The Darkest Sword by Samantha Kroese (ebook voice reader txt) 📕

“Will you be able to control yourself? We have to kill the most powerful being on this planet now.”

Ashiyn’s voice made Soryn nearly jump out of his skin, and he was pretty sure his heart tried to climb out of his throat. Soryn’s eyes flew open. Ashiyn was dressed again in his dark, heavy, armor, the plate mail concealing the perfect body beneath it. Ashiyn did not wear a helm to hide his handsome face or his piercing golden eyes, though. Soryn’s breath caught and he could not answer.

Ashiyn picked Sihtaar up from its glass case, and the evil blade glowed, awakening at his touch.

Soryn forced himself to breathe. Forced away thoughts of how he wished Ashiyn’s fingers were caressing him instead. He had to focus. If he wanted Ashiyn back, he had to help kill Rhadamanthus, and he was well aware of how dangerous it was. Soryn cleared his throat and pushed off the wall, trying to appear casual. “Of course, my King. I am ready when you are.”

“Are you?” Ashiyn asked and raised a brow, amusement tugging at the corner of his lips again.

Soryn clenched his hands until his nails brought pain. The pain shocked him out of his arousal. He shook himself, then smiled charmingly at Ashiyn. “Is it dangerous, my King?”

“Of course it is. If it were not, I would have succeeded,” Ashiyn said with a scowl.

Soryn walked closer until he stood next to Ashiyn, keeping his gaze respectfully lowered. “Perhaps, if we succeed, you could reward your servant?”

“Bold of you. What do you want?” Ashiyn asked, looking Soryn over.

“With all due respect, I think it’s quite clear what I want,” Soryn hazarded a glance up to meet Ashiyn’s gaze. Soryn resisted the urge to catch his breath. He was playing a dangerous game. It had worked before, but Ashiyn had been much younger.

Ashiyn tilted his head in thought.

“If I were a woman would you question it?” Soryn prodded when Ashiyn did not answer.

“If you were a woman, I would take you now,” Ashiyn snorted then turned away. “Succeed first. Then we will talk about your reward. I do hope you can focus.”

Soryn sighed. “Yes, my King. It won’t be a problem. Once I step between planes, I will have crystal clarity.”

“Then let us proceed. I have waited long enough for this,” Ashiyn said, then waved a hand dismissively and walked out of the room.

Once Ashiyn was out of the room it was easier to focus. Soryn took a few moments to gather his thoughts. He closed his eyes and let his magic surface. His body shivered as the cold magic rushed over him. Soryn faded from what was known as the physical world and used his celestial magic to transcend it. When he reopened his eyes, he stood in a hollow black place with the planes stretched before him like endless doors. He called his magic and focused on Rhadamanthus. The doors flew past him, activated by the magic. One slammed into place before him and Soryn could see the monster’s lair hidden between planes. Rhadamanthus was draining the essence of the planes themselves to achieve a form of immortality.

Soryn waited for Ashiyn to call Rhadamanthus from the lair. Soryn knew he had precious little time. He stepped into the door. The plane shimmered to life around him, disorienting him. What he found there horrified him. The dark room was littered with desiccated corpses. The freshest appeared to be two children who stared up at him with unseeing eyes from horrifically mangled bodies. Soryn resisted the urge to retch and forced himself to look away.

No more would suffer at Rhadamanthus’s hand, least of all Ashiyn. Righteous fury filled him and Soryn unleashed all his magic. Massive wings sprouted from his back, and his body became a vessel for pure light. It came out of him in waves as he used it to tear the lair apart. There would be no way for Rhadamanthus to return or use the planes to tether his essence now.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Ashiyn hit the wall of the chamber with enough force he felt bones crack. He snarled and raised Sihtaar in front of him to absorb the next blow of magic. Sihtaar laughed in his mind as it drank deeply of the spell and protected Ashiyn from it.

“I will rend you into a million pieces and see how long it takes you to come back from that!” Rhadamanthus roared from where he floated in the center of the room, the air crackling with his unleashed magic. Though Ashiyn had stolen his life and his physical strength to resurrect Illusion, Rhadamanthus had spent millennia getting used to his new form and honing his magic. This battle was not new to either of them.

Ashiyn swung Sihtaar, sending the blade spinning through the air at the skeletal magus. As it spun, Sihtaar drank Rhadamanthus’s magic, absorbing all that it touched.

Rhadamanthus dove out of the way of the blade, then whirled to send another crippling spell at Ashiyn. Ashiyn ran underneath it, outstretching his hand to call Sihtaar back with his magic. Rhadamanthus dodged the flying blade again as he continued floating around the room and throwing magic. Ashiyn scrambled, just barely keeping ahead of the bolts of death magic. They would not kill him, but they would eventually wear him down.

Stab him! I will devour him! Sihtaar insisted in Ashiyn’s thoughts. Ashiyn glared at the blade.

He drew Sihtaar’s magical lightning to his hand and used his will to form it into a hooked chain. Between spells, he whirled it through the air. Rhadamanthus screeched in fury when the hook imbedded itself into his chest. He stopped to try to remove it, but he was not fast enough. Ashiyn slid Sihtaar onto his back, then used his supernatural strength to swing the chain, throwing Rhadamanthus into the wall.

Rhadamanthus’s physical