“Seen who?”
“Mytaz,” she breathed.
More of my anger faded when her eyes darted from me to the statues and back again. I had no idea why she was so upset about a bunch of statues, but I didn’t think anything could rattle her this much… except for me.
“We haven’t seen anyone else since we arrived here,” I assured her.
“We can’t…. I can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous. If he’s alive….”
Her words trailed off as she gazed at the statues.
“If he’s alive, what?” I prompted.
She didn’t seem to hear me as her eyes settled on something further down the hall. I’d never seen an expression like what crossed her face. It was a mixture of amazement, joy, and then such utter sorrow that I felt her sadness stab into me like it was my own.
Bale shoved past me and sprinted down the hall toward the statue of the woman who once held the bowl I used to help clean her. Zorn’s hooves clattered over the rock as he plodded toward me.
I glanced at my mount before following Bale down the hall. She fell to her knees before the statue and reached for it before pulling her hands back. They hung in the air as if she was uncertain what to do with them.
“Fiora,” she breathed. “Oh, Fiora.”
She reached for the woman again and gave an anguished cry when her hands traced the delicate contours of the woman’s face. Then she lowered her forehead to the woman’s and did something I’d never expected to hear my Chosen do, she sobbed.
That sound mystified me more than anything else in my life. My step faltered as Bale kept her head against the woman’s while she embraced the statue.
“I’m so sorry,” she lamented. “I’m so sorry.”
What was going on here? I gazed from Bale to the statue and back again as I stopped beside her. I had no idea what to do, no idea what was happening, but somehow I found my hand resting on her shoulder in a gesture I think was meant to comfort.
I didn’t comfort anyone; I didn’t know how to do such a thing, but apparently, I did.
I started to ask why she was crying over a statue and who the woman was, but it wasn’t the time. So, I simply stood with my hand on her shoulder as she hugged the statue.
And then, from the direction of the entrance, the clatter of hoofbeats rebounded off the walls.
Bale
Wrath’s hand tightening on my shoulder alerted me to the approaching danger more than the hoofbeats heading in our direction. Struggling through my haze of sorrow, I tore myself from the past as I lifted my head from Fiora’s.
Something was coming, and I was kneeling on the ground, crying like an idiot over someone who died centuries ago. I’d never expected to see her again, but that was still no reason to lose control as I had in front of Wrath of all demons. I was already so weak when it came to him, and now that he’d seen me fall apart, he would try to take advantage of it.
Pushing myself away from the statue, I rose in one fluid motion. Wrath pulled me behind him as War emerged from the shadows.
War’s fiery red eyes pinned me to the spot as he halted his red and black mount. His hair, the same color as his eyes, was streaked with blood, and so was his face. His broad shoulders and considerable build only hinted at the amount of power oozing from his pores. Then his mouth curved into a cruel smile.
“You have a prisoner of war,” he said.
I would die before I ever allowed myself to become a prisoner of these assholes. I knew what they would do to me; I just didn’t know if Wrath would allow it. He’d been infuriated with me earlier; was he mad enough to let his brethren abuse his Chosen?
A Chosen who refused to seal the bond with him. Then I recalled his hand on my shoulder, the way he tried to comfort me, and wondered if perhaps I wasn’t giving him enough credit. He was the enemy, but he also seemed like he might be a good man who was trying to understand and get closer to me.
This sudden insight was far more disturbing to me than War’s presence. The tremor working its way through me had nothing to do with the endless torture I knew was running through War’s head, and everything to do with the realization I might actually like Wrath.
I had to get out of this place, away from all of them and these statues. It was all messing with my head.
“Where are Death and Pride?” Wrath demanded.
“I don’t know,” War replied. “Perhaps they perished in the woods.”
The two of them studied each other in a way that made unease shiver down my spine. There was clearly no love between Wrath and his fellow horsemen, but I sensed something more here. Maybe it was the same with Wrath and the others, but the animosity between these two was so thick it was almost palpable.
“When do we start on the bitch?” War inquired.
And once they started on me, they wouldn’t stop. I was acutely aware of my weaponless status. I was fast and strong, but that wasn’t enough against War.
“No one is going to touch my prisoner,” Wrath replied.
“Not even you?” War inquired.
Something in his eyes made me realize he was playing with us. Soon, he would pounce.
Chapter Nineteen
Wrath
I knew when one of the horsemen was trying to toy with me, and that’s precisely what War was doing. Perhaps he suspected there was something more between Bale and me, maybe he’d already guessed she was my Chosen, but it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t allow him anywhere near her.
“I will decide what happens with my prisoner,” I said.
“Ah, I see.” He dismounted and moved to stand beside his horse’s head. “And what shall you decide?”
I’d known War my entire life; we’d been together for more years than I could count, and we’d spent twelve thousand of those years locked behind a seal together. We’d clashed numerous times over the countless millennia of my life, but I couldn’t recall a single time we laughed together or one happy moment we ever shared.
