glowered back at her, refusing to divert my gaze, even if my heart was pounding away in my chest.

Mara leaned forward, sniffing at me, and then she frowned. Still clutching at my face, she turned, pulling me with her. “Where is her magic, Rok?”

Rok held out his hand, creating an ornate blue glass bottle in his palm. He lifted it up, tilting his head as he examined the bottle.

When had he gotten that from me?

“Rok?” I said, my voice coming out in a rough whisper. “What are you doing?”

It was probably one of the most stupid questions I could ask. It was obvious what he was doing. But for some reason I needed him to confirm his betrayal himself. As though all the evidence that had been thrown at me wasn’t enough.

“That’s a good question,” Mara agreed. She finally let go of my face, promptly shoving me so that I fell to the floor.

With my hands behind my back, my shoulder took the brunt of the fall and I couldn’t stop the cry of pain from escaping me.

Ignoring me, Mara moved back to her throne like she was gliding across ice, taking the glass bottle from Rok as she passed him. She settled into the chair, throwing her legs over the arms and held the bottle up to examine it.

To those that couldn’t see magic, it would have looked like an empty bottle, but for me, even from here, I could see the small golden blobs of magic swirling around like a metallic nail polish.

My gaze drifted to the fallen guardian. His attention was focused on Mara.

Mara.

His demon ex-girlfriend.

Why the hell had my body—that annoying voice inside of me—why had they been telling me to trust him?

Why had I listened?

Biting down on my lip, I curled my legs, finding the momentum and position to get to my knees. Doing so finally brought Rok’s attention on me, but it was like he was no longer seeing me as his gaze skimmed over me.

“How did you get this?” Mara asked, rolling the bottled between her fingers.

“I got her to trust me and then I tapped it from her. It’s easy to do when a goddess doesn’t know how to use her magic.”

“Fuck you, Rok,” I snarled.

Rok gave me a nonchalant shrug. “You had your chance with that one.”

Although I shuddered, my body also responded to his words in a way which was a bigger betrayal than Rok’s.

I wanted to yank my inner self out and beat her as my body continued to feed me sensations of trust and lust.

From her throne, Mara laughed, deep and throaty. “Oh, my little guardian. There is something devious in you after all. Maybe I misjudged you.”

“Misjudged and underestimated me.” Rok folded his arms. “And you promised to return my incantation to me if I brought you her.”

“What’s your plan now?” Mara asked.

Rok shrugged. “Take my incantation and go return to New York. Or maybe Tokyo… I feel watching the Japanese population’s reaction to demons tearing the world apart will be interesting. Between Godzilla and manga, they’ve been preparing for that shit for life.”

“You’re not going to stop me and Hwanung from taking over the mortal realm?”

“That implies I care.”

A smile slowly crept across Mara’s face. “And what about her?”

I couldn’t help myself. I looked at Rok.

He didn’t look back at me. “You do what you need to do, but if you want to keep that new boyfriend of yours happy, you might want to leave the killing to him. She is his daughter, after all.”

Very carefully, Mara set the blue bottle down on the throne beside her before she used her free hand to brush her long, dark hair over her shoulder. “Take her to the dungeons, Rok.”

With an impassive expression, Rok strode over to me, grabbing at the chain behind my back and yanking me up to my feet. He didn’t even seem to react when I hissed in pain as his efforts jarred my shoulder.

“Fuck you,” I growled at him.

Rok ignored me.

When he grabbed at the leash end of the chain and started pulling me towards the door, something inside of me snapped. Instead of resisting him, I charged at him.

My arms bound, and in the back of my mind I knew this was going to achieve nothing, but damnit, I was not going to pulled along by him any longer. Besides, the demons didn’t seem to like Rok either, so they probably weren’t going to get involve and stop me.

Or so I figured.

Although Rok stumbled, he managed to recover before I did, turning and scowling at me.

“Feisty.” Mara’s cold laugh echoed across the room.

Before I could respond, a demon leaped over and kicked me. His foot slammed against my thigh, taking me out. I flew against the wall, the chain around my neck jerking and had Rok not let go, probably would have broken my neck.

“You will kill her,” Rok snarled, ducking down beside me. His hand clamped around my upper arm.

“And that would be a problem?” the agma sneered.

The hand around my arm tightened and Rok pulled me to my feet. “Why don’t you ask the demon queen who wanted her put in the dungeon?”

I bit down on my lip, tasting blood. Everything seemed to hurt and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry, but I wasn’t going to. Not here, at least.

With a snarl, Rok wrapped the chain around his hand, shortening the length, and continued to pull me out of the room.

The pain had replaced my fight, and I hobbled along after him.

We didn’t leave alone. The two agmas we had bumped into corridor followed.

“Looks like even when he brings her presents, the toy has still been discarded in the corner,” Agma 47 muttered, clearly not trying to be discreet.

Rok’s shoulders stiffened slightly, but otherwise, there was no reaction from him.

It wasn’t until we reached a large stone door and Rok shoved me through it that the demons left us alone. The path in front of us curled down in a spiral staircase which had been carved into the castle floor.

I glowered at the back of Rok’s head.

There were so many things I wanted to say to him, that didn’t know where to start.

Or maybe I just didn’t want to speak to him ever again.

The stairway stopped at a door. Rok conjured up his key and unlocked it.

I watched in disgust. “Of course your key opens that door.”

“This key opens any door.” Rok shoved the door open and tugged me in.

The room was smaller than I imagined. I guess I had been expecting something with lots of prison cells. This was one, almost circular room with only one other occupant. He was slumped unconscious against the wall, his arm raised above him, locked to the wall.

“Say hello to your grandfather.”

Despite his scruffy appearance, I knew it was him before Rok told me.

“I promised I would bring you to him.”

I sucked in a deep breath before turning to him. “Rok, you’d better pray to whatever deity it is that fallen gods pray to, that Mara kills me, because otherwise I will get out of here and only after I have castrated you, will I kill you.”

Everything up until this point had pretty much proven that my threat was nothing more than empty words, regardless of how much I meant it. But Rok nodded his head. “I know.”

Somehow, that infuriated me more than anything else. “Then you might want to back the fuck up before it’s too late.” Behind me, my hands curled into fists.

Rok ignored me. Instead, he pulled me over to the wall opposite the King of the gods. “I know that right now you hate me, and I accept that. But I wish you would trust me, Kia.” He reached up, running his hand through my hair.

I jerked back, only able to move a short distance because of the wall behind me. “Never!”

Rok’s exhalation was somewhere between a snort and a laugh. But instead of saying anything, he pressed up against me, claiming my lips with his.

I struggled against him, doing little more than wriggle against him as he kissed me.

My cursed body was screaming at me to kiss him back. That everything didn’t matter because all I needed to do was trust him, but for the first time, I fought back.

The trust was gone.

He might as well have bottled it up in that bottle with Luck.

Rok’s hands slid around my body, and with every last bit of strength I had, I brought my knee up.

I didn’t quite hit my mark, but it was enough to make him step back. As he did so, I realized something had changed with my arms—freedom. Bringing my hand around, I aimed for the side of Rok’s face.

And a new chain stopped my arm before I could slam the guardian in front of me.

“You should have said much sooner that your kink was pain, but even I’m not about to get us both off in front of you grandfather.” Rok looked at my open palm before arching an eyebrow at me.

Without missing a beat, I sung my other hand. This one wasn’t chained up, and it might have been my weaker arm, but it didn’t stop the sound of skin cracking against skin echoing around the room as my hand connected with his cheek.

As I brought the arm back to swing again, Rok’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, holding it firmly, but not enough to hurt. “That’s not very nice, Kia.”

“I’m surprised you have a line to cross,” I snarled at him.

Something filled Rok’s eyes, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

I didn’t even care.

Releasing a long breath, whatever emotion it was disappeared as Rok’s face once again became expressionless. Still holding onto my wrist, with his other hand, he reached up to my neck.

Just as I felt the cuff around my neck fall away, I turned and clamped my teeth down on his forearm.

With a roar of pain, Rok shoved me backwards. My back collided heavily with the rough wall, knocking the breath out of me, and making me release him.

Staring down at the bleeding teeth marks on his forearm, Rok tilted his arm back and forth to examine it in the dim light. Finally, he looked up at me. “Don’t lose that fight.”

He walked towards the door, but suddenly stopped, turning around. Pulling something out of his pocket, he leaned over and rolled it across the floor. It stopped when it hit the wall beside me.

A bottle of elixir.

“Drink that soon.”

Without looking at me, he walked out of the dungeon, locking the door behind him.

CHAPTER TWELVE

As far as plans went, this was, quite possibly, the worst in history. And there had been some shockingly bad choices made over the centuries.

“No sun, terrible company, lack of dining choices… this place sucks,” Jae said, loudly. “Zero out of ten, would not recommend on Yelp.”

The snarky comment earned him a smack to the back of the head, sending him tumbling forward.

Despite the fact we had been walking for hours through the smog, that had been the first time any of the demons had laid an appendage on us.

I reached out and steadied Jae.

“Thanks,” he muttered. “How are you holding up, Song?”

The silent empath looked over at us, his eyes answering Jae’s question for him. He was struggling and there was nothing we could do about it. We were still surrounded by the demons.

What made it worse was that they had allowed us to carry all of our belongings—including our swords.

Taunting.

My thoughts drifted to Kia.

What had she encountered when she had arrived here?

Had Rok kept her safe?

Was she a prisoner?

Worse, had they been outnumbered and killed?

That last thought had a stabbing pain shoot through my side.

Without saying a word, Song reached behind Jae to run his fingers down my arm. A small touch to let me know he knew how I felt.

“The fog is clearing,” Jae said.

I straightened my back to be able to see over the top of some of ilhoeyong in front of us. Jae was right. The thick mist that had enshrouded us was thinning enough to see a cliff face in front of us. We were being led towards a cave in the middle of it.

“Why do I feel like once we go in there, we’re never leaving?” Jae asked.

“Maybe you’re psychic?” one of the demons offered.

“If I died killing him, it would be worth it,” Jae growled as the demon laughed.

Song grabbed Jae’s wrist and shook his head.

As we got closer to the cave entrance and I could see the thousands of demons swarming around, I was almost tempted to let Jae at them. Our chances of survival didn’t seem high in there.

For the first time, the shred of hope I was hanging onto started to flutter away.

We probably weren’t going to survive this.

The demons who had accompanied us to the cave thinned out until it was only a few of the higher-level agmas marching us through the tunnels. Considering how many other demons—types I’d never seen before—swarmed around us, I wasn’t surprised.

They still knew they had the upper hand.

I couldn’t keep the shock from my face.

All our lives we had been told our duty was to protect the Heavenly Realm from the demons of the Dark World. In all the centuries I’d been alive, and all the centuries before, there were very few tales of gods or guardians of god going to the Dark World.

There were even fewer stories of them returning.

What we knew about this place was from fairytales.

It was nothing like any of us imagined.

The further in we walked, the darker it got. Most of the demons didn’t have eyes, but the agma did. How were they coping with not stumbling everywhere like we were?

Eventually, after nearly faceplanting into the uneven rocks beneath us, Jae conjured up a fireball. I could see his shoulders tense, like mine and Song’s did, but not a single demon reacted.

Seeing all the demons swarming around us, in varying sizes and degrees of ferociousness, had allowed fear to wrap around my heart.

This wasn’t a place for survival.

And Kia was here.

Alone.

“Shibal,” I muttered, the word barely audible over the screeching from the demons.

I was scared. I’d spent my life training to fight demons, and with their regular attempts at trying to break into the Heavenly Realm, I had encountered them hundreds of times.

Kia had been around a handful, but with at least one of us with her. She must be terrified.

The mere idea of Kia’s being scared and alone here sent anger scorching through me, melting the icy tendrils of fear that had taken hold.

If any of these things had hurt her, I was going to rip their heads off.

And if Rok had allowed any harm to come to her, I was going to rip his head off with my bare hands.

A demon which looked more like a humanoid spider passed too close and my fist shot out, punching it away. It recoiled before lunching at me, but one of the agmas guarding us knocked it back.

It grabbed me, shoving me to the floor. “Are you really ready to take us all on in here? How long do you think you’ll survive?”

I could feel the tips of his claws pushing into my throat as his hand clamped around it. Black spots started dancing over my vision as the grip stopped me from breathing.

Behind me, I could hear Jae and Song, but I couldn’t make out their words as a rushing noise filled my ears.

And then he stepped back, releasing me.

I rolled over, coughing as I sucked the oxygen back into my lungs.

Hands—Jae and Song’s—clamped around my arms, helping me to my feet. “For whatever reason, they’re keeping us alive, Gun. Let’s maybe keep it that way until we can work out why,” Jae hissed in my ear.

Why were they keeping us alive?

Every demon we’d encountered until now had tried to kill us, and it wasn’t like we hadn’t taken out a hundred or more when we’d first walked through the portal…

As I was shoved in the back and made to start moving again, I focused on that thought.

It was highly unlikely it was because they wanted to share some kimbap with us.

Eventually, the cavernous tunnel grew lighter, and then, suddenly, we were back outside. There was no smog, but even with the wind, the cloying scent of sulfur remained in the air.

“Shibal,” Jae muttered, seeing the structure in front of us as I did.

Large jagged shards of black rock reached up to the strange colored sky. The castle at the heart of this realm was anything but welcoming, and yet that was where we were clearly being led to.

I dragged my gaze off the castle and looked around. The ground between the cave and the castle was just as barren as it had been on the other side, only now we could see it.

Nothing was growing here.

As my gaze swept back to the path in front of us, I realized it was just the agmas guarding us.

My hand grasped around my sword, but I didn’t withdraw it.

“Jae?” Song whispered, making me look over. “Can you make a portal to get us out of here?”

“Without Kia?” Jae’s whispered alarm had me shaking my head.

“Just to get help. You’ve been here now. Or we can get a reaper.”

I glanced over my shoulder, but the demons didn’t seem to be paying us much attention.

“Who, Song?”

Was this me? I released the sword and wiped my palm against my thigh. We might have been able to take on the few demons that were still with us, but then what? We enter the castle, or we return to the caves we had walked through?

More importantly, what if Kia was in there and we were this close?

“I’m just voicing what we’re all feeling,” Song muttered, wearily.

“I know,” Jae agreed. He let out a long sigh and stared up at the castle. “But something tells me if we leave now, we won’t be able to come back. And Kia won’t be leaving this place either.”

Something twisted in my stomach.

Jae was right.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The metallic liquid swirled in the bottle as I held it up on front of me. I’d seen what the demon toxin had done to Jae and Song, and maybe I was stupid for not drinking it, but I’d been in the cell for hours and my grandfather still hadn’t woken up.

On the other side of the room, even when I stretched my body out, the chain stopped me from even being able to prod him with my foot.

Closing my fingers around the bottle, I did the same to the chain, giving it another tug. If I sat, it kept my arm suspended above me and I had to move it every so often before I lost feeling in it.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the one I had used to cushion my fall. That hurt every time I lifted it.

Combined with the actual foot shaped bruise on my thigh, the lack of anything to drink, and of course, the claw marks which throbbed on my cheek, there wasn’t much left that didn’t hurt.

Drinking the elixir would relieve that.

But I was just a demi-goddess with no magic and the man on the opposite of the room—my grandfather—was the King of the Gods and the whole reason I had come here.

I wasn’t giving myself a high survival chance, and it wasn’t like I particularly wanted to die, but if it was between saving myself and King Hwanin surviving so that Jae, Song, and Gun could rescue him…?

There was only one option.

Pulling up my legs in front of me, I rested my good cheek on knees, staring at my grandfather.

His back was to me, so I couldn’t see his face, but he had broad shoulders and dark hair peppered with gray. The only reason I knew he was still alive was because I could hear him breathing.

I shifted my weight again. With the arm chained up above me, there were no comfortable positions I could sit in for long. As I crossed one leg over the other, and the skirt of the ridiculous dress I was wearing rode up a bit, the bottom of the knife appeared.

Running my fingers over the barely-there sheath, I frowned. Rok had given me this, taken me to this dungeon, and left it with me… Why?

Gently, I pulled it out, examining the blade. I didn’t know blades well enough to know what kind it was, but it wasn’t like any I’d seen before. The handled was thin and flat like a scalpel, and the blade was about as long and wide as the handle.

If I stabbed someone with it, it was going to do some damage, but it didn’t seem like the first choice for many people when it came to a weapon.

Was it just a weapon?

Ignoring my protesting leg, I struggled to my feet so that I could us both hands to examine it.

It was just a knife.

There went my crazy idea of it having something hidden in the handle like a screwdriver, or something. “You’ve been watching too many actions movies,” I sighed, rubbing at my face, wearily.

Leaning back against the wall, I slid the knife back into the sheath on my thigh. While some of those movies might have been able to use the knife as it was to escape, I was not one of those heroes. Assuming I didn’t pass out from pain or blood loss, my skillset would have been an amputation.

I glanced down at the bottle of elixir by my feet and then up to the knife. Why had Rok given either of them to me?

An elixir would help me once. To be fair, once the demons realized I had a knife, that was probably how many uses that had too, and with its short blade, I’d need to get pretty damn close to a demon for it to be of use.

Why had I ever thought that I could come here and save the day?

Okay, saving the day was not quite what I had in mind. It was more like helping the guardians save the day…

But how had I come to the conclusion that I could help?

Sucking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to quieten that train of thought. If we didn’t try something, there was a high chance the world was going to be overrun with demons and humans were going to be the thing of fairytales.

At least this way I was trying something.

Maybe I should have just stayed in Busan with the others and had a lot of sex until the end of the world…

Rolling over the wall, I rested my head against the rock and groaned.

Actually, considering Mara now had Luck, staying in Busan and having a lot of sex would have helped save the world.

Go figure.

“Where are you taking him?”

I whirled around, the chain clinking. That was Song’s voice.

Before I could work out if I was hallucinating or not, the door to the dungeon opened and one of the human-like agmas walked in. The shadow cast by the door lengthened and an ilhoeyong materialized.

With no verbal instruction, it glided over to me, stopping right in front of me. I cowered into the wall, bracing myself for an attack of some kind, but it didn’t come. When I looked up, the eyeless creature was standing over me, breathing its putrid breath in my face. That was it.

“You move and it will tear you to pieces,” the agma told me.

I had no intention of doing.

And I thought that knife was going to help me…

“Kiaria?”

I looked to the door, my eyes going wide as another agma dragged Jae into the room. “Jae?”

The tall guardian struggled against the agma, and the moment he did, the ilhoeyong beside me moved. Instinctively, I ducked, just as claws scraped across the rock behind me. As I cowered in a crouched position as best I could with the chain holding me in place, the first agma laughed.

“Try that again, god.”

From under my arm, I peered up and found the agma sneering at Jae. Jae had frozen, his golden skin going ashen in front of me, as he stared over at me, horrified.

The agma holding on to him half-dragged him towards a chain which hung on the other side of Hwanin, but Jae didn’t resist. He also barely gave the other occupant of the dungeon a second glance as he kept his attention locked on me.

“Are you okay?” he asked me as a shackled was locked around his wrist.

“It didn’t touch me,” I told him, glancing up at the ilhoeyong. It seemed to be staring down at me, even though it didn’t have eyes. It sent a shiver running down my spine. “What about you?”

“Better now I’m with you.”

The agma quickly plucked all of Jae’s weapons away and walked out of the room.

Before I could ask where the others were, Song was led into the room. His gaze picked out Jae first, then the ilhoeyong over me, before finally seeing me. His eyes flicked between me and the demon as the agmas waited. When Song didn’t move, the first rolled his eyes and nodded his head towards an empty chain.

Song walked straight over to it with no prompting, barely paying attention to anything other than me as he did. As the agma chained him up, I could see his arm shaking. “I have been so worried about you,” he muttered, relief in his voice. “You’re injured?”

My hand went to my cheek, wincing as I touched the tender skin. Before I could tell him that it wasn’t as bad as it looked—not that I knew what it looked like—there was a roar from the other side of the room.

I looked up just as Gun knocked the agma away, drawing his sword.

The ilhoeyong above me let out an ear-piercing shriek and I pulled my arms over my head as best I could, bracing myself.

The ilhoeyong went silent but before I could look up, Gun was wrapping me up in his arms, pinning me against the wall.

