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But he was the friend of a friend of my tyrant abuser. Of the monster who'd stripped Dev's power, almost killed Taj, and tortured X. No associate of thatevilwas innocent.
"Find out what he knows," I told Taj.
He nodded firmly, a cruel smile on his face as he turned to the medic.
I only realised when I was out in the corridor, that I'd given an order—and Taj had obeyed without question.
I would ponder that later, when my magic wasn't an ocean of lava bubbling and burning in my gut, and my hands weren't shaking with puddles on fire in my palms.
I went to the nearest window, ignoring the chaos and panic moving up and down the corridor. The castle was going to come apart around us, and I had no doubt my other mates were trying to stop that happening. But it had been twenty minutes at least; nothing had worked so far? This building was covered in power meant to withstand attacks, so for thiscloudto be so close to collapsing us, someone who knew the ins and outs of its shields had coughed up secrets.Sinjin.I knew it was that snivelling bastard.
I couldn't find the latch for the window. No problem; my hands were so hot I literally melted glass. It dripped down the wall—ooh, purrrrtyy—but then the scene outside snagged my attention. I caught my breath when I saw the dark green noxious cloud covering the castle in a sickly dome. The same colour as Drill Bastard's twin.
But Pennel didn’t make this. Unlike in Herallan when I couldn't feel Eidolon's signature, there was no mistaking the way it now crawled along my skin like an army of beetles.
"Piece of dogshit," I snarled.3
Rage mounted inside me until my red skin shimmered, magic covering me like a second skin. I let out the scream in my throat and threw my hands through the open window.
Power charged through me, making my claws numb. My tongue tingled, and my eyeballs stabbed like I'd been assaulted by an evil acupuncturist.Was this supposed to hurt so much?My scream became one of pain as well as fury.
Panic hit my bonds, flowed into my soul, and charged my power until my fire burned hotter, so dark it was as black as the deepest, cruellest void.
I could barely breathe when my flames met the noxious cloud of Eidolon's magic. Like the contact gave him access, his rage slithered into my chest, scaly and sickening. I gagged, clawing at my chest toget it out.
The cloud collapsed and the castle stilled, but there was no washing away that feeling of my abuser's rage. I didn't know what had enraged him, but I knew it was nothing good. And even if his slimy magic was gone for now—I searched my whole soul to make sure there wasn’t even a drop left—it would come back.
It was time. We had to go to the river of souls and lay in wait for him. We had to end this—endhim.
For the first time in my miserable life, I wanted to do something more than kill, and draw blood, and make people suffer. I wanted to live, laugh, love, goddammit, and if that was going to happen, I needed to fight tooth and claw tomakeit happen.
If I didn't kill Eidolon, it wouldn't be the castle coming down around us. It would be all of Hell. There'd be no laughter, only silence, no love, only putrescent hatred. And we'd all be dead.
25
"Disturbing thought," I said as we looked at the Company of Murkyr gathered on our front lawn again. "If Hell is real, is Heaven?"
My mates exchanged a knowing glance. Oh, no.
"Guys. Answer me. I can't deal with another race of crazy, power hungry assholes, and you can't tell me angels wouldn’t besomuch worse than demons."
"Technically, there’s no Heaven," Taj replied, his big hand resting on the small of my back over my fancy, leather armour. It was made up of scales like dragon skin, and no one would ever prise it off my body again.1
"Technically," I echoed. "I'm not liking thattechnically,Taj Amora. Elaborate."
"We're a little busy," he reminded me, jerking his grey chin at the army on our doorstep. Right. We were getting ready for war. This time, we weren't going alone—we were taking backup.
We just needed said backup to get their shit together and stand in formation so Ark and his dickhead wraith family could transport them to the edge of the river of souls.2
"What?" Joseph demanded, loud enough to draw my attention. He was talking to X a few paces away. Not that anyone knew the black-haired, blue-skinned demon was my mate; he'd used some of the power heshouldhave used to heal himself to change his appearance. And he refused to stay home while we went to kill Eidolon.
It was fair enough; he deserved a shot at the bastard, too. I tried not to search for the words carved into his skin, but I was always, always aware they were there.
"I'm serious," X hissed, his voice pitched low so it wouldn't carry to the warriors. Or the wraiths who watched Ark a little too close for my liking.
Apparently he was disgraced in their community, and they'd turned their back on him when Koa died. Not for abandoning his post, which I could understand—loyalty and honour and all that. No, they were ashamed he'd tried to kill himself.Pricks.I was going to kill every last wraith who gave my mate a dirty look.ButI had to wait until they'd taken us to the river and back.
There wasnothingdisgraceful about Arkan, and nothing shameful about waging a daily war with your mental health. Maybe if he'd been able to talk about it with his family instead of locking it all inside, he might not have found a bridge that night.
