Page 104 of Fated to the Demon Lord

He barreled into the room. I jumped over Vaelor and rolled off the bed, turning over the bowl of water. Raxus seized my hair, and I cried out as he too easily lifted me off my feet. Pain seared through my head and neck—tears stinging my eyes.

“Humans are so easy to kill,” he said, watching me with delight.

Gods, it was just like when he’d broken into my home and dragged me off by my hair. The horror of that moment mixed with the terror of this one.

Vaelor rose from the bed, rage in his gaze.

Raxus stepped back a little, his attention fixed on me. “How does it feel to know that I hold your life in my hands?” he taunted.

I struggled in his grasp, my fingers digging into his flesh, trying to ease the pain. And Raxus looked on in delight, his mouth twisting into a cruel smile as I struggled.

Vaelor rammed into Raxus from the side, and Raxus lost his grip on me. I crumpled to the floor, wrapping my arms around my head as the agony ebbed.

The two fought back and forth, Vaelor lashing out and Raxus striking with his meaty fists.

Then I saw silver flash in Raxus’s hand.

“He has a knife!” I shouted.

Raxus lunged, and my heart stopped as the blade plunged into Vaelor’s side.

No.

Raxus backed up as Vaelor collapsed. He lumbered over and gripped me by the arm, hauling me to my feet. Again, I was getting in the way. Raxus was right. I was useless.

“You are so pathetic,” Raxus said to Vaelor. “Do you suppose this human is any more important than any of the other worthless human slaves we keep?”

Vaelor clutched his side, breaths coming fast. “She… is… everything.”

My heart sank when I saw the green tint around the edges of his wound. It was a sign of the water hemlock. The knife must have been laced with it.

Raxus laughed and released me. Scrambling, I threw my body over Vaelor’s. I wouldn’t let Raxus kill him here.

“I won’t kill either of you today. I need Spiritu Malignos to see me end you tomorrow. And her… I want her to watch.” Raxus leered down at me. “Then I will feed her as an offering to the mercenary army. Sleep well knowing tomorrow is the end for both of you, and you are powerless to prevent it.” And with that, he turned and stalked out of the room.

“Denara, are you all right?” Vaelor asked, the pain clear in his voice.

“Am I? Vaelor, what about you?”

He grimaced. “Winning the tournament might prove more… difficult than a few moments ago. Something is wrong. A weakness is spreading through me. I think… I think the blade might have been poisoned.”

Rage filled me. I wasn’t useless. That was what Raxus wanted me to believe. I resolved not to crumple and blame myself like I had in the past. I loved Vaelor, and he loved me. There had to be a way to fix this.

“Denara… you have to run, you can’t stay here⁠—”

“You know I won’t go. We can still win. We can. Shit.” I grabbed my hedge witch book and desperately flipped page after page. There had to be an answer here. An answer that wouldn’t lead to Vaelor being defeated tomorrow. I refused to let Raxus win. I wouldn’t lose Vaelor. “That cheat…” I seethed. “He realized he couldn’t beat you in a fair combat, so he attacked us to weaken you.”

Vaelor shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Denara, please…”

“We understood this would be dangerous. We can’t allow that boorish, brainless beast to ruin everything for us.” I turned more pages and then paused. There. “I have a cure. I have all the ingredients except…”

“Except?”

I paled. “The calendula plant. It speeds the healing process. Without it, I can still make it, but you’ll be fighting the effects of the poison for the next twenty-four hours.”

“It doesn’t matter. The poison… won’t kill me. It can’t. But it’ll weaken me just as Raxus planned.”

I hissed. He was right. Poisons didn’t fully work on undead bodies. The poison could incapacitate, but even the worst concoction wouldn’t kill an embodied Spiritu Malignos. I had intended to poison Throk and the others, but understood that the final blow had to be delivered by me.