He stared down at me, looking at me like was a much-needed drink of water after spending the night losing eighteen rounds of beer pong.

Nope…

He was looking at me like he was going to kiss me.

Gun’s hands slid up my back, one going to the back of my head. Just as I was sure he was urging my head towards his—which I was surprised to find I wasn’t resisting—he pushed my face towards his chest.

The ilhoeyong exploded behind us.

And yet, I didn’t feel the force of it.

At first, I figured that it was because Gun bore the brunt of it, but as I brought my head up, I saw the barrier fading. I looked over at Song, my eyes wide, meeting his gaze.

Gun stepped back, just a hair’s breadth, turning his head so his mouth hovered above mine. His gray eyes were locked on mine and I found myself lost in them. Whatever was happening around us, I as not paying attention to.

Considering there were two agmas in the room, I should have done.

“Kia,” Gun murmured.

And then he slumped onto me.

I caught him, but before I could work what had happened, he was yanked off me and tossed across the room. His body smashed into the rock wall so hard that pieces of it fell away, raining dust over his prone body.

A scream of rage escaped Jae he strained against his constraints. In front of us, the agma leaped onto him, beating him in a frenzied attack.

It took several long seconds for my brain to process what it was seeing and jump into action. Pulling my skirt up, ripping it in the process, I pulled the knife out. Without hesitating, I flung it as hard as I could.

The blade soared through the air, spinning as it flew.

Somehow, the thin blade hit the spot between the demon’s shoulder blades, going so deep, half of the handle disappeared.

The agma dropped forward, body twitching.

Instantly, the second agma whirled on the spot, marching straight over to me. The next thing I knew, the agma’s hands wrapped around my throat, lifting me off the ground.

As his hands tightened, claws digging into the back of my neck, black dots started dancing across my vision.

No.

Not again.

I let go of the demon’s arms and stopped trying to pull its hands off me. Instead, I shove my arms up between his and grabbed its head, pushing my thumbs into its eyes.

With a roar of pain, it dropped me, stumbling backwards. Thankfully, my legs hadn’t turned to complete mush and managed to slow my slump to the floor.

The agma picked itself up and raised its arm.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Rok’s voice carried across the room.

Irritation merged with the anger on the agma’s face as it turned to look at Rok, allowing me to see the guardian. “What are you doing here, toy?”

Rok leaned against the doorway, glancing down at Gun and the agma slumped on top of him, before looking over at the agma in front of me. “Mara sent me to make sure her present was fed and watered for the evening.” He shrugged, gesturing at me, without meeting my eyes. “I mean, if you want to go ahead and finish what you were doing, by all means…”

“What would you know?” the agma sneered.

“Me?” Rok pointed at himself. “I’m not about to kill the thing that’s going to have both the Queen of the Dark World and the Prince of the Heavenly Realm ensuring you know nothing more than a lifetime of torture and agony, and considering your lifespan, that’s a long time.”

The agma growled but stepped back.

Rok moved over to Gun and kicked the agma off him, before kicking the soles of Gun’s boots.

Gun groaned.

At that moment, it was the sweetest sound I could hope for.

“Then again, it looks like you’re close to experiencing that anyway. Maybe you should take this guy upstairs and blame it on him.”

Muttering something in a language I didn’t understand, the agma walked over to the other, grabbed it by its ankle, and dragged it upstairs. It wasn’t dead?

“Is Gun okay?” I asked.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Jae demanded.

Rok paused, but only to look at me. “He needs an elixir.”

“Then what are you doing? Give him one!” I snapped at him.

“I don’t have any more.”

“Where are our things?” Song asked him. “I have dozens in my bag.”

As Rok started to tell Song that the demons had taken them somewhere, my gaze dropped to the bottle of elixir beside me. I scooped it up and held it out. “Here.”

“That’s for you,” Rok told me, ignoring the other guardians. “You should drink it before the toxins take hold.”

“Rok!” a voice echoed into the room.

With a long sigh, Rok glanced at the door before looking back to me. “Drink the elixir, Kia.” He walked towards the door.

“Rok? Rok, come back. Give him this!” I shouted after him as the door shut behind him. “Rok!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

On the other side of the room, Gun groaned again.

I turned to Jae, finding him pulling at his chains with all his might. “Jae, do something.”

The chains weren’t budging.

“Magic. Use some magic!”

“Kia, we’re limited in what we can do,” Song said, a pained expression on his face. “What you’ve seen us do is it. And a shield isn’t going to help him now. Jae, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Then turn into a squirrel.” My tone was harsher than I intended it to be, but it wasn’t until I said it that I realized it was a simple, yet genius plan.

Jae paused in tugging at the chains. “A squirrel isn’t going to help Gun.”

“No, but a squirrel is going to be able pass through a cuff without any problem,” I pointed out.

Jae blinked, and without responding, did exactly as I said.

As the chain clanked against the wall, a squirrel stared up at me from the middle of the pile of Jae’s clothes. In an instant, he was Jae again, already hurrying across the room.

He dropped down in front of Gun and gently rolled him onto his side, checking him over. “Shibal,” he muttered under his breath.

“Jae?” Song called.

“If it was just a beating, he’d be fine in a few days. That demon stuck his damn claws into him. He’s unconscious.”

“Here,” I said, holding up the elixir.

Jae bounded over, took it from me, and then ran back to Gun. And then he looked around helplessly, before turning back to Song and me. “I have nothing to cut him with.”

“He’s covered in scratches from where the demon attacked him,” Song said, looking at Jae like he was an idiot.

“Jae, just take a breath,” I told him, gently. When he glanced at me, fear in his eyes, I gave him a reassuring smile. “He’s going to be fine. You just need to calm down a little.”

Gun was in a worse condition than Jae was letting on. When he’d been attacked in New York by the flying demon, Jae hadn’t been this worried.

There was something he was seeing over there that I couldn’t see from here.

“Take a breath and take your time.” I pulled at my chain. Of the four of us, I was the most medically qualified—even if it was veterinary medicine—and I couldn’t do anything.

“Jae, you’ve got this.”

Song’s statement might have carried more weight if his voice hadn’t wavered.

I sucked in a deep breath. “Can you bring him over here?”

Jae looked over at me. “Huh?”

“Let me do it.”

“You don’t need to see this, Kiaria.”

Ignoring the fact that he had just confirmed what I had suspected, I shook my head. “Bring him over here, Jae.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Jae eased Gun into his arms. As soon as he turned around, I saw what was causing Jae’s hesitation.

Gun’s eyeball was hanging out.

In that moment, I pushed the fact it was Gun out of my head.

I’d assisted the veterinary surgeon with operations on animals that had been brought in after car accidents or from animal cruelty cases. While I might not have had an operating table, or even somewhere to simply wash my hands, I did have a strong stomach and a determined heart.

Jae placed Gun down beside me. The elixir, which he had placed on top of Gun’s stomach, rolled to the side. I picked it up before it could roll off and set it down.

Now would have been a good time to have that knife.

Grabbing the edge of his torn shirt, I pulled, tearing it in two. Unlike his pants, large sections of the fabric were in tatters—almost all of his injuries seemed to be above his waist.

I surveyed Gun’s injuries in the most clinical manner I could, my attention lingering on his eye and socket for only a moment longer than needed.

There was a stab wound just below his shoulder which, as I rolled him over, discovered went all the way through. If that had been only a few inches lower, it would have pierced his lung or heart. Aside from the eye injury, he had a split lip and I was almost certain his cheek bone was shattered.

There was also an ugly red mark on his abdomen—internal bleeding.

“Shit,” I muttered.

I picked up the small bottle of elixir, watching the molten silver liquid swirl around inside the bottle. We were putting a lot of faith in a bottle which would have easily passed through airport security.

Holding it up, I turned back to Song and Jae, the latter who was pacing beside me, still naked. “How does this work?”

Jae froze. “You’re asking that now?”

“I want to know what the best chance of saving Gun’s eye is. When I took it before, it felt like it was healing me from the inside out. If I start with that stab wound, will it heal the eye socket? Will the eye retract back to where—”

“The eye is a lost cause,” Song told me. “That has sustained too much damage. You can use the elixir to heal the socket and stop any pain.”

Using my teeth, I uncorked the bottle and then I poured a few drops into the socket. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with it, but currently it was swollen and bloody, and until that started to heal, we didn’t have many options available to us.

I turned my attention to stab wound. Pouring it into the wound seemed like such a crude way to get the elixir into the blood but trying to get Gun’s instinctive swallow reaction to kick in while unconscious was a much slower option.

Then again, the blood was flowing out, not in.

Pouring it on his wounds, a few drops at a time, created puffs of angry black smoke as it reacted with the demon toxin.

It was only when I’d used two-thirds of the bottle that I finally started to see things heal. The shallower cuts and bruises on Gun’s arms were disappearing.

“You should use the rest of that on yourself,” Jae told me.

“Uh-huh,” I muttered, having no intention of doing that. Instead, I set the bottle on the ground beside me and turned my attention to Gun’s eye. The swelling around the socket had significantly reduced although almost the whole of the right side of his face was a single bruise.

Wishing I had something to sterilize myself—or at least the ability to use both of my hands—I wiped my bloody hands onto my dress, wiping them down as best I could before I gently picked up the eye and eased it back into the socket.

Maybe Song was right and it was a lost cause, but I was currently witnessing a miracle as the elixir healed Gun’s body. If it didn’t work, we could remove it later…

Taking as much care as I could, I lifted Gun’s head into my lap. I allowed a few more drops to fall into his eye for good measure.

I might be witnessing a miracle, but I wasn’t seeing it fast enough. If the elixir was fighting the toxin and the natural flow of blood, I needed to get it inside him another way. Seeing as I didn’t have a needle or a drip, the only other way was to try to get him to swallow it.

And try not to choke him in the process.

I poured a few drops into his mouth and waited for his body to respond. It took a moment, and then he swallowed.

“What are you doing, Kiaria?” Jae asked, stepping around to watch me.

“Saving him,” I told him, pouring the rest of the elixir into Gun’s mouth before Jae could snatch it off me.

“Kiaria! I told you to finish that!” he yelled at me.

“I’m not the one dying,” I snapped back at him.

Jae held up the bottle before throwing it across the room. It shattered as soon as it hit the wall. “You are now—that’s a demon scratch, isn’t it?” He pointed at my face.

“Why is there a naked man shouting?”

The strange, low and raspy voice had me and Jae stop and stare at each other, before I remembered there was another person in the room. “King Hwanin.” His name came out in a whisper.

Jae’s eyes widened and I barely had time to angle my body to look at the king of the gods before Jae dropped to his knee in a bow, his forearm meeting his forehead. “Your Majesty.”

There was a clanging of chains as Song did the same. I didn’t move, Gun’s head still in my lap.

Although it was clear he hadn’t seen a shower or a mirror for some time, his hair unkempt and his face covered in grime, there was still something regal about him that shone through.

Hwanung hadn’t looked old enough to be my father. This man did—not old enough to be my grandfather though.

Apparently eternal youth was a blessing for gods. Hopefully, if I survived all of this, it was a trait I would inherit too.

King Hwanin shifted his weight as he rubbed at his eyes. “Jae? Is that you?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Not that I’m not grateful for the rescue party, but I thought it would involve a few more clothes.” He groaned and rubbed at his head. “Jae, you can get up. We’re all equal in this place.”

Jae raised his head, glanced at the king of the gods, and then sheepishly headed over to his pile of clothes, trying to cover his nakedness with his hands as he did so.

Despite everything, I had to smile. Jae had been naked in front of me so many times, but this was the first where I’d seen a shred of embarrassment—even if it wasn’t because of me.

My soft snort drew the attention of Hwanin. “And who might you be?” Before I could respond, he finally noticed the unconscious god in my lap. “Is that Gun?”

“Yes, your majesty,” Jae replied. “He was attacked by an agma.”

Hwanin moved onto his knees, raising up on them to look over. “Is he okay?”

“Considering Kiaria gave him all of the only elixir we had, I would hope so!” Jae shot me a dark look.

“Jae, will you quit it!” Song suddenly yelled, stopping my retort.

Jae and I both looked over at the other god, finding him clutching at his head. “Sorry,” Jae muttered.

Hwanin looked between the four of us and sucked in a deep breath. “I think I’ve missed a lot while being in here. You should probably fill me in.” His gaze drifted back to me. “Do I know you?”

If my free hand wasn’t busy running through Gun’s hair, I would have given him an awkward wave. It was probably for the best that it was otherwise occupied. “I’m Kiaria Lennox. I…” I frowned. “There’s a very strong possibility I’m your granddaughter.”

“Strong possibility?” Jae snorted. “Sure.”

Hwanin eyed me carefully. “How long have I been locked up in here?”

“After the Heavenly Realm was attacked, we escaped with Luck to the mortal realm,” Jae explained. “While trying to protect the magic, it found Kiaria. It wasn’t until we tried to return Luck to the Heavenly Realm that we discovered Hwanung was Kiaria’s father, and also the one behind the attack on the Heavenly Realm.”

“What’s wrong with Song?” Hwanin glanced over at the empath. His head was still in his hands and I could hear his steady breathing from here—like he was telling himself inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth.

“Demon toxins. We didn’t catch them in time and his empathic abilities are going haywire.”

“My barrier magic is gone,” Song muttered without raising his head. “It’s like I suddenly have a set limit on my magic and I used all of it before.”

The barrier that had protected Gun and I from the demon…

“I’m sorry,” I told him.

Song looked up, his dark eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “Do not apologize. My purpose is to protect you.”

“Luck,” I said, quietly. “Your purpose is to protect Luck and I don’t have it anymore. Mara does.”

Jae turned on the spot and stared down at me. He’d only gotten as far as pulling his pants up, and while his abs were normally a pleasant thing to admire, right then, I couldn’t look at him at all. “What?”

“This whole thing wasn’t about Rok getting back into the Heavenly Realm. He wanted to get his own magic back from Mara—the demon he was sleeping with. And to do that, he took Luck off me,” I admitted, miserably.

“I’m going to kill him,” Jae declared.

“Something else happened,” Song said, slowly.

I let out a long breath and nodded. “He kissed me.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“I’m going to kill him, then I’m going to revive him, and then I’m going to kill him again,” Jae announced.

“My son’s disgraced guardian, Rok?” Hwanin asked, arching an eyebrow.

“He found out what Hwanung was doing but was kicked out of the Heavenly Realm before he could expose him,” I said, before trailing off.

Why was I trying to defend his actions?

Jae folded his arms, glaring down at me. “Why did you go with him? Why didn’t you wait for us?”

Slumping back against the wall, I tried to move my shoulder without disturbing Gun. “I went with him because I stupidly trusted him like I trusted you.”

“Our intentions were good!”

“You took to me to another realm where you didn’t think I would be able to escape from,” I pointed out before gesturing to the room.

Jae rolled his eyes. “That is not the same thing.”

“No, but the gut feeling I had that I should trust and follow you was the same one I had for Rok.” I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. “And when I went with Rok, I thought you would be coming with us. I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late.”

I’d always considered myself to be intelligent. I’d gone through school and undergrad in the top percentile of my classes. To understand the science in most of my veterinary courses, you had to be intelligent.

Unfortunately, I was also incredible stupid and naïve while being intelligent.

If we ever got out of this place, I was never trusting my gut again. In fact, I was going to do the exact opposite of what it told me to do.

“You trusted the traitor?” Hwanin asked in surprise.

“For what it’s worth;” Song lifted his hand, rubbing irritably at his temples. “I never once picked up on anything that indicated Rok wanted to do Kia harm.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Jae snapped. “He needed her alive.” He turned, looking down at me with suspicion. “But why?”

I glanced down at Gun, running my nails through his silver hair as I brought it away from his face. His eye socket was looking almost healed. Would the elixir have fixed his eye too?

“So he could give Luck to Mara,” I admitted before looking up at Jae.

His face was going from red to purple at an alarming speed, but the explosion came from Song.

“How could you be so irresponsible?” he bellowed, so loudly, it echoed around the room, making him seem even louder and angrier. He flung his arm to the side, making the chain whip through the air.

“You gave Luck to the demons? Are you fucking kidding me?” Jae cried, adding to the noise in the room.

I flinched, but neither of them seemed to notice, both of them continuing to vent their frustration and annoyance without waiting for the other to finish speaking so that I stood a chance of understanding them.

Not that I needed to hear their words to know they were livid with me.

“Enough!” Hwanin said, loudly, when neither showed any signs of stopping. He didn’t shout but somehow there was enough power in that one word, spoken by their king, for Jae and Song to fall silent. “What is wrong with you two?”

“Jae is in love with Kia, and jealousy was never a good look on him,” Gun croaked. “And Song has demon toxin in him so he’s not only dealing with his own jealousy, but he’s projecting Jae’s too.”

Although Gun didn’t open his eyes, just the sound of his voice had all the worry and fear drain out of me so that my body seemed like a wobbly mess. “You’re alive,” I said in a breathless whisper.

“I had a theory that when Jae got going, not even the dead would be able to rest. I was right.” Finally, Gun opened his eyes.

Instantly, I knew something was wrong. While one iris remained gray, the other had gone almost white. The gray one was trying to focus on me while the other stared ahead, unmoving.

“How do you feel?” Jae asked, crouching down on the other side of him.

It took me a moment to realize he was inspecting the healing stab wound in Gun’s shoulder. “Like I’m looking at the most beautiful thing in the world and I can’t see it properly.” He winced as Jae prodded the edges of the healing wound.

Frowning, I batted Jae’s hand away. “Let him rest.”

As I moved my hand back, Gun reached up. Instead of grabbing it, his fingers brushed mine as he closed his hand. Confusion washed over him.

“The demon beat you pretty badly,” I told him, taking his hand. “I tried to save your eye, but I think it was too badly damaged for even an elixir to work.”

Gun closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. When he opened his eyes, he fixed his gaze back on me. “At least the last thing I got to see properly was you.”

On the other side of the room, Hwanin cleared his throat. “Just so I am on the same page, the three of you are all in love with my granddaughter…?”

I looked over at him and shook my head. “I don’t think we can call it love,” I said.

“Yes,” Jae said, rolling his eyes at me. “Despite the fact she’s wandering off with traitors, kissing them, and—”

“Jae…”

Jae glanced over at Song, who, with his eyes wide gave him a subtle nod of his head towards Hwanin. Jae’s cheeks paled. “Shibal.” Mortified, he dropped to his knee. “Forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“Majesty?” Gun repeated, his alarmed question sounding hoarse.

He tried to roll over onto his own knees, but I pressed down on his good shoulder and shook my head. “You’re not moving until you’ve healed some more.”

“But—”

“Don’t move,” I told him through gritted teeth.

“Jae, get off your knees,” Hwanin told him. “We can discuss your intentions with my granddaughter later.”

“Excuse me?” I said. I could sense three sets of alarmed eyes on me, but I didn’t pull my attention away from the king of the gods. “You’ve known who I am for less than an hour, and even if you’d known me for my life, it still wouldn’t give you any say in my destiny.”

A small smile seemed to play at the corner of Hwanin’s mouth. “Your destiny? That’s an interesting choice in words, Kiaria.”

I had no idea why I’d decided to word it that way, but I straightened my back as I stared back at the man—the god—I didn’t know but was apparently related to. “It’s Kia.”

Hwanin slowly nodded, the smile growing as he relaxed back against the wall. He rolled his shoulder before sighing. “Very well. We can talk about this when we get out of here.”

That was one conversation I couldn’t say I was looking forward to, although, if that was the tradeoff for getting out of here, maybe it was a reasonable price.

I slumped back against the wall and rolled my head back to stretch my muscles. I ached.

That was an understatement.

Now that Gun seemed to be okay and we’d found Hwanin, my body was relaxing slightly. And with it all of my muscles were competing with each other to point out to me just what I’d put them through.

And then there was my face. I wasn’t entirely sure how many scratches were on it as I’d yet to see it, but the whole of my cheek was throbbing to the point it felt like it was on fire.

As I sat there, absently playing with Gun’s hair as I looked around the room, the ‘what the fuck do we now?’ thought set in.

I blew out a breath as I glanced down at Gun. He was watching me, frowning slightly as he tried to focus on me.

My gaze drifted to Jae. He was busy pacing the room, alternating between sending furtive glances at my grandfather—who looked like he had fallen asleep—and staring at me.

