Descendant of pain, p.1
Descendant of Pain, page 1
part #5 of Descendant Series
DESCENDANT OF PAIN
DESCENDANT
BOOK V
M. SINCLAIR
Lost & Bound Publishing
Descendant of Pain: Descendant (#5)
Copyright © 2022 by M. Sinclair in USA
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced/transmitted/distributed in any form. No part of this publication shall be shared by any means including photocopying, recording, or any electronic/mechanical method, or the Internet, without prior written consent of the author. Cases of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law are the exception. The unauthorized reproduction/transmitting of this work is illegal. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
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The Union of Love & Madness
CONTENTS
Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Afterword
M. Sinclair
Published Works
DESCRIPTION
Descendant of Chaos.
Daughter of Magic.
Two titles that I had been called time and time again, but neither of them truly fit. As I had found in the God realm, I was so much more than that—an anomaly.
And because of who I was and how I came to be, I was now part of a prophecy—one with world-ending aspects I wasn’t a fan of. Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid the situation forever, and while the Horde was an amazing place to do exactly that… I quickly found there was something so much larger at stake than my pride or my anger at what Isis and my birthmother had done.
If I want to keep the people I love safe, I was going to have to fulfill the prophecy and save the realms.
No pressure, right?
This PNR slow/medium-burn RH contains several dark themes that readers should be aware of: swearing (I know—surprising, right?), violence, PTSD, and sexual themes suitable for +18. Additionally, this book does have mature M/M themes that develop over time.
CHAPTER 1
NOVA
“Ram”—I made sure to keep as straight of a face as possible, which was pretty hard considering the circumstances—“you don’t have to lie to me.”
Which he was, for the record.
“Sunshine, you’re about two seconds from being—”
Appearing in front of him, having blinked across the space in less than a second, I placed a finger against his lips and offered a teasing smile. “Don’t go promising a girl a good time…at least until you admit the truth.”
“There’s nothing to admit,” he rumbled, pulling my finger away and brushing his lips against it. My toes curled at the sweet action, one that seemed subconscious on his end since I was totally annoying him right now.
“You love junk food. Say it with me.”
I had just caught the man eating out of a bag of chips that he said was ‘empty of any nutritional value’ and ‘not a meal’ only hours ago. What a freakin’ liar, right? Clearly he’d been worried I would eat them all and was trying to save them for himself.
I mean, I didn’t exactly blame him. They were sour cream and onion flavored—arguably the best kind of chips.
“I don’t love junk food,” Ramsey grunted. “I was curious what they taste like since you love them so much.”
I partly believed that, because there was no freakin’ way this man looked the way he did and ate junk food, magic or not.
Seriously—I’d seen Ramsey undressed, and it was ridiculous. The man was like a statue of a Greek god… Well, Egyptian god, I suppose. Demi-god, if we were being accurate.
It wasn’t just his muscles that were perfect, though. No, unfortunately for my attention span, the man was constantly in a state of good-looking perfection. The demi-god’s skin was a gorgeous umber that highlighted his dark wavy hair and metallic gold eyes. His scent, a skin-prickling aroma of warm sand, contrasted his calm, controlled manner that until recently had reminded me of a blizzard.
Don’t get me wrong, Ramsey was a storm in all senses of the word, but…turns out I’m pretty great with winter weather, because I’d broken through that snow wall, and now my magic was wrapped up with his, right in the center of the blizzard…fucking.
My magic got laid more than I did, which was saying something.
For the record, my magic and I were equally thrilled with how openly obsessed both the man and his magic had admitted to being with us. I mean, he wanted to knock me up—that was pretty damn committed. Not that I was ready for that, but it was very flattering nonetheless. Even right now, despite being frustrated with me, his hand was wrapped around my waist, holding me close against him as if worried I would walk away or try to leave the room.
So to reassure him, because I was a good girlfriend like that, I leaned closer and flicked a piece of chip off of his sweater.
“As flattering as I find that,” I said in a prim voice, “which is not as flattering as the idea of you murdering someone for me, or trying to knock me up—”
“Nova,” he warned as I felt him get harder than he already was.
“—I don’t believe that’s the case. You don’t eat a half a bag of chips just to—”
Ramsey’s other hand slid up the back of my neck and jerked me forward, a moan coming from my throat as he took my lips in a hard, rough kiss that had my body breaking out into chills that fed our magic in an interconnected loop.
Not that it was extremely surprising, considering what had happened when we arrived in the Horde after escaping the God realm. My magic had exploded out of me, unable to contain that level of power, and siphoned through not eight bonds with my men…but nine.
