Wings of Darkness: Book 1 of The Immortal Sorrows Series (19 page)

     I spun completely around, but only
dense forest surrounded us, as far as the eye could see.  “This is so
weird.  A forest on top of a mountain inside of a castle; who’d have thunk
it?” Certainly not I. 

     “I told you, the Aerie changes
according to its occupant’s needs.  We happen to need privacy, just at the
moment.” He looked around, and I worried he might be as lost as I felt.
 He pointed just up ahead of us, “Ah, here we are.”  A tiny cottage
had conveniently appeared out of nowhere.  I blinked, hard, then rubbed at
my eyes.  I knew that it hadn’t been there a few moments ago.

     “Neat trick.  It’s adorable;
looks like something the wicked witch would live in.  We won’t find the
Big, Bad Wolf in there, will we?”

     “Do not be silly.  He lives
elsewhere.”  Asher opened the door and motioned me inside.

     “Asher, did you just make a joke?”

     He winked at me, and I blushed
instantly. “I will never tell.”

     I snorted.  Very lady-like, I
know, but I couldn’t help it.  “Seriously, where are we?”

    “My home,” he said, simply.  “On the
rare occasions that I have time to visit.”  He held the door open for me.

     I stepped inside the little cottage
and stood still.  It was simple, yet very beautiful.  The great
room’s walls were field stone.  The floor, ceiling, and all of the trim
were made of broad beams of blonde wood polished to a mirror surface.  The
curtains over the tiny windows looked to be some type of light-colored leather:
good for blocking out the light and any drafts.

     There was a loft above, and I
assumed, a bedroom up there   somewhere.  Although I couldn’t see much up
above, except a railing made of twisted, flowering tree branches.  It
looked like the forest outside had managed to invade the cottage.  I
absolutely loved it.

     To the left, I spotted a tiny
kitchen with brass-bottomed pots hanging from iron hooks placed over the center
island, and an old-fashioned black iron stove.  That there was a kitchen
there, at all, surprised me.  It never occurred to me that Asher might
want, or need food.  There were so many things that I didn’t know about
him.  I wondered, after today, if I’d get the chance learn.

     I startled as the door clicked shut
behind me.  I’d been so caught up with the charm of this little cottage
that I’d forgotten about Asher.  His hand pressed into my lower back, and
ushered me into the great room.  “Asher, this is beautiful.” Just seeing
this little piece of paradise made the trip almost worth it.  Too bad it
would probably end badly for me.

    “We do not have much time.”  His
voice was tense, but he tried to hide it.  He’d seemed so relaxed,
earlier, but obviously something had him worried.  If something had him
worried, then I should probably be scared shitless.

    I turned towards him, and his wings were
gone again, put away to wherever they went.  Curiosity was killing me
about that.  “Where are your wings, Asher?”

     He colored slightly, and looked
away from me.  “They do not fit inside the cottage very well.” 

     “Where do they go, when you don’t
need them, I mean?”  He turned his back to me, and looked back at me from
over his shoulder.  Scars ran the length of his back, slightly raised, and
faded to silver, like old knife wounds.

     “They’re there, inside.”

     That seemed impossible, but I
should be getting used to the impossible by now.  “Does it hurt, when they
come out?” 

     “Not really.  I think they may
work similarly to a cat’s claws.  They extend when needed, and store away
when they are not.”  That made sense, I supposed.

     My hand hovered just above the scar
on his right side.  “May I?”  He nodded.  He flinched a little
when I touched his bare shoulder.  The scar was hot under my exploring
fingers.  Asher’s whole body grew taut at my touch, and he groaned, low in
his throat.  I yanked my hand back as if I’d been burned.  “I’m
sorry, did I hurt you?”

     “No, no it is fine.  I did not
realize…“  He moved quickly out of my reach, but kept his back to
me.  Had I hurt him?  Embarrassed him?  A blush burned its way
up into my cheeks.  I felt intensely guilty, but I wasn’t sure what I had
done that was so wrong.  I wrung my hands as I sat down on the leather
sofa, and tried to make myself as small as possible.

