Dark Beginnings: The Darkest Fire / The Darkest Prison / The Darkest Angel. Gena Showalter

without touching her. She sighed in disappointment and tightened her grip on the wall, balancing her feet on a rocky protrusion as best she could.

      “This way.” He motioned toward this side’s crack with a tilt of his chin.

      “All right. And Geryon? Thank you. For everything.” Usually she whisked herself to Lucifer’s palace without ever opening the gate, too afraid of this. Not today. She couldn’t. For she could not whisk Geryon. Or anyone else, for that matter. The ability extended only to herself.

      “You are welcome.”

      As she passed, she waved one hand over the now-closed slit. Because there was no longer a guardian stationed out front, the extra fortification would be needed—despite the fact that providing it weakened her, forcing her to leave a piece of herself behind.

      As fragments of her power adhered to the stones, she was careful to maintain distance from them. Supposedly Geryon was the only one who could touch the handles of the gate without consequence. Well, besides Hades and Lucifer. Anyone else, the stones heaped untold pain and horror upon.

      She had never dared test the supposition.

      A thought occurred to her, and she tilted her head, studying her companion. Without Geryon at the gate, who would open the stones to allow damned souls inside?

      Perhaps Lucifer had already appointed another Guardian. Perhaps? She chuckled without humor. He had. He couldn’t leave the gates unguarded, even if he had known Kadence would refortify it.

      The knowledge that Geryon would not be the man she saw every day…saddened her. For when the wall was safe—she would not allow herself to believe she would fail in this mission—Geryon could leave, but she would be stuck here.

      Do not think about that now. She would cry. If she cried, her vision would blur and if her vision blurred, she would have trouble knowing where to place her hands. Her still sweating hands.

      She glanced around. The air was smokier here, she noticed, hotter. So hot, in fact, that the sheen of sweat spread up her arms, her neck, even her face. Beads formed, and those beads began trickling down her temples, blurring her vision.

      “Geryon,” she said, nearing a panic.

      “I am here, Kadence.” In the next instant, he was climbing over her and positioning himself behind again. The scent of decadent, powerful male enveloped her, chasing away the pungent odor of decay. “Are you all right?”

      “Yes,” she whispered, but gods, what had she gotten herself into?

       CHAPTER SIX

      “MOVE WITH ME,” Geryon told Kadence. “Can you do that?”

      “Yes. Of course.” Could she? Maintaining a firm grip, she used the jagged stones to edge along, ever conscious of the seemingly endless void awaiting her should she lose her balance—but far more aware of the male still behind her, caging her in, keeping her steady. “Perhaps the wall is not as damaged as I feared. A goddess can hope, at least.”

      “Yes, a goddess can hope.”

      How she yearned to rub against him, to drink in his strength, belong to him if only for a moment, but she did not, too afraid of distracting him. Or startling him. Or giving him too much of her weight and causing him to fall.

      A rock tumbled from the small ledge on which she had just placed her foot, and she yelped.

      “Do not show your fear in any way,” he said. “The demons and the flames feed on it, will try to increase it.”

      “They are alive? The flames, I mean.”

      “Some of them, yes.”

      Dear gods. How had she not known? “I did not imagine the climb would be difficult. I wish I could flash us.”

      “Flash?”

      “The ability to move from one location to another with only a thought.”

      “You have this ability?”

      “Yes.”

      “And you can go anywhere?”

      “Anywhere I have already been. To flash somewhere I have not is…dangerous.”

      He thought for a moment. “Have you been to the bottom of this cavern?”

      “No.” He had to wonder why she, one of the keepers of Hell, had not physically visited every inch. She had thought herself so clever, merely sending her mind through to watch. But she realized her mistake now.

      “Then I ask that you do not try to flash. You might misjudge the distance and end up in a spot without a ledge.”

      Or underground, but she did not tell him that.

      “That is a handy power to possess. I envy you.”

      Poor man. He’d been stuck at the gates of Hell for countless lifetimes. “If you could flash to anywhere in the world, where would you go?” Once they’d destroyed the demons trying to escape, perhaps she would take him there. She would not be able to remain with him, of course, but seeing his happiness could fuel her fantasies for years to come.

      He grunted. “I do not wish to lie to you, goddess, therefore I will not answer your question.”

      Oh. “I appreciate your honesty.” Why won’t he talk to me?

      Curiosity bombarded her. Did his answer embarrass him, perhaps? If so, why? She desperately wanted to know, but let the matter drop. For now.

      “We are almost there,” he said. Almost at the crack.

      “Good.” He was still close to her, still behind her, but he made sure not to touch her. Yet he couldn’t stop his heat from enveloping her. It was not a heat she minded, even amidst the smoldering furnace that was Hell. His was…heady.

      He stopped, forcing her to do the same. “I’m sorry to say it’s worse than I thought it would be.” His breath trekked over the back of her neck.

      “Wh—what?” she asked, horrified. Being near her was worse than he’d thought?

      “The wall. What else?”

      Thank the gods, she thought, expelling a breath. Foolish woman. Her life depended on this wall. She should not care whether a man found her attractive. Or not.

      She forced her gaze straight ahead, her mind to center on her job, not the intriguing man behind her. Thick claw marks abounded. And what had appeared to be thin grooves on the other side were massive craters here.

      Hope abandoned her.

      Irreparable. In every way.

      “They are more determined than I realized,” was all she said, voice trembling slightly. No reason to speak her fears aloud. Geryon might think she was complaining about his work or doubting his abilities.

      He adjusted his grip, his arm just over her shoulder. A tremor raked her. If she stood on her tiptoes, she would feel his skin through her chimation. Though it had been hundreds of years since she’d had a man, she remembered the comfort such simple contact could offer.

      “Do not worry, Kadence. I will not allow them to hurt you.”

      He was using her name more freely now, and that gladdened her. “Just so you know, I will not allow them to hurt you, either.” It was a vow.

      There was a pause. Then, “Thank you.” He sounded unsure.

      “You are welcome.”

      She thought she heard him swallow. “Shall I try and patch this side?”

      “No.” Too much effort for too little reward. She realized that now. “We should make our way to the bottom. Destroying the High Lords is the only way to prevent more damage.”

      Evil laughter erupted