Yeah…I didn’t know what to make of this entire situation, specifically the part with Volkan. How did I not make this weird? Like ‘Hey, I know we haven’t known each other for long, but guess what? We’re bonded! Like seriously super bonded to each other.’
Also, there was the fact that we had kissed, but I was trying not to think about that.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’d been avoiding me as well… I wouldn’t know, considering I’d been sleeping for around two days, recovering from the absolute havoc the power surge had caused on my body. I nearly shook my head at that, deciding not to deep-dive into that particular memory—because now that I’d recovered, I remembered in startling detail every ounce of pain the power awakening ceremony had caused. Even now, my back still tingled from the three marks along my spine, and I knew for a fact that the bond created was affecting my mages because instead of partaking in their normal psychotic behavior, they had been resting with me, taking the time to recover as well.
Pulling back from the kiss, my sarcasm melted away under Ramsey’s intense gaze, his gold eyes like pools of pure emotion. After meeting his piece of shit father, I found I had a far greater understanding of Ramsey and why he acted as he did. It was easy to see why the duty he felt towards the God realm was so extreme—after his mother had passed away, the Scarabs had been the only true support system for Nour and him.
“Where’d you go?” Ramsey asked, examining my face.
“Thinking about how connected I feel to all of you,” I whispered, my cheeks flushing a bit with color, “and the marks on your arms.”
It was impossible to not think about it. I could feel their magic coursing through me, as if I were a heart for a system of veins pumped full of magic. That didn’t even include the strong possessive sense of pride I felt towards them having my mark on them. My magic offered me a wink, clearly pleased with the situation at hand.
Ramsey let out a low rumble of understanding, pushing up the sleeve of his dark sweater to examine the three brands there, the ones that represented my three lines of magic: Venus, Set, and Isis.
What a goddamn mess.
My world had changed in the God realm, everything I’d believed about myself exposed as a lie. Except for the love I felt for my men; except for the anchor they provided in this chaos.
“I love it,” Ramsey admitted, making me smile.
“Yeah? You love it when I mark you?”
“Who wouldn’t?” he countered, bending down and picking me up so that I was level with him. I didn’t consider myself that small—at least in comparison to most people who weren’t massive demi-gods—but I would never say no to the man holding me.
“Nova!”
A groan caught in my throat as my eyes darted to the back door, my only possible escape route. Maybe I could find sanctuary in the castle—Gray would probably be cool with that. The woman was literally a saint in my mind.
When the Queen of the Horde herself had found us sprawled on the ground after Volkan portalled us to escape Set, we had been rushed to the castle medical center. Once the medical staff had ensured we weren’t going to die and I’d woken up, I’d attempted to explain to Gray the seriousness of the situation at hand. It had been only the two of us, and I’d told her everything from the prophecy bullshit Isis was trying to push on me to the threat I would bring to the Horde, mainly because of Set, if we stayed here.
I’d even offered to leave. Sure, the Horde had been a fantastic escape location, but I cared about the people here, and I didn’t want Set’s bullshit to possibly put them in danger.
Gray had looked at me like I’d lost my mind. She told me that I wasn’t allowed to leave out of guilt—Queen’s Decree or some shit. Essentially, unless we were leaving to go do something, she wouldn’t allow us to keep running, and she promised protection for us. I had never seen the true extent of Gray’s power, but I could feel her connection to the realm, and I had no doubt, literally zero, that she would be able to keep the gods away for now. Not that the knowledge appeased my guilt at all.
“What did you do?” Ramsey tightened his arms around me, trying to stop me from wiggling.
“I didn’t do shit.” I let a small growl of frustration escape. “River is just pissed because—”
“Because you locked me into my own damn room!” River said as he finally entered the kitchen.
I had. I had totally locked him in his room, mostly because if he saw what I was wearing tonight, I knew he would lose his marbles more than he already had. Seriously, the healing mage who loved inflicting pain on my body while he screwed me was absolutely insane. He was just far better at hiding it than most of us.
“Hey sprinkles,” I teased. “Took you a bit to get out of there.”
“Had to climb out the window,” he growled, his hazel eyes flashing with retribution. Damnit, I absolutely loved that. Honestly, it was hard to not love the man—everything about him was so damn sexy. Even right now, still dressed in his hoodie and sweats, I could barely take my eyes off him.
I could see his arm muscles flexing, and my eyes darted down to his gray sweatpants, debating whether I should request he wear them every day… But then other women would see everything he had to offer, and I wasn’t cool with that.