Finally, I looked over at Song. He was sitting with his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.

“Song?” I called gently. “Are you okay?”

When he didn’t respond, I figured he hadn’t heard me, but as I opened my mouth to call his name again, he looked up. “No.” He sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “I can’t… everyone’s emotions… I don’t know if it’s because the room is so small, or that everyone is feeling a range of very strong emotions, or simply because I have no magic left to dampen everything, but…” He winced. “If emotions were tangible, I feel like I’ve just been buried by a mudslide. I can’t breathe and I can’t think.”

“Try to get some sleep,” Jae told him, sympathetically.

“It would probably be more effective you slept,” Song told him. “Or at least stop pacing and thinking about all the ways you want to kill Rok. Your rage is the strongest emotion in here and it’s exhausting.”

I shifted uncomfortably. Okay, Rok was a dick, but most of that rage was caused because of my actions.”

Song turned to me. There were dark circles under his eyes, but the look of exhaustion was mixed with pain. “And that’s followed closely by your guilt.”

Closing my eyes, I tried to clear my mind, but all it did was allow the pain I was feeling to become more noticeable when I didn’t have anything to distract me from it.

Gun shifted, making me jump. Before I could stop him, he was upright, staring at me with an unfocused eye.

“You should rest,” I told him.

“So should you.”

I shook my head. “If I could, I would. Song’s right. My mind has a million things going around in it, and if I try to clear my head, all I am left with is the realization of how much my body hurts.”

Gun reached up to my cheek and a sudden flash of heat surged through me.

Then it was back. The look he had given me before everything had gone to shit in this room. The look which told me he wanted to kiss me.

Really, Kia?

We’d had this discussion. Jae, Song, Gun and I, back in Busan over a bowl of bingsu. All three of them had made their feelings very clear.

Jae and Song liked me. They had feelings for me, which they had promised weren’t to do with the connection to Luck, but to me.

Gun had politely told me he wasn’t interested.

And at the time I had almost convinced myself that I could deal with whatever was between the three of us because I had almost convinced myself that I could do the whole ‘no strings attached’ thing.

Damnit.

That wasn’t what I wanted anymore.

But was that now what they wanted?

I glanced over at Jae. He had finally settled down, as far from Song as he could get. With his legs crossed and his eyes closed, he looked like he was meditating. Maybe he was in an effort to make things easier for Song.

That was what I should be doing…

With Gun’s weight finally off me, I leaned back and stretched my legs out.

“What’s that?” Gun asked, quietly.

Looking down, I saw his hand move to the boot-shaped bruise on my thigh. As though looking at it had reminded my body of its existence, it started throbbing.

And then Gun’s fingertips brushed over me.

I wasn’t sure where he was aiming for, but the part of my inner thigh he touched didn’t seem like where he would intentionally go for.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Kia’s hands running through my hair, her nails gently raking across my scalp, was quite possibly the most soothing sensation I had ever experience. I didn’t want it to end.

I could feel the elixir working its magic on my body. It was an elixir that hadn’t been brewed in the Heavenly Realm. Even though so much time had passed since I had last had one from there, I could still tell the difference. It was almost like they could heal you to about 90%, and they certainly didn’t offer the same level of anesthesia.

Staring up at Kia, I felt my heart twinge. Not from a healing injury, but because of how exhausted she looked. Song was right, too. I could practically feel the guilt oozing from her.

The evidence of the sub-par elixir became evident as I tried to sit up. Not that I was complaining—without that elixir, I had had no doubt that I would be dead now.

I blinked rapidly—or maybe it was weird winking… I couldn’t feel both of my eyelids working properly, but I wasn’t sure if that was because the eyelid was too injured, or if the muscles around it were too numb.

Staring at Kia, she finally came into focus. It wasn’t that my ‘good’ eye wasn’t working, but it was trying to compensate for the other.

Shibal.

This was not the time to need to adjust to not seeing properly. My periphery vision to the left was gone.

Looking at Kia, something felt… off. Almost like she was further away than she seemed.

But there was no mistaking the concern on her face. “You should rest.”

Upright, I took in the exhaustion again. “So should you.”

The corner of Kia’s beautiful mouth turned down as she shook her head. “If I could, I would. Song’s right. My mind has a million things going around in it, and if I try to clear my head, all I am left with is the realization of how much my body hurts.”

My gaze drifted to the claw marks on her cheek. She was lucky they hadn’t caught her eye.

I’d been trying hard not to stare at the three jagged lines on her face. In the time I’d known her, she’d never seemed particularly vain, but appearance was still important to women.

And she’d passed on the opportunity to heal them so she could heal me.

Without realizing what I was doing, I raised my hand, reaching for the marred cheek.

She’d picked me.

Gods, if only we were alone right now…

No. I might have admitted my feelings to Jae and Song, but I couldn’t tell her. Not now. She’d probably think it was because she had saved my life.

I already had to contend with the fact she had gotten upset at the idea that Jae and Song’s attraction stemmed from our connection to Luck.

Kia stretched out and I finally realized what she was wearing.

This was not the outfit she left the mortal realm wearing.

It was a dress and it clung to her like a second skin, accentuating her slim waist and making her small breasts seem fuller. The black material was something I would love to see her wear daily.

But not here.

Not where she needed more protection against demons.

My gaze skimmed down, stopping at the mark on her thigh. A bruise in the shape of a boot.

Someone had kicked her so hard that I could make out the tread?

I reached out, wanting to touch the mark as though doing do would wipe it away—I’d clearly had a hard beating to the head and hallucinating didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility…

Kia’s hand shot out, grabbing mine.

“Gun?”

She looked at me with such concern that I had to look back down to see what it was that was worrying her.

It took a moment for my brain to translate what I was seeing: my hand was not on her bruise. I was touching an area a little higher and a lot closer to the bottom of the short skirt she was wearing.

I stared down, not really seeing her thighs, or even the small hand holding mine.

Whether it was my depth or distance perception, I wasn’t sure, but the one thing I knew for certain was that my vision was fucked.

Which meant I was effectively useless.

Of Jae, Song and myself, I was the one least gifted when it came to magic. It wasn’t uncommon. There were many gataekshin—guardians of the gods—like me, their strength coming from their physical abilities.

But if I didn’t have that, what did I have?

How was I going to protect Kia if I couldn’t focus on a target properly?

Kia’s hand squeezed mine. “Gun?” she said, softly. “Are you okay?”

This was it.

My opportunity.

Stretch my hand around Kia’s thigh, lean in, and kiss her.

I could practically taste her lips on mine as I sucked on them as I waited for that perfect moment to slide my tongue in. She’d moan and pull me closer—

“Gun?”

Take it, Gun. Don’t lose that chance.

Pulling my hand away, I moved back, awkwardly shuffling my aching, damaged body so that I could lean against the wall beside her—making sure there was a decent gap between us so I couldn’t accidentally touch her.

Shibal… she had Jae and Song… she deserved better than me.

“I need to sleep,” I told her, my voice gruff as I rolled over, putting my back to her.

I caught Jae watching me. He arched an eyebrow at me, but I ignored it, tucking my good arm under my head as I watched the door. Tired as I was, sleep was not an option. If the only useful thing I could do was put myself between Kia and whatever came through that door, then that was my purpose now.

I’d protect Kia with my last breath.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

At some point I’d fallen asleep because I awoke with the most intense pain in my cheek. It was like I had two wisdom teeth coming through on the same side of my mouth, with an abscess between the two.

I opened my eyes knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to escape back to sleep now that I was aware of the pain and found my nose inches away from a nipple.

“Your eyelashes tickle,” Jae told me.

At some point after I had fallen asleep, he had slipped in beside me to give my head something to lean on. That would explain why I didn’t have neckache.

My shoulder was tingling though. With my hand suspended above me, I had to wiggle my fingers to make sure it was still there. It was like the worst pins and needles I’d ever experienced.

I yawned and then instantly hissed in the pain that emanated from my cheek.

“Kiaria?”

“My face hurts,” I mumbled.

Arms around me tightened. “Well, if you’d have had some of that elixir—”

Sighing, I pushed away. “I didn’t and Gun is alive, so I have no regrets.” Feeling stiff, I rolled my head, easing out the muscles, slowly working down my body. Finally, I stood, leaning back against the wall as I worked my shoulder, encouraging the blood to flow to my fingers.

“How are you feeling?” Jae asked as he got up beside me.

I looked in the eyes, narrowing my own. “Is my answer going to get me a lecture?”

“Only because I care.” He folded his arms. “And because I’m furious at you going off with that traitor by yourself.”

Turning my head, I looked down at Gun. No one was more furious at me than me. Gun was hurt because of that decision.

Maybe a part of me hadn’t taken any of the elixir because I deserved the pain.

At least that stupid voice in my head—Luck—had gone silent from telling me to trust him.

I swept my gaze around the room. Song and King Hwanin seemed to be asleep or passed out. “Are they okay?” I asked, using my head to nod in their direction.

Jae let out a long sigh, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. “I don’t know,” he replied, honestly. “I’m worried about King Hwanin. He’s lost weight, and even asleep, he looks exhausted. There’s little magic in the Dark World. We brought it in with us and it’s slowly disappearing. Song is really struggling with our emotions and I fear it’s going to consume him.”

“We need to get out of here.” I gave the chain a tug, even though I knew it was useless.

“You’re just going to hurt yourself doing that,” Jae chided me.

“I need to—” I stopped when I heard footsteps outside of the door. “Pretend you’re chained up,” I told Jae.

“Kia—”

“Jae, just do it,” I hissed at him.

Just as a key started turning in a lock, Jae moved to one of the unoccupied chains and wrapped it around his wrist, giving me a confused look as he did.

When Rok walked through the door, I was sure he was going to go for his jugular, but instead he stayed where he was, glowering at the traitorous god.

Rok walked up to me, stopping just out of my reach. Unfortunate as my palm was itching to slap him.

“Your father and Mara want you to join them for dinner.”

“Hwanung and Mara can choke on their own food,” I shot back.

“Nice. You can tell them in person.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I folded my arms.

“That’s not what you said last time.”

“It’s what she’s saying this time,” Gun announced, getting to his feet and stepping between the two of us. As Gun was a broad as he was tall, I had to step to the side to see Rok looking unimpressed.

Rok was the only one I had seen who came close to Gun’s mass, packing just as many muscles and a very similar height. He didn’t look the least bit intimidated by him. in fact, he arched an eyebrow and eyed the other god lazily. “She should have drunk that elixir and let you die.”

“That is probably the only thing you and I agree on,” Gun told him. “Unlike you taking Kia out of here.”

“Let me guess: over your dead body?” Rok yawned, tapping his fingers over his mouth. “Considering the pain that she’s probably in now, that’s a little disrespectful. However, if that’s what you wish, I can flood this little room with ilhoeyong before you can land the punch that I know you’re dying to throw.”

“Shall we test that theory?” he growled.

Beside me, Jae’s chain rattled, and I shot him a look which stopped him from ripping the chain away.

“Gun, don’t you dare hurt yourself any more because of me,” I told him, reaching for his upper arm. “Please.”

Rok titled his head. “Does that mean you’re going to come with me?” he asked me.

“No, it does not,” Song’s voice rang out around the room.

The four of us looked over. I wasn’t surprised that we had caused enough noise for him to wake. Despite his attempts to look threatening as he got to his feet, I could see the pain in his eyes.

“Don’t you dare, Kia,” he told me.

Rok grinned. “Move aside Quasimodo. The princess is going to see her father.”

“No, she’s not,” Gun grunted.

“If she doesn’t, the ilhoeyong are coming in.”

“Are you just going to keep threatening to bring the demons in to get us to comply?” Jae asked, rolling his eyes.

Rok tilted his head. “Do you want to test me and see if that’s an empty threat or not?”

“Enough!” I snapped as I rubbed at my temple. I didn’t, for one second, doubt that there were demons ready to storm this room. Aside from my grandfather, I couldn’t see why either Mara or Hwanung would benefit from keeping Jae, Song and Gun alive, much less why they would want to.

“Kia, don’t you dare,” Song repeated.

I wasn’t entirely sure they had a reason to keep me alive, but it didn’t sound like I was currently on the menu. And maybe I could find something to get us out of here.

As though he could hear my thoughts, Jae let go of the chains and strode over to me. “Kiaria, under no circumstances are you to bargain with them for our benefit if it means sacrificing yourself in any way.”

“Oh, there’s a surprise,” Rok muttered, irritably as he watched the chain swing back and forth.

In my periphery, I was aware of Gun moving out of the way for Rok, but Jae’s eyes were locked on mine. His hands slid into my hair as he pressed himself up against me.

Within seconds, his mouth was slanted over mine and his tongue sliding into my mouth.

I kissed him back…

Until the movement stretched my cheek and had me wincing, jerking back. It didn’t seem like Jae had realized why as he leaned his forehead against mine.

“Come back to us, Kiaria.”

“Are you two done, because if not, I’ll…”

Staring over Jae’s tensed shoulders, stared pointedly at him. “You’ll fuck off and give us the room?”

“He doesn’t need to give us the room,” Jae muttered.

“No, I’ll bring in the ilhoeyong.” Rok took another step towards me. “So back off, Jae.”

After kissing my forehead, Jae whirled around.

I grabbed his elbow, stopping him from punching Rok in the face. “Don’t,” I told him, quietly. “Don’t get hurt for me. Please.”

“And don’t make deals for us,” Jae returned. He stared me in the eyes before finally stepping to the side.

When both he and Gun were a distance away—not that it would have stopped them if they really wanted to attack—I held up my arm and pointed to the chain around it. “You need to remove this before I can go eat with daddy dearest.”

Rok narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you going to slap me if I do that?”

I nodded.

Suddenly, Rok grinned, turning his body to angle his ass at me. “Right here, please.”

“Gross.” I held my hand out, wrinkling up my nose as Rok came close.

He quickly unlocked the shackle and stepped back as though expecting me to slap him.

I didn’t.

“Huh.” He turned and walked towards the door, clearly expecting me to follow him.

With a reluctant sigh, I followed after him. “Don’t worry,” I told the others before hurrying after him.

Rok was waiting just outside of the room, leaning against the wall. He wasn’t alone. Two agmas and a pack of ilhoeyong were waiting with him. “You really did have them outside for backup?” I said before I could stop myself.

An agma slammed the door behind us, laughing as he locked it. “Sure I did.”

Unlike last time, Rok led the way up the curved steps. I followed behind until we left the stairwell and started walking along the hallway. Ignoring the demons that accompanied us, I fell into step beside him, not missing the surprise that washed over his face before it quickly disappeared.

I walked in silence beside him, but my attention was on the castle we were walking through. Although I had no idea how I was going to accomplish it, I was going to get us out of this place, and I needed at least a vague idea of the floorplan of this place.

The hallway curved around to two enormous doors. Considering the size of some of the demons I had seen, I wasn’t surprised. They were square, had intricate swirls carved into them, and looked like they were made of the same stone the rest of the castle seemed to be created from.

“That’s the main entrance,” Rok supplied helpfully. “And leads to a shit-storm of demons.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me in the opposite direction.

Although only slightly smaller, another set of elaborate stone doors were facing me. Even though they were set on what looked like metal hinges, they looked impossibly heavy.

We waited for one of the agmas to open it and I couldn’t help but wonder if Rok couldn’t move them either. Did you need to have demon strength to open them? And would that mean we wouldn’t be able to open them to escape.

An agma stepped forward and pushed the door open. It didn’t seem to be straining at the effort…

“After you, princess,” Rok said giving me a somewhat sarcastic smile as he bowed at me.

I flipped him off but walked through the door. It wasn’t until I looked around that I realized whatever room Mara had been reading in, it wasn’t the throne room. This was.

The room was easily big enough to fit a basketball court in. The walls stretched upwards to a ceiling covered in black stalactites. In between them, in no particular pattern, were what looked like balls of fire, lighting the room.

At the far end of the room was another raised area with an enormous black throne on it. A second had been positioned next to it, but instead of the black rock, it was golden.

I didn’t have much time to look at it as my attention was caught by the long table in front of it. This looked like it was made of wood. And it had three seats around it—one of them currently occupied by two people.

My father and Mara.

I didn’t realize I had stopped until Rok poked me in the back, encouraging me to walk closer.

Neither Mara nor Hwanung had noticed we were there. At the head of the table, a grand chair stood empty. At the top end of the table, next to it, was an equally grand chair, only this one had Hwanung in it, and Mara in his lap. The two were kissing—a far too romantic description for the fact their tongues seemed to be fighting for dominance—and Hwanung’s hand was in Mara’s dress, squeezing her tit.

Before I threw up in my mouth, I looked away. I might not know him, and I might despise him, but nobody wanted to see their father do that with anyone.

If the pain in my cheek hadn’t chased away my appetite, that sight had spectacularly massacred it.

Rok stepped in front of me and I looked up. I wasn’t sure what expression I expected to find but considering that was his girlfriend getting it on with another guy, I guess I expected something.

Then again, maybe he was as cool at sharing his girlfriend as Jae and Song were with me.

And then I saw the flicker of irritation.

Maybe not.

“That’s your seat,” he said, pointing to a chair, much less elaborate than the other two, at the opposite end of the table.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Instead of moving, I stared up at him and narrowed my eyes. “I thought you were going back to New York?”

“Things changed. Go sit down.” Rok glanced over his shoulder at the two still eating each other’s faces. “Before I get forced to do something neither of us wants.”

“Heaven forbid that should happen,” I grumbled, but moved over to the table taking a seat.

I wasn’t surprised that Rok escorted me over, but I was surprised that he stood beside me like a guard. Did they think I was going to attack?

The table was set with an empty plate and a goblet with liquid in it, but no cutlery. What was I going to do? Throw the plate at Hwanung’s head and the goblet at Mara’s?

… That was a tempting idea.

“Drink,” Rok commanded.

Thirsty as I was, that wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t trust for it not to be poisoned. Or spiked… I wouldn’t put that one past Rok anymore…

Instead, I folded my arms and glowered at the empty plate, feeling like a petulant teenager.

“So glad you could join us, ttal.” Hwanung’s voice had me looking up, not least from confusion at what he just called me.

“Ttal?”

“I see your mother never taught you your mother-tongue.” He smiled at his own joke. “Daughter.”

“I don’t think you were memorable enough for my mom to realize you were a Korean god,” I told him.

“Is that what she told you?” he asked, amused. “Why, ttal, I was with your mother for two years before I ended things. She couldn’t get enough of this dick.”

Even though he had pretty much just called himself a dick—which he was—I didn’t smile. My mother had always led me to believe he’d been a one-night stand, not a two-year relationship. Had she known he was a god too?

No. No matter what, my mom would have told me if my dad was a god.

Right?

“Let’s not talk about your past whores,” Mara scowled, extracting herself from Hwanung’s lap to sit in her own chair at the opposite end of the table. Clearly displeased.

Before I could get up, ready to march down there and slap her face, Rok’s hands were suddenly on my shoulders, holding me down. I hadn’t even seen him move.

“Don’t,” he said, quietly.

I was almost convinced I had imagined him say that, especially when I looked up and found he was diverting his gaze to the side.

Shrugging his hands off me, I sat back down. As I did, I heard a familiar chinking sound and looked down in time to see Rok clamp a shackle around one of my wrists. “Really?”

Without responding, he threaded it under the chair before fastening the other end around my other wrist. The chain was slack enough that I would be able to reach my plate, provided I lowered one arm, but that was it.

Was this what I was here for? To allow the pair of them to insult my mom and get a reaction out of me?

Seeing the smirk on Mara’s face, it was probably her goal if it wasn’t Hwanung’s, although it was just as likely Hwanung was saying crap to upset me too. He’d tried to kill me the last time I’d seen him.

But he’d also said King Hwanin was alive and that hadn’t turned out to be a lie.

My cheek throbbed uncomfortably. “Why am I here?”

“By all accounts, you followed Mara’s plaything here. Shouldn’t we be asking you that?” Hwanung leaned forward, resting his hand under his chin as he propped his head up with his elbow. “Or did you think you could sneak in here and save my father, return to the Heavenly Realm, overthrow me, and make everything right again?”

I nodded. “Give me time.”

Hwanung stared incredulously at me, before bursting out into a roar of a laugh. “Maybe you are my daughter after all.”

