When I reached out a hand, my touch sizzled against the cool stone tabletop. Below the surface, symbols bobbed out of the solid stone like hungry fish seeking food. I plucked my hand back, watched the glyphs sink into the blackness of the table, and dangled my fingers across the surface once more. Again, the swirling glyphs rose to the surface. Were they alive? Jerry had been coated from head to toe in the same symbols. On the battlefield, they’d hovered around him like armor. Like the original princes, the symbols were ageless. I didn’t understand them or how they worked to temper elemental energy. There was too much about the netherworld I didn’t understand.
Being raised as a half-blood chew-toy hadn’t left much room for history lessons. How could I hope to stand around that very table with equally mystifying immortal demons? How was I going to convince the court I was one of them? They would never accept me no matter what Daddy dearest said. I had to prove my worth if I was going to infiltrate their inner circle. How do you prove you’re all demon? I had my theories, and all scenarios involved grotesque violence.
I sighed, and the sound carried deeply into the empty space. I could have done with having Akil by my side. He’d have known what to do, although extracting any helpful information from him would have been like Chinese water torture. Damn, I missed that son of a bitch. Warmth pulsed in my chest and throbbed through my veins. I pressed my hand over my heart. He was in there—some part of him. His soul, his essence, whatever fuelled our dreams; it was there. I just had to get him out and remake him. It was possible. It had to be. He’d said there was a way.
I felt the push of my father’s element as he entered the throne room. He said a single word in the old language. It sounded more like a growl than speech. I trained my gaze ahead, resisting the urge to turn. I wasn’t afraid to show him my back. We were equal now. No, not afraid.
“The symbols,” he repeated in guttural English. “They respond favorably.” He stopped beside me, wings drawn in. “This is good.”
Heat lapped at my skin. I fought to ignore his explorative embrace. This was just demon. It was normal. Relax, I ordered myself. I made no comment, even though I wanted to ask if the symbols were alive and what it meant if they responded to me. I would find some other demon to ask. Not my father. He had to think me strong, proud, and infallible.
“You have learned much under Greed’s tutelage. But still, there is one remaining aspect of our blood you must control.”
Greed’s tutelage. I didn’t need reminding that Akil had been tasked with my protection. Ryder had been my Institute babysitter, and Akil had been my demon one. He’d finally admitted it, hours before his death on the battlefield. He’d admitted a lot of things. Some hurt too much to recall.
“What is that, Father?” I turned my head and lifted my gaze. My father’s eyes glowed a brilliant yellow. He tilted his brutish face, ruby lips parted. I might have thought his expression was amusement, but I couldn’t decipher it, not really. The cheekbones were too harsh, cheeks too hollow. I would have to watch him closely, learn what his expressions meant, if I had any hope of besting him.
He bowed his head. “I am the Prince of Lust. Your brother wielded lust like a sharpened blade. It is time you were taught to do the same.”
Oh, god. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse. I pinned a shallow smile to my lips and hoped to hell he didn’t see the fear in my eyes. “Then let us begin.”
* * *
I’d wondered since discovering who my father was if I had a weakness for lust. I’d tried to avoid encouraging that part of me. Call it denial, but it kept me sane. Mostly. Now, as I stood in front of a whimpering half-blood male, with my father looming hot and huge behind me, I regretted not having explored the matter before that moment.
Asmodeus had shooed the syrupy netherworld air from the chamber, allowing the human half-blood to breathe without choking. He was a sorry thing. Skin hung off his bones. Eyes frightened. Mind gone. I looked down at him and saw what I had once been. He looked back at me, pitiful, whimpering—as I’d once looked up at Damien—and I nearly threw up.
“Show me lust.” Asmodeus’s words pushed at my mind.
Lust. Right. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, and behind my demon smile, I scrambled around in my memories for any clue as to how to convince my father I could do this without actually doing it. My brother had been the epitome of lust. He’d had me salivating at his feet, eager to do his bidding. He’d destroyed Jenna’s human mind and made her his minion. As far as I could remember, he’d done it all with touch, but there had to be more to it. I’d touched plenty of people and didn’t turn them into salivating lunatics. Sure, I was only half a thing, nothing like my brother, but I must have had something in me for Asmodeus to pursue it. Or did he want to watch me fail?
