Darkness Unbound Read Online Free PDF

I’ve said good-bye, he will stay gone.”
    Khyan sat across from her and cocked his head. “I don’t think leaving you alone is on his agenda. So, what is his real name? I don’t recall that he ever told me, or, if so, I forgot.”
    “Whatever.” Astrid raised her eyebrows, daring him to push her.
    Khyan chuckled. “ Whatever ? Odd name.” He shrugged. “I have no clue where the gods locked him up. He was a nightmare when last here. He went from a cool-headed religious fanatic to complete psycho in the blink of an eye. Lots dead…okay, all black-magik whackos, but even so he was like a rampage killer on Hashishins. Then there are his pets, which are his special gift from the gods—his mojo you could say—now those monsters are straight up scary. But for sure he never showed interest in women during his time in this realm. He wasn’t gay, but definitely not like Christian. No offense, man, but you’re a slut. Even so, I thought Draggon was…” He trailed off.
    “Was what?” Astrid asked, fighting the alcohol buzz for lucidity. Khyan’s tone suggested something she probably didn’t want to know, but now needed to, desperately.
    “Nothing,” Khyan said.
    Christian paced behind Khyan.
    Astrid leaned close to Khyan and yelled, “Was what?”
    Khyan folded his arms in front of his chest. “Married.”
    Married? Shock blasted her heart wide open. She thought she’d sutured the goddamned organ shut years ago. Apparently, Zannis wasn’t done inflicting pain.
    Khyan reached for one of the shots Christian had deposited on the table and drank. “I’m pretty sure he mentioned it at one point. I can remember past lives. Most of us can’t, but I’m special. I remember him in particular.” Khyan’s face lit up like a teenager about to get wind of a juicy rumor. “Was it you he married?”
    “No,” Astrid replied dully, despising her shell-shocked tone. Married? She sucked for air. Her brain screamed at her lungs: work . Her mind churned with disbelief, and alcohol haze. At least his assassination attempt made sense now. She’d been the dirty secret that needed to go away.
    Christian stopped pacing and sat next to Khyan. “What’s that guy’s deal?”
    “Draggon got one chance at being a magus back at the beginning,” Khyan replied, still eyeing her curiously. “The guy had a long run before he went nuts. A very long run. Thousands of years without ever dying or being reincarnated. None of us ever made it that long. No one understood how he survived so long without finding his senariai , at least I don’t think he found his soulmate. He was married…maybe that was her. Who knows.” He shrugged apologetically to Astrid. “He became the one to get the magi that didn’t remember the past caught up, and lead us in the ways of the gods. The religion stuff, I mean. Fighting-wise, he was good. I mean, I can kick ass better than all of you—”
    “You are so full of shit. I bet on Javen any day over you.” Christian rolled his eyes.
    “Javen? Right. Anyway, Draggon was lethal. He could go it alone with almost any daemon, even those evil European shits. But I don’t know his full deal. He’s the only magus to get permanently taken off duty when he went crazy. Killed a lot of Hashishins. Hunted them, but not like Ashor’s inadvertent blackout issue a few months ago. He stalked them. The guy went on more than one mass murder spree. I don’t think it was kem-seki that caused him to cross the line, though.”
    “What’s kim-ski?” Astrid asked in a desperate attempt to distract her mind from the M-bomb.
    Christian replied, “The poetic explanation is it’s what happens when the energy emitted by daemons slowly eats away at your soul. After years of battles, you’ll lose your moral compass. The non-poetic reason is, once you become a magus, so long as you’re out there fighting daemons you’re on a slow countdown to turning into a crazy killing machine unable to tell right from wrong unless you