Suppressing a shudder, I grabbed onto the arms of my chair. “Why am I at this table with you? Why are you not leaving me to rot in the dungeons with my—with King Hwanin.”

The laughter died instantly. “Let’s get one thing straight.” Hwanung narrowed his eyes. “I am the King of the Heavenly Realm. Not the god who is long past his use by date.”

“That’s your father you’re talking about,” I pointed out.

“And how would you talk about your father?” Mara asked, tapping a finger against her chin.

“You mean the person who I didn’t know existed until he tried to kill me when I finally met him a few weeks ago?” I asked. I inhaled a deep breath and shook my head. “Look, if this is it, let me go back to the dungeon.”

“Oh, this isn’t it,” Mara said, before nodding her head at Rok.

I turned, expecting him to hit me—or worse—but caught him walking towards a door in the corner of the room.

They were leaving me alone with these two?

“I’m keeping you alive, because I need Luck,” Hwanung told me.

“You already have it. Rok took it from me and handed it to your latest conquest.”

The screech caused by Mara’s chair scraping back across the smooth floor had me wincing. In a matter of seconds, she had travelled the length of the table, stopped in front of me, and slapped me, straight across the demon claw marks.

Agony flashed through me like fire scorching my flesh. Black spots danced across my vision and for a moment, I thought I was going to pass out.

I hoped I was going to pass out.

As Mara raised her hand again, all I could do was duck my head and cower behind my hands. Her next blow hit the back of my head.

“Enough now, my queen,” Hwanung called lazily, as if he didn’t really care if Mara continued to hit me.

Mara struck me once more and then walked back to her chair like she was walking down a runway.

Barely moving, my head feeling like it was stuck in a washing machine as my face throbbed so painfully. I thought I was going to throw up. Resting my forehead on the back of the hand which clutched at the chair arm, it was all I could do to let the tears fall into my lap.

The last thing I wanted was to cry in front of them.

I didn’t have magic, strength, or any skills when it came to fighting. Despite whatever blood was running through me, I was a mortal and no match against them. But that didn’t mean that I wanted to sit here, cowering in front of them.

Fighting to ignore the pain, I clutched at the arm of the chair so hard I was sure my nails were going to dig in, I tried to discreetly wipe the tears away, and then sat upright, staring Mara and Hwanung down.

Both were watching me in amusement.

Assholes.

That was when Rok reappeared carrying to plates of food. I could smell it as he walked past, and it smelled incredible. My stomach grumbled loudly as he set a plate in front of Hwanung and Mara.

Instead of returning to the kitchen, he walked back towards me. Although he remained silent, I didn’t miss his gaze skim over my face and his eyes narrow. Returning to his spot standing guard beside me, I saw his hands clenched tightly into fists.

Or maybe I was hallucinating it.

“Want some?” Mara asked, digging into what looked like a steak. I didn’t have a clue if it came off the back of a cow or a demon, right now, it was the most appetizing thing I’d ever seen.

But even if I wanted to say yes, I couldn’t. Just licking my lips made my jaw ache.

“You have water,” Hwanung said, his mouth full of food. “That will fill you up.”

Although no signal was given to Rok, he stepped towards the table, pushing the goblet towards me. “Drink up.”

“Fuck off, Rok,” I mumbled.

Rok slammed his hand on the table, turning his body to scowl at me. “Do not disrespect my queen and drink the water that is offered to you.”

Maybe it would wash some of the bile back down. Or maybe it was poisoned…

I took the goblet, contemplated throwing it in Rok’s face, but instead took a sip. Unless the poison was tasteless, as far as I could tell, it really was just water.

Taking greedy sips, I swallowed several mouthfuls before I realized something else.

My cheek wasn’t throbbing as much.

I snapped my eyes up to meet Rok’s, catching the most discreet of head nods from him before he stepped back.

There was elixir in the water.

Compared to the other elixirs I’d taken where I could feel my body healing itself from the inside out almost instantly, the relief from this was slow and subtle. It took the edge off the increasing pain and was starting to ease it.

Before I could question why Rok would do that, Hwanung started talking again. “The key to controlling the three realms is Luck,” he said, as he devoured the food on his plate. “That annoying, inconspicuous magic, which is neither good nor evil, is the key to everything. And that magic should be bonded to me. I am the King of the Heavenly Realm.”

Only in his head. The real king was locked away in Mara’s dungeon.

“Strangely, it was Edoum who knew this. It was why he spent so long trying to gain entry to the Heavenly Realm; to steal it away.”

“So you hook up with his daughter?” I asked, the healing affects of the elixir taking away the one thing that was keeping me quiet.

“It is no secret, ttal. He had been trying to accomplish this for years.”

“He must be so proud of you,” I said, directing my sarcasm laced statement at Mara.

The beautiful demon queen reached for her goblet and took a sip before responding. “I’ll be sure to ask him the next time I visit the dungeons.”

Edoum was being held in the dungeons too? But there was no other person in that room other than us. Was there another room down there?

“I’ve tipped the scales without it, but there’s only so much more I could do. Humans might know nothing about the Heavenly Realm or the Dark World, but they are annoyingly tenacious creatures and will protect things even when they don’t know why they’re doing it. Like your damn mother.”

“My mom? What do you mean?”

“Which is why I’ve decided to keep you alive. Or half of the reason I’ve decided to keep you alive.” Using his knife, Hwanung pointed at me. “Luck hasn’t bonded with you, but it keeps trying. It chose you as a conduit and it keeps going back to you. So; if I decide to use it and it disappears, keeping you alive for it to slink back to, I’ll know where to get it back from.”

“What about my mother?” I demanded.

Hwanung tilted his head, slowly chewing whatever food was in his mouth as he watched me. “You don’t know.”

As I watched the smirk stretch across his lips, I forced myself to take a long sip of my drink. Neither he nor Mara had been withholding information—as far as I could tell, at least—but I was questioning the validity of some of it, especially when they could sense that I was getting agitated by it.

The diluted elixir seemed to calm me as well as take more of the edge off my injuries. “Did you love my mom?”

I wasn’t sure why I asked, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted him to say in answer.

“She really didn’t tell you anything, did she?” Hwanung picked up his goblet and took a slow drink as he sat back in his chair.

I glanced over at Mara, seeing how she gripped her hand around the blade in her hand and decided that I wanted Hwanung to tell me he loved my mom. It would be worth it when Mara stabbed him in the dick.

“I spent several centuries looking for a way to get a magic to bond with a god. The only god who had accomplished this was my father and he refused to tell me how to do it. His answer was to send me to earth for a few centuries.” Hwanung slammed his fist against his chest, making me jump. “I created a whole civilization and laid the foundations for what is Korea today, and he still wouldn’t tell me how to make that bond.”

Hwanung grabbed his plate and threw it at the wall. Beside him, Mara pointed at Rok and I watched as he obediently went to clear it up.

What the ever-loving fuck?

“Do you know what the mu are?” Hwanung asked, his temperature disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

Surprised, I nodded. “A shaman.”

“Maybe she did tell you.”

I frowned. “Hana?”

“Is that what your mother goes by these days?” Hwanung rubbed at his chin. “I never thought to look for her.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“My mom?” I repeated. “Hana’s not my… You think my mom is a mu?”

Hwanung grinned at me.

I slumped back in my chair, staring up at the hundreds of stalactites in the ceiling as I shook my head. This was clearly another attempt at Hwanung trying to rile me up, and I was not going to let him do that.

My mom wasn’t a mu. She wasn’t even Korean. She had fair skin which burned easily in the sun—almost ironic considered she had been stationed in Honolulu for years before she transferred to Key West when I’d started college.

“Or is this part where you tell me I’m adopted and my mom wasn’t really my mom?” I asked, lightly. I may have grown up never knowing that the asshole in front of me was my father—and I sure wished things had stayed that way—but my mom was my mom.

“It sure would make things more interesting if that was the case,” Mara said.

Certain that they were still trying to get their kicks out of upsetting me, I dropped my head.

“If she wasn’t my mom, she never told me who my real mother was before she died.”

It wasn’t that I wanted to play the same game they were playing, but something told me that Hwanung was making plans to go find my mom and make her tell him his father’s secret he thought she was hiding. If he thought she was dead, he wouldn’t go after her.

“She’s dead?”

Without looking up, I nodded my head. “She passed away before I went to college.”

There was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor, but I didn’t look up, instead dropping my head into my hands.

“Can I kill her now?” Mara asked. “She’s clearly of no use.”

“Not until I know Luck wont return to her,” Hwanung said, sharply.

Parting my fingers a fraction, I peeked over at the two of them. Mara was back in his lap, slowly unbuttoning the shirt he was wearing. “But the thought of choking the life from her is making me wet.”

Surely they weren’t going to… her hand dipped into his pants and he leaned his head back, moaning.

I swear I was going to vomit everywhere.

Suddenly my view was blocked by Rok’s back as he stepped in front of me. A small sigh of relief escaped me as I rubbed at my temples. He couldn’t drown out the sounds, but not seeing it helped.

Please go to a bedroom. Please go to a bedroom. Please just leave and fuck anywhere but in here, in front of me…

The sound of what had to be one of them sweeping everything off the table and crashing to the floor broke my prayers.

Luck had definitely left me.

Mara was thrown down onto the table and into my line of sight, no longer mercifully blocked by Rok. She locked eyes with me and smirked before my father quite obviously thrust into her.

I closed my eyes and turned my head, trying my best to ignore the theatrical screams as my father and his girlfriend fucked on the dining table.

I wasn’t sure my appetite was ever going to return.

Apparently, stamina was something Hwanung was gifted with because it didn’t end quickly.

When it did, the pair of them walked off as though they had forgotten I was there.

Rok turned around and dropped to a crouch to unlock the chains around my wrists. “I’m sorry.”

Rubbing at my wrists, I let out a long sigh. “Gross as that was, it still was not the worst thing I’ve experienced in my life.” I glanced over at the goblet and back at Rok. “You put an elixir in the water.”

Rok nodded.

“Why?”

“Back away from her,” Jae announced.

Rok and I turned, finding a very naked Jae walking towards us.

“What the fuck?” Rok asked, not moving.

He was shoved to the side as Jae reached me, pulling me out of the chair and wrapping his arms around me.

My skin felt icy cold in his hot embrace. I clung to him, feeling numb and exhausted. “Are you okay?” he muttered into my ear, a hand stroking at my hair.

“How long have you been in here?”

“Just now.”

I sucked in a deep breath and looked up at him. “I’d rather be in that dungeon.”

“Which I’m trying to arrange,” Rok said, dryly.

Jae lunged to the table, grabbing the plate. He swung at Rok, but the fallen god blocked the blow, grabbing Jae’s wrist. With an irritated sneer, he plucked the plate from Jae’s hand.

“I realize you do not like me, and frankly, I don’t give a fuck, but if I don’t take Kia back to the dungeon, this room will be swarming with ilhoeyong. I’ve heard of the term crossing swords,” Rok glanced down at Jae’s crotch, “But honestly, I don’t think you’ll get far with Little Stabby there. Unless you’re going to pull an actual sword out of your ass?”

“Are you trying to be funny?” Jae snarled at him.

Instead of responding, the main doors started to open. Before I could blink, Jae was in squirrel form, he black fur almost blending in with the black stone of the room as he darted under the table.

“Won’t they smell him?” I whispered to Rok as two agmas entered the room.

Rok shrugged. “Like I care.” He started walking to the door.

I followed after him. “Rok!” I hissed under my breath, not wanting to look back in case I gave Jae away.

“Relax. The smell of magic coming from me and you are stronger than his little rodent breath.”

Chewing at my lip, I walked beside Rok. Seeing as though neither agma had mentioned anything, maybe Rok was right. I frowned. “My magic?”

Rok didn’t respond.

Letting out a grunt of frustration, I curled my hands into fists, wishing I could punch the back of Rok’s head. He was as infuriating as my father.

As my father…

Rok was as evil as my father was. He’d betrayed me as much as he had betrayed the Heavenly Ream, and even my world.

Why did I need to keep reminding myself of that?

Just because he’d fed me an elixir didn’t make him good. He was taking me back to a dungeon!

“Why haven’t you returned to New York, Rok?” I asked.

Behind us, one of the agmas burst out laughing. Arching an eyebrow, I turned back and stared expectantly at her. “He’s Queen Mara’s toy. He couldn’t return to New York unless she allowed it.”

I half turned to Rok. “Why wouldn’t she allow it?”

Rok’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you assume she hadn’t?”

I took a couple of steps towards Rok, but he didn’t move as I stared up at him. “You made a choice to stay here and watch her have sex with Hwanung?”

“Maybe I get off on watching? Didn’t you?”

I could feel my nose wrinkle up in disgust. “Apparently that man is my father. The last thing I’m ever going to do is get off on it.” Rok’s dark eyes stared back at me and I swear I saw a glimmer of sadness in them. “I don’t know if you ever really had feelings for her, but if you did, you deserve better. No one needs to see that.”

“And do you tell that to Jae or Song when they watch you fuck the other?”

Slowly licking my lower lip, I took a step back, feeling like I’d been slapped. “And just when I start to feel a flicker of empathy, you remind me why I shouldn’t, so thank you for that.”

Why was I feeling empathy for him?

Was I actually insane? Was that it? I’d stopped watching romantic films years before I got too busy with studying because I was forever getting annoyed with the lead female characters for falling for an idiot and forgiving him for everything, just for the sake of a happy ending.

Why was I still feeling even a fraction of care for him?

Even though the dark corridor was leading me back to a dungeon where I would inevitably be chained up again, I marched past Rok. Not only was I eager to put some distance between us, I would also rather be chained up with my guardians than remain in his company.

Despite my eagerness to be away from him, I could sense him just behind me. Behind him, the two agmas were continuing to chuckle in amusement.

As we got to the stairway leading down to the dungeon, Rok grabbed my arm and pulled me back. When I whirled around to hit him, Rok took my other wrist and held it tightly, leaning in. “When I open the door, don’t go straight in if you want Jae to survive,” he whispered. Then he straightened and shoved me through the doorway before I could respond.

I had no idea if Jae had heard that—the agmas didn’t seem like they had—but I walked down the stairs slowly, hoping he would get ahead in the shadows.

But my slow speed also came from the fact my mind was starting to spin.

Rok had brought me here to steal my magic and have me locked up as a prisoner, so why on earth was he helping us? Not just with Jae but with the elixir too?

Or was this just another trick?

What I really needed right now was what any girl needed: to call my best friend, Eloá, and talk this through with her.

Of course, that wasn’t happening.

As we got to the door and Rok unlocked it, pushing it open a fraction, I was sure I felt something small shoot past my feet. But just in case I didn’t, I turned and looked up at Rok. “In answer to your question, if either Jae or Song wanted to watch, then they could do that,” I said, surprising myself as the words left my mouth. “The difference is, I love them both and I don’t want to hurt either of them. I’m not using the one to hurt the other or make them jealous.”

In the dim light, I could see the color drain from Rok’s face as he rubbed his hand over his mouth. Although the truth of the words had surprised me, my intent had been to hurt Rok. He was in love with Mara and she didn’t love him back? Well, he had hurt and betrayed me, and I wanted him to feel how I did.

So why was I feeling just as hurt at his reaction.

I turned, not wanting to see it.

Once again I was choosing the dungeon.

But when I took a step towards the door, Rok pulled me back. “What’s—?”

Without uttering a word, Rok moved towards me, his body pressing up against mine as he pushed me into the wall. His hands clamped around my waist, holding me in place.

I titled my head glowering at him. “Really?” I asked in disbelief. “You really think that, after everything, this is—”

Rok leaned down and kissed me, and so help me, my treacherous mouth kissed him back.

When his teeth caught my lower lip, pulling almost harshly, instead of slapping him or pushing him away—or anything—I clutched his shirt, pulled him closer and parted my lips.

As I kissed him back, Rok’s tongue slid into my mouth… and it wasn’t the only thing.

My eyes widened and my pulling did become a push, but the hands around my waist held me tighter.

At the same time I worked out he had passed me something in that kiss, he pulled back.

I had no idea what it was, other than it had a slight metallic taste to it, and it could have been something to help me, but I ignored it. Instead, the rational part of my brain finally kicked in and I slapped Rok as hard as I could.

“I’m sorry,” Rok said, his apology almost lost under the agma’s laughter which echoed around us.

Wondering if I was imagining it, Rok grabbed my wrist, shoved open the door to the cell and pulled me in. At some point Jae had returned and was already in his pants, feigning being chained up as he scowled at Rok.

Rok ignored him, marching me back to the chain I had been locked up in previously. Without looking back, he stormed across the room, slamming the door behind him.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Feeling like all the energy had been siphoned out of me, I slid down the wall. Before I could hit the floor, both Jae and Gun were at my side.

“What happened?” Gun asked, looking between me and Jae.

“I barely saw anything, but I swear to the Heavens that if he hurt Kiaria, I’m going to kill him,” Jae growled.

“You can get in line,” Gun agreed. “I will make him hurt two-fold before I allow him to escape into death.”

As the two of them were distracted with plotting how they were going to kill Rok, I pulled the thing out of my mouth.

A key.

Or rather, a miniature version of a key. It looked like it would fit the door of a doll house.

I glanced up at the shackle around my wrist and stared at the lock. It looked like a standard size, but if I was to push this toy key in it, it would get lost in the hole.

Why had Rok given me this?

“What’s that?” Jae asked, taking the key off me. “And why is it wet?”

Taking it back from him, I wrapped my fingers around it. “I don’t really know,” I muttered.

Obviously, it was a key. But my brain just couldn’t process the meaning of it: why had Rok given it to me, and what did it open? Or was this just another mind game to add to the last couple of hours.

I felt like I’d just walked out of my last exam in finals after spending weeks cramming to remember every word of half a dozen textbooks, to go and forget most of the questions that had been on the paper.

Gun sat down beside me, and without saying a word, placed his hand over mine.

He had never seemed to be a man of many words, but that action felt more reassuring and comforting than him telling me everything was going to be okay.

I leaned my head against his shoulder and looked over at Song and King Hwanin. Both were still asleep. “Have they been like that the whole time I’ve been gone?”

“Song awoke briefly,” Gun told me.

Letting out a long sigh, I closed my eyes. “He’s not doing well.” It was a statement, not a question, but I opened my eyes as I felt a hand stroking my hair and found Jae nodding.

“Kiaria, what happened before I came in?” Jae asked, softly.

“They’re going to take over the three worlds, like we suspected,” I told them as I got more comfortable against Gun’s shoulder. “And I’m here because they need Luck. Which they have, but as Luck returned to me last time, it seems they think the same thing will happen again.”

I quickly ran through the highlights, missing out the part about my mom. She wasn’t Asian and there was absolutely nothing about her beliefs that, even when I looked back with that in mind, told me she was a mu or a shaman, or anything vaguely magical.

“Why is Rok still here?” Jae asked, more to himself than to me, once I’d finished. “Wasn’t he going back to his life in mortal luxury?”

I shrugged. “I think it has something to do with Mara.”

“Mara, Queen of the Dark World?”

Glancing up at Gun, I nodded. “That would be his ex.”

“Rok has worse taste in women than you do.” Jae’s laughter died as Gun shot him a dark look. “Present company excluded of course,” he added hurriedly.

“I don’t think it was real,” I muttered before I started chewing at my lip.

“We’ve had this discussion before and it’s—”

“But what if it is?” I cut Jae off as I turned my hand over and uncurled my fingers from around the small key I had been clutching tightly.

Maybe Rok hadn’t been attracted to me, but what if he was feeling guilty? What if this was a way to help?

But he’d betrayed me… What was to say this wasn’t another trick?

“It is real,” Gun said firmly, making me look up at him.

“But why would he give it to me? And what does it unlock?”

“Unlock?” Gun repeated before looking down at my hand. He blinked a few times before tilting his head. Finally, he reached out and tried to take the key from my upturned palm. He missed, pinching at the air beside him.

“I think my eye is still healing,” he muttered, his cheeks going pink.

“Gun, I don’t think that eye is going to heal any more than it has,” Jae said, gently. “When we get out of here, we can get a healer to look at it, but I think you need to accept that you’re going to need to relearn a lot of things, including your depth perception.”

