Time to go old-school, then.
For all the humanity the devils of hell ripped from my soul to turn me into a demon, the fact that they’d left me with a conscience was a fucking mystery. Guilt chewed at the edges of it now, but I ignored it. Took a deep breath and closed my eye. Blocked out all sense of right and wrong as I cast my awareness out into the darkness, searching for the one thing that could help me now.
And there it was. A whisper of fear slithering in the depths of memory. One of the guards had been betrayed as a young man. Tortured, brutalized, nearly murdered for his foolish, misplaced trust.
I focused on that ugly memory, tugging it to the surface of his consciousness until I felt the shift in his energy and knew he was looking upon his fellow guard with a suspicion that bordered on paranoia.
They didn’t even argue. One minute they were standing side by side in front of the doors, hands resting casually on their weapons. The next, one guard stabbed the other in the neck, his body dropping with a soft thud as he choked on his own blood.
Still caught in the grip of his worst memories, the murderous guard darted down the hall, heading right for me. The closer he got, the easier it was for me to push into his mind, to mine the wounds of his past until he was nothing but a sweating, whimpering mess.
He barely noticed me as he blurred past at a run, then crashed through the stained-glass window at the opposite end, leaping to his death.
Thick rivulets of blood coated the remaining shards of glass. The sight was enough to unleash a flood of guilt if I let it, but I didn’t.Couldn’t. Getting Haley out of here was my only concern, and if I had to sacrifice a thousand Midnight soldiers to get to her, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
I headed for the end of the hallway, where the first guard’s body lay in a lifeless heap against the doors.
Haley was just inside—I could sense her fear, tempered only by a fierce determination.
“I’m here, angel,” I whispered. But just before I reached the double doors, they swung inward, and Haley stepped out.
The dead guard fell backward, landing at her feet. She startled and gasped, but I grabbed her and clamped a hand over her mouth, pulling her away from the body. Pulling her close.
“Don’t scream, angel,” I whispered into her ear. “It’s me. Just me.”
She sighed and relaxed into my arms, and I took a moment just to hold her. To inhale the sweet scent of her, willing it to chase away the blood and rot that stained my soul. The warmth of her, the softness, the aliveness… Hell, for a minute I almost forgot we were in this terrible place at all.
She was still dressed in her gown from the Feast of Midnight, though it was torn and filthy now, ruined with blood. Saint’s blood. Mine. Hers as well, leftover from her earlier spells.
I understood that’s how her magick worked, but the idea that she’d spilled even a single drop of her own blood for fucking Keradoc sent me into a fresh rage. It trembled through me in a wave, my arms tightening around her.
She finally wriggled free and looked up at me, her eyes flooding with relief.
“Jax,” she whispered. “Thank the gods and the devil both, I knew you’d come. Where’s—”
“Did he hurt you?” I blurted out, taking her face in my hands. “Did that monster put a hand on you?”
She sighed and bit her lip. Lowered her eyes. For a second that felt like an eternity, no words followed.
And for that split second of not knowing…Fuck. The very idea that he’d touched her made me wish I’d slaughtered more than just a few guards and servants tonight. It made me want to burn down the entire castle and everyone in it.
“Keradoc didn’t… he didn’t touch me,” she finally said. “Not like that. He just…” Haley shook her head, her brow furrowed as if she couldn’t find the words.
“You’re not convincing me, angel.”
Haley sighed again and lifted her hand, showing me a wrist cuff she hadn’t been wearing earlier. Iron. I knew immediately what it was for.
“We’ll get it removed,” I said, hoping that was the worst of it. “Right now we just need to get the fuck out of here. Okay?”
“Jax, when they first brought you to the throne room… You saw him, right?”
“Haley, we don’t have time. We—”
“Just tell me what you saw when you looked at him. Please, Jax. It’s important.”
I blew out a breath. “Keradoc?”
She nodded.
