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His ten soldiers guarded him like his shadows when he moved to the center of the room, about twenty feet away from the table, then he clapped three times. The door opened and Nadira, bound in chains around her wrists, quickened her steps when she saw me then Victus. Her violet eyes brimmed with tears, but she held her head up high.
Joleen’s memory of her daughter’s love came crashing through and my heart ached, and softened for Nadira. She had lost her mother too soon.
“Stop.” Asmodeus raised a hand.
Nadira halted fifty feet from us. She clutched fistfuls of the fabric of her pink dress as her eyes widened with fear.
Victus growled. “She’s a child, demon. You had to chain her?”
Asmodeus flashed his razor-sharp rows of teeth. “You call me King and nothing else. Besides, she’s no ordinary child. She bit one of my soldiers and he died.”
Nina had told me vampire blood killed demons and vice versa. Did Nadira know? Or perhaps she bit out of survival instincts.
Levia entered, sauntering like no one could touch her as red hair bounced on her back, and behind her, Zander. His chains clanked and rattled as he stumbled. The eight guards surrounding him pointed spears at him as they brought him forth beside Nadira.
A couple more soldiers wheeled in a polished dark wood casket long enough to fit a body and placed it on the other side of Zander. Behind them, thirty soldiers entered and surrounded us in a circle.
My stomach dropped, recalling the searing pain from the ruby pendant and Asmodeus’s threat to put Zander inside it.
Zander puffed out air and his breath pushed back strands of hair. Dirt smeared across his bare muscular chest and spotted on his tunic. No blood or wounds on him.
Unlike before when he had seemed like more of a threat than a prisoner, this time it was different. The restraints were taking their toll. My poor Zander.
“Give me the key, Victus, and you may go,” Asmodeus said.
“It’s King Victus to you,” he ground out. “What about Evangeline?”
Asmodeus furrowed his brow. “She is none of your concern. But no need to worry. I will set Zander free as promised, but we did not bargain the feathered being her freedom.”
Zander’s chain clanked as he took a step forward. “The deal is we both go free.”
Did Zander and Asmodeus make an agreement I wasn’t aware of? And if he did, what could Zander offer that was worth more than my life?
I squared my jaw, tired of playing this game. “I was never a prisoner to begin with. We get what we want or you do not get the Gate Key. What do you plan to do with it? Do you even know what it is?”
Asmodeus flinched, his crown shifting slightly askew. “Of course I do. Don’t insult me.”
“Fine,” I said. “Let Nadira go first. Before Zander is released, we’ll hand you the key.”
Asmodeus flicked his wrist, and Levia stepped behind Nadira and unlocked her bindings. The clink of chains and then Nadira’s running steps echoed in the quiet. Victus scooped her up and held her tight, burying his face in her hair.
Their tender display of affection melted away any doubt I harbored about Victus’s character. His love for his daughter was pure and genuine, and my heart swelled with warmth, reminding me that love still existed in a world where evil threatened to take over.
Asmodeus placed out his palm. “My turn.”
Victus took out the dagger from his boot and handed it over to him. While Asmodeus raised the blade to the ceiling and admired the gold handle reflecting from the sunlight, Victus’s gaze went to mine. His brow furrowed and he seemed conflicted, especially when he just stood there.
“Go,” I whispered. “Take Nadira and run. Keep her safe.” I almost said don’t worry about me, but I knew he didn’t, so I stopped myself.
The three of us, the danger, keeping his child safe, seemed as if I was replaying Joleen’s past. The past I got to witness through her eyes and felt every possible emotion along with her. Love. Passion. Anger. Terror. Sadness. Happiness. Honor.
Victus gave me a curt nod, took Nadira’s hand, and headed toward the door. Too easy. An eerie chill skittered through my core and grew tenfold. Levia, still standing near Zander, smirked as if she held a secret.
Just as I called out, the two front doors blasted apart with a boom, rocking the ground and filling the perimeter with smoke. Victus tumbled in the air with Nadira in his arms, as if he was trying to protect her, but then they separated and landed hard, face down. He pushed off the ground halfway before he collapsed again.
Out of the smoke, Levia carried an unconscious Nadira. One of the soldiers knocked all the empty plates onto the floor, giving Levia a clear space to put Nadira on the dining table. Two guards dragged Victus’s body in front of Asmodeus and me.
Victus, trying to find his bearings, remained on all fours. I wanted to help but ten guards had the tips of their spears on Zander’s chest. So I dared not move.
