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Then there’s Alice… My sweet, loving Alice. I don’t even know how to describe what she did today. She made the ground run red, and put on a show for the High King like she was baiting him into challenging her. Not to mention she pulled a fucking dragon out of the sky like it was nothing. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.
She should’ve run the other way when she saw Finn and Asmodeus, and instead, she fought harder. Faced the beast head-on and didn’t bow, but even I saw the tremor in her hand. My lovely wife-to-be was terrified.
It was a fight I should’ve been able to prevent her from enduring, and if it weren’t for my father, I would’ve. He held me hostage with magic I’ve never seen him use. It wasn’t bound by blood, like his other barriers, but it took more out of him. He had to physically hold it up, and when he finally fatigued, it was over. By the grace of the gods, she managed to hold her ground and shoved her sword through my brother’s heart. I’ve never been prouder.
For as mortified as I was, watching him hold her up and glance at me like he wanted me to see her die, my heart swelled when she flipped it around herself and brought Hell’s most wanted to his knees. Now, the creatures Asmodeus controlled are dwindling. We have a chance now, and it’s all because of her.
Crossing my dual blades, I form an X over an orc’s head as it rushes toward me, hatching it off in a swift motion. His body capsizes, and blood as black as the night sky leeches onto the ground. I hardly have the time to breathe before an ax glides through the air beside my head. I dodge it at the last second, dropping a sword and snapping my hand out. My fingers fold around the wooden handle and I yank it from the creature’s hand.
Orcs are the bane of my existence. They’re massive, hobgoblin-looking men with the brute strength of a damn rhino. Fighting them wears me down, though, and the High King knows it. He’s sicked them all on me since this fight began.
There’s no way a simple man could hack through these creatures. You have to pack power behind your punch, and my body only stores so much. Unlike Alice, I can’t pull it from things around me. What I have is it. Once it’s gone, it’ll take hours to replenish, and with every one of these bastards, a little more wanes within me. Spinning the ax around over my head, I bring the blade down hard, impaling the orc’s side.
The war continues to rage around me, causing the smell of iron and burnt ozone to fill my nose. Metal clinks, rattling my eardrums as sword and battle axes collide. A dark horse draws my attention, sleeking along the outskirts of the field, heading toward the High King. The rider draws the steed up to stand next to the royal horses, blending in as if he belongs there. Maybe he always did. Crimson flags are hoisted high on large poles, sporting their kingdom’s insignia. Two dire wolves revolving around each other. It conceals the newcomer’s identity, but the way my gut twists as if someone is ringing my intestines out to dry tells me what I can’t see.
I snatch the ax out of the orc and the lifeless body splays across the ground. The flags wave in the wind and a wicked smirk pulls tight across the man’s lips.Asmodeus… I should’ve known it was too good to be true. It’s as if he’s been one step ahead of us this entire time. He’s almost as cunning as our father, but his little magic trick will cost him.Somehow.
Spotting the place where my brother drew his so-called last breath, I groan. My eyes aren’t deceiving me. It’s him, in the flesh. All that’s left in the grass is a scorched mark as if he caught on fire and resurrected.
Slowly, the creatures that fell upon his temporary death reanimate, lifting from the ground and stacking limbs on top of limbs.No…Fuck!There goes our level playing field. We don’t have the men left to win this. Not anymore. Jogging to my left, I snatch Finn out of a knife fight, teleporting us to the top of the hill with my father.
“Hey! I was winning that.” Finn’s blue eyes seek me out, narrowing the moment I catch them.
“We’re losing. We need to fall back to the castle. Are the barriers up?” I ask my father, putting the fact I want to wrap my hands around his throat toward the back of my mind. Now is not the time.
“Yes, but…” his voice trails off. He doesn’t need to finish the sentence. Asmodeus is fully capable of bringing the film protecting our home down with the flick of his wrist. He’s likely who freed the prison world. I just don’t get why he’s waited this long to do so. Our kingdom is unprotected and only a third of our army remains. For what, so my brother can get revenge? So my father can hide out on a mountain? Their feud is costing lives who never played a part in what happened between them. It’s not right.
We never stood a chance. They knew attacking us by surprise would be their best shot, and they took it. It made us vulnerable and without time to call the lords beneath the crown for backup. At this point, our only option is to compromise and make a deal. We have to save who we can and live to fight another day.
“What did the High King want?” I ask, gritting my teeth as my father watches his firstborn from across the clearing.
“Something we can’t give.”
“I didn’t ask whether it was possible. I asked what he wanted. He wouldn’t have marched out there if he wasn’t in the mood to make a deal.”
“He wanted you or Alice in exchange for civility.” My father’s voice is lacking. It’s weak as if the Devil isn’t himself but rather an ordinary man.
Of course, the High King would want one of us. He wants to steal our gifts. The question is, why? He has a nephilim—my brother. Why not use him to get what he wants? I suppose it’s possible he just wants someone else on his mystical leash and at his disposal.
Looking out onto the field of soldiers and monsters, gnarled corpses are all that remain of most of our men. Some are broken into pieces. Others mangled and crunched. Still, our numbers dwindle, and the odds are stacked four to our one.
What other choice do we have? If we don’t do something, Hell Hold will fall. Even as a nephilim man, I can’t take on an entire army. And death might not come as easily for immortals, but there are things far worse. Like being cut into pieces and scattered across the realms. Or being swallowed whole and digested in the stomach of some monster.
“We have to make a deal.” I watch my father’s reaction, noting the way his eyes haven’t left my brother since he reappeared. Hell, he was staring at him long before he died. He’s scared… But why? He beat Asmodeus and locked him away. A man capable of that shouldn’t be hiding with his tail tucked between his legs. Still, he hasn’t responded.
Something isn’t adding up, but right now I have to make the choice, even if he won’t. There’s no way I’ll hand over Alice, so that leaves one option.Me.
“I’m going to make the deal,” I say, stepping off toward the field.
“What?!No. Absolutely not. You’re the heir to the throne of Hell,” Finn scurries behind me, clapping his hand on my shoulder and spinning me around. A glare rips through me, unlike anything I’ve seen him wear in years.
“What choice do we have?” I say, starting to strip off my armor.
“There’s always a choice. You just have to look for it.”
“My father has seen how this plays out. It’s knowledge that should’ve guaranteed us to win, yet our people are dying. I can’t trust that he’s going to stop it.”
“Then don’t.” Finn turns around, marching back until he’s in the Devil’s face. “What versions of this did we win?”