Straightening to lift my head off Gun’s shoulder, I shot Jae a scowl. “Jae!” I hissed. If my other hand wasn’t chained up, I would have smacked him upside the head for that.

“You are the closest thing to a healer,” Jae told me, shaking his head. “You might have been training for healing animals, but even you must be able to tell—”

“I can’t tell anything without tests and a proper examination—”

“It’s okay,” Gun said quietly. “I know you mean to protect me, but you may speak the truth. I know my eyesight has been irreparably damaged.”

Nodding, I couldn’t help but feel guilty. He was right: I was trying to protect him, and if I hadn’t seen the miracle an elixir could perform, I would have been more honest.

I reached for his hand, turning it over, and placed the small key in his hand. “Rok gave me this.” I turned back to Jae. “And in answer to your earlier question, it was wet because I had taken it out of my mouth.”

“How did it get…” Jae’s question died on his lips. “I am actually going to kill him.”

Shifting my weight, I shook my head. “I think… I think Rok is helping me.”

My stomach felt like it was twisting at that. Despite everything, I felt it to be true, but it was like my body was reacting in a way to tell me I was an idiot about to get burned twice.

“Kia…”

Turning back to Gun I let out a long breath. “I know. But this whole time it’s like I’ve had this little voice inside of me telling me to trust him, despite everything. And I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the same voice that tells me to trust you.”

“You can’t trust Rok—the whole reason you’re here is because you trusted him,” Jae told me, anger tainting his voice.

I pointed over at the sleeping form of King Hwanin. “He brought me to my grandfather, like he promised.”

“And locked you in the dungeon of a palace filled with demons,” Jae added.

“You thought that voice was Luck?” Gun asked. When I nodded, he held out the key. “But Rok took Luck from you. I think the voice you are hearing now is your own.”

I took the key from him and stared at the bronze metal, warm from Gun’s touch. That would mean it was my own instinct telling me to trust Jae, Song and Gun.

Somehow, that was strangely reassuring. If the voice was my own, it was me telling me I was attracted to these three guardians, and not Luck…

Wait…

Three?

I wasn’t even talking about Rok…

Was I?

Slowly, I looked up at Gun, finding his one gray eye watching me carefully.

Shit.

Where the hell had that come from?

Diverting my attention back to the key, I conjured up a mental image of Rok and his cocky grin.

The same feeling hit me in the chest.

It wasn’t Luck: it was me. I was the one who felt the pull to these four gods. But if that was the case, either I had to trust it completely, or not at all.

“Trust it,” Song croaked from the other side of Jae.

The three of us looked over at the empath. If he hadn’t have spoken, I would have thought he was still asleep. His forehead was resting on his knees with his arms wrapped loosely around his neck.

“Song?” I said, gently, in case I had imagined it.

Song turned his head, his brown eyes pained. Jae got up and hurried over, placing the back of his hand on Song’s forehead. “You don’t look good.”

“I don’t feel it,” Song admitted. “The inner turmoil in this room is suffocating.” He winced. “But not as overpowering as the guilt, so please stop that.”

While that comment might not have been directed at just me, I was certainly a cause of it. As quickly as I could, I pushed that feeling away, trying to find something positive to clutch at.

The key.

Maybe it was another trick, but for now, it was also hope.

We could get out of here—out of the Dark World—with King Hwanin. The five of us would be able to escape to somewhere where elixirs were readily available for Song to drink. He could shower in it if he needed too.

An image of Song in the shower flashed into my head.

Wholly inappropriate, but once that naked body was imprinted in my head, water running down the lines of his body, it wasn’t going anywhere.

Of course, that led me to the idea of the three of them needing to shower, to clean off the dirt and blood they were covered in.

And then imaginary naked Song was joined by imaginary naked Jae and Gun.

What I wouldn’t give to be in the middle of that…

All it needed was Rok.

“Kia?”

Song’s voice pulled me from a fantasy which was about to become a mental porno and I instantly felt my face burn. One threesome with Jae and Song and now I was bringing Gun and Rok into it?

Why was that feeling here again? Gun had already been perfectly clear on his feelings and until now, apparently, so had I. As for Rok?

“Kia?” Song said, again. “Trust it.”

Although my face still felt like it was on fire, I looked over at Song and arched an eyebrow. “If you had any idea what I was thinking, you probably wouldn’t be saying that.”

Song gave me a soft smile. “I might not know it, but I feel it.”

Quickly, I turned my attention to the key in my hand. Sure, Song may have been hit by a wall of sexual attraction, but there was no way he would know it included more than just him or Jae, right?

Not really looking at the key, I turned it over in my hand. Guilt flooded me again. I was just accepting that Jae and Song weren’t quite the ‘no strings attached’ plan I had, and I was thinking about other men?

On the other side of the room, Song let out a cry of pain and when I looked over, he was clutching at his temple in pain. Once again, I pushed the guilt away.

Jae, who was crouched beside his friend, rubbing at Song’s back, let out a long sigh. “We need to get out of here before it destroys Song.”

“Way to go on the optimism,” Hwanin muttered as he stirred in his sleep. “You say Song’s empathic abilities were affected by the demon toxins?”

“How bad is it?” I asked.

“How long has the toxin been in his system?” Hwanin countered before looking at Jae.

“Some time,” Jae admitted.

Hwanin nodded. “The longer a toxin is in a god’s system, the stronger it will become, and the more likely it will take a permanent hold. If we were to leave now and give Song the strongest elixir, I fear some will remain.”

“I don’t mind,” Song said, quietly. “When I have access to magic, and even mortal-brewed elixirs, I can keep it under control. Here, there’s nothing.”

“Jae is correct. We need to get out of here,” King Hwanin said. “The longer we are here, the weaker we will become. But we’re not going to get out of here without Luck.”

I snorted. “Your son has that, corked in a bottle.”

Hwanin went quiet, staring at me intently. Beside me, Gun shifted awkwardly, and as I glanced at Jae, even he seemed uncomfortable.

Ah, right… he might be my long lost mythical, magical grandfather. But he was also King of the Gods.

“I’m—”

“There are still traces of Luck in you,” Hwanin said, cutting me off before I could apologize. “I think that alone is enough to confirm you are a descendant of royal blood.”

“Is that going to be enough to get us out of here?” I asked.

Hwanin slowly shook his head. “Luck is a strange magic. It’s one of the few that isn’t neutral.”

Both Jae and Song’s head whipped up as they looked over at the king. “Luck is the most neutral of magic,” Jae blurted out. When Hwanin looked at him, his eyes grew wide and he quickly bowed at him. “Forgive me, your majesty.”

“Magic is neutral,” Song offered, gently. “It is the one who wields it who determines whether it is black. But if you have fire magic, for example, you don’t have good or bad fire magic. You just have fire magic. Luck can be good or bad.”

“Then why wasn’t Hwanung trying to take the bad Luck?” Jae asked.

“He might be evil, but bad Luck is the opposite of what he needs if he wants to succeed,” I said, quietly.

“He would need both,” Hwanin said, disagreeing with both of us. “Luck isn’t two magics, it is one. And you need both to be successful. Bad luck for your enemies and good luck for you. But the reason Luck isn’t neutral isn’t because of how it is used. It is because it is one of the magics which is alive.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Alive?” I repeated as a shiver ran down my spine. One of the classes last year had been on viral pathogens and common diseases in domesticated animals. The idea of Luck living in me like a virus—or a parasite—made my skin crawl.

“I can understand why that would seem repulsive to someone brought up amongst humans, but for gods, it is the highest honor to have a magic bond with you. Luck bonding with you was not a chance. It was your destiny. And it’s not too late for you to make sure that still happens.”

Destiny? That made me feel as uncomfortable as the idea of Luck being inside me. I liked to be the one in control of my future, and saying it was my destiny felt like, even if I got out of the chains I was in now, there would still be invisible chains around me that I would never be able to escape.

Bringing my knee up, I propped the elbow of my chained hand on top of it and ran my hand through my bedraggled hair. “It doesn’t matter. Hwanung has it corked up in a bottle, thanks to Rok.”

“If it is still in a bottle, we have time,” Hwanin said. “He knows it will not bond with him.”

Jae glanced back at me, frowning. “Which surely means that he’s going to work out it belongs with Kiaria?”

“That sounds right,” I told them, thinking back to last conversation with him. “He said he was keeping me here in case it returns to me.”

“Then we need to get out of here before he kills Kia,” Gun said, getting to his feet.

“Calm down, warrior,” Hwanin said, before suddenly coughing.

The cough didn’t sound healthy, but it was Song’s expression which worried me more. “Are you okay?” I asked the king when he finally stopped.

“Being held here, away from the Heavenly Realm and magic has taken its toll on my health but leaving here will help.” Hwanin sucked in a deep breath, waiting to see if there would be another coughing fit before continuing. “But Hwanung won’t kill Kia so quickly.”

“Let’s focus on one thing at a time, starting with how to get out of here,” Jae declared, suddenly looking enthusiastic.

“How did you get out before?” I asked, using my chin to gesture towards the door. It didn’t even have a slither of a gap under it and there was a wide arch worn into the floor from where the door had swept over the top of it over the years.

“I waited until the last minute and dove out behind you the agmas,” Jae admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Can you do that again when they come back?” I suggested.

“We cannot rely on them coming back regularly,” Hwanin said. “They rarely bring sustenance down here. And if they do come, it will be to take one of us away.”

And who knew if they would come back.

“What we need is for you to draw on Luck.”

I was sure it was going to take more than Luck, and despite Hwanin’s observation, I wasn’t even sure how much of it was left in me.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the magic.

Rok had insisted on pushing it deep inside of me to hide it, but was that a trick? Had I merely thought I had hidden it when really, Rok was taking it away from me?

Finally, I found it.

Just as Hwanin had said, there wasn’t much of it left. I brought it to the surface, watching as the tiny bubbles of gold danced over the bare skin of my arms.

But as I watched the cold, I realized it wasn’t the only magic there. Something warm colored—a deep orange—was there. I’d seen it before, but I couldn’t place it.

Until it travelled down my arm and settled on the tiny key I was still holding onto.

Rok’s magic.

I wasn’t a masulsa, but the key had already been conjured. Could I make it bigger? Was there enough of Rok’s lingering magic to do that?

Ignoring the question of how I had Rok’s magic to start with, I focused on the key, urging the masulsa bubbles to work.

“Kiaria, what are you doing?”

Instead of answering, I held the key up as it grew in my hand to something more ‘human’ sized than doll sized.

“Did that just grow?” Gun asked.

I looked up and found him squinting at the key. “Yes,” I quickly assured him.

Jae bounded over to look at the magical item. “Your control of Luck is incredible.”

“It’s not Luck,” I muttered as I turned to see if it would fit the shackle around my wrist. The lock clicked open and the metal chains clinked loudly as they fell back against the wall.

My freed hand practically dropped into my lap as sensation retuned to it. I held the key up to Jae to go unlock the others. As soon he took it from me, I started massaging my shoulder. And then Gun was inching in behind me.

As I leaned back into him, he started massaging my shoulders. It took everything in me not to moan in appreciation at that.

Across the room, both Hwanin and Song were still chained up. “Isn’t it working?”

Jae looked up from Hwanin’s shackle and shook his head. “I think we need some more of that luck.”

Only, it hadn’t been luck.

Although the last thing I wanted was to stop the hands easing the pain and tension in my shoulders, I got to my feet and moved over to the King of the Gods.

Up close, I had to refrain from covering my nose.

He smelled awful.

I was surprised I hadn’t caught a whiff of him from the other side of the dungeon; the room wasn’t that big.

But up close, I could see that he had once been a very handsome man, even underneath the layers of dirt and grime on his cracked skin. His dark blue eyes twinkled at me.

Huh…

That was where I got them from?

Mentally, I shook my head. Now was not the time to question genetics and how my hereditary eye color made no biological—human biological—sense. I crouched down beside the old king and took the key from Jae.

The end slid into mechanism easily, but when it turned, it just seemed to hit a pin and stop.

Was this a magical skeleton key, or just the key to my restraints? My attention drifted to the door…

“Let me try something,” I muttered as I rose and then walked over. I couldn’t sense any more of Rok’s magic lingering on me and I was expecting the door to remain locked.

The key slid in and turned with ease, the lock clicking quietly.

Me.

Rok was trying to help me.

My head was still swirling from everything else I had heard in the last few hours that trying to work out the reasoning to Rok’s actions was giving me a headache.

“Did that just open?” Song called across the room.

Turning back, I nodded.

“Then why can’t you get Luck to release King Hwanin and Song?” Jae asked me.

“It wasn’t Luck,” I told him, looking down for somewhere to put the key. Was sticking my hand into the bra of the dress to retrieve a key quicker than if I slid it into my boot? “It was Rok.”

I could feel the tension suddenly fill the room as my three guardians stared incredulously at me.

No, not three… two.

My gaze drifted to Song, who winced at me. The tension he was projecting was being amplified by the other two and I could see the pain in his eyes again. “Enough,” I said, firmly. “I promise you that I am still trying to get this to make sense in my own mind, but all this aggression is just hurting Song. If you want to plot Rok’s death, do it once we’re out of here and Song is in another room. Let’s just take it at face value that he wants to help me.”

“He locked you up in here,” Jae retorted.

I nodded, trying to remain calm as I filtered through the many thoughts whirling around in my mind. “He locked me up in here armed with a weapon and a with a bottle of elixir in my possession. He didn’t call in the demons when he discovered you and Gun weren’t chained up. He also made sure I got some elixir when I went to join Hwanung and Mara.” I pointed at my cheek. “None of you have noticed this has been healing a lot quicker than it should have done.”

“We can’t trust him, Kia,” Gun said, sounding like he was trying to be reasonable.

“I know,” I agreed. “But the only two options are that I stay here and do nothing, or I head out there and see if I can get us out of here.”

“No,” both King Hwanin and Jae said, almost at the same time.

I sucked in a deep breath and raked a hand through my hair. “If I stay here and do nothing, do you think Hwanung is just going to let us go?”

“Your objective should not be to release us, but to find Luck and return it to you. That magic is what will tip this war,” Hwanin said, almost harshly. “If we lose that, we lose anyway.”

Jae turned to the king, his mouth falling open as disbelief washed over him. “You want her to go out there and find Hwanung?”

That wasn’t quite the escape plan I had in mind, but Hwanin was right.

“I’ll go,” Jae declared. “I’ve already been out there once.”

“It should be me,” I disagreed. “Hwanung clearly still needs me, so I’m willing to bet that he’s told the demons that. If they catch me, I might be able to convince them Hwanung has let me out, and if not, the worst that will happen is that they drag me back here. If they catch you, they will kill you.”

“Jae, she’s right,” Gun sighed, sounding frustrated at the idea as he frowned at me.

“Well, she’s not going alone.” Jae folded his arms, silently challenging me to say otherwise.

“I think that’s a smart idea,” Song mumbled, clutching at his head again.

A glimmer of a memory passed through my mind and I reached for it… Something that had helped Song last time…

My cheeks suddenly flamed as I remembered: after I’d slept with him and Jae he’d seemed more at peace than he had for a while. I might have told Rok that I was cool with one of them watching me be with the other, but that sure as hell didn’t extend to my grandfather.

Song suddenly looked up at me, hope on his face.

Could he sense my body remembering his touch?

Of course he could. He was an empath with his powers amped up to the max.

I walked straight over to him, dropping to my knees to cup his face. Then I kissed him.

There was no way I was taking it further than a kiss, not when I could feel King Hwanin’s stare boring into the side of my head, and especially not when I’d already had to live through that with Hwanung and Mara earlier.

But that didn’t stop me allowing my brain to relive all the moments Song’s hands had travelled over my body. How it felt to have his cock deep inside me. The connection I’d felt between him and Jae and myself…

I pulled away, my heart pounding in my chest like more than just a kiss had happened. Even Song stared back at me, breathless. “Love,” he blurted out.

He could have been talking about himself, or about me. At that moment, I was sure both options were true.

But for some reason, trying to say it back had the word stuck on my tongue.

“Try to rest,” I told him instead.

“Stay safe and hurry back,” he responded, not looking the least bit concerned I hadn’t returned his words.

When I stood and turned back, I found Gun and Jae at the door in a conspiratorial whisper. As I moved over, Jae nodded his head at me. “I’ll go see if the coast is clear.” He changed into his black squirrel form and disappeared out of the dungeon.

As I moved to follow, Gun stepped in front of the door, blocking my way. “I should be coming with you.”

If he was at full strength—or at least at a point where he had adapted to his change in vision, I still wouldn’t have agreed with him. Telling him that I didn’t even think Jae should be going with me wasn’t going to help. “You need to make sure King Hwanin and Song are safe,” I said, deflecting the truth away.

Somewhat hesitantly, Gun reached his hand towards me. I wasn’t sure if his slow movement was because of his vision, or simply because he had never been one for PDA.

I didn’t move, watching him patiently as his hand finally cupped the side of my head. “Thank you for saying that.”

“We will be back soon, and we will get out of here,” I told him.

“Kia?” he said as I started to move away. I paused and looked up at him. His dark gray eye stared back at me, and then he shook his head, stepping away.

“Gun!” Song groaned.

I glanced over my shoulder at Song before looking back at Gun. “What?”

Gun shook his head. “Now is not the time for such a trivial matter.”

“Tell me when I get back,” I said, giving him a smile. I pulled open the door and slipped out.

Now to see how far I could get before a demon found me…

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I didn’t come across Jae until I reached the top of the stone stairway. Thankfully, I didn’t come across any demons on my ascent either.

The little black squirrel was waiting, grooming itself. He stopped as I stopped beside him. I hadn’t seen Rok unlock this door on any of the occasions we had passed through it, so I was sure it would open with ease.

What could be on the other side was what concerned me.

“If I open it a crack, will you check the coast is clear?” I asked Jae.

The squirrel looked up at me and nodded.

Carefully, I opened the door, hoping that, even if there was a demon on the other side, that I had opened it so slowly that they wouldn’t notice.

When the crack was just big enough for Jae, he stuck his head out. A few second later, he brought it back in to look up at me. He held up a paw like a hand. Wait here.

I nodded.

Seconds later, Jae scampered through the gap.

Not daring to close the door in case he came back, and too nervous to move, I stayed as still as I could.

Finally, after what seemed to have been an eternity, to beady black eyes peered around the stone door at me. Pulling the door back, I stepped out into the deserted corridor.

I’d briefly seen the dark castle construction from Rok’s demon world apartment. Even though there was something that made it seem like it wasn’t build or inhabited by humans, so far it seemed to follow a similar floorplan to what I knew of castles on Earth.

Dungeons were at the bottom and public rooms seemed to be on this floor. Which meant, logically, the bedrooms were likely to be on the higher floors.

The bottle of Luck could have been anywhere, but for some reason, I imagined Hwanung was the kind of person who had wouldn’t let it out of his sight. There was little in the way to tell me what time of day it was here, but a few hours had passed since dinner.

If nothing else, I was hoping that when Hwanung and Mara had left the enormous dining room, that they had retired to their bedroom and Hwanung had placed it on the dresser beside the bed.

Creeping along the corridor, I followed Jae as he ran a few paces in front of me, keeping as close to the wall as I was. We followed the same path I had walked with Rok earlier until we came to the main entrance.

Like before, it was still unguarded.

But then again, what did they need to guard against? If anyone else was crazy enough to come to the Dark World and make it through the foggy wilderness, would they survive navigating the demon anthill?

Jae was waiting for me in front of the enormous doors to the dining hall. I placed my hand on the metal handle but paused before opening it. We’d come so far without meeting a single demon yet, before, when I walked the corridors with Rok, we’d run into several. The longer we went without meeting a demon, the more the odds were stacking up against us.

Closing my eyes, I focused on the few particles of Luck still with me. I’m going to be needing a bit of you right now: the good luck kind…

As a bubbling sensation seemed to flow through my chest, I pushed open the door; just enough for Jae to push his nose in. Slowly, the rest of his body followed and then moments later he was waving me in.

The door was heavy, but not as impossible to open as I had imagined it to be. Once inside, I closed it, the soft click sounding much louder than it probably was in the cavernous room.

I froze in front of the door. The room had changed a lot since I had last been in here. Bones and carcasses littered the floor. I had no idea what had been eaten—I didn’t recognize the bone structure of the few intact remains and the closest I could guess was perhaps a cow-like creature—but whatever it had, judging from the blood around it, it had been eaten alive.