     Asher went to the large trunk
pushed up against the far wall, and started rummaging through it with a
vengeance.  He seemed determined to ignore me. He lifted out large pieces
of what looked to be armor, of all things, and started silently strapping it
on.  A large, black and gold breastplate went on, then a back plate that
fastened to the front with leather buckles.  The back plate was cut so
that the scars were exposed.  In case he needed his wings, probably. 
I would have offered to help him put it all on, but I got the impression that
he didn’t want me anywhere near him just then. 

     There were ornamental guards that
ran the length of his forearms that matched the intricate designs on the
breastplate, too. His armor looked light, and probably used only for more
dressy occasions, but I had no doubt that it would hold up to a battle, if it
had to.  He went back to the trunk and added a short sword to his
hip.  A pair of lethal looking daggers slid into the top of each boot. 
I’d thought he was getting ready for a formal meeting, but now I wasn’t so
sure.  He’d said the Aerie was a place of peace, and no violence was allowed,
but it looked like he was prepping for war.  I really hoped it wouldn’t
come to that.

     He made his preparations without
looking at me, not even once.  The tension in the room stretched tight as
piano wire.  I was getting the silent treatment, apparently, but damned if
I knew what I’d done to deserve it.  I bit my lip, wanting to ask what I’d
done wrong, but unsure if I really wanted to hear the answer.  It was kind
of unnerving, and more than a little aggravating. I didn’t know whether to be
sorry for upsetting him, or pissed at him for his upsetting me.

     When he finished buckling on the
sword, Asher stood before me armored, and still painfully silent.  Black
and gold gleamed in elaborate patterns.  He looked deadly, and dangerous
as all hell, and I suddenly wanted to kick his ass.  I didn’t know what
I’d done, but he had no right to look at me like that.  His face had gone
still and cold.  He’d never looked at me like that, before.  He was
closed off from me, and I didn’t know if I could reach him.  Throwing a
huge fit probably would have been highly satisfying, but I doubted it would get
me anywhere.  So I’d try to be pleasant, first.  Then, if that didn’t
work, I’d go ahead and throw a fit. Good plan.

     “Asher, did I do something
wrong?  Because if I did, I really wish you’d just tell me before I have
to go out there and face your friends.  I’m sorry, for whatever it
was.”  My stupid eyes started to sting again, and I blinked quickly. 
It was more because I was aggravated than anything else, but I’d let him
believe whatever he wanted to.

     His lips flattened into a hard
line.  Still, he wouldn’t look at me.  Getting to my feet and going
to him was almost painful.  I moved stiffly, but I forced myself to walk
to him.  He could break me if he wanted to, and from the way he was acting, I
wasn’t so sure that he didn’t want to do just that.  Cautiously, I reached
out and touched his hand.  “Asher?”

     I expected him to push me
away.  I was shocked when his arm shot out and pulled me to him.  His
breath was hot against my ear, his voice rough.  “Isabel, you should not.”

     “What?  I should not, what?”

     “You should not tempt me so.” 
He sounded as if the admission pained him, and maybe it did. A dark thrill went
through me at his words.

     “I don’t understand what I did that
was so wrong.”  I sounded kind of breathless.  Being so close to him did
bad things to my concentration.

     His laughter was dark and
humorless.  “Before I met you, you irritating girl, I felt nothing.” 
His hands were in my hair, stroking softly as he nuzzled against my neck. 
He scared the hell out of me.  “Now, I feel.”  Well, he was
officially crazy as hell, but he did strange things to me with his touch.
Strange, and wonderful things that curled my toes and stole my breath
away.  I had this weird, heavy feeling in my limbs, and I was burning
up.  I wanted to be closer to him, even though self-preservation should
have sent me running the other way.  Self-preservation is highly over
rated.

     “What do you feel, Asher?”  I
didn’t know what had brought on such a swift change in his mood.  I wasn’t
even sure if I liked it, but I liked being so close to him, even if he did
terrify me. His stubble grazed my jaw.  I didn’t know if he planned to
kiss me or kill me.  I don’t think he knew, either.

     “I felt nothing, before you, and
now I feel
so much.
 I
feel everything.  I feel fear for you.  I feel guilt.  I feel
too much, and I do not like it.”  His words came out as a growl, and his
hands were at my throat.  I would have been afraid he’d strangle me, but I
knew that if he wanted me dead, he had more elegant means to accomplish
it.  His fingers gently stroked my skin.