“Begin.” Asmodeus grumbled.
My fingers twitched. If my father thought me weak, this charade of mine would end. If we threw down here, I might walk away. Or I might not. Either way, I’d have blown my chances of getting answers right out of the water. He’d definitely live, and he’d rally the princes against me. I wasn’t ready for that. I needed Jerry by my side before we came to blows. I needed a way to stop the princes for good.
Stretching out my wing, I crouched down in front of the man and draped my arms over my knees. He pulled back, trying to disappear into the wall behind him. Nobody had saved this one the way Akil had saved me. He didn’t have a name. He was a toy, passed around the demons until they tired of him. I knew what that nightmare was like.
Saliva pooled in my mouth. My smile twisted and died. It didn’t matter. My father couldn’t see, but the half-blood did. He’d see the humanity in my eyes, the sympathy there. What hope did he have? Perhaps a dose of lust might clear the degradation from his mind. For a while, he wouldn’t care about anything else, and maybe that would be a blessing. If I could do this…
I drew in a breath through my teeth. The half blood flinched. Snivels and hitches babbled from his lips. I reached out my hand, but he cringed away. Ah, my heat. My demon skin would burn his.
“Why do you delay?”
“I like to tease them.” The words cut as I forced them through my teeth. “I’m sorry,” I mouthed. The half blood’s eyes widened. He sprang at me, sensing weakness in my apology. I jerked back, more startled than hurt. His cool hands locked around my throat. We tumbled, and almost immediately, the alarmingly succulent smell of cooking flesh filled my nostrils. If I reverted to human, my father would think me weak. I couldn’t. But my touch would kill the man. He screamed, eyes wild and teeth bared. I couldn’t save this one. Hands clamped around my neck, he clung on, teeth gritted. Spittle rained from his lips as he growled and snapped. No words. Maybe nobody had taught him how to speak. I could kill him. Was that the right thing to do?
Asmodeus plucked him off me and broke his neck in the time it took me to blink. He tossed the body aside and fixed me beneath his yellow-eyed glare. Propped up on my elbows with my wing crushed beneath me, I glared back. If he challenged me now, I’d fight. He sucked in a breath through his nostrils. His chest expanded. “I have another.” He grunted. “Come.”
I had to get out of this lesson and fast. “Why is it important I master lust?”
“You are my daughter.”
Climbing to my feet, I curled my lip at the sight of sizzling human hair and skin clinging to my demon flesh. Damn. I’d have given anything to be back in Boston, sipping a chai tea latte. Maybe I couldn’t even wield lust. Maybe that delightful talent had skipped me. I hoped so. But I still needed to convince daddy-dearest I could.
I followed Asmodeus through the fortress, collecting leers and jeers along the way. We descended staircases into the bowels of the castle. I knew there was a fighting pit beneath the halls but couldn’t imagine why we’d be going there. Certainly, no demon would face me in the pit. They’d much prefer stabbing me in the back or cutting my throat while I slept.
We entered what appeared to be a galley of empty stalls
, like stables, but in these stalls, shackles hung from the ceiling. My element flared at the sight of them. Torches spluttered. Chains. A shudder rippled through me, dislodging ash from my skin. Please don’t let there be another half-blood chained down here. Maybe if it’s demon I can put it out of its misery before it suffers any longer.
The sight greeting me in the last stall ripped the demon smile from my face and tore out my heart.
Stefan.
Beautiful, deadly, ice-born Stefan. Demon, but without his wings. He lay on his side, eyes closed, wrists shackled. Ice crystals glittered through his glorious demon body. Gashes wept blood. Dark, dried blood marred his hip, thigh, and arm. He’d fought. He’d been beaten.
Oh, god. No!
Rage bubbled up from the deepest darkest corners of my soul. I flung myself at my father in a flurry of claws and teeth. I might even have gotten through—had he not caught my skull in one vast hand and slammed me against the wall. He pinned me there, leaning all of his formidable weight into the hold. Grit and stone dug into my skull. Growls tumbled forth. I bucked and writhed until he smothered my little demon body with his own, holding me rigid between demon muscle and dungeon walls.