Jae scampered up my leg, over my dress, and sat on my shoulder, nuzzling at my cheek. I reached up and patted his head. “I’ve seen worse,” I muttered, even though I was touched by his concern.

When I’d been in here earlier, there had been no indication that this kind of thing had happened before. Whether it was a one off or a regular occurrence, someone—or something—was likely to be coming in to clean up at some point, and I didn’t want to still be there when they did.

I moved between the fresh remains, heading towards the door at the back which Hwanung and Mara had left through. As I stepped between the piles of bones, I came across one which did put a knot of fear in my stomach.

Human remains.

Hadn’t Rok said something about demons eating humans?

Back in the dungeon I had quite confident that the demons wouldn’t attack me because of Hwanung, but now I was doubting that.

Swallowing the fear back down, I didn’t let my step falter.

It was only when I got between the table and the second door—where the remains finally stopped littering the floor like a gruesome carpet—that a noise made be freeze. Even Jae clutched at my neck.

After few repetitions of the sound, I slowly turned, certain I was imagining snoring…

I wasn’t.

At the table, his back having been hidden by the chair he was sat in, slumped over the desk, was an agma. His hand was still wrapped around a goblet as he slept. I had no idea how long he had been asleep, and I had no intention of sticking around to find out.

Moving as quickly as I could, while trying to be as light-footed as possible, I continued towards the door.

The door clicked as I opened it. Like the main door, it wasn’t a loud noise, but in the large empty room, with a demon asleep only a few feet from me, it sounded like a cannon going off.

Without looking back to see if the demon had stirred, I stepped through the door. This was the first door I’d gone through without Jae checking the coast was clear first, and I nearly regretted it when my toe caught the edge of a stair leading upwards.

I only just kept my balance and managed to stay upright without bringing the door slamming closed behind me. As Jae hopped off me, I closed the door gently and then sat down on the step.

As I tried to catch my breath—the surge of adrenaline catching up with me—Jae transformed back into his godly form.

“Are—”

Even though his question was in a whisper, I reached up and covered his mouth, shaking my head as I gave him a stern look. The door may have been made of stone, but I didn’t want to risk waking the demon—or any other, for that matter.

Jae removed my hand, leaning forward to gently press a kiss against my forehead. Silently, he pulled back, nodded, and then turned back into a squirrel, but not before giving me a cheeky flash of his ass.

Oh, how I longed to be out of here…

Motivated by that desire—and maybe a little by Jae—I picked myself off the floor and started to ascend the stairs.

Like the one to the dungeon, this curved upwards in a spiral with thick steps made of the same black stone. Everything was a different shade of black… even the biggest fan of gothic literature would get tired of the décor here.

Just as I was craving daylight, the stairs levelled off. More importantly, the corridor had large windows, blowing in the foul-smelling smog. If I ever got out of this place, I would never eat another egg sandwich for as long as I lived.

As the corridor was empty, I moved over to the window, shivering in the cool breeze. It was nighttime. The sky was inky blue but there wasn’t a star in the sky. There seemed to be something lighting the night sky, but the moon—if that was what it was in hell—was on the other side of the castle. All I could see for miles was a thick layer of fog. The windows were at the same level as the top, allowing the fog to drift in.

“Strangely beautiful,” Jae said, making me jump.

I glanced back, finding him in his human form, staring out of the window. “I guess if you look hard enough, you can even find beauty in hell.”

Jae leaned against the wall, then, as he shivered, promptly pushed himself away. “Lionfish are beautiful, but I wouldn’t want to swim with them.”

I arched an eyebrow, amused that he knew what a lionfish was. Just as I was about to question him on his ocean knowledge, I heard a muffled bang.

Jae and I looked back at the stairs we had just climbed and then at each other. There was no mistaking the footsteps coming up the stairwell.

“Move!” Jae hissed, taking my hand and running, pulling me along after him.

He stopped at the first door and pushed it open, tugging us both inside.

There was only a dim bit of light in the room, coming in through another open window. From what I could see, it was a small bedroom maybe? It gave me the vibe of the college dorm room I’d been assigned in my freshman year. Small with a bed in it.

More importantly, it was empty apart from us.

Before I could dig down and find those last bits of Luck left in me, the footsteps stopped in front of the door.

“Get down,” Jae hissed at me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, grabbing hold of his arm.

“I’m going to draw them away. Keep going and I will meet you back with the others.”

“J—”

His name hadn’t left my mouth before he had pushed me back, rushed out of the room and tackled something. A roar which didn’t belong to Jae, echoed around the room.

I scrambled to my feet, ready to pull the door open and help, but I stopped myself at the last minute. Not because I was scared, although my heart was pounding so loudly that I could almost feel it in my throat, but because I had to trust Jae to handle himself so I could find Luck.

On the other side of the door, there were more muffled grunts and then a cry of surprise. “Get back here!”

Screw it.

I had exactly two dots of Luck left. Two tiny particles…

I sent them both after Jae, praying to whatever deity would listen that it would be enough to help him.

Leaning my forehead against the cold stone wall, I took a deep breath.

Find Luck.

I could do this.

I straightened my back, held my head up, and the pulled the door open. Two steps out of the door was as far as I got before the sound of someone clearing their throat had my blood run cold.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Raising my fists, I turned, finding Rok leaning against the wall on the other side of the door. His gaze dropped to my fists and he cocked his head. “You were going to take on an agma like that?”

Instead of responding, I swung my fist at him.

Rok’s hand shot up, stopping my punch as he grabbed my fist. “That’s not very nice.”

“Oh, you deserve it,” I snapped.

“Really? After I gave you that key?”

I tried to tug my hand free of his grip. “The key I needed to unlock the chains and the dungeon you put me in?”

The corner of Rok’s mouth twitched. “You might have a point there.”

Finally, I yanked my hand out. “If you’re not going to be of any help here, you can go back to whatever chore your girlfriend has you doing.”

“Is that jealousy I hear?”

My mouth fell open. “Are you for real?”

Rok smirked. “Yes. Want to touch it to see?”

“Do you want it to remain attached to your body?” I retorted.

Both of Rok’s hands dropped to cover his crotch. “Ouch.”

Rolling my eyes, I turned on my heel, determined to continue with my mission. I wasn’t entirely surprised when Rok followed along just behind me.

“Where are we going?”

“To get a bikini wax.”

“You know, beautiful, you’re actually as funny as you are cute.”

I stopped suddenly and Rok seemed to dive to the side to avoid walking into me. “I’m not flirting with you, Rok.”

“But I’m flirting with you.”

Unable to stop the growl in the back of my throat, I jabbed at finger into Rok’s annoyingly hard chest. “You can stop it. Helping me, hurting me. Helping me, hurting me. I have no idea what you’re going to do whenever I see you; but cracking your charming smile and flashing a bit of skin at me isn’t flirting. At best, it’s teasing. I was never the girl who liked the boy who bullied me at school, and you took that to a whole new level. Flirting is bringing me flowers. What you are doing is dragging me into some stupid game you’re playing, and I want no part of. So, let’s just skip to the end where you reveal me to Hwanung and I get thrown back in that dungeon.”

Rok folded his arms across his chest and I swear he did it just to show off his muscles. “Duly noted.”

I stared at him, waiting impatiently for him to do… something.

He just stared back at me.

“Gah!” I cried, throwing my hands in the air. Ignoring him, I continued stalking down the corridor. At this point, I wasn’t even making an effort to stay quiet and inconspicuous. It was hard to do that with Rok trailing after me, anyway.

“Where are you going?”

“To get Luck back,” I muttered under my breath, irritated.

“Hwanung has it,” Rok pointed out.

“Yes, you gave it to him.”

“I mean, technically, I gave it to Mara.”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t respond.

“And it’s with him and Mara in her bedroom. Where they both currently are.”

“I figured.”

Rok grabbed my wrist, pulling me back. “You are planning on going into their bedroom?”

Once again, I pulled myself free of his grip, shooting him an irritated glower. “I don’t plan on joining my father and his girlfriend in a threesome, Rok. I’ll leave that one to you.”

Rok stepped closer to me, invading my personal space with his scent and chest. “I told you, if there’s a threesome going on, I’m only down with you and Gun.”

In a last-ditch effort not to punch him, and let’s be honest, he deserved it, I clutched at the skirt of my dress. “Did you hear nothing that I just said?”

The grin finally slipped from Rok’s face. “Everyone—thing—in this palace follows the same predictable routine. After Queen Mara has eaten, the agmas feast until they need to sleep. All these doors you’re passing are bedrooms of the highest ranking agmas.”

I glanced down the corridor. Intermittently broken up by windows were doors. I must have already passed twenty of them.

That was going to be fun if they woke up.

“Relax. Your timing for breaking out of the dungeon and heading up here was impeccable. Some might even say, lucky.”

“Like running into you?” I asked, dryly.

Just like that, Rok’s smirk was back. “While the amgas are feasting, Mara and her… current lover… are making use of her chambers.”

I folded my arms. “You’d be the expert on that.”

Rok ran a hand through his hair, looking away. “Whilst the predictability of that is going to help you, it gets old very quickly.” He turned back, hitting me with his bedroom eyes. “I prefer a woman who can keep me on my toes.”

“This,” I waved my hand in front of my face, “Is not a woman keeping you on your toes, flirting with you, or even vaguely interested in you.”

Tilting his head, Rok stared at me. Then, he nodded. “I admit we may have hit pause, but only one of those statements is currently true.”

That didn’t even deserve an acknowledgement. I turned and continued walking down the corridor, wishing I hadn’t sent my last bit of luck to Jae so I could use it to make Rok disappear.

Only I had used it up, and Rok continued to follow me down the corridor.

“Am I at least heading in the right direction?”

“Yes, but the point I was trying to make before you interrupted me—”

I shot him a sideways glare.

“—Is that we’re still in that timeframe where Mara and Hwanung are going to be finishing up fucking. You might want to consider waiting about twenty minutes.” Rok let out a dry bark of a laugh. “From what I’ve heard, you might be able to make that ten minutes.”

I rounded on him again. “Would it make it easier for you if I just asked you now who has the bigger dick?”

“Oh beautiful, it doesn’t matter who has the bigger dick if they don’t have the stamina and skill to back it up.”

“No amount of skill is going to help a worm flopping around in rabbit hole. No wonder Mara was quick to boot you out,” I muttered as I once again continued in my mission of trying to find the Demon Queen’s bedroom.

“Good job I’m an anaconda then.” As I turned my head to look at him, he smirked. “Because I’m long and I’m strong, and I’m down to get the friction on.”

My mouth fell open. “You’re using Sir Mix-a-lot to flirt with me?”

Rok held his hands up, giving me finger hearts. “And clearly we’re a match made in the Dark World if you get the reference.”

“Please never talk to me again,” I begged him.

“Are you sure about that? Because you’ve just walked right past the door up to Mara’s bedroom.”

Stopping, I turned back, finding him pointing to a door. It looked just like all the other ones I’d walked past. “This? Really?”

“Seems now is the time to see if you still trust me or not,” Rok said with a shrug. His words were casual, but there was something about the rigidity in his posture which told me he was genuinely asking me the question.

I walked the few paces to him and stared up, meeting his gaze. “Rok, I don’t trust you. I would be an idiot if I did. And if that door does lead to Mara’s bedroom, it doesn’t mean I’m going to trust you either.”

Moving over to the door, I had my hand on the handle when Rok spoke. “But you’re going to go through it anyway.

“One way or another, whatever is on the other side of this door, walking through it means I get away from you quicker—whether that’s getting what I need so I can leave this world, or heading back to the dungeon, or even death.” When Rok didn’t respond, I opened the door.

In front of me, another spiral staircase wound upwards. Without looking back, I stepped through and started the climb.

Rok followed me.

There was another door at the top of the stair. I turned my head and pressed my ear against it. Almost instantly, Rok was beside me, pressing his head against it so he could look at me. “You know this door is made of stone?”

“Then why are you whispering?” I whispered back.

Rok stepped back, holding his hands in the air. “Have at it, beautiful.”

Although my heart was pounding at a million miles a minute, I slowly turned the handle. This was when I needed some luck. The door opened silently, but I stopped from opening it more than a sliver; just enough to listen for an enraged demon or god charging at the door to kill me.

I could hear breathing.

Rhythmic and steady.

If I was right, and I was praying I was, they were asleep.

I inched the door open further.

The lights were off, but this room was illuminated by enough moonlight that I could make out a bed at the far end of the room. There were two mounds on top which I assumed were Hwanung and Mara.

It was now or never.

Even though I was still expecting Rok to announce our presence, I took a step into the room. The moment my boots hit the shiny floor, they squeaked, and I jumped back into the hall.

One of the figures rolled over.

I waited.

Nothing.

There was no way I was going to be able to make it across to the bed without my footwear giving me away. I leaned over and started to pull the boots off. And then, for some reason, I wobbled.

Just as I was about to go crashing into the door, Rok’s hands grabbed hold of me, pulling me back. Instead of hitting the door, I faceplanted into his chest.

Once more, I froze, terrified my muffled oomph would have woken the sleeping couple. All I could hear was Rok’s heart beating in his chest below my ear.

When his hand moved to my hair, gently stroking, I relaxed against him.

And then I remembered where I was.

I wriggled out of his grip, but when I went to take my boots off. I, however, didn’t push Rok’s hand away as he helped me balance.

This time, my feet were silent on the cold bedroom chamber floor.

The question was, where was the bottle of Luck.

I crept around the room, investigating every surface. The bedroom resembled more of Rok’s cave dwelling than his New York apartment. Pieces of stone jutted out at varying heights and angles. But none of them had a bottle on top of them.

Turning on the spot, I tried to scan the room to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. And then I saw it: on the ledge behind the bed.

The mattress—or whatever it was—seemed to be resting on another raised area of stone, and the ‘bedhead’ was carved into the wall. Along it was a small ridge. Right in the center, above where Mara and Hwanung lay, was the bottle Hwanung had held up at dinner.

How the hell was I going to get that?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Sucking in a deep but silent breath, I inched up to the bed. it was too big for me to just lean across and get and standing on the bed was a surefire way to wake either or both of the sleeping couple.

All of a sudden, a hand clamped over my mouth as an arm wrapped around my waist.

Although my heart seemed to leap out of my throat, neither it nor a scream appeared.

Instead, the hands released me, and I whirled around, ready to punch Rok in the face. He raised a finger, pressing it over his lips as he pointed at the bed behind me.

Scowling, I raised my own finger at him.

Rok rolled his eyes but stepped up to me. His hands went to my hips, turning me so my back was against him. Before I could turn back, he lifted me up.

I wasn’t short, but right then, I felt like a child who was being picked up to reach something on the top shelf.

Even more annoyingly, I could see that it was going to be enough to be able to grab the bottle.

Rok carried me closer and then held me up over the bed.

It was being on a tall building and being scared of heights. I refused to look down. Holding my breath, I reached out and carefully picked the bottle up, clutching tightly to it.

Somehow, Rok set me back on the ground without either Hwanung or Mara waking up.

With Rok holding onto my hand, we hurried across the bedroom to the door. Only when I was on the other side and the door was closed, did I allow myself to breath.

“Don’t stop,” Rok whispered in my ear as I bent down to pull my boots on.

Picking up on the urgency in his voice, I scooped up the boots, realizing as I did so, Rok had also taken his off, and ran down the stairs.

At the bottom, just as I pulled the door open, Rok suddenly shoved me to the side. I opened my mouth to cuss him out but stopped when someone else spoke.

“What are you doing in our Queen’s chamber?”

“What do you think Agma 18?” Rok responded.

I slid behind the door, holding my breath.

“Our queen has replaced you.”

“And yet, here I am, partially undressed, leaving her bedchambers.” Rok lowered his voice to a stage whisper. “We had a threesome. Turns out Hwanung likes my cock as much as Mara does.”

That was an image I didn’t need…

“What she sees in you I will never know,” the agma muttered in disgust. Then all I heard was footsteps as she walked away.

Rok’s head suddenly appeared around the door. “Come on. If that bitch is up, it means the others will be shortly.”

I glanced back at the door to Mara’s bedroom. “How long were we up there?”

“Kia, they’re demons, not humans. They don’t sleep for eight hours a night.”

If the bottle of luck wasn’t in my dominant hand, I would have punched him. “And yet they have bedrooms and beds, just like humans.”

“Whatever. The point is, they’re going to be roaming around this castle very shortly and the last thing I need to explain is why you’re with me because they didn’t buy it the first time around,” Rok told me, not slowing down.

I wasn’t going to argue with him. He had been living here long enough to know. “What do you mean they didn’t buy it?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Rok muttered. He took my boots and flung them, and his own, out of the window.

“What the hell?”

“We don’t have time to put them on and you’ve already lost one hand to that bottle.” As we ran down the corridor, he glanced over at me. “Why don’t you let me put it in my pocket.”

Something between a snort and a laugh escaped me. “Not going to happen.”

“Should of known you’d say that,” he muttered.

Charging along the corridor, and down the corridor, we were soon at the door to the main hall. Rok didn’t pause, flinging it open. There were two agmas in there—one that had been asleep at the table—and a second. Both were overseeing a type of demon I had never seen before.

It was like a giant worm except it had a mouthful of shark teeth. And it was about the size of a bus. It was busy sucking up all the leftover carcasses.

“What the hell is that?” I asked.

“Something you need to avoid,” Rok said as he slowed his pace. “Just behave.”

Behave? What the hell did that mean? And why were we now walking across the hall?”

“Rok? What are you doing in here? Is that the prisoner?” the sleeping agma asked.

“Nothing to worry about Agma 6001,” Rok said with a nod of his head. “Just taking the prisoner back from seeing the Queen.”

How many agmas were there? And did Rok know all their names—or numbers?

I dropped my head so that my chin was almost resting on my chest, keeping my attention fixed on the floor in front of me as I matched Rok’s pace.

We were halfway to the door when the second agma spoke. “It is time for the Queen to rest.”

Rok stepped closer to me. “Kia, when I say so, I want you to run to the door and don’t stop until you’re down in the dungeon,” he said, keeping his voice low.

“Rok? What are you going to do?”

“Use the key, get out of here, and once you’re safe in your world, open that bottle of Luck,” he continued.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the second agma walking towards us. “Rok?, what are you planning?” I hissed at him.

“I asked you a question,” the agma announced, stopping just in front of us.

“Nope. You made a statement,” Rok said, shrugging. “But then again, you are a demon, and linguistics and grammar were never going to be in your wheelhouse.”

“You’re not the Queen’s favorite toy anymore, Rok,” the agma growled.

Rok frowned. “Damn.” He held his hand out by his side but kept his attention on the demon. In his hand, his sword materialized. “Kia, now would be the time to run.”

“What?” the agma demanded.

As the demon’s eyes latched onto the sword, I decided to listen. Still clutching tightly to the bottle, I ducked under the arms of the agma as it tried to grab me and took off like a quarterback trying to make a touchdown.

“Stop her!” the agma bellowed.

I wasn’t sure if he was yelling at the other agma or the worm of nightmares, but I wasn’t stopping. Dodging all the remains across the floor, I put four years of high school track to the test and ran.

Before I knew it, I slammed into the door, pushing the handle at the same time. I almost flew into the corridor, narrowly avoiding tripping over a squirrel.

As Jae turned back into his godly form, I turned back and looked into the hall. Both agmas were dead and Rok was battling with the giant worm.

“What is that?” Jae asked. He shook his head. “Did you get it?”

Grinning, I held the bottle up.

“Thank heavens. Okay, let’s get back to the others.”

I took a step in the direction of the dungeon but stopped. “Rok!”

Rok glanced over. “Kia, go!”

Jae’s hand wrapped around me and he started pulling me. “You heard him, Kiaria. Rok’s a masulsa and a god. He can handle himself. We need to get you, Luck and King Hwanin out of here.”

Nodding, I ran after Jae. Somehow, we made it through the castle, back to the dungeon, without seeing another demon.

As we burst into the dungeon, Gun, Song, and King Hwanin were waiting for us. “Did you get it?” Song asked.

I nodded. “How did you get free?”

“Jae, will you please put some pants on?” Hwanin requested, rolling his eyes.

