Tasting Darkness

Read Taming Darkness By Jessica Hall Book 3 Chapter 28 – Porter
That little b*tch had to be lying! I knew what Darius had shown me. My wife was nothing but a c*nning wh*re. That woman had
never been worthy of me, and neither was her bas*ard child! I was not in the wrong about this, I was the one wronged! All those
visions? LIES.
I stormed down the hall until I spotted Lidia in the lab with vials on every shelf and counter. She was inspecting one and eyeing
the contents when I entered the room. She didn’t even bother glancing up.
“Did you know about my wife? Did you know that she was forced to sleep with those pieces of sh*t?” I snarled. I couldn’t keep
the rage from vibrating through me. I needed her to verify this was all a lie, so I could focus on our important work.
Lidia chuckled, swishing her little bottle around. “Did you believe you were kept on because you’re just so highly valued and
skilled?” she giggled. “Oh, Porter. You are a sl*ppy drunk, worthless, really. You were scheduled to be sacked forever ago. That
woman begged and pleaded on your behalf.” She holds the vial up, gazing at its contents before setting it down.
“I always thought people exaggerated when they described people offering anything in order to protect loved ones. She was on
her knees, her hands clasped above her head, and she begged that she would do anything if I kept you on. Quite frankly I think
she wasted her time, she would have been better off with you dead,”
“Although, it did p*ss me off when she offered herself up to my husband, although sharing her was fun, b*tch is good at eating
p*ssy,” Lidia snickered. I feel bile rise up my throat and my hands clench. I wanted to kill her, yet she wouldn’t even turn, unfazed
by me behind her.
“Honestly porter, your wife had more c***ks than she had feeds, ask half the council, she is the only reason you didn’t cop the
death sentence when you robbed Xandrius and betrayed him, also the only reason Greyson stopped your a*s being put in the
incinerator,”
This had to be some sick joke, I stared at her, her words echoing in my ears. Was my boss really
claiming that what happened to my mate was my fault? That couldn’t be possible. She had to be lying. There
is no way in hell that wh*re would have stooped that low for me, she did it because she liked it. She wanted to trick me into
raising her bas*ard son! Lidia and her daughter were both liars, and I wasn’t going to believe either of them. “No, you’re lying!
She only wanted to trick me!”

She set her bottle down and turned toward me, hands on her hips and a mocking smile on her lips. “Did you know that he was to
be the one that took your head? You weren’t going to be merely fired of course, you were to be executed, and he was the one
that was in charge of that. In fact, if she hadn’t spread her legs for him, you wouldn’t be standing here and sharing my air. From
what I’ve heard of that night, she was highly skilled. She impressed him so much that she was passed around like a party favor,
everyone got a taste, and you got a promotion from it. You could say she sucked and f***ked your way to the top.” Lidia sneered.
I stared past her, trying to let her words sink in. I’d thought she’d deny it instantly, that she would tell me that b*tch of a daughter
of hers was lying, but that’s not what she was saying. She was almost proud of it. Proud of using my wife like everyone else did.
“She should have left you to your fate, Porter, she was more useful to me than you’ve ever been. Alas, she tried to save your life
and how did you repay her?” she shook her head and tsked. “Killed by the very man she was trying so desperately to save. Such
a pity.”
I hit my limit. I couldn’t listen to another word she said. All I could think about was every moment I’d spent with my mate before
I’d turned on her. Every smile, every
caress, every sweet kiss. A growl tore out of my throat and I lunged at Lidia. I tried to wrap my hands around her throat but in the
middle of my pounce, she blasted me with her magic, knocking me back first into the table. Some of her precious bottles were
thrown to the ground and shattered by my weight.
I grunted, getting to my hands and feet, and st*ggered to get back to her. With a grunt I rushed at her again, shoving her into the
shelves when something stabbed me in the side of my chest. I glanced down to see a syringe sticking out, the plunger already
pressed. My vision was already tunneling as I fell heavily to the floor.
Lidia laughed, “You really thought I wasn’t ready for this? You really are pathetic. You deserve to suffer and die.”
Breathing was becoming hard, and my vision was fading in and out. I could barely make out Lidia walking away, leaving me on
the ground in the midst of her broken beakers to die.
No, I wouldn’t let it end like this. I clawed the ground, dragging myself to the foot of the counter, and I struggled to lift myself off
the ground. More vials teetered from their place above me. I stared up at one that was behind thick glass and froze. I closed my
eyes tight and reopened them in case it would change what I was looking at.
The writing on the vial was simple, but it made my blood turn to ice in my veins. Plague One. All of this time I had truly believed
Xandrius had been the one that started the plague, that he’d started everything.

I sagged against the counter. I was a fool, no, worse than that, I was a murderer. I’d killed my wife and placed my son in a
situation to lose his life and mate. And for what? Because of a lie. One I’d used to justify killing her and destroying Lycus. All of
this was my fault. I deserved death for everything I’d done and oh so much more.
Yet, I needed to hold on long enough to pass on this proof. My life had been wasted, but I wasn’t about to let that crazy b*tch get
away with what she had done.
Time flied by and I tried to focus on breathing. My limbs quivered when I moved but I forced myself to study the rest of the
shelves. From the corner of my eye, I spotted it. Hope blossomed in my chest, not for me, but for the future of the Fae.
It was up above me, but I could just make it out. Aleera’s name was stamped across it as well as numbers, and more importantly,
it had the word antidote. I pushed all my strength into standing as high as I could and I reached for it, I grabbed the precious
bottle and clutched it to my chest, almost falling back down in the process.
If Lidia thought I would curl up in a corner and die quietly for her, the b*tch had no idea what she’d done by revealing the truth to
me. I would hold on a little longer, and I would do this one small thing for the chance to make at least one thing right. I only
hoped Lycus could get her in time with his mates to save Aleera before it was too late.