She drove me crazy, but I’d gotten more joy out of Bale in the past month than I’d ever gotten out of any of the horsemen. The horsemen were not my friends; they were not my brothers. They were simply demons such as myself. We stuck together because, though we hated each other, we were allies, but I would destroy him if it meant keeping Bale safe.
“I don’t recall ever running my plans by you before,” I replied.
War’s smile didn’t reach his eyes until he looked at Bale. And then his eyes shone with malicious glee. The things he would do to her should never be done to anyone, but War took savage joy in torturing others.
I’d seen him at work before and had to walk away before he finished, but I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stomach his work, even Death walked away. The only one who watched for any length of time was Pestilence, but eventually, he couldn’t take it either. It was months before War finally grew bored and killed his victim. I would never allow him to do something like that to Bale.
“I don’t recall you ever bringing the enemy into our home before,” War replied.
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“Yes, there is. She’s a beautiful enemy. Will you be sharing her?”
In all my many eons of life, I’d never experienced jealousy. Now it was a rush of hellfire burning in my belly, spreading through my chest, and searing my limbs as fire danced across my fingers. I would not be the first to know her body, but I would be the last. No one, other than me, was ever going to touch her in such a way again.
A smug smile played at the corner of War’s mouth. “And there it is.”
“And there what is?” I demanded through clenched teeth.
“The reason you’ve been so different lately.”
I refused to reveal any reaction to his statement. I didn’t think I was acting differently at all, but War must have sensed something, which meant the others had too. I thought I hadn’t let Bale affect me, but I’d been different somehow, and this asshole picked up on it.
“Did
you bring her here to keep her?” War inquired as he stepped closer. “Because we both know we cannot allow the enemy to survive in our midst.”
I didn’t respond while I studied his deliberate, stalking movements. Our abilities didn’t work against each other, but his might work on Bale. Because she was my Chosen, she might be able to withstand his influence and keep from attacking me. However, if he turned her against me, I’d have a difficult time fighting them both, especially since I wouldn’t hurt her.
So far, he was keeping his ability leashed. Probably because, like me, he wasn’t in a rush to kill one of his own. If this started, it would end in the death of one of us, and it would be his death.
“If she’s your Chosen, then claim the bitch,” War said.
My fingers twitched over his continued use of the word bitch when it came to Bale.
“If she’s unwilling to be claimed, then do it by force,” War continued.
He was only a few feet away when he stopped.
“Or are you too much of a coward for that?” War demanded. “You never did have the stomach to do what was necessary.”
“What happens to her is my decision to make,” I replied.
“Not when you’ve brought her into our home.”
“And what are you going to do about it?”
“You can’t protect her all the time.”
He was baiting me and trying to elicit an uncontrolled reaction from me. I was still maintaining some control, but it was also working. I was on the verge of unleashing everything and beating him into a bloody pulp while I relished the feel of his skin and bones breaking beneath my blows.
When we fought behind the seals, we were evenly matched, but then we were fighting because of boredom, hatred, and for fun. Now, he was a danger to my Chosen, and though the bond wasn’t complete, I would protect her.
“Don’t threaten her,” I warned. “You will regret it.”
“If I get my hands on her, I’ll rape her until she can’t walk, and that’s when I’ll start cutting off tiny pieces of her. And when she heals, I’ll start all over again.”
My nostrils flared as my flames rose to my elbows. He’d done it numerous times before, and he’d reveled in it every time. I had to be smart about this.
I grabbed Bale’s sword before leaving my chamber; I wouldn’t allow her to get it back that easily. War had two small swords strapped to his hips and his ability to sway Bale to violence.
But I had to make my move soon. The longer we remained in this standoff, the more chance Death and Pride would return too. If they joined the fight, I wouldn’t be able to keep Bale safe.
When War settled back on his heels, I sprang into motion. Rushing at him, I lifted my elbow and drove it up and under his chin. His head shot back, and his teeth clicked together so loudly the sound vibrated throughout the tunnel.
Thrown off by my sudden attack, War hadn’t anticipated his baiting to unleash such savagery from me. He’d expected a fight, yes, but I didn’t think he anticipated a battle to the death, and that was what I planned for him.
He’d threatened my Chosen; he would torture her, and he would get the others to help him do it. He could not be allowed to live.
His head was still back from my blow when I grasped one of his swords and pulled it free. The blade was only a foot long, but when I buried it in his belly and twisted, it easily tore through flesh. Black blood spilled over my hand.
As I twisted the sword, I continued to bash my elbow up and under his chin… one, two, three more times. His head flew back with every blow, and his teeth shattered on the third strike.
Pulling the sword out, I didn’t give him a chance to unleash his power and try to turn Bale against me before plunging the weapon through his neck.
“Regret threatening her yet?” I snarled.
War released a gurgled sound as his eyes widened, and his fingers clawed at the blade. I bared my teeth at him as I twisted the sword in his neck. The sounds of our fight were drowned out by the thundering of hooves across the rock floor. Judging by the echo, Zorn and War’s horse were charging toward us.
I was about to slice War’s head off when his steed hit me in the side. The impact tore my hands from the hilt, lifted me off my feet, and flung me into the wall. Rocks gave way as my body went through them.
