The Dark God's Bride Trilogy, #3 by Dahlia L. Summers Read Free Book Online Page A

“But if something were to…”
    Amara furrowed her brows in annoyance. “Stop leaving a will. Just be careful.”
    He gave her his signature wolfish grin. “Good night, apprentice.”
    “Happy hunting, Shiran.”
    After Amara cleaned up the mess in the bathroom, she went straight to bed. She just wanted to get some shut eye. As soon as she closed her eyes, she was disturbed by a loud, obnoxious motor noise. When she opened her eyes again, it was already daytime. She felt like she hadn’t slept at all.
    She lazily got up from the bed and pulled up the curtains to let light into the room. She raised her hand above her brow to block out the stinging sunlight from hitting her eyes directly. She looked outside and saw a crew of people working on the land. The yard was being mowed, the weeds were being pulled, dead flower bushes were being replaced by fresh live ones, and the exterior of the mansion was being restored. She had been so busy trying to keep the interior of the mansion livable that she didn’t have the time to take care of the outside. The mansion was simply too big for a single person to keep maintenance and she hadn’t been able to get anyone to come by for months. Noctis must have paid them a fortune just to show up , she thought.
    Amara glanced at the digital clock and decided that she should warm Gemma’s baby formula ahead of time so the baby wouldn’t have to cry for her breakfast. As she was about to slip into her sneaker s, she felt something strange moving at the tip of her toe, and instinctually withdrew. She jumped onto the bed when she saw something was crawling out from the inside. It was black and had many legs—
    She shrieked.
    Noctis materialized in the center of the room and then marched toward her. His eyes followed the direction her finger was pointing. There was a black spider with a red spot on its back crawling out of her sneaker. He moved quickly and squashed it beneath his black boot. He turned to her in a blurred motion and grasped at her ankle.
    “Were you bitten?” He asked urgently while he was inspecting each of her feet individually.
    “I… I don’t know.” She nervously swallowed. “I don’t feel any pain so I don’t think so. I think I pulled my foot away before it could strike.”
    He inspected them once again, closer attention this time, and then met her gaze. She thought he was going to say something, but he remained silen t. When the fear rush went away and her heart became still again, she gave him a small smile because she acknowledged that he still cared for her.
    He sighed and then asked, “It is essential that you answer the truth. Have you practiced necromancy?”
    She had never messed with the dead so she could give him a conscience clear answer. “No,” she said.
    “Are you certain?” He pressed on.
    “Yes! I admit that I used to practice summoning art, but never necromancy. Shiran said it wasn’t the same thing. I haven’t collected a single soul or raised any dead.”
    “Used to?”
    “It exhausted me and gave me terrible headaches. Sometimes I couldn’t get out of bed for days. Shiran said my powers were growing exponentially and my body couldn’t handle that kind of abuse. I only make use of it in desperate situations nowadays.”
    He was staring into the distan ce, so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn’t even blinked. There was an expression line between his brows that enhanced his already intimidating presence. His lips thinned and curved into a barely noticeable frown.
    Amara held her breath when his gaze returned from a far journey and set upon her. She had an irrational fear that he would notice she was studying him. She smiled at him once more, but this time was to hide the embarrassment that was burning at her cheeks.
    But he had noticed.
    Amara intentionally diverted her gaze and turned her attention to anything but the blue of his eyes. The most eye-catching thing in sight was the blood red tattoo-like seal around her ankle.