City Of The Damned (Darkly Devoted Series, Book 5)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I followed the Reaper through the night. He took me to a forest at the edge of my father's property, which led to a hidden cavern beside an underground lake. Although I had lived here for years, I never knew such a place existed.

"I summoned an entrance to appear," Grismal revealed as though he was reading my mind as we entered the pitch blackness of the miserably cold cavern. "You will not find it again on your own."

"Are we going to the underworld?" I asked, trying to keep my teeth from chattering from the cold. Even if I had chosen to wear layers of fabric on top of my plain black dress, I doubted it would have been enough to protect me from these freezing temperatures. It wasn't a coldness that the human world could comprehend. Grismal noticed my slow movements as I tried to force my body to follow him into the dark depths. To my surprise, he removed his cloak and wrapped it around my shoulders.

It must have had enchanted properties because instantly, I felt better. I didn't expect such a kind act of mercy from the Lord of Death, but I suppose he wanted to keep me alive. Having his female companion freeze to death wouldn't serve that end at all.

"Keep that around you. It will protect you from more than extreme weather conditions. It will keep my subjects from eating you alive. They hunger for the flesh of the living."

Where have I heard that before?

I had lived my life among vampires, although most of them were still partially human. I wanted to snort but dared not to offend my host too much, or he might take back his cloak. Grismal smirked at me. The expression looked threatening on his dangerously beautiful face. Once again, in it, I saw an echo of familiarity. He was, after all, also Orienne's child. He and Blake didn't share any features in common, but one could not look at one without being reminded of the other.

"I remind you of him," Grismal chuckled at my disturbed expression and even more distressing thoughts. "And you can't stand it. You wish I were easier to hate."

"You think nothing of trespassing on a girl's thoughts, do you?" I snapped. I didn't care if he knew that I thought he was attractive. Grismal was right about one thing; I wasn't playing the part of a grieving widow. It was a role that I had little patience for. After all these years and all the tears I've shed for the ones I've lost, I didn't have any tears left to cry, even crocodile tears.

Perhaps, if I convinced Grismal that I harbored soft feelings for him, he'll overlook my lack of grieving. I was, after all, just another weak-willed woman looking for any hard body to lean my sad little head against.

"I could appear in a less pleasing body if you wish," Grismal offered and cocked his head at me. His hair was black as the deepest winter's night, and his eyes shone like two eerie stars. I could see his muscles moving like snakes under the thin layer of fabric that he wore. "If you were anyone else, I would have appeared in a form that would horrify you."

"But you came to me in a beautiful form because you hate your brother," I replied, speaking my thoughts out loud because there was no point in hiding them from Grismal's prying powers. "You want the steal the one thing he values above all else."

"Would that really be so hard?" Grismal asked as the rocks behind him moved to unveil a passageway lit with torches. I assumed the light was for my benefit. Our path led to a massive castle built into the walls of an underground cavern. I assumed he could summon his palace to appear anywhere, just like the doorway to my father's gardens. "Beyond this doorway is my kingdom. It has many names, but you can call it the Mearnox, the City of the Dead."