Page 169 of Bedeviled

A shout hisses through my teeth as my broken appendages are squeezed tighter together.

Crimson magic slams into my chest, and the world goes dark.

I jerk awake, gasping as fresh pain splits down my sternum.

All around me, I sense the foulness of demons. They hold me by the arms and legs, wrists and neck. I’m on my knees between them, pinned in place by their punishing grip.

Blood streams from my chest, and in front of me, Eislyn holds the bloody blade.

I glance around, my mind unable to process what’s happening.

The fairy drags the blade down her palm. “Only with death shall I at last forsake.”

I recognize those wretched, damning words as Eislyn presses her bloody palm to the open wound on my chest.

I roar as magic lashes through me, chaining my will to hers.

The windows explode outward, supernaturals blown back in all directions.

I’m choking on the vile surge of Eislyn’s power as it wraps around my sternum. This is nothing like the sweet bond I exchanged with Selene. This is a forced act, one that seeks to enslave me to another.

“You will not use your magic against anyone in this room!” Eislyn commands.

I’m hardly listening. I wrestle with the demons who still cling to me. Shove one off. Then another. I’m still bellowing. Sharp agony radiates from my hands and wrists, and I do not care.

“Get the cuffs back on him! Now!” Eislyn shouts.

The shackles that neutralize my magic. Of course. I’m free of them.

I call on my magic then, and I feel the rush of it. But though it spills from me and thickens in the room, it touches none of the men and women.

If I cannot kill them with my magic, then I’ll do it the fucking old-fashioned way.

I clasp my hands together. “Heal,” I command in Sarmatian.

There’s grinding pain as bones reset. I don’t wait for it to finish before I attack the demon rushing at me.

It takes little effort to grip his head. I give it a swift jerk and hear a snap.

More demons move toward me. I manage to incapacitate another before my hands are ripped away and forced together above my head.

The demons crowd around me, the knot of them too thick to fight off without the use of my power.

I glance overhead and catch sight of the cuffs dangling from the ceiling, the ones that will neutralize my power.

Panic rises in me.

My gaze dips to my sternum, where I sense Eislyn’s magic gripping me like a vise. It’s as I focus on this new connection that I realize I sense Selene more powerfully than I have in days. She’s right there, so close against my bond that I could nearly touch her.

She’s agitated, but asleep.

Safe.

I nearly weep.

Selene! I roar across our bond. Triumphant, desperate.

Then the shackles are back on, and in an instant that connection is severed.