“I killed the demon that was chasing after me,” Jae replied, hurrying over to his pile of discarded clothes. “Took his sword and used it to break the chain.”

Song held his hand up. The shackle was still around his wrist with about a foot of chain hanging off. “Jae, can you create a portal?”

Jae held out his hand, his face screwing up in concentration. Finally, a breath of air burst out of his mouth. “There’s no magic here.”

“The key.” My eyes went wide as I remembered what Rok had said. Use the key to get out of there. Did that mean that the key he had given me was the one from his body? The tattoo? The one that had taken me to the Dark World in the first place.

Not caring that I had four sets of eyes on me, I stuck my hand into the bra of the dress and pulled out the key.

“That’s where you kept it?” Jae asked, a smirk on his face.

“What is it?” Song asked.

I stared down at the key, warm on my hand. How did it work?

Holding it in my hand like I was ready to unlock a door, I looked around the room. I wasn’t looking for a keyhole, but for any trace of that deep-orange colored magic.

When I finally spotted some, I focused my attention on it, drawing in all the bubbles until there was a keyhole in front of me.

“Kiaria? What are you doing?”

Ignoring Jae’s hand waving in front of my face, I pushed the key into the hole and turned it. All of a sudden, a door appeared.

“Shibal…” Jae muttered, the word sounding breathy.

“Did Kia just work out how to use portal magic?” Gun asked, looking over at Song, who nodded.

The doorway was black so you couldn’t see where it led to, but anything other than here was a better, safer option. “We need to get out of here,” I told them.

“Where does that lead?” Jae asked, peering in.

“Does it matter?” Gun asked, hurrying over to help King Hwanin to his feet.

“I’ll go first,” Song declared.

Gun instantly shook his head. “That is my job.”

“Guardian, you cannot see properly,” Hwanin told him.

Song moved over to the door. He still looked queasy—no doubt overwhelmed with even more emotions. “I am confident that it will lead to somewhere other than the Dark World, which means there should be magic present. Even if it’s only at the low amounts in the mortal realm, it is enough for us. As soon as I’m through, I’ll create a portal to offer us protection. You should follow with King Hwanin,” he added, directing the comment to Gun.

There was a loud bang and a roar from outside of the prison, followed by a high-pitched intermittent screech.

“I think they’ve worked out Luck isn’t with them anymore,” I said, looking back at the door. “We need to get out of here, now.”

Song didn’t argue, ready to step through the doorway, but Jae stuck out an arm, looking at me. “You really think this is safe?”

Regardless of the fact I thought whatever was on the other side was a better option than here, I did think it was safe. I nodded. Only then did Song step through.

“Your majesty?” Gun helped King Hwanin over, but I wasn’t really paying attention.

I was staring at the doorway, frowning. I did think it was safe. And the only reason I would do that was if I trusted Rok.

“Fuck,” I muttered, under my breath. I really, really wanted to punch Rok right now. He was an arrogant asshole.

But he’d also been helping me by giving me his key.

His only escape out of the Dark World.

I didn’t like him, I wanted to punch him, and I hadn’t forgiven him for betraying me—nor was I ever likely to—but damnit, he didn’t deserve to be stuck here. One of him against all the demons? He’d last five minutes.

Gun had gotten Hwanin over to the portal, but he paused, looking at me. With a sigh, he turned to Jae. “Please help King Hwanin. I need a moment with Kia.”

Surprise washed over Jae. “Now?”

“If I don’t say it now, I won’t,” Gun told him.

Jae ducked his head under the arm of the King of the Gods and took his weight. “Don’t take too long,” he said.

“Wait,” I said, stopping them at the last minute. As King Hwanin looked at me, I handed over the bottle of Luck. “This belongs with you.”

“Kiaria,” Jae said, using that toned voice of his.

I shook my head and pointed at the door. “I don’t feel comfortable with it. We spent this whole time trying to get it out of me and back in the Heavenly Realm, and now it’s in a bottle. So, go. Get Luck safe.”

It was a risky move. I didn’t want Luck to stay with me. Not because I didn’t want the magic, but because I was going back for Rok, and if I didn’t make it out of the Dark World, I needed to make sure the magic’s guardians went with it to keep it safe.

Keeping a frown on my face, hoping Jae would interpret it as I was prepared to waste time arguing, I nearly breathed a sigh or relief when Hwanin ordered him to work it out later. The two stepped through the doorway leaving Gun and I alone.

The loud screech echoed around the room again and I winced. “Is this something that we can talk about when we’re not in a dungeon in the Dark World?” I asked, hopeful. I’d had a brilliant plan where, after Gun and my grandfather had stepped through the doorway, I’d just shove Jae through.

Even if he was injured, Gun was a lot bigger than Jae.

“Of course,” Gun said, nodding. And then he folded his arms, fixing his one eye on me. “After you.”

I pointed at the key. “I need to keep the door open.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Something had changed in Kia’s eyes.

She had gone from wanting to get Luck back from Hwanung to giving it away, and that didn’t feel right.

Although my priority was to protect the magic and now that it was no longer in Kia; technically, I didn’t need to protect her, something just didn’t feel right.

Getting Luck and King Hwanin to safety was important, so I waited for Jae to escort them through the doorway just in case I was right: Jae would stay if he had even a vague hint of my suspicion.

Kia wasn’t going to come with us.

I wasn’t sure I was correct, of course.

The only reason she would stay would be for either her father or Rok. Considering her father had tried to kill her and she had no real attachment to him, I was striking him off the list.

But Rok had put her in this place and taken Luck from her, handing the both of them over to the god who had tried to kill them. So, maybe my instinct was off. I had taken a pretty bad beating, after all.

As soon as Jae and King Hwanin had stepped through the doorway, I turned to Kia.

She gave me a tight smile. “Is this something that we can talk about when we’re not in a dungeon in the Dark World?”

This was one instance I didn’t want to be correct. “Of course. After you,” I said, slowly. When she stared at me, I waved a hand at the doorway.

“I can’t go first. I need to, uh, keep the doorway open.”

“If that’s the case, how to you propose to pass through it? Both you and Rok stepped through that doorway together when you came here, didn’t you? Which I bet means, that door stays open until you close it behind you.”

Kia’s eyes widened like I’d just thrown her a bone. “Exactly! I need to close it behind me. So, after you.”

“Or we could walk through it together,” I said, holding out my hand.

She stared at it for the longest time as the wailing alarm screeched around us. “I can’t.”

“You’re going back for him, aren’t you?” It wasn’t a question. Not really.

Chewing her bottom lip, Kia looked away. “I don’t like him, and I haven’t forgiven him, but he helped me get Luck and he gave me his key—his masulsa magic. It’s his only way out of here, Gun. No matter how much I want to kick him in the balls, I can’t just leave him here. They’ll kill him and it won’t be a quick and painless death. Oh god!” Something between fear and repulsion washed over her. “He doesn’t deserve to die at all, much less how they’ll kill him.”

“I am going to regret this,” I muttered. “I’ll go with you.”

“Gun…”

“Kia, I don’t trust him, but I trust you. They can take my eye, and the demons can rip a limb from my body one by one, but I will keep fighting to protect you until there’s nothing left of me.” I stared down at her, meaning every word, hoping she could tell that.

She stared back at me; her eyes wide. “That’s a lot for someone who is supposed to be protecting a magic and not the human-goddess half-breed it hid in.”

“Half-breed?” I repeated, outraged. “You might be a demi-goddess, but to me you are a goddess. And I am doing this not because I need to protect a magic but because I want to protect you. I love you, Kia.”

Kia’s rosy lips parted into a small ‘oh’ but no words left her mouth.

And then I remembered what she was looking at. A horrible, useless guardian. I was like a butterfly which had had its wings plucked off. No longer pretty and no longer with a use.

I didn’t even have my sword.

“It’s okay,” I said, quickly. “I’m just letting you know why I’m staying by your side when we walk back into that castle.”

“Gun, your eye—”

“While I still have one working eye, it will be watching over you. I’m not leaving without you.”

Kia looked at the door and then turned the key. The doorway disappeared. “Let’s go rescue that dumbass.” She tucked the key into the top of her dress, blushing when she caught me looking. “Don’t judge. I have nowhere else to put it.”

I wasn’t judging, merely wondering if it was possible to come back as that key in my next life…

“We need weapons,” I muttered as I followed Kia up the stairs.

“Here’s hoping we won’t need them,” Kia agreed, pushing the huge stone door open.

I’d not had much opportunity to scope the castle out on the way into the dungeon, but this was a place of nightmares. Everything about it was dark and pointed like the castle wanted to attack you as much as the inhabitants of it did.

What I wasn’t expecting was to be hit with the heat the moment we stepped out. The Dark World was a hot place to begin with. The little I had experienced, it seemed like it had been built in a desert. But the wall of heat was dry and instead of the air smelling of the revolting stench, it was laden with thick smoke.

“Rok’s going to burn this castle to the ground,” Kia said, her eyes wide.

If we weren’t still in it, I would have told her to let him.

Something didn’t feel right though. Before Kia could step out of the stairway and into the main corridor, I held my hand out, stopping her. “Those alarms haven’t stopped for a while, and not a single demon has made it to the dungeon to check we’re there or get you?” I shook my head at Kia. “Something’s not right.”

“It’s Rok,” Kia said, pushing past me.

I tried to reach out and grab her to stop her, but my hand got air. Instead, I stepped out after her and my jaw nearly hit the floor.

About a hundred paces away, a wall of fire was burning fiercely. Every demon that was managing to get through was turning into a walking fireball before it would collapse on the ground.

In front of them, on his knees, was Rok. Even I could tell he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Rok!” Kia screamed, running over, me close behind.

The guardian looked back at her. “What are you doing here, you fucking idiot? I told you to go!”

“I came to return your key. I’m not ready for that level of commitment,” Kia told him.

“Thank the gods I didn’t give you a ring,” Rok grunted. “Just go.”

Kia shook her head. “I’m not leaving you.”

Rok looked up at her, pulling a face. “Is this where you tell me you love me?”

“No, it’s where I tell you I want to punch you in the face. But I can’t do that if you die here,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“I knew you liked it rough and dirty.”

Taking a few steps forward to fall into his eyeline, I glowered at Rok. “You are seconds away from not making it out of here at all,” I growled at him.

The traitor let out a long sigh and shook his head. “Gun? What the fuck, man? You knew she was here? I thought you were supposed to protect her.”

I took a step closer to Kia, towering above her. “Kia has a will of her own. That’s why I’m here. Protecting her.”

Rok glowered back at me. “Well, you’re doing a shit job. Get her out of here. That’s how you protect her.” All of a sudden, he slipped forward, and for a brief second, a few ilhoeyong surged through the wall of flames.

Although their bodies were alight, they didn’t stop.

“Here!” Rok yelled, using his masulsa powers to create a sword. He tossed it over to me and I went to catch it.

The sword skimmed past my fingers as my hand grasped air. It clattered to the floor, sliding across the floor.

Before I could recover and pick it up, Kia slid across the floor, grabbed the sword and turned to attack one of the fiery demons. There was no finesse in her movement, and I would have to train her when we got out of here, but the sheer determination I heard in her war cry was the reason she managed to run the sword through the demon.

Impressive as the attack was, she was only able to stop one demon with that move, and not the other three which were staggering in her direction.

Kia was struggling to pull the blade free. I moved to her side, and, doing my best to work out how much I needed to compensate for my diminished vision, managed to wrap my hand around the sword to pull it free.

My magical ability was one of the lowest, but with virtually no magic in the Dark World to start with, it didn’t affect me as much as the others. Thankfully, even though my eyesight was beyond repair, my muscle memory wasn’t.

For thousands of years, I had trained with various weapons. That didn’t go anywhere.

Depth perception was my problem, and while I would easily be able to relearn that, I needed time I didn’t have. But not all attacks required that same precision.

I swung wide and deep, slicing the demons across their chests and stomachs. It was messy and not refined, but it worked. The ilhoeyong fell, their bodies burning up their remains.

When the few that had broken through were dead, I turned back to the traitorous god. “Kia is set on saving you. Let’s get out of here before it’s too late.”

Sweat was running down the side of Rok’s head, but he looked at Kia instead of me. “Why do you want to save me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m a veterinarian and my job is to save animals?” she offered, exasperated. “Does it really matter? Or are you really that eager to die?”

When Rok didn’t respond, I held my hand out to Kia. “Leave him. If he doesn’t want to be saved, that’s fine, but I am not about to let—”

“It’s not fine, Gun,” Kia said, shaking her head.

Rok let out a dry bark of a laugh. “You are more like your father than you think you are.” He let out a harassed sigh. “You’re going to need to channel some of that luck about now.”

“I can’t,” Kia told him. “I gave it to the others.”

“Why the hell would you do that?” Rok demanded.

Kia’s hands clamped down on her hips as she glowered at Rok. “Because I didn’t go to all that trouble to get it, just to keep it with me and risk it staying here when I came back to get you.”

“You did that because…” Rok tilted his head as he stared at Kia. “You did that because you thought there was a chance you wouldn’t escape this place?”

“Saving your god-annoying ass,” I tagged on.

The look of sheer disbelief disappeared as Rok’s focus turned to the wall of fire and the constant stream of demons burning alive as they tried to get through. “Get ready,” he said, through gritted teeth.

I wrapped my hands around his sword, prepared to do whatever it took to make sure Kia got through that door.

Rok got to his feet and then, with an almighty roar which echoed around the corridor, he shoved his arms forward. The effect was to send the wall of fire backwards.

Although it incinerated the demons, as it moved along the corridor, I could see it weakening and the ilhoeyong at the back already scrambling over the charred remains.

“The key!” Rok cried.

Kia stuck the key into a lock I couldn’t see and turned it, a door opening up in front of us. No one moved.

“We don’t have time for this, Kia, move,” I growled.

“I am not going until I see Rok—”

A squeal escaped Kia’s lips as I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder. I wasn’t not screwing around again. If Rok chose to stay, he could damn well stay. Something told me that if we didn’t leave this time, we wouldn’t.

Ignoring Kia’s protests, I turned to Rok. “You’d best follow because we’re not coming back.”

The demons were getting closer. Our time in the Dark World was done. Wrapping my arms around Kia as best I could as I held the sword up—just in case there was something on the other side—I hurtled us through the door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Sunlight, grass, and clean, fresh air greeted us on the other side of the door.

“Gun, don’t step backwards,” Kia screamed.

The sheer terror in her voice had me looking over my shoulder. We were on the edge of a building.

A very tall building.

Before I could move, something barreled into the back of me. Kia let out a yell of pain as I went tumbling forward. At the last minute, I managed to turn my body to take the brunt of the fall, but I couldn’t stop Kia’s body from crashing out of my arms.

She rolled over a couple of times, staring at me, then at something behind me.

I turned, just in time to see Rok jumping off the ground to pull the key from the air where the door had been, which had clearly been closed around a demon just as it tried to climb through.

The top half of the agma’s fall to the ground beside me.

Rok reached down, picked it up and flung it into the air, off the building. There was the sound of glass shattering seconds later. “Ooops,” he muttered, dropping to his knees.

Whether he was dead or unconscious, I didn’t care.

“Kiaria!”

I turned, finding Jae hurtling towards us, he reached Kia just as I did, helping her into a sitting position. “Are you okay?” I asked her, my eye scanning her body. A strap on her dress was broken and she had several scrapes down one side of her body, but otherwise, there didn’t seem to be any major injury.

With a sigh, Kia nodded. She leaned to the side, resting her head against my chest. “There was a point when I thought I was never going to breath fresh air again.” She inhaled deeply. “I don’t think I’ll ever complain about air pollution again.”

All I could smell was Kia.

Well, I could smell the lingering trace of the stench of the dark work, but underneath it was that scent that was uniquely Kia.

Jae locked eyes with me before crouching down in front of Kia. “I’m glad you’re safe. What took you so long?” he glanced over at the traitor. “Did you go back for him?”

“I wasn’t going to leave him.” With another long breath, Kia pulled away and looked around. “Where are we?” She frowned, looking at the ground instead of the surrounding buildings.

When I glanced down, I saw the white paint. I followed the white lines, confused. “Is that a letter I?”

“It’s a H. It’s a helipad.” She finally looked past it and at the city. “New York. We’re back in New York City.” I could hear the relief in her voice. “Though I have no idea where.”

“Rok’s building. I helped Song and King Hwanin down to Rok’s apartment and then I came straight back up.”

“Is Song okay?” Kia asked. She moved to get to her feet, looking absolutely exhausted. I knew exactly how she felt, but I hurried to get up before her so that I could help.

The grateful smile she gave me was worth it. Thank the heavens that I had kept one eye, because never seeing that smile again would have been devastating.

“Song will be fine. There was a lot going on and he needs some alone time. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left the roof but King—”

“You did the right thing,” Kia assured him, placing a hand on his arm. “I know you seem to think you’ve got to do everything to protect me, and don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, but it’s the King. He’s going to be the one to restore your home, not me.”

“It’s not our home without you,” I told her.

“If that’s what you consider romantic, you need to work on your game,” Rok muttered behind us.

Kia leaned to the side to look around me. “I’m sorry. Should I consult with your girlfriend over romance? Because she tried to kill all of us.” Kia’s hand flew to her mouth and her eyes went wide. “Oh, sorry… ex…”

Rok arched an eyebrow.

“I may not have wanted to leave you behind to be killed by your ex-girlfriend, but I didn’t bring you back her for dating advice. If I did, it would be how not to do it.” With an irritated expression, she turned back to me and Jae.

“I can push him off the roof if you want?” Jae offered.

Kia opened her mouth but stopped from saying anything. With a sigh, she closed it.

“Oh, come on!” Rok cried.

“I didn’t go to all that trouble to kill him now,” she told us. “Tempting as it is.”

Rolling his eyes, Rok bent down and picked up the sword I’d dropped when fallen through the realms. Before he could make it disappear, I snatched it from him. “I don’t think I’ll be letting you have that.”

Rok looked thoroughly unimpressed as he folded his arms and glowered at me. “You do realize that I have an arsenal of weapons and tricks at my disposal thanks to my magic, right?”

I glanced at his arms, catching a glimpse of some of his tattoos. “Good point.” With no warning, I turned the sword in my hand, slamming the hilt against the side of Rok’s head. Thankfully, it was big enough that I didn’t miss the target.

Rok slumped to the ground, unconscious.

“That was probably for the best,” Kia muttered. “But we can’t leave him here.”

“No,” I agreed. “He’s coming with us, so I can keep my eye on him.” I handed over the sword to Kia and then pulled Rok onto my back. His head hung over my shoulder, thankfully on the side without the eye so I couldn’t see him. “Let’s get out of here.”

“It’s this way,” Jae said, leading us across the roof to the door, holding it open.

As I walked through it, there was some resistance, and I glanced back at Kia. “Did I just whack Rok’s head against the doorframe?”

Kia nodded.

“What a shame,” I muttered, dryly.

Inside there was an elevator and as we waited for it, I couldn’t help staring at Kia’s reflection in the door. This woman had impressed me a lot over the last few days. From jumping headfirst into the Dark World, to battling demons and retrieving Luck. She was worthy of that title of Goddess, even if it was only in half of her blood.

If only I was worthy of her.

“We should join the others and work out what to do with him,” Kia said when the elevator arrived. “Plus, Rok had elixirs and supplies, and hot water for a shower. I think we need to rest and then work out what we do next.”

On the other side of Kia, Jae shook his head. “We emptied the place of anything useful when we went to find you. There are no elixirs. But there are beds. We can rest up, get some elixirs after some sleep.”

As he said that, Kia seemed to sag a little. Even if Jae hadn’t said that, I was going to insist we rest anyway. She looked ready to drop.

The doors pinged open we walked out. Before Jae could open the door, he turned back to Kia and wrapped his arms around her. “You were supposed to be right behind us. Don’t ever do anything like that again.” And then he pulled her into a kiss.

A flicker of jealousy seemed to appear from nowhere. Not because Jae was kissing Kia, but because it was something that I would never be able to do. Leaving them to it, I started to walk into the apartment.

“Why the fuck did you go back for him anyway?” Jae demanded, apparently done exploring Kia’s mouth for injury.

“I couldn’t leave him there,” Kia said, quietly. “I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t do it.”

“What are we going to do with him?”

