Blood Flows Deep in the Empire (31 page)

“I’m fine. Fucking perfect. You’re back.” He cupped the back of her head, his fingers digging in tight. He didn’t give her time to think. His lips landed on her, and heat exploded between them. His blood slid into her mouth. Next thing she knew, she was clinging to him. His teeth pierced her lip, mixing their blood.

Whatever grogginess and weakness she felt was shot completely into oblivion. The feeling of his hot, wet tongue against hers was one hell of a defibrillator. Dyletri groaned into her mouth, his hands lifting her. Lips not letting go.

Lust shot into her heart, reigniting all of her nerves. Her inner walls throbbed, empty, screaming for him as he positioned her, sitting her up on his lap. She felt his body reacting, could feel the hardness of his cock underneath her. The way he kissed her was like he was trying to suck out her soul. If he felt anything like she felt, Ismini couldn’t blame him.

His blood slid into their open, dueling mouths. He sank one incisor into her lip again, sucking out more of her blood. When he lovingly cupped her neck and rubbed his thumb over his mark, she almost came right there. “Wait . . . what . . .”

The sound of a plane landing behind them broke them apart. Dyletri rested his forehead against hers. He panted harshly against her lips, his taste still tempting. “You’re back. Thank the Fates, I got you back.”

The tone of his voice squeezed her heart. Ismini took him in again, seeing the multiple wounds that were just beginning to heal. “My God, what happened?” she asked, cupping his jaw.

“It’s okay. I got you back. They’ll heal,” he murmured, kissing her cheek. He pulled back. That’s when she saw it.

“Wh—what? Dy . . . what?” Ismini stammered, eyes wide as she took in the purple, light blue and white design spiraling from his neck down to his shoulder, where it blended and intertwined with his tribal tattoo.

She looked down at her arm. Saw her aura. Saw that it matched. “You are mated to me,” she said, gasping and not knowing which feeling to go with; delirious happiness or guilt.

What had happened to Dimithinia? Had the sacrifice failed? During the moments after her death, something had happened. Ismini had felt Dimithinia’s soul somehow, as if it were brushing against her own. Along with that came all the memories that proved what everyone else had said. The woman had never been evil, and she had been trapped in agony over what she’d done.

“Fuck yes. And I got you back. Come here, baby.” Dyletri’s eyes were slightly unfocused as he pulled Ismini close again. He sucked on her lips, sending a flurry of heat through her and rendering her incapable of speech.

Ismini was lost in his kiss. She knew only him until an ecstatic voice behind them invaded her little bubble.

Someone was going on about how they’d done it, how they’d fucking done it. She wondered what they’d done and struggled to make sense of the words with Dyletri stealing her breath the way he was.

When clarity came, it came suddenly.

She ripped her mouth away from Dyletri’s. “Oh God. Eve! Where’s Evesse? She jumped in after me. Oh God . . .”

“He has her, baby. Calm down. Zen has her.” Dyletri tried to soothe her as Ismini looked to her right.

Zen was cradling her unconscious friend like he was afraid to let her go. He was just as bloody and injured as Dyletri. His face was buried against Evesse’s neck, and his shoulders shook.

Ismini collapsed from the relief. She sagged in Dyletri’s arms, soaking in the feel of him.

Until she remembered.

“No! Dimithinia!” She’d seen too much when it came to Dimithinia’s life. Condemning her to an eternity of suffering, locked inside the Underworld, was the very last thing Ismini wanted to do. She wouldn’t be able to live with that on her conscience.

“I am right here, Ismini Harrovnian. And I am very, very grateful to you, even though I do not deserve your consideration.”

Ismini turned, eyes wide and panicked, because for all she knew, she was straddling the god Dimithinia still loved. A god who had
Ismini’s
mark on his neck. A god that had almost just died for her.

The gorgeous woman smiled kindly at her. She had black hair, and bright, blue eyes, and she was…Dimithinia. She was there.

“Wait. How are you here? How am
I
here?”

Oh my God. Is what Nylicia said true?

Dimithinia walked closer to them. “Were you not willing to help bring me back? I want this fool under you to be happy. You make him happy. You are his mate. And you, Ismini, were once willing to die for our happiness and to save people you do not even know. Why would I not help?”

“I . . . I . . . am so confused,” Ismini said, glancing between both Dimithinia and Dyletri. They both smiled.

“What is it that you do not understand?”

“Don’t you . . . aren’t you . . . him . . .” Ismini pointed at Dyletri while staring at Dimithinia. She had to ask, had to make sure. Unfortunately, words were pretty much failing her.

They both laughed, locking eyes. “Oh, Dyletri, she is adorable.”

“I know.” The expression he threw Ismini did things to her uterus. Things she still felt were kind of inappropriate with Dimithinia behind them.

Dimithinia shrugged. “Ismini . . . I thank you for your sacrifice, but the Fates did not bring me back for him. He is not mine, and I am not his. That is your headache to handle.”

“Shut it, woman.”

Dimithinia gave Dyletri a stoic, unapologetic look.

Ismini stared back and forth between them again, her brain refusing to accept what she was hearing.

Dyletri cupped Ismini’s chin. “Ismini, baby, I love
you.
Do you understand that?”

Ismini’s mouth fell open. “Huh?” He loved her? This
god
loved
her
?

What the fuck?

“Baby girl, it’s simple.” Dyletri smiled and adjusted her on his lap. “I’m in love with you. Not someone else, but you. Get it?”

Ismini still couldn’t reply. She stared at him with a fish-out-of-water look as her heart threatened to explode out of her chest.

