“He will also continue to break the seals.That must be stopped.”
Her head remained bowed before she finallytook a deep breath and lifted her face to mine. “What if I loseyou?”
I lowered my forehead to hers. “No matterwhat happens, I will always be with you, Mah Kush-la.”
Turning her cheek, she rested it against mychest and closed her eyes. I enveloped her in my arms and carriedher to the thick furs set before the crackling fire. Morax and theothers had returned with supplies and weapons. I’d set out a pieceof cooked rabbit and some green beans for her to eat when she’dfirst climbed into the pool.
I sat down across from her and watched asshe bit into the rabbit and wiped the juices away from her chin.“Would you like more?” I inquired when she finished off the meatand turned her attention to the green beans.
“No, I’m fine. I don’t suppose there’s muchhuman food in Hell?”
“They brought enough food for you for atleast two weeks, and you may be able to eat the prury fruit when wego through the Forest of Prurience.”
She brushed a strand of damp hair from herforehead. “What’s that?”
“The prury fruit comes from the calamuttrees. At the very least, it may not taste good to you, but itwon’t be poisonous.”
“And what about this forest?” sheinquired.
“It’s where the nymphs and the canagh demonsreside.”
Her fingers stilled on her food. “Thecanaghs?” she croaked.
“Not all of them are bad,” I reminded her.“And many of them went above when the gateway opened. Magnus hasassured me that though the tree nymphs are still there, the woodnymphs have not returned to the woods, probably because the treeswould not allow them to reside there again.”
“The trees have a say in that?”
“The trees have a say on many things when itcomes to the forest.”
“How… fitting. The wood nymphs are onLucifer’s side?”
“Yes.”
“I thought nymphs were supposed to befriendly or something.”
“Some are. The wood nymphs are not.”
She turned her attention back to the beans.With some food in her, the bruises on her face were fading faster.The color returning to her cheeks had nothing to do with herabraded skin and more to do with her body healing itself.
“So we will be going through thisforest?”
“It is the safest way to the Fires ofCreation and the seals.”
Her eyes widened as they came back up to me.“We will be going to where you were created?”
“We will travel to the chamber where I wasforged.”
Taking a breath, I braced myself for what Iwas about to tell her next. She wouldn’t like what I had to say,but I’d told her I wouldn’t keep anything from her anymore, and I’dmeant it. “You and the others may not be able to enter the chamberwith me. Only the varcolac and the hounds have ever enteredbefore.”
Her eyes narrowed on me. “What happens if wecan’t enter?”
“I will continue onto the seals withoutyou.” I held up a hand to forestall her protests. “I am telling youthis because I promised you no more secrets between us, but it isnot up for debate, River. We must get to the seals quickly andgoing through the Fires of Creation is the fastest way. If you areunable to enter, you will still be safe outside the chamber, asLucifer doesn’t know where it is located.”
“How do you know that?” she demanded.
“BecauseIam the only one who knowswhere it is. It isn’t something anyone else would stumble across,and if they did, they wouldn’t know what they were looking at. Ilike the idea of leaving you behind as much as you like the idea ofme continuing without you, but itmustbe done. With everyseal that falls, Lucifer becomes stronger.”
“What if you can’t stop the seals fromfalling on your own? Or what if you’re walking into a trap?”