“You’re going to start by tying him up,” I said, letting Rok fall to the floor, smiling with a satisfying at the sound his body made as it hit the tiled floor.

I should have been sleeping, but instead, I was lying on my back, staring at the ceiling.

With my one eye.

It hadn’t been as simple as going to get some rest. Song was still suffering, King Hwanin was unconscious, and I wasn’t going to feel any better until Kia had taken an elixir. After making sure Rok was secured in his bedroom, I stood on guard and Jae had gone to Busan to see what Hana had.

With a replenished stock handed out between all of us, Jae had relieved me of guard-duty and I had gone to sleep. But sleep hadn’t come.

Most of my injuries had healed properly, but the eye had remained dead. Considering that if we lost an arm, an elixir wouldn’t make it grow back, I wasn’t surprised. The elixir had also helped with my eyesight. There must have been some additional trauma that was affecting my depth perception, because that had eased off.

I just had a blind spot to contend with now.

Tired as I was, I couldn’t sleep. Rolling off the couch, I made my way to the kitchen. The apartment was quiet. Rok and Jae were locked away in one room. King Hwanin had a room to himself. Jae said Song had disappeared into an office not long after he’d drank a few elixirs to get some peace and quiet so that he could recalibrate his emotions. And Kia was in the final bedroom.

Or she was in the kitchen, staring out of the window. Dressed in one of Rok’s shirts.

I didn’t really approve of that, but there wasn’t much else in the apartment to wear.

At least it showed off her legs.

“You should be sleeping,” I said as she looked over at me.

“So should you,” she returned.

The three scratches remained on her cheek. The black lines had faded enough to look gray, but they had remained, regardless of how many elixirs she had consumed.

Maybe if we’d of had a heavenly elixir they might have gone.

When we had returned, Kia had stared at her reflection, run a finger over then and sighed. And then she’d not mentioned them once since.

I thought they made her look beautiful and strong.

It took a couple of cupboard doors being opened before I found a glass and I turned back to Kia. “Do you want a glass of water?”

“Does Rok have any liquor in this place?”

I nodded. “There is a cabinet in the living room.”

Kia considered it for a moment and then walked out of the room. I followed her back to the living room. She spotted the cabinet before I pointed it out, heading straight for it. After turning a few bottles around, she settled on a blue circular bottle, pulling the lid off and pouring clear liquid into a crystal cut glass.

“Why am I not surprised that Rok has a cabinet with chilled glasses in it,” she muttered before taking a large mouthful. She swallowed a large mouthful, gasped, and then looked at the bottle. “I have never heard of Cîroc Ten, but this vodka tastes expensive.” She looked over at me. “Want one? It’s good.”

The decision to drink had been made when I’d not poured myself a glass of water. I nodded and moments later, a cold glass of clear liquid was handed to me. Sipping it, I realized Kia was right: this was smooth. And exactly the kind of thing I expected to find in Rok’s apartment.

After topping up her glass, Kia moved to the couch, sitting down on the one I had tried to sleep on. “I am going to get drunk on this if I’m not careful.”

“You looked lost in thought when I walked in the kitchen. Is everything okay?” I asked her.

Kia shrugged. “I don’t know. When I went to the Dark World, it was to rescue King Hwanin, and everything was supposed to be restored in the world. We got him out, but nothing has changed.” Cradling her drink in one hand, she ran a hand through her still damp hair with the other. “Instead of getting simpler, it feels like things have gotten a million times more complicated.”

I walked over and sat down beside her. “We survived to fight another day.”

Bringing a leg up underneath her, Kia turned, fixing her attention on my face. “Your vision didn’t come back, did it?” Before I could answer, her hand reached up to my face. Her fingertips danced across the skin around my eye. “I think I put more hope in those elixirs than I should have. You wouldn’t know there was something different with your eye if you weren’t looking close enough.”

She was talking about the color. My gray eye had lightened, as though the color had faded. Or the eye had died.

“I see well enough with the remaining one.”

Kia took another large sip of her drink before leaning to the side, resting her head against the back of the couch as she looked up at me. “I can’t stop thinking about the scratches on my face,” she admitted.

“Kia, you are beautiful with and without those scars. They change nothing,” I told her, more fiercely than I wanted to, but meaning it anyway.

She gave me a soft smile. “I won’t lie and say I haven’t winced a few times when I’ve seen my reflection, but I’m sure some good concealer and foundation will fix the appearance of them. It’s the demon toxin that worries me.”

“Demon toxin?” I repeated.

“I hate saying this, not because I don’t want to admit to what I am, but because of who my father is,” Kia blanched, “however, the fact of the matter is that I am half god. Song got scratched and the toxin completely messed up his empathic abilities to the point that it completely debilitated him when he needed to be most aware. And while Jae turning into a squirrel was helpful, that’s still all he can change into.” She sat up long enough to take another drink, and then rested her head again. “What is it going to do to me?”

“Is that why you didn’t uncork the bottle?” I asked. The bottle of Luck had been returned to Kia when we’d settled, but she’d just hung onto it instead of opening it.

She slowly nodded. “I’m scared of corrupting it and making luck go bad permanently.”

“I don’t think that will happen.”

“I hope not.” She shrugged. “But I am not going to try it tonight. Luck is safely in a bottle and I want to spend an evening not worry about whether what I think is because I want to, or whether Luck is influencing it.”

Without any hesitation I leaned forward, took her chin to angle her head upwards, and kissed her. The taste of the expensive vodka was on her lips and that was a better way to consume the alcohol.

Kia seemed to freeze initially until I gently sucked at her lower lip, and then she kissed me back.

Perfect.

Better than anything I’d imagined.

And a memory I would keep with me.

Pulling away, I gave her a rueful smile. “I’d apologize, but I wanted to know what kissing you would be like, and the apology would be worthless.”

The look of complete confusion was the reason why I’d said I’d never tell Kia. She was looking at me, clearly wondering why I would kiss her, but I still didn’t regret it.

“Why did you do that?” she asked me, bluntly.

“I like you, Kia. It took me a while to realize it, but you are everything to me. I want to be around you and protect you, not because of some magic, but because I care about you more than you realize.”

Setting the near-empty glass that she had been cradling onto the floor, Kia turned back to me, frowning. “You know that… Jae and Song and me…” she chewed at her lip, frowning. “That we’re… I’m not even sure how to—”

“Together. I know.” I nodded. “They knew before you, but they know how I feel. It was getting harder to hide that from Song. And I also know how you feel, so you don’t need to worry.”

Skepticism washed over Kia. “Gun, I don’t know how I feel, so I doubt you do.”

“You told us back in Busan.”

“Yes, and so did you,” she pointed out.

My eyes narrowed. “Are you saying your feelings changed?”

Kia scrubbed at her face. “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. This is why I didn’t want to uncork Luck.” She lowered her gaze, playing with the ends of the shirt which was creeping dangerously up her legs. “What I feel towards to Jae and Song… I feel towards you.” She sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes. “And I also feel it towards Rok.”

“You do?” I asked, pointedly ignoring that last part.

She started chewing at her lip again but nodded. “I feel this unexplainable pull to the four of you. It was hard enough trying to wrap my head around it when it was just Jae and Song, but four of you? I don’t know if that’s crazy, or selfish, or impractical. And then I start to wonder if, despite that, if it’s possible.”

I hardly dared breath. “And then what?” I asked, instead of telling her that this was completely normal for gods.

“Then I wonder if meeting all of you was fate, and all of this—gods, magic, demons, the four of you, and the potential end of the world… I wonder how much of this is my destiny, and how much of it is the result of Luck twisting everything.” She swallowed. “And when Luck is safely bottled up, away from me, it starts to feel like everything is falling into place, exactly how it should.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Even if this is all destiny, I’m fine with that because it means you’re my destiny,” Gun told me. “We could fail and everything could end tomorrow, but I’d be grateful that you were in my life, even if it was down to Luck.”

When I tried to explain how I felt, it sounded like everything was chaotic in my head. But the truth was, the more I allowed myself the time to let myself feel what I did, the more I knew I had feelings for all four of these gods.

Even Rok.

Annoyingly.

Could you like someone and dislike them at the same time?

“What’s making you frown?” Gun asked.

“Rok,” I admitted.

“Just say the word.”

Wearily, I closed my eyes. “I don’t want to talk about Rok. I don’t even want to think about him right now. I might be attracted to him, and something is still telling me that he is a part of this, but right now, I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.”

“That makes four of us.”

Opening my eyes, I sat upright as I stared in disbelief at Gun. “You’re attracted to him?”

I was going to murder Rok, because thanks to him, all I could think of was him and Gun together.

Licking my lips as I stared at Gun’s bare torso, it was easy to imagine Rok’s mouth trailing kisses all over Gun’s body…

Dear god, was the room getting hotter, or was that me?

“Kia,” Gun said, slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Whatever you have running through your head, you need to stop, because even if I’m almost certain it includes that moronic brick, I can see how turned on you’re getting.”

Okay, that wasn’t fair to Gun.

Regretfully, I pushed that image from my mind and drank the last mouthful of my vodka.

That didn’t work. I was too warm.

Maybe if I turned the temperature of the air-conditioning down. Sub-arctic would do the trick.

I got up, just as Gun reached out and grabbed my hand.

Before I could fall down, his other hand was on my hip, steadying me.

Keeping his hand on my hip, Gun reached for the glass, taking it from me and setting it on the small table beside his. “Not that I care about saving Rok’s glassware, but I don’t want you to hurt yourself if you drop that.”

I should have pointed out that the only reason I had stumbled was because he had grabbed me, but I was suddenly conscious of his hand joining the other on my hips. The black shirt of Rok’s I was wearing was cotton and I could feel the heat of his hands on my skin through it.

With a sharp tug, Gun pulled me forward, into his lap. My hands shot out, touching his chest to steady myself, even though I was sure Gun would never have let me fall into him. I was close enough to see the specks of silver in his gray eyes. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice a breathy whisper.

“Helping things fall into place?”

I pushed back, just enough to see his face, unable to stop my smile. “How did you go from having very little to say, to saying the corniest of lines?”

Gun’s cheeks went pink.

It was cute as anything.

“At first, my mission was to retrieve Luck. I was focused on magic, not you. Regretfully,” he added. “But I don’t care if you think it’s ‘corny’, It’s also sincere. I nearly lost my sight today. Tomorrow I could lose my voice, and if that happens, I don’t want to have more regrets that I never paid you a compliment or said things to that made you smile like that.”

“Gun, I’m going to kiss you, but I want you to know that I’m doing it because I want to, and not because I’m taking pity on you for what happened to you—”

Leaning forward, Gun’s lips closed over mine, stopping my words. I wasn’t complaining.

Instead, I melted into him.

What was left of my doubts melted with his kiss. It made no sense that I could feel this way about another man at the same time as others, but I did. My future and my fate seemed to be entwined with them and I was done trying to work out how or why that was. They all seemed to know how I felt and how each other felt…

Although my hands roamed over Gun’s chest, his remained gripped on my sides. I wasn’t sure if that was to make sure I wasn’t going to run away, or to stop him from going too far, the heat of his hands were either tauntingly too high, or too low. The fabric over my breasts was lightly brushing against my nipples and I needed more.

Just as Gun’s tongue slid into my mouth, I started unbuttoning my shirt.

He didn’t notice at first, too busy consuming my mouth, but the second I put my hands on his, moving them upwards, he pulled away. “Kia?”

“I don’t want to stop, Gun,” I told him.

His eye was fixed on my mouth as though he was trying to read what I’d just said on my lips. With a groan, his hands went under the shirt and he cupped my breasts. Gun’s thumbs brushed over the tips of my nipples.

And that was it.

Suddenly, Gun picked me up, setting me on my feet in front of him.

With no prompt, I slipped out of my panties, letting them fall to my feet.

Gun’s eyes closed as he muttered what looked like a silent prayer. When he opened them, there was a devilish look in them which had a shiver running down my spine.

He held his hands out, and as I stepped into them, he lifted me up onto the couch so that I was sat straddling his lap. “Beautiful,” he murmured. Gently brushing the shirt off my breasts, he then leaned forward, taking a nipple in his mouth. His tongue swirled around it, just long enough for my body to shudder, and then he turned his attention to the second.

“Gun…” his name came out like a whine.

The warrior looked up at me and gently shook his head. “I have spent too long imagining this. I’m not rushing anything.” He lowered his mouth back to my breast as his hand swept up my body to gently squeeze the other.

Alternating between each breast, I could feel the ache growing between my legs. The attention he was giving me was taking away more aches and pains than an elixir could as my body seemed to turn to mush. But I needed more.

I wriggled down into his lap, finding a welcoming hard bulge. As I rubbed up against it, Gun groaned into me.

There was a welcome sharp pain as he nipped my skin and then he pulled back to frown at me. “Behave, Kia.” And then he was back to running his tongue around my nipple.

Just as I ground up against him again, Gun let out another groan, and then his hands were on my waist, pulling me up. The groan turned into a growl. Hands slipped back down to my hips, lifting me up off his lap. Only just stopping from tossing me onto the couch next to him, I found myself staring at the ceiling.

Before I could prop myself up, Gun was pushing my knees apart. Just I grinned to myself at how I’d managed to get him going to the good stuff, he kissed the side of my knee. Featherlight kisses were trailed along my thighs at an excruciatingly slow speed. All it seemed to be doing was stoking the fire in my core.

Which he proceeded to ignore by moving his attention to my other knee.

“Gun?”

The warrior pushed himself up, a wicked grin on his face. “What’s the matter?”

I pointed between my legs. “Here, please.”

Cocking his head, Gun ran a finger along my slit. “Worshipping every inch of your skin is my goal. There’s a lot more of you than just here.”

As he went to move his hand away, mine shot down and grabbed him. “Please,” I begged. It wasn’t just that he was teasing. I needed to be closer to him. There was something inside of me, pulling me to him.

Gun’s expression changed. The playfulness was replaced with a sincerity, as though he felt the same thing. “I will make this good for you, my goddess.”

Then his mouth went straight between my legs. His tongue ran along me, but it was his moan of pleasure which had my back arching. His tongue slowly moved back up, settling on my clit, sucking gently, then harder. With a gasp, I grabbed at his hair, trying hard not to pull at the silver strands, but also wanting him to carry on with exactly what he was doing.

Gun chuckled into me, the vibrations and hot breath bringing me closer to an orgasm.

He might be making me feel good, but he was still taking his time.

I stared down at him, locking eyes, and I knew he had every ability to make me come, but instead, he was drawing it out. I couldn’t even complain because he was doing such an expert job of keeping me right on the edge, my body was tingling in anticipation.

Just when it was becoming too much, he slipped a finger in me, moving it in and out in perfect time with the pressure from his mouth. My hips bucked. Or they would have if Gun wasn’t pinning me down by my thighs. The explosion of pleasure hit me. “Oh, god, Gun!”

Collapsing back onto the couch, I could barely catch my breath when Gun got up. I shot him a questioning look, and he shrugged. “Kia, this is Rok’s place. I’m willing to bet that brickhead has a stash of condoms in each room.”

He marched over to a sideboard, pulled open a drawer and rummaged through it. When he didn’t find any, he moved onto the next drawer. Moments later, he was holding up a handful of condoms, examining the wrapping. “Glitter?” Rolling his eyes, he tossed that one back in the drawer.

Or at least, that was what I thought he said. My mind was barely clocking in that I only half paid attention to him walking back to me, shedding his pants as he did.

And then I felt Gun’s cock at my entrance. “Look at me, Kia,” he instructed me.

As I did as he said, he slowly—like everything else—slid his cock into me.

Still riding on the wave of the orgasm, my body contracted around him.

It felt good.

Gun picked me up, easing back into a sitting position with me impaled on his cock. I slid further down him, crying out in pleasure.

“You seem to be eager to go faster, so I’m going to let you set the pace.” He reached up, brushing my hair back off my shoulders.

It was a wasted effort as I bent forward and kissed him. He’d made a mistake. He wasn’t the only one who could take things slow.

As my arms eased around his shoulders, I leaned against him, rubbing my chest against his while trying to keep my hips as still as possible. His hands clutched at my ass, but I locked my thighs against his and focused on my tongue in his mouth.

A this is what you could have won kiss. My tongue was in control and I was going to show him how it felt.

His grip on my ass tightened.

When he moaned into my mouth, I slowly lifted myself, pulling me almost completely off his cock, and then I stayed there, continuing with my kiss.

Gun finally broke the kiss and stared up at me. “I see what you’re doing.”

Fixing him a wicked grin, I lowered myself back down his shaft. “Doesn’t it feel good?” I rolled my hips.

“Shibal!” he cursed, before a stream of Korean left his mouth. Gun’s hands moved to my hips and with his biceps and triceps flexing, he took over, forcing me up and down.

“I thought I was setting the pace?”

Gun brought his hips up as he let me fall down with a little less control, driving his cock deeper into me.

I swear my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

My control disappeared. Slow was off the agenda. That thrust had sent me heading straight for another orgasm and I didn’t want to draw it out.

With my hands on his shoulders, I moved up and down, spreading my legs just enough to allow him to fill as much of me as my body would allow. My speed increased, aided as much by him as me.

As Gun thrust up once more, the orgasm hit me again, more intense than the first. “Oh Gun,” I muttered, over and over again, trying to keep my body moving as Gun continued his movements, drawing out the orgasm.

Finally, with his own cry, he joined me. His fingers dug into my hips, but I didn’t care. The only reason I was still upright was because of him.

“You are my destiny, Kia,” Gun told me as he caught his breath. “Luck or fate? It could have been a love spell for all I care. You are my future.”

As I looked down into his gray eyes, I realized I felt the same way.

Whatever came next, it would be with him, Jae, Song, and Rok.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We want to start by thanking you reading this. You’re in an exclusive club! We really hope that you have enjoyed this book and you will wait for us while we get the remaining one written. It will be 2021. It will!

2020 has been a pretty shitty year for the both of us. Serenity’s grandmother died, and Ji Soo is stuck in a country away from her family. Plus – everything else that 2020 threw at everyone. We’re really sorry it took so long to get this book out. We really did want to get it written sooner!

As always, love and gratitude goes to our amazing cover designer, Natasha Snow, for our stunning cover.

Thank you to our amazing editing and beta team. You guys are stars. You’d think with two of us working on this, we’d spot double the number of typos. I bet we just make double the amount. One day, you’re going to get a super clean version from us!

We can’t go any further without a shoutout to our Waldo. Do you know how much we love you? Everyone needs a Waldo. But not this one. She’s ours. And Serenity’s already had to share her with Ji Soo.

NEWSLETTERS

Both Serenity Ackles and J. S. Lee have newsletters to sign up to. Feel free to sign up to one or both!

Serenity Ackles primarily writes reverse harem and although it’s only this series so far, intends on writing more collaborative books (both paranormal and contemporary), and solo projects too! She sends her newsletter out once a month:

Subscribe Here!

Meanwhile, Ji Soo writes contemporary romance—some of which is reverse harem, some is YA academy, but both are K-Pop themed.

Subscribe Here!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Serenity Ackles

USA Today and International bestselling author Serenity Ackles writes both contemporary and paranormal romance stories. With a long-standing inability to choose a book boyfriend, and always rooting for the 'second lead', she mainly writes reverse harems. As such, Serenity's stories contain a lot of men, just as much cock, and a liberal sprinkling of profanities.

J. S. Lee

USA Today and International bestselling author, Ji Soo Lee spends most of her days lost in a K-Pop haze, which inspired her to start writing stories about her idols at Atlantis Entertainment.

Under the name Ji Soo Lee, you will find YA contemporary romances, with romance levels like a K-Drama.

Under J. S. Lee, Ji Soo writes steamier stories, mainly of Reverse Harems.

WAYS TO CONNECT

Goddess of Fate & Destiny Facebook page

Serenity Ackles

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/SerenityAcklesAuthor/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SerenityAcklesRebels

Bookbub:

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/serenity-ackles

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Serenity-Ackles/e/B081F8D5FK

Newsletter:

http://eepurl.com/gJhECL

J. S. Lee

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJiSooLee

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AtlantisEnts/

Bookbub:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-s-lee

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/J.-S.-Lee/e/B07H353S3L

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ji_soo_lee_author/

Website:

www.jisooleeauthor.com

Newsletter:

https://www.subscribepage.com/JiSooNewsletter