Page 88 of Fated to the Demon Lord

“Vaelor?” I whispered through freezing lips.

I searched the forest as the mist thickened and rose to my waist. Blood dripped from my finger into the dirt. My horse snorted and stepped uneasily.

Three sets of orange glowing eyes appeared in the darkness. They took form as they stepped from between the trees. Tricken and the two other winged demons all stared at me with bloodthirsty eyes.

“We’ve found you,” Tricken snarled, his beady eyes taking me in with hate and hunger.

Shit.

I shoved my unwounded hand into my pocket and gripped the bone, picturing the hedge surrounding me, growing strong and impenetrable. Gods, I hoped this worked.

Tricken licked his lips, and the demons moved in. Tricken’s icy hand gripped my shoulder. “This is going to be fun.” And he faded to mist as he tried to enter me.

I staggered as his force pressed toward me, and I focused hard on the hedge in my mind, picturing it turning sturdy and dense, keeping everything out.

Tricken coalesced in front of me, eyes wide. “How…” His hand tightened painfully on my shoulder. “You’ve learned a new trick. No matter. We can still kill you.”

I tried to twist from his grasp, but he held on strong. The thick mist obscured most of their forms, leaving only deadly smiles and ravenous glowing eyes hungry for revenge.

Oh gods, despite my new trick, I was no match for them. I was never a match for these demons.

I was about to die.

A figure dropped out of the sky, disturbing the mist. It spun and swirled, but parted briefly enough to make out the red hair, the glowing eyes, the wings spread to their fullest length. Vaelor gripped Tricken’s hand, a deadly wrath filling his entire face.

“Don’t touch my mate,” he growled and crushed Tricken’s hand in his fist, the bones snapping as easily as twigs.

Tricken howled, falling back and gripping his hand.

I stared at Vaelor in disbelief, a rushing in my ears. What the hell had he called me?

Large warm hands came around my waist and yanked me back with such force that my head snapped forward. “Now, what do we have here?” a deep voice said.

He spun me around, and I stiffened. Lanzin held me, his solid, corporeal body too real for comfort. And yet something was wrong.

His eyes were flooded with an orange light.

A deadly grin leered across his face. “I told you that I’d find you and finish what I started.”

My stomach sank. Raxus was possessing Lanzin.

“It appears you are trying to access a hidden place.” He took in my bleeding hand, and the tree marked with my blood. “You know it has been long said that there are entire towns hidden here. Might we be near one?”

If things could get worse, they just had. “How⁠—”

“Your scent was somehow masked. But luckily, this body knows your scent and could track you easily.”

Vaelor turned, snarling to face Lanzin. “You dare to possess a noble son of Aeria?”

Raxus laughed in Lanzin’s deep, smooth voice. “Would you believe he let me? He knew he was at a disadvantage going up against you, and I made a bargain with him. Let me finish her off.” He gripped my hair and yanked back my head, allowing him to glare into my face with his malicious eyes. “And I’d see that Spiritu Malignos made the deal that he so desired.”

It was why Raxus hadn’t simply killed Lanzin and taken his body. Doing so would have negated any deal with the awaiting Aeria army—a deal that could bring Raxus position and prestige in Spiritu Malignos.

Vaelor drew the sword off the saddle of my horse. He faded, and I shut my eyes, willing my hedge to drop. For him.

Vaelor slid the cool metal of the sword into my hand, and he pressed into me.

I let him in and we melded together with the same readiness that a drop of water became part of the sea.