“For the sake of the gods. For
my
sake. Will you please just tell the being under you that you love him, too, so we can move on from here?” Dimithinia asked, her voice amused.

Ismini managed to nod as she stared into Dyletri’s eyes. She finally found her voice long enough to say, “What she said.”

“Really?” Dyletri seemed pleased even as he tried to look hurt.

“I love you, too,” Ismini said, squeaking. She was pretty sure she was in shock. After all, she’d died and then awoken to have all of that thrown on her.

The smile that broke out on Dyletri’s face got rid of the rest of her stupid, though. With a little gasp, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed tight.

Mine. Mine. God, he’s really mine.

“Iss!” Cy skidded to a stop next to them. He grabbed Ismini’s face and planted a huge kiss on her cheek. “You’re back!”

Dyletri straight up growled at him, muscles tensing, incisors bared.

“Easy, mated one,” Cy said, falling backward into a sitting position with his hands up. “I’m just glad to have her back. Jesus, I guess I shouldn’t go check on the other one, then.”

“Don’t try. I just did!” Ian cried.

Ismini heard another dangerous growl floating through the air. “Evesse,” she said, feeling like a horrible friend because she kept on forgetting.

“Is fine. Still out of it, but alive. And the other almost-mated one doesn’t look like he’s letting anyone near her anytime soon. We should get you both back to the compound for checkups,” Cy said, shuffling backward away from a growling Dyletri.

Ian came up to them, a smile on his face, too. “Fuck me. I haven’t seen something this awesome in a while. When’s the
Ziaphrite
?” he asked, looking between Dyletri and Ismini.

“The what?” Ismini asked, once again confused.

“The mating ritual, baby girl. It’s the ceremony that fully bonds us. When do you want to do it?”

Ismini whirled around in his lap. “Are you asking me to marry you?”

“Something like that,” Dyletri said, that small smirk on his face again.

“Oh my . . . okay,” Ismini said, cupping her forehead. “Okay . . . get me back home. Let me make sure my friend wakes up. Give me two seconds after that to assimilate all this so
then
I can say yes.”

Nylicia walked up to them. Despite seeming weak, she also glowed with happiness. Ismini saw her eyes land on Cyake then look away awkwardly. However, Ismini didn’t have enough concentration to focus on that just then. “Umm . . . Ismini . . . I think that
was
your yes.”

The huge smile was back on Dyletri’s face.

“Huh?” Ismini asked.

Everyone broke out into laughter, which of course confused Ismini more, but Dyletri just pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tight.

Chapter 29

Four days later.

-Enzyria.

Dyletri was aggravated as fuck as he followed Zen down the steps of the compound not even a week later. “So you’re just going to leave? She’s not even awake yet. Don’t you think she’d like to have you here when she does?”

“I have no choice. Understand that. It’s . . . it’s not forever. I can’t stay away from her forever. Trust me. But I need to go away long enough to learn to control this. For fuck’s sake, Dy.” Zen spun around. “Look at me!”

Dyletri did. Zen’s eyes were
completely
changed. Overcome with black, the one spot of color in them were his red irises. Red and black marks had begun to appear on his face as well.

“Fucking hell, Zen . . .” Dyletri ran a hand through his hair, knowing what the marks meant. It was just a matter of time before he lost all control to Mavrak.

“Yeah. Look, Dy. You’re at peace with Salicyar, which is good. Even so, he was never as dangerous as . . .
him
. She’s not even awake, and just being near her . . .”

Dyletri sympathized with him. “You are destined for each other. When she wakes up—”

“Nylicia said it will be a while before that happens. Her death forced her to deal with things she wasn’t ready to face. It exposed all of her weaknesses.”

“But that’s my point. You’re running Zen, like I did. And take it from me, pushing it back is not the solution. It’ll only comes back to bite you in the ass. You have to make peace with your other side, man. Maybe then you can control it.”

“Make peace with Mavrak? Do you hear yourself? There is no controlling him. All he wants is bloodshed.”

“Every fucker in this place has a flip side to them. A similar battle to fight. Yeah, yours is one of the worst to deal with. That doesn’t make running the answer. Don’t leave. If Ismini’s friend wakes up, you should be here.”

“I’ve been fighting this need for vengeance on her behalf ever since I saw into her mind. She makes me want everything. Violence, blood,
her
. It’s too much. I’m going to hurt everyone if I don’t control it. What if I hurt her?”

A single tear of blood leaked out of Zeniel’s eye. “I’m going to destroy the soul of that motherfucker who hurt her. Do you understand?”

Dyletri didn’t know what to say. If it had been Ismini, he’d be doing the same thing. Enteax and Lisrn would die by his hand if he found them first. So he couldn’t tell Zen not to do it. He wasn’t a hypocrite. “We’re . . . Ismini and I want you here for the celebration.”

Zen scoffed and breathed deeply. “You can’t postpone your
Ziaphrite
for me.”

“No. We won’t hold the actual mating ceremony. But the celebration . . . we can’t do it without you. I want to know as soon as you can come back, do you hear me?”

Zen smiled a bit and clapped the other god on the shoulder. “You got it, my friend. And . . . will you let me know as soon as she wakes up?”

“Definitely,” Dyletri said, clapping Zen’s shoulder, as well.

He hated what was happening to Zen, but a part of him was aware that so far his own fate had turned out better than he had expected. Dyletri had to hope things would turn out as well for Zen as they had for him.

Zen stepped away from Dy. “I’m going to be investigating into the whereabouts of those two pieces of shit, Enteax and Lisrn.”