Conan: Condemned, #6

By Ava Benton

The final book in the Condemned series!

 

"I've spent decades being tortured by your memory. You swore you'd be mine. And instead, you ripped out my heart and left it to rot because you're a coward."

The sadness that tainted her words was enough to slice Conan open as if she were the one holding the dagger. She pressed herself closer, his blade pressing into her neck. He wasn't sure how there wasn't blood. For a horrible second, he thought she was going to slice her own throat open, and his hand tensed.

"I've been dead for years. Make it official or leave. I have work to do."

 

Conan's not going to let Cyrene walk away from him again. Not ever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ABP
• Release date: May 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201170349

Book preview

1

CYRENE

Icouldn’t linger in the Underworld. Ignoring the questioning glances of Aithen’s guards, I rushed for the front doors. The last few minutes replayed over and over in my head. The Archives had collapsed around us while that shadow monstrosity unleashed unholy hell on the place. A chill had set into my bones then and hadn’t left. In all my long years on this earth, I’d never felt such concentrated malice. Never felt paralyzed by fear coursing through my body.

Except for one time.

A vision that struck me when I was barely twenty years old. One I’d let myself think after all this time had been a fluke. Merely a nightmare. Too bad I’d just come face to face with the abomination I’d seen back then. It was no longer a horrific fantasy I could keep tucked in the back of my mind and pretend it never happened. That I hadn’t seen the end of magic as we know it. I’d thought when the Rift had been closed, we’d stopped that dreadful future from occurring.

I guessed that was too much to hope for.

And it all led back to Carridan. He was no longer just a spirit, probably hadn’t been since we shut down the ritual meant to open the door to the Infernal Rift. A bit of magic, however small, must’ve slipped through without us realizing it and latched onto the closest being to it. At the time, it had been Carridan, or what was left of the bastard. Now it had not only the magic Vayne Winters gathered during his lifetime, but whatever power resided in the Archives before it obliterated them.

I wanted to say I was overreacting, but I wasn’t that lucky. I wouldn’t know what we were dealing with until I tracked down Carridan and saw for myself what he’d become. Hard to do that from the Underworld.

Outside, I picked up the pace and readied the spell to return to the surface. Steps rushed up behind me.

What are you doing? I demanded without turning around.

Keeping an eye on you, Conan replied, his voice thick with a growl of anger.

You should stay with your cousins and brother. I have to find a way to track down Carridan. Until then, I need you to stay out of my way.

You saw the same shit I did, he snapped.

Which is why I need to go, and you need to stay here until everyone’s ready to leave. Not giving him another chance to argue and silently congratulating myself on not giving in to the urge to look at him, I raised my hand. A gust of wind whipped up, bringing with it a swirl of leaves. Just as my feet left the ground, a hand latched onto my upper arm. Its grip was too hard for me to easily break free of. I touched down on the grass outside my cabin, then whirled around with a furious shout at the demon who’d jumped my transport. Are you insane?

Conan bared his fangs at me and pressed a hand to his gut. How does that not make you puke every time?

That’s what happens when you hitchhike on someone else’s transport spell without their permission. It serves you right. Now you can turn around and march your happy demon ass back to the veil and leave me alone. I strode for the door to my cabin, stopping short at the heavy steps following. Seriously? Why are you stalking me?

Conan was barely a yard away, and I swallowed hard, the familiar heat of his simmering rage pressing against my skin with a touchless caress. His narrowed gaze never left mine, and goddess, he somehow managed to elicit what he wanted in that challenging stare. His desires slipped on the air current as easily as leaves gusting in the breeze. They kept me pinned to the spot.

I’m ensuring you stay alive. His rage brushed over my bare skin, burning me in a way I hadn’t felt in decades. I wanted to go to him in those few seconds. You’re not invincible, he added harshly, the heat from his body spiking.

I bit down on my lip. The pain jarred me from the spell his mere presence cast over me every damn time, no matter how much I said I hated him. I never said I was. You don’t need to be here.

