Tasting Darkness

Read Tasting Darkness [Tempting Darkness] By Jessica Hall Book 2 Chapter 42 - Wind rushes pastas | fall, and | watch the ground grow closer. It was like tstopped, everything slowing down, and | saw every particle in the air, every vapor and streak of light from the moon when suddenly arms wrapped around my waist. The stone glows and burns hotter in my hand as | try to fight it from taking his magic throughwhen Darius opens a portal directly beneath us.

My eyes widen when Darius grips my wrist, shaking my hand, but | refuse to let go, knowing what dropping that stone would do to the city he opened a portal to. When | refuse, he blastswith his magic, stunning me, and | scream as my arm spasms, my fingers twitching, and the stone slips through them, falling toward the portal. | grasp the air, trying to catch it, when Spark caws loudly, swooping off the roof toward us.

My fingers outstretched, reach for the stone, as | try to stop it, knowing the destruction it would cause, the power it would absorb, when talons caged around my body, and | scream as Spark grabbed us, plucking us from the air and he takes flight, his powerful wings taking us higher. In contrast, my scream of horror rang out loudly as | watched the stone disappear into the portal before closing.

He killed them; he killed them all. Spark moves toward the field below before dropping us to the ground and | round on Darius the moment my feet hit the ground, my hands slamming against his chest, and he staggers backward. Spark landed on the ground not far from us, but my anger was ignited like a match had been struck, and my rage was the fuel it needed as | called on my Phoenixes.

“How could you?” | scream at him, tears streaming down my face as | shoved him; Darius puts his hand up, backing away from me. The phoenixes on the roof caw loudly, feeling my burning anger and take flight. They circle the sky above while Darius’anger also rippled, his energy amplifying, and the air around us heats as the tension simmers between us, my shred tries to override my anger, calling on his power | could sense while mine was lost with the Moonstone.

“Don’t put this back on me! You brought it back home; you lied! You should have told us!” Darius yells at me. “I did what I had to do!” “The city, that city. You just killed them all, led the power hunters straight to them!” “I had no choice. That stone would have absorbed you, absorbed the wards and the power of your phoenixes,” Darius says, walking away fromtoward the castle, and | charge and tackle him, furious that he would sacrifice an entire city when I could have led the Phoenixes straight to them.

“You monster, you just wiped out a city,” | scream angrily, and Darius rolls, pinningbeneath him.

“It’s better than leading them here!” Darius bellows atbefore pushing offand getting to his feet and | shake my head knowing that that stone would absorb any protection of the city’s wards offered, absorb the power of those that lived there, and lead the power hunters directly to them while they are defenseless.

“I could have taken them down; | have the phoenixes,” | scream at him, getting to my feet when the sky suddenly ignites, glowing crimson, as lightning streaks across the sky. We all look up at the trees toward the city as the power of the blast, ripples over the dencasing the castle from Darius’s wards, shielding us from the blast, but | knew the city’s wards with an explosion that strong would have shattered, leaving them open to attacks. My eyes widen; | cup my mouth with my hands in horror before getting to my feet. | whistle calling on my phoenixes when Darius charges me, clamping his hand over my mouth.

| struggle against him, shoving him off.” I can help them. | can save them!” | spit at him, and he stumbles back.

“You don’t know that! I am not willing to take that risk,” Darius screams back at“But | am!” | yell at him as Tobias, Lycus, and Kalen cout of the castle, jogging over to us, their eyes casting nervous glances at the sky where light sparked and illuminated in the distance. Tobias waves his arms in the air trying to calm us. | wanted to beat Darius senselessly for his stupidity and for mine of believing her, trusting the one woman they warnedabout.

“Picking up a rock, | chuck at him as he walks away, it hits him in the back, and he whirls on me, stalking towardand Tobias backs up. Our mates watch from the sidelines as he reaches me, and | pummel Darius, hitting him wherever | can. My Phoenixes above caw and swirl in the night sky above like glowing beacons of infinite power, their magic zapping and rechargingwith each cawing blast. “I could have taken them; | would have ended them,” | scream at him when he grips my arms.

“And at what sacrifice, your life? That sort of power, the power needed to kill the power hunters would have killed you. You can’t harness that kind of power blindly, you aren’t ready!” “Better me, than them!” | cry as our mates draw nearer.

“How could you?” He was a monster. Thousands, and thousands of lives he has just put at risk because of me.

“Better them than you, because if it is between choosing between you and them, | choose you. | have lost you once. | won't lose you again. | can live with their deaths on my hands. | can’t live with yours!” he says, shaking me.

“We don’t know that! | could have taken it, | could have absorbed the Phoenixes - “. Darius grabs my face in his hands.

“Look up, Aleera, there aren’t enough of them. You think you could, but you can’t. That stone was a power absorber. The moment you touched it, you activated it. It wouldn't stop absorbing you or your birds until it contained everything you had left. Then what? You were giving the power hunters the ultimate weapon, the ultimate power.” | shake my head, tears streaming down my face at my stupidity. | was angry at him but mostly angry at myself, knowing this was my fault, | should have killed her when | saw her, should have told them.

“We don’t know that.” | croak.

“I do! Because the magic that was used to create that stone. Is mine. For years | was their weapon,” Darius says, lettinggo and | stagger back and look at him.

“What?” “As soon as | saw that stone in your hand and the rune on it, | knew it was mine.” | shake my head. He was wrong. It was my mother’s magic. | felt it inside that stone.