Chapter Twenty
Bale
I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping when Wrath attacked War. He was so fast it was almost impossible to detect his movements, and remarkably fluid; he was like the embodiment of water flowing over rocks. I vividly recalled battling him in the minotaur’s lair, but I now realized he hadn’t unleashed all his power on me.
Instead, he’d held back from the beginning of our fight. Had he sensed I was his Chosen before I did? It was the only thing that made sense; otherwise, our battle might have been a lot different.
The crushing blows he delivered to War with his elbow would have left another demon without their head. Though they didn’t decapitate War, they stunned him before Wrath plunged the sword into War’s neck. Hoofbeats resonated through the tunnel as War’s beast closed in on Wrath.
“Look out!” I shouted, but it was already too late.
The horse hit Wrath so hard that when he crashed into the wall, it gave way beneath the impact of his body, and he disappeared. With Wrath gone, the only source of illumination came from the flames surrounding his mount.
And those flames illuminated the malevolence in War’s eyes. He didn’t care if I was Wrath’s Chosen; he’d kill me. That knowledge, along with Wrath almost severing his fellow horsemen’s head, told me how much they all despised each other.
I ran toward War as he gripped the handle of the sword buried in his throat. His beast skidded to a halt near the wall and spun toward us. Its red eyes burned into me when I leapt onto War’s back as he pulled the sword from his throat. Wrapping my arms around his head, I yanked it up to expose the hole there.
I plunged my fingers into the hole as he stabbed at me over his back. I bit back a scream when the sword sank into my shoulder and went straight down to pop out under my armpit. Keeping the fingers of one hand in his wound, I seized his wrist as he started to pull the sword from my shoulder.
Halting his movements, I kept him from tearing the sword out of me and plunging it in again. However, I couldn’t stop his other hand from flying over his back and battering the side of my head. Stars exploded before my eyes. Digging deeper into his throat, I clawed at the sinew in the hopes of tearing it away.
The clattering sound of hooves rebounded off the rocks, but I didn’t have to look up to know War’s beast was coming at me. Like a crow on carrion, I tore at War’s throat while he bashed my head and blood pooled in my mouth.
The hot breath of War’s mount billowed across my arm a second before Wrath’s horse collided with it, and they spun out of my line of view. I buried my shock over Wrath’s mount defending me and gave up on trying to tear War’s head from his shoulders.
Deciding on a new line of attack, I released his neck and yanked the sword free. Before he could react, I plunged the sword into his shoulder.
War howled as his hand entangled in my hair. Before I could get a good grip on him, he ripped me over his shoulder and smashed me into the ground. When I tried to get more oxygen into my lungs, they refused to breathe. War gripped the sword in both hands and lifted it over me.
Ignoring the discomfort of my battered body, I rolled to the side as he drove the blade down and into the rock. Sparks flew, and the tip broke off to fly across the room. It bounced off one of the cave walls and skittered away into the darkness.
My breath wheezed in as I scrambled to my feet and raced at War. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I propelled him backward and into the wall as he joined his hands together and pummeled my back. The blow knocked my hold on him free and drove me into the ground.
With my breath knocked out of me again, I strained to inhale as I got my hands under me. He grasped my hair and plucked
me off the ground as if I weighed no more than a feather. My toes dangled above the ground as I unleashed a series of punches into his belly and chest, but he was like hitting the rocks surrounding us.
The bastard didn’t have the decency to flinch when I punched him. He caught my hand before I delivered the next blow. Staring at me with a look of pure satisfaction, he squeezed until my hand crumpled and crunched like a bird’s wing in the jaws of a hound.
I clamped my teeth against a scream as my bones grated together and popped in a way no bone should ever pop. War’s red eyes danced with amusement until I smashed my left fist into his face.
His nose crunched, and black blood seeped down his face before he jerked me toward him and battered his forehead off mine. Stars exploded before my eyes as I drove my foot into his groin.
Still blinded by his blow, I couldn’t see his reaction, but I felt it when he slammed me into a wall. I didn’t think I’d ever breathe again as I kicked out and got my feet into his stomach. My hair, still caught in his hand, twisted my head to the side, and bent it at an unnatural angle as I pushed him away from me.
I blinked away the last of the stars filling my eyes as a bellow reverberated off the rocks. I couldn’t see Wrath, but his power emanating against my skin caused it to crackle with energy.
War’s head shot to the side as a series of bone-crushing blows rained down on his head and torso. Unable to keep his hold on me and fend off Wrath, War’s hand untangled from my hair. I hadn’t anticipated his sudden release of me, and I was still dazed enough that I couldn’t get my feet under me.
I hit the floor with a thud, but as much as I’d love to sit there, catch my breath, and see again, I couldn’t stay still. Scrambling to get away from the battling horsemen, I rolled across the floor, got to my knees, and staggered to my feet.
I lurched dizzily and blinked to clear my blurred vision. It took a couple of tries, but eventually, I was able to see Wrath and War battling each other with a frenzy that shook the walls and statues.
Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth Book 4) Page 11