“I could rip your skull from your spine,” he purred. His illicit tone made the threat more venomous.
Tears sizzled in my eyes. I couldn’t look away from Stefan. What had been done to him? How had they caught him? He was the Prince of Wrath. The symbols had no effect on him. At least, they hadn’t, but they did now. Glyphs glowed around the shackles rubbing his wrists raw. How was he there? Was he…dead? I couldn’t panic. Panic would get me killed. “Yes, Father.” Think quick and smart.
Asmodeus threw me to the floor. “You will destroy this one’s mind with lust before you join me at court.”
No, no, no… I couldn’t. Not Stefan. Even if I knew how, I couldn’t hurt him.
“Attack me again, and I will summon the blade and take great pleasure in cleaving your half-blood body in two. You killed my bloodspawn—my son. Do not make the mistake of believing I care for you, Daughter. Your power is of my blood. Prove your allegiance.”
Stefan’s lashes fluttered. His beautiful eyes opened, and his crystalline gaze speared my soul. He snarled.
Chapter 6
With my father behind me, I levered myself up onto my arms, and Stefan did the same. He rose from his sprawled position slowly, methodically, showing no signs of weakness. Chain links chinked and rattled. Taut muscles quivered. Demon skin shimmered. His gaze scored though to my very soul. Fury—brittle, sharp, and ice-white—burned in his eyes. The manacles around his wrists restrained his element, but he didn’t need his element to send a chill through me.
“Stand.” My father’s order barely penetrated the shock wrapped around me.
Stefan’s eyes narrowed. Frigid anger sharpened his glare. His lips thinned as he pulled them back over his teeth.
“Stand.” My father repeated.
I slid my gaze right and caught sight of my father behind me. A clean blue shimmer danced on the walls, thrown there by the elemental blade in Asmodeus’s hand. Only the princes could summon it. I’d seen it a handful of times, usually right before the shit was about to hit the fan. Anti-elemental glyphs licked across the flanks of the sword. It would make quick work of my skin and my element. The threat was clear.
Stefan hissed. His chains groaned as he got to his feet. The order was for him? Every breath hissed through his clamped teeth. He’d curled his hands into fists.
Asmodeus lunged for Stefan. I winced. Stefan stood firm and let my father clasp his left hand around his throat. Asmodeus’s sword arm tensed, his wing shifted—
“Stop!” I couldn’t let this happen. Screw the demon act. Fuck the veil. My father was not laying a hand on Stefan.
Asmodeus held the sword aloft. Ripples of light lapped over them both: my father, his crimson skin aglow and Stefan, glacial, deadly. They glared, challenging. Stefan couldn’t win. He was trapped and weakened. But he outshone my father. Crystal wings bloomed from his back, layer upon layer, until they arched every bit as wide as my father’s. Stefan might have been elementally restrained, but he was still demon and a Prince of Hell.
Asmodeus’s upper lip curled. “Muse will rip your mind asunder. If she fails, you both die here.”
Stefan made no reply. A muscle fluttered in his jaw, and ice dusted his face, but he didn’t attack or move to protect himself. A growl bubbled from the depths of my father’s monstrous body until it peeled from his lips. With one great sweep, he threw Stefan against the rear wall of the stall. Stefan’s wings shattered. He fell but sprang forward, lunging for Asmodeus.
“Stefan, no!” My cry rang out as Asmodeus struck Stefan with a bone-jarring crack of his fist, throwing Stefan to the floor, out cold. Melt water pooled around his motionless body.
Hot and bitter rage burned my throat as it bubbled up from inside. I dug my claws into the stones. Raw, elemental heat throbbed from my flesh.
I climbed to my feet—movements deliberate and precise—lifted my chin, and closed my eyes. The beacon of heat that was my father blazed like a furnace. Sending my element out, I latched onto his source. He swung the blade. He really would kill me. I ducked and spun, punching my claws into his torso. Hooking them closed, I tore out a handful of muscle and flesh. He roared and turned on me like the demon prince he was. I saw teeth and claws and fire and felt the terrible flash burn of pain down my entire right side. Unconsciousness washed in, but receded just as quickly. The third or fourth time my father slammed me into the wall rattled some sense back into my head. I hissed and tore his heat from inside him like pulling the rug from under his feet. His sledgehammer fists beat into me. He could have killed me, but that wasn’t his intention. When he pinned me underneath his foot and yanked my wing up, panic instantly banished apathy. Not my wing. No. No! Not that!