His jaw worked back and forth like he always did when he was pissed and weighing his words carefully. Whatever that shadow creature is, it’s on the loose. This shit with Carridan isn’t even close to being over. It’s about to get a hundred times worse. Do you honestly think I’m going to up and leave you alone while we’ve got these fucking marks?

He held up his arm as if I needed the visual reminder.

We’re all in danger. Any of us being alone right now is just being stupid, and you know it. He crossed his arms, his arched brow daring me to argue with him.

It didn’t matter if he was right. I wasn’t going to agree with him. I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit how terrified I was that the monster we’d seen unleashed wasn’t something we’d be able to stop. Not once had I told him about my vision. By the time I’d met him, it’d been a faraway worry. If he knew what I’d seen, he’d lose it. My tattoos pulsed, and Conan’s crossed arms fell to his sides, his brow furrowing.

Do you have any idea of what we’re even up against? he asked.

Oh, I did, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. I might if you’d stop following me around.

He rolled his eyes, and I took that opportunity to break away from his gaze and head inside. He caught up to me in the foyer and was my shadow through the house and into my workroom. But this wasn’t the room I needed right then. I backed out to the doorway, shut my eyes, and raised my hands. Vines curled around my fingers and up my wrists. I focused on the room I did need, clapped my hands once, then opened my eyes. The room was filled with shelves stacked high with books. My heart ached at how much knowledge we’d just lost with the destruction of the Archives. So much knowledge and stories were held in those never-ending rooms. So many artifacts and histories. There was no recovering it. What knowledge held here in my home was now precious indeed.

More vines sprouted around my feet and curled up my ankles to my shins. I ground my teeth. My head ached from getting a hold of my magic before it grew out of control and filled the entire cabin with a tangle of leafy green vines and blackened flowers.

I should never have forgotten the vision. It’d been given to me for a reason, but I’d ignored my calling, and for what? I had nothing to show from all my long years on this earth. It wasn’t until recently I started to track down those unknowing few with magic running through their veins. Why I’d been doing it, I had no idea, but something had told me it’d be needed. But the witches I’d found, those who’d become my new family, were in danger, and it was my fault. I brought this on them. If this beast had shown itself centuries ago, there might’ve been enough powerful witches to stop it with barely any effort at all. But now, we were weak. We were weak, and it was my fault.

I’d failed everyone.

A heavy hand rested on my shoulder, humming with fervent energy. We’ll stop him.

Turning my glare on him, I shrugged away from his hand. If I hadn’t been distracted by you showing back up in my life, I already would’ve. That was a lie, well, partial lie, but I needed him to go away. He’d been a distraction, one that was quickly driving me insane.

What are you talking about?

The second you stepped through my door, all you’ve been doing is pulling my focus away from ending Carridan and his cult and whatever other madness has gripped this world, I ranted. All you’ve done is cause me more trouble. You should go before you cause anymore.

All I’ve done is try to help, he argued, somehow seeming to grow taller and broader with his words.

All that did was remind me how much I’d always been drawn to his intimidating side. Damn that demon.

Yeah? Isn’t that a shocker. You, helping.

He leaned away but didn’t storm off as I’d hoped he would. You can say whatever you want. I’m not leaving you alone.

I could magic you out of here.

Then do it, he challenged. I’ll come right back.

Are you sure about that?

His eyes narrowed, but only for a second. He rested his shoulder against the doorframe and glanced beyond me into the room. If you have work to do, then get to it. I’ll stay right here and out of your way.

I wanted him to argue more. To yell and get mad, but all he did was stand there, that damn watchful expression on his face. He appeared relaxed, but I knew better. He was tensed and ready to attack at a moment’s notice. That’s how Conan was. Waiting for the next fight, waiting for the next chance to spill blood. He was a ferocious animal hiding behind that calm demeanor, ready to be unleashed. Once upon a time, I’d embraced that wildness in him because the same wildness resided in me. My magic was one with the earth and woodlands of the world, after all—wild magic.

I meant to walk into the library and get to work, but my eyes were drawn to Conan. I really looked at him as I hadn’t done since he’d walked into my cabin.

