Page 33 of Under the Iron Sky

Soraya couldn’t help but stiffen when the Demon gestured toward her. And her heart stopped—just for a moment—when Ramapheal’s eyes followed. His stare was the most intrusive thing she’d ever experienced, like she was being cut open, like he was filing through layers of her skin to see right into the heart of her.

Ramapheal glanced back at the Demon. He started drumming his claws against the throne again. Please me, each click seemed to say, or I will do to your spine what I am doing to this chair. “Who have you brought me?”

In a flash of movement, the mask on Soraya’s face was snatched away, and she blinked at the sudden wave of cold steam battering her cheeks.

“Ancient One,” the Demon said, “may I present to you, Soraya Tollmere.”

Ramapheal’s fingers stopped drumming, and it was all Soraya could do to keep her face impassive as a low, collective hiss swept through the room behind her like a wave of moving smoke. Heart in her throat, she discreetly glanced back to find every eye in the pews spitting venom her way—something that would have no doubt made her smile if she wasn’t so fucking scared right now.

“It’s her!”

“Vous Mylista!”

“Human filth!”

Vous Mylista. Those two words stuck out through all the others. She’d heard them before, screamed and snarled across smoke-filled battlefields. She’d always assumed they were a command to flee in their language until now.

When Soraya looked back, Ramapheal was studying her closely as if seeing her for the first time. It made her feel like a frog chained to an iron table, waiting to be dissected.

Still, Soraya kept her eyes forward, her chin high. Forced herself to stare straight ahead, into the black eyes of the creature responsible for all this death, and not show a lick of the fear she felt burrowing away inside of her.

Magic or no, she was just as deadly as any creature in this room—and if the Demon hadn’t already taken her weapons, she’d have proven it.

“The humans had already collected the Light when I intercepted them,” the Demon explained. “I had every intention of destroying them as you commanded, but then I noticed her.” He cocked his head, pointing those blood-tipped horns in her direction. “She attacked me as a distraction to give the others time to flee. I had a quick decision to make: stop the humans getting away with a few months’ worth of power at best, or capture the most dangerous soldier in their army.”

A pleased smile cracked Ramapheal’s face. “And you made the right one, as always.” He turned to the creatures gathered around the room. “What did I tell you all earlier? The vapor is thick today—an omen of great things to come for us. Breathe deep, my children.”

Soraya jumped when every person in the room answered together, “Breathe deep,” and drew a collective breath.

Ramapheal stood slowly. His black boots made no sound as he strode toward Soraya, a ghost of the old world haunting what had been taken from him rather than the other way around.

When he stopped in front of her, Soraya couldn’t help but cringe back slightly, not at the smell of old blood that seemed to hang off his very essence or the undeniable power chilling the air around him, but at his hair. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny spiders were scurrying across his shoulders and neck, using the strands of his hair like threads of a web to give the illusion of movement and—

Burning fucking suns, would her leg stop shaking!

When he bent down to stare into her face, his robes fell open just enough for her to see a large circular burn on his chest. Just an inch or two to the left of his heart. A scar from a weapon that needed no bullets. That had been forged and developed to harness the power of the three suns.

“You remind me of her, you know,” Ramapheal was saying, his expression twisting with a mixture of fascination and triumph. “Aleena.” He reached a hand forward as though intending to brush back a golden curl that’d fallen out of her twist, only to drop it when Soraya spat in his face.

Those in the pews gasped, but Ramapheal merely waved in their direction, silencing the room.

“And you have her spirit too, it seems,” he said, smiling as he wiped away the saliva dripping down his cheek. “I have seen your face so many times, girl—in the nightmares of even my most feared generals. I admit, I have spent many nights wondering about this face as well. How a girl with hair like the sun, a mere human with no remarkable abilities whatsoever, could be so terrible as to frighten my monsters.” A slow, vicious smile spread across his face. “Let’s find out, shall we?”

Two guards were suddenly at Soraya’s flank. They held her in place, one gripping her shoulder while the other held the top of her head and jaw to prevent her from moving.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Soraya jerked and writhed, but Ramapheal was already taking her face in his hands.

Soraya squeezed her eyes shut as though that could somehow stop what was about to happen. She started to pant, pulling in quick breaths of freezing air.

“Shh, child. This will only hurt for a moment.” That was the only warning she got before Ramapheal’s magic sliced into her mind.

It felt like he’d shoved those talons on the ends of his fingers right inside her head. There was pain everywhere. His magic wrapped around her skull, pushing and pulling, poking and prodding and squeezing across her cranium like the tentacles of a squid in search of a crack he could pry apart to force his way inside.

Soraya was going to be sick. She ground her teeth, choking back every scream and whimper that begged to be let free. She would not break here. She would not let them break her.

Agonizing, unbearable pressure was building against her temples. Her skull felt like it was going to explode.

And Ramapheal just kept pushing in and in and into her mind when all Soraya really wanted to do was shove him the fuck out—