I bucked, writhed, twisted, but like so many years ago, I couldn’t out-muscle a full-blood demon. Sure, when fully charged, I could blast a battlefield, but in a brawl, I was deeply flawed. I surged my element into his, tangled around his heat, and knotted flame with flame. I couldn’t fight fire with fire. I had to wrench it all out of him, to drain him as I had Mammon. I tugged, and it came.
The elemental blade carved into my wing membrane. Blinding pain silenced my thoughts and instantly severed my hold on my father’s element.
He knelt on my back, held my wing under his arm, and bowed low enough that when he spoke, I heard every malicious hiss. “There is no half-blood-chaos-girl here to save you. The only reason I allow you to live is to do my bidding. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
His weight lifted. “You will destroy this one with lust, and prove your worth.” He released my wing. I levered my body up and watched through hooded eyes as my father walked away. The elemental blade dissolved. He didn’t look back. The door swung shut behind him. The lock rattled. And almost immediately, I retched up bloody bits of my insides. But I still had my wing. I ached and throbbed and burned. I wanted to cry and howl and roar. But I was alive.
My agony paled when my gaze settled on Stefan. Half dragging, half crawling, I inched closer. He lay on his side, chains draped over him. His chest rose and fell, and his eyelids flickered. How long had he been chained down there? His demon protected his body, and even now healed his wounds, but that wouldn’t make any of this hurt less.
His eyelids fluttered. His eyes opened, and he jerked back with a growl.
“Easy.” I held out a hand. “It’s me.”
“Muse.” And with the sound of my name on his lips, he sighed. “You’re alive.”
“Against the odds.”
“The battle… I wasn’t sure… And then, when he came—” He winced and probed at his jaw. “He hits like a truck.”
There would be time or explanations later. I crawled closer and reached for the manacles. He flinched. I paused, fingers hovering close to the surface of the metal. “I won’t hurt you.”
> “I know, it’s…” His throat moved as he swallowed. Propped up on his elbow, he watched me with wary eyes. “He can twist my thoughts.” Stefan’s smile shifted restlessly on his lips. “Which he did. Regularly. Made me believe things…”
I gritted my teeth and shuffled into a kneeling position, pulling my bruised wing in behind me. Apologies fought to be free, but I didn’t know where to start. I should never have left him on the battlefield. But the look on his face was about more than that. The fine lines around his fractured smile, around tired eyes—how his gaze skirted mine. Exactly what had my father made him believe?
I reached for the manacles once more, feeling my way around the metal. I sent an experimental push of heat into them, but the glyphs deflected it.
Stefan hissed sharply.
“Sorry,” I uttered.
“You can’t get them off without the key.”
I kept my head bowed and focused on the metal. Curling my claws into the hinge, I tugged, picked, and pulled, but they didn’t move. I supposed I hadn’t really expected them to. I just needed to do something. Anything. “I can’t melt them.” The stall didn’t yield anything helpful. I’d have found more creature comforts in an Institute cell.
“Muse.”
Maybe if I could read the metal, I might discover a way to remove them? A cut, a little blood, and I might—
“Muse…” Stefan pulled his wrist free of my grip and touched my chin. His icy skin tingled against the fire of mine, sprinkling shivers through my flesh. He tipped my face up. “Now would be a really good time to tell me you have a plan.”
“I did.” I moistened my lips and watched tiny filaments of ice in his eyes capture the torchlight. “I do.” But I hadn’t planned on him. Asmodeus wasn’t going to accept anything less than Stefan’s mental obliteration, and there was no way in hell I could do that to him, even if I knew how.
Stefan’s smiled steadied and slanted sideways. “It’s good to see you, y’know. And not only because you’re the only real company I’ve had for weeks.”
Ties That Bind: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 5) Page 4