The years hadn’t been kind to him. His dark copper hair had become shaggier but suited him even now. He was the same ruggedly handsome demon I’d first seen standing beside the river. He’d been watering his horse and waiting for his entourage to return to the Underworld. There’d been a smile on his face while he’d talked to the beast. That smile that always looked more like a smug grin had been what drove me to find him in the first place after I’d spied him in my dreams. And his laughter, the booming sound that had lifted my spirits more than once.

I noted the three scars along his neck, remembering how he’d gotten them fighting off a horde of vampires who’d gotten the idea in their heads to invade the Underworld. They’d met Conan and his blades instead. The fight had been bloody, but none of them lived to tell about it. He wore the same leather and dark grey and black clothing he’d also donned back then. He’d told me once I was the only bit of color he’d ever need in his life. There were more lines around his slate grey eyes, eyes that had hardened. They danced to me, and my heart picked up the pace. For a moment, his look was full of emotions. The heartache and regret caught me off guard like some invisible force had punched me in the chest. The killer expression I’d seen so many times before wasn’t present. Nor was the fury I’d seen the night he’d shoved me out of his life. That violent rage that burned so hot inside him sometimes, its only way out, was to fight. To kill.

I’d accepted the demon he was and loved him unconditionally. He bled for his people, for the innocent. He was fierce and strong, and beneath it all, I saw the kindness he always believed was a weakness. I glimpsed the love he swore would drag him down and steal away his throne.

He cleared his throat, blinked, and the emotions were locked away behind a wall of grey, quickly darkening to a shimmering black.

I walked into the library and into the stacks, hoping he didn’t hear how heavy I was breathing while fighting to get ahold of myself. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. Reliving the past wasn’t going to do either of us any good. There was too much grief there—too much loss.

Too much hurt that’d never heal.

I threw myself into my task and attempted to ignore the demon standing in the doorway. I pulled books and scrolls from the shelves, muttering under my breath while I worked through a way to find Carridan. It hit me now why we hadn’t been able to track his spirit in all this time either. The power that had hitched a ride with him must’ve been blocking our magic. We’d have to use an immense about of energy to find him, but it wasn’t only him. He, and whatever else was attached to him, was too strong after absorbing the Archives. I wasn’t a hundred percent certain but had enough of an idea to know Carridan had been taken over by this magic, or he’d found a way to manipulate it and bend it to his will. Either way, it and he had to be destroyed at any cost. The brands told me he was going to come after us first. We were the ones who’d ruined his plan, or the plans of whatever force had driven him to start his cult to open the Rift.

A flash of the shadow charging toward us rushed through my mind, followed by that bastard’s evil cackle. The candlelight around me flickered. A ghostly touch pressed into my back. I tried to turn, but the invisible force held me in place. I wanted to call out, but all I managed was a gasp. Shadows wrapped around my arms and legs, creeping up my body and drowning me in the darkness. The mark on my arm burned like my skin was on fire. The shadows parted long enough for me to see my cabin in ruins and corpses on the ground around me.

Corpses that looked like Arkon and Jasmine, Dagon and Morgan. They were all there. I shifted my gaze to the one closest to me, and my heart lurched. Conan’s dead eyes stared back at me, shadows spilling from his mouth and the mark burning like a living flame on his arm.

Trying to reach him, I lunged forward and ran smack into a shelf of books. Shit! Everything went blurry while my eyes watered. My nose throbbed, and I cursed again. Course I had to hit my damn nose right on the edge of the shelf.

Cyrene? Conan rushed around the stacks toward me.

I raised my hand, my other busy rubbing my sore face. Fine, I’m fine.

What did you do? He glanced from the shelf to me and the books in a pile at my feet. You had a vision.

No, I was clumsy.

Really? His eyes glistened, and his aura pulsed. There’s vines around your feet and flower petals falling from the ceiling.

I was going to say he was wrong, but a quick glance down then up confirmed his words.

What did you see?

It doesn’t matter. I bent to pick