“No, it was my mother’s power. | could feel it.” Darius clutches his hair and screams in frustration. The torment coming through the bond from him caused him physical pain, and my chest was restricted.

“I couldn't save them, you, | can save,’ Darius yells at me.

“What are you talking about? It was my mother’s magic!” | scream at him.

“It was mine, think Aleera. Think about it, think about everything | have told you, what you have seen! What you know!”| shake my head when he grasps my face in his hands.

“Think, Aleera, the second plague. How did your mother survive it?” Darius asks me.

“My father, he did something to her.” Darius nods before he whispers. “He fed her my blood.” “But that makes no sense,” | tell him, gripping his shirt and pushing back against him as the shred coursed through me, sensing his magic, and | try to ignore it, try to focus on my anger instead of the burning lust writhing and coursing through me, knowing he was the last one, with him | would awaken to my full potential, and my body sensed that with every fiber of my being, and it wanted his power, wanted him.

“It does if | am the plague. | created it; | unleashed it. You want to know how | can sacrifice an entire city for you? Because | already sacrificed the entire world thinking | was saving you all. | told you | have blood on my hands, and | told you that you didn’t want to know the sort of monster you lay beside at night. | am the plague Aleera, the reason it exists, the reason it got out, and the only cure, or | was before,” he stares up at the sky, at my phoenixes. “Before | destroyed that too,” “You were just a boy. You have this stupid idea in your head that you did this, but you didn’t!” Darius laughs.

“Didn’t 1? My father wanted to destroy it, toldto destroy it when we learned what it was capable of -” he shakes his head and clenches his teeth.

“You think you know, but you don’t,” Darius tells me, and I reach for him, but he pulls away, placing his hands in the air, not wanting my touch. That stung, but I refused to let him escape it this time. “Then tell me?” | growl at him, recharging off slivers of power off my Phoenixes to hold him here, but he breaks it easily, feeding off my energy.

“It all leads back to me, all of you, Kalen, Lycus.” Darius looks over his shoulder at Tobias. “Thomas, it’s all my fault.” He tells me, looking back at me. “You can hateall you want, but | stand by what I did, their lives or yours?” He tells me, pointing off to our mates. “Their lives!” “I'll choose you all every d*mn time. No matter the sacrifice, | did not kill the world to lose what's left of mine.

You are mine. Every single one of you, mine, my life. | won't lose you again. | just got you back,” he growls at me, with a sheen of madness in his eyes.

“You are making no sense, you— ” “It doesn’t have to make sense, Aleera! | did this. Not you, so what | did doesn’t taint you. It’s all my fault,” he tells me, and | shake my head while he growls, . turning on his heel.

“Show me!” | plead with him.

Darius opens up a portal. “Darius?” Tobias asks, and Darius stops looking at him. “What have you done?” Darius looks back at me.

“I chose her.” He steps through the portal. “Wait, that's it? You chooseand f**k the rest of the world?” | scream, charging in after him as he steps back into our room.

“I told you who | was. You didn’t want to believe me.” his anger was palpable, and his voice cold and devoid of emotion.

“Then show me, letin,” | snap at him, and he shrugsoff as our mates follow us into the room, and sweat beaded on my neck as the heat of the shred tries to overwhelmwhen Darius moves toward the dresser.

“They're going to cfor you, but | won't let them take you,” he says while digging through the dresser, and | could feel his intention through the bond loud and clear. He was going after them. He knew where they would chase the beacon once set off, which is why he tossed the Moonstone into the city because that was his Demonic-far Kingdom's city, one he was familiar with. He knew they would stop coming forif | didn’t possess the power of fully merging with my mates if the bond was broken. He turns around, and | see the devil's bane in his hand.

“Darius!” Tobias hisses as he pulls the, syringe from the pouch. “I won't lose you all. They'll stop. You can keep her safe,” Darius informs them, and my brows scrunch.

“What?” Lycus says, stepping pasttoward him.

“Her power will die out, she'll be safe, you all will be safe,” Darius tells him, and | realize fully what that intention | could feel through the bond is. He was going to go after them, knowing that if they killed him, I would never cinto full power, and our bonds would eventually break.

“No!” I snarl at him.

“It's the only way. It started with me. It ends with me,” Darius comes toward me, and my skin buzzes with my anger.

“You're right; it does end with you,” | tell him, feeling the bond sizzle as | flick my wrist at him, giving myself over to instinct; the syringe goes flying. He won't escapethis time, | thought as | lunged at him; | was taking his power, and | was ending this, ending my mother and the power hunters for good.

Darius growls, catching me, and before he can tossoff, | kiss him, absorbing his power. Darius gasps, feeling his power bleed intoas | take it, and he struggles, trying to tossoff instead stumbling backward and hitting the bed. | crash on top of him, my legs straddling his waist, and | pin with his own magic, my hands pressing against his chest.

We were going to complete the shred. He will givehis power even if | have to take it myself.

Darius growls, glaring up at me, and our mates back off. Their energy ripples behindas | stare down at him.

“Three down, one to go,” | tell him before giving myself over to my bond and watching as it forces his bond out, latching onto it.

sok Guys, pay attention to the Author's Note Attached.

Follow my Author Page on F.B Jessica Hall Author Page for updates on book 3, Taming Darkness.

Author Hey Guys. This is the last chapter of Tasting Darkness. Please jump on F.B and follow my Author Page. Due to an ongoing dispute with the app, Book 3, Taming Darkness, will be posted to *** Only | will noct on my Author Page when