     This gorgeous, deadly creature
suffered, and somehow it was my fault.  “Asher, what can I do to help
you?  Tell me, please.”  My hands came up to his, our fingers
entwined.

     “You must live, Isabel.  At
all cost.  You must live.  Promise me. Once we leave this cabin,
trust no one.  Not even me.  Especially not me.” 

     I was so completely, and hopelessly
confused. “I promise.” I think I forgot how to breathe, at that point.

     Right on cue, two hard knocks shook
the door on its hinges, and made me jump.  Asher pushed me away from
him.  Almost reluctantly, he crossed the room to open the door.  Twin
guards, for that’s all that they could be, stood silently waiting, on either
side of the door.  Asher’s eyes were stormy grey again, and dangerous
looking.  “You are early.”  I peeked around his shoulder to get a
better look at what we had to deal with.

     The smaller of the two guards was a
woman, and by smaller, I mean that she was taller than Gwen.  Her hair was
cut shorter than Asher’s, slicked back and platinum blonde.  She was
blade-thin, and had the bone structure of an Austrian supermodel.  She
curled her lip and sneered, exposing overly sharp canines. “We thought if we
asked nicely, you and your pet monkey might hurry things along.”  Ok, so
she was a bitch, and we wouldn’t be braiding each other’s hair or going
shopping, anytime soon.

     The other guard appeared to be a
mix of races.  He had almond-shaped blue eyes set against dark skin. 
His armor looked similar to Asher’s, but there weren’t nearly as many
doo-hickeys on it, and it was silver on black instead of gold. 
“Halo.  Remember your manners.”  He had that deep, rumbling voice of
a radio announcer.  She rolled her eyes at him, but took a step back, in
spite of her obvious loathing for the human in their midst.

     Asher glared down at the woman and
spoke quietly, though there was an edge to his tone that could have cut
glass.  “I respect your loss, Halo, but you will remember who you are
speaking to.”  Halo’s delicate nostrils flared and hatred flashed in her
eyes, just before she dropped them.  Outranked.  That seemed to burn
her ass.

     The other guard, made an inviting,
palm up gesture.  “Sir, when you are ready?”  He, at least, seemed
reasonable.  Or at least, not rabid, like the woman appeared to be.

     Asher nodded.  “Isabel, come
along.” He held the door open for me.  I started through it, then stopped
dead in my tracks.  The world had shifted, again, it seemed.

     The beautiful, enchanted forest
that surrounded the little cottage was gone.   The dryads were
gone.  Everything was missing, in fact.  Just off the first step, the
world around us disappeared into nothing.  Fluffy white clouds surrounded
us on all sides, and straight below was the drop of a lifetime. I glanced at
Asher, questioningly. He stepped off into thin air, and stood still as a
statue, waiting for me to follow.  “It is a hallway, made of diamond, but
solid as rock.” He stomped his foot for emphasis, and it made a solid,
satisfying thud. “You cannot fall.”  Easy for him to say; he had wings
when he needed them.

     I bit my lip and wiped my suddenly
sweaty palms against my jeans. “Um, what happened to the forest?”  Asher’s
eyes flashed a warning.  It seemed like a perfectly reasonable question,
but maybe he meant for me to be quiet before I got myself into more
trouble.  Like that was even possible. I was already in a world of
trouble.

     Nothing about this situation was my
idea of fun, but I realized that my fear of heights would translate to weakness
in front of our guards.  I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of watching
me cringe; especially not the woman.  I took a tentative step toward him,
my heart in my throat.  Silently, I prayed that I wasn’t about to fall to
my death, because if I did, I had one helluva long time to think about it on my
way down.  To my shock, the air beneath my feet was as solid as
rock.  My brain was just having a hard time processing it.  Seeing
was not believing, in this strange place.

     The diamond hallway reminded me of
a large aquarium in Tennessee that my dad had taken me to when I was a little
kid. The giant fish tanks were awesome, but the highlight of the whole trip had
been the glass tunnel running directly below the shark tank.  I remember
staring in fear and awe as the giant predators swam just over our heads. 
Mere inches separated us, and it was the biggest thrill of my young life, up to
that point.  One tiny crack in the glass, and we would have been fish
food.