“Why did you lock him in there?” Ramsey asked, letting me slide down his body. I leaned further into him for protection, craning my head up to look at River.
Something that was a bit of a feat since his massive 6‘5’’ height really did make me feel tiny. His hair was messy from earlier, the shorter shaved sides showing off his runes, and it was clear that it had taken a decent amount of effort for him to get out of that room since he was covered in a light rain from outside—probably because I’d used my ability with lightning to melt the lock and bolts on the doors. Oops.
“Because she knew I wouldn’t be okay with her wearing this shit,” he growled, his gaze running over my outfit. Yeah, that tone turned me on way more than it should. I also couldn’t help but inhale his wonderful forest rain scent that was so damn familiar to me at this point, distracting me from the nonsense he was saying.
This ‘shit,’ by the way, was an adorable blue dress with over-the-knee leather boots. It was completely appropriate, and it even had a fairly high neckline. The part he didn’t like? How tight it was against my ass and the way the back of the dress dipped super low, showing off the section of skin he had deemed as ‘too sexy’ for tonight. Ridiculous, I know.
“I got it from Gray herself. I can’t not wear it,” I said with a smirk.
That primal darkness that was so dangerous sparked in River’s eyes, causing my pulse to jump as I felt the interesting urge to run. Something that was ludicrous, of course. I wasn’t scared of River, but it was an instinctual response to the potential threat he posed.
I craved that darkness, and I didn’t think anyone realized just how deadly the man was. Like an avalanche, all it would take would be one moment of weakness in his control and he would bury all of us.
I loved it.
“Can’t wear it if it’s ruined.” River’s eyes narrowed further on the garment, as if he were literally about to rip it from my body. As sexy as that sounded, I didn’t want Gray’s dress to be destroyed.
“Nope!” I easily escaped from between the demi-god and mage before turning to face them, realizing just how dangerous it was to view the two of them standing next to one another. I mean, seriously—it was a bit unfair how much they affected me.
“Nova—”
“Row-baby!” I turned in excitement at the entrance of my incredibly amazing ink mage. My greeting had him flashing a beautiful smile before he looked curiously over my shoulder, his eyes sparking with mirth.
“Are these guys bothering you?” Rowan asked with faux concern.
“They are bullying me.” I sighed, walking into his arms.
“This is ridiculous,” Ramsey muttered.
“It will only get worse,” River agreed. “It always does.”
What he meant was that it always got funnier—Rowan and I were hilarious.
“Why are they bullying you?” Rowan’s smile grew as we ignored them completely, his personality, as always, a fascinating mix of intensity, charming humor, and darkness.
The man was like a tsunami hitting on a beautiful sunny day, the wave crashing over you out of nowhere before taking you under. My ink mage was a bit complicated and had more than his fair share of messy emotions, but ever since that night in the God realm, a wall seemed to have come down between him and me, as well as him and August.
I just hoped being back in the Horde wouldn’t result in a big step back, especially since I hadn’t forgotten about that little dinner we were supposed to have with his father.
“River doesn’t like this dress.” I motioned to my frame, Rowan’s heated gaze following. “And I can tell Ramsey is going to agree with him.”
“I think you look fucking amazing.” Rowan’s stunning blue eyes sparked with a lightning bolt of heat as my center tightened, causing me to swallow.
“Wait till you see the back.” I did a little spin, and Rowan’s throat produced a low noise, nearly a growl, before I heard River stride from the room, probably to find me a new dress. I looked over at Ramsey, who was now sitting on the breakfast table looking distressed.
“How many?” he asked Rowan, the man offering him a devastating smile in response.
Much like Ramsey, he was dressed and ready to go, but he was wearing his Red Masques uniform, and damn did he look good. He looked very all-American military until you saw the tattoos...and there were a lot of them.
Rowan had an obsessive interest in ink art in general, which was why he put a mark on me the day we met. At the time I’d wanted to be upset about it…but even then, and especially now, I found it sort of hot. There was also the fact that I now knew it was his attempt at expressing how strongly he felt about me before he’d been able to find the words.
“Two different military branches and a bunch of assholes,” Rowan answered. I arched a brow in question, and he cupped my jaw as he explained, “He’s asking how many men he’s going to have to kill.”
“Not kill…” Ramsey muttered. “Well, maybe kill. That may have to be the solution.”
I examined Rowan’s eyebrow piercing and the way it glinted in the kitchen light as he let out a laugh in response to Ramsey that was absolutely beautiful. I snuggled against him as his magic slid against my skin in a comforting and familiar manner, like a warm, inky substance that my entire body was being submerged in.
