Between the Moon and Her Night (Between Life and Death #3)

Chapter 3

Aurelia

M y heart struck a mighty blow against my chest, as if it were trying to crack through my ribs, all so it could get back to him . To the male who had abused its keeper—Aurelius.

He was coming for the children of the Old Gods.

He was coming for me .

“Little Goddess.” Like a well-sharpened blade, Death’s voice cut through the tidal wave of emotions threatening to drag me under, anchoring my attention to him. I met his steady gaze. His otherworldly eyes were a bottomless black, so deep I wondered if souls got trapped in them. “We need to form the barrier, now.”

“How?” I asked, shaking my head. “We won’t have enough time.”

People rushed past us. Those who had been unsure about leaving the ships mere moments ago were now moving much faster, fear written in their eyes, in the whites of their knuckles as they tugged their loved ones off the dock.

“Sure, we do,” Death replied with a cocky smirk. Large hands bracketed my shoulders, and in one swift move, he spun me to face the end of the dock, towards the hundreds of soldiers, led by Aurelius, that were flying towards us.

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled as Death stepped in closer behind me, his vast shadow blotting out the sun. My body’s reaction to him wasn’t out of fear—no, that so-called ship had sailed.

This reaction was different .

It was like how I felt that day he showed up unannounced at the celebration ball after the Immortal War had ended, looking the epitome of dark and divine as he swept me around the dance floor—the sparks between us enough to start a fire that would burn the realms to ash.

“Hold up your hands, palms towards the sky,” he instructed me, his voice low, commanding, in my ear.

I did as he asked. “Like this?”

“Mhm,” he rumbled in that chest-deep tone. “You do so well with commands, Kitten.”

My cheeks tingled with heat.

He let out a low chuckle—the sound chock-full of male arrogance and unbridled seductiveness.

Creator above . . . this male.

Focus, Aurelia. Focus. There’s an entire army coming for us. Now is simply not the time to start thinking about the tall, broody, tattooed, muscular—

Fuck! I was doing it again.

Focus, damn you.

I turned my annoyance to him, or at least I tried to .

“Hurry up,” I snipped, as if it was his fault for making my body feel so attracted to his. Come to think of it, it was his fault. If he wasn’t so much, so much, well . . . him , then this wouldn’t be an issue. So damn him. Damn him and his sex-god body.

“So very bossy,” he mused as he placed his hands over mine, keeping them about a foot apart. A spark of heat transferred into my palms, as if two stones had been struck against each other. Then, that flicker erupted between us, producing a strength of magic that felt like it could fracture the earth in two.

The power that exuded from him . . . it was intoxicating. Like alcohol being poured directly into my veins. It was overwhelming. Incredible.

This was the unparalleled power of the King of the Old Gods, and he was sharing it . . . with me.

Freely.

“You have all you need to create the barrier,” he said, keeping up that continuous, potent flow of energy.

I didn’t need to ask how to do it because suddenly I just knew. I looked past the ships that waited to dock to the army quickly approaching. I chose a spot between the two.

My lungs drew in a breath, and then I released everything the God of Death had given me. Bolts of black, void of light, shot forth from the turbulent sea, arcing and racing upwards at an unfathomable speed. The strikes of shadow magic veined and webbed across the azure sky, expanding into each other. It gobbled up the horizon, painting it in a stretch of never-ending black fog that wrapped around the continent, cutting off Aurelius and his soldiers from reaching us, cutting off Edenvale from the rest of the world.

When it was done, people whispered behind us, questioning what they had just witnessed. It was not long before three words began to pass from tongue to tongue.

The Endless Mist.

I lowered my hands to my sides as I stared at the massive black wall we had just created. “How long will it last?”

“It will last as long as you need it to,” Death answered.

“And Aurelius won’t we be able to get through it?” I spoke over my shoulder.

“He will not, unless you allow him to.”

“So then, it obeys me?”

“Essentially . . . yes.”

“Good.” I nodded once, looking forward.

“Now then, about our deal, Little Goddess.”

Our deal.

It had haunted me ever since the night of the celebration ball when we had made it. There were times where I considered going through with it, wondered what it would be like to wake up in a bed with his muscular, inky arms wrapped around me. Then there were times I couldn’t fathom it because I had just gotten out of a marriage and the last thing I wanted was to be forced into another one.

But at that moment, when I had to decide, I knew my answer.

It was the safe one. The one that protected me from any further harm that would come at the hands of another male.

“I’m sorry, Death. But I cannot,” I whispered as my light wrapped around me, taking me from him.

Away from Edenvale.