Page 71

Clades, I spoke to his spirit,brother, stop this.

This was no direct connection, and I was no mind whisperer. I couldn’t be sure he had heard, as my words would resonate within the deepest, most unconscious part of him. But we Infernari were intuitive creatures. I could only hope.

I spent a moment longer with that essence of his, and then I withdrew, moving back up the connection. Up and outwards until I released the world inside myself.

I inhaled and exhaled, then opened my eyes.

The swarm still surrounded me completely, but now they parted like a stream around my body.

As I watched, the air cleared.

From it, Clades stepped forward.

Not all Infernariappeared like humans did. Clades was one such example.

When he stepped into the clearing, I saw his hooves first. Coarse fur covered his calves. His legs tapered from animal to man above the knee, though the tan skin of his thighs were mostly covered by the loincloth he wore. He’d come from the tribes of the far south and kept the customs of his lost people.

His chest and arms were all human, but his blood-red eyes had horizontal pupils, and his nose was more stag than man—and the bull’s horns that spread out from his head... well, those were all beast.

Necklaces of bones jangled against his chest as he stepped forward. More bones decorated his wrists and ankles, as well as the leather throng that tied his loincloth around his waist. Strapped around his body were two holstered sabers. I’d seen firsthand just how quickly he could draw those two blades. How ruthless he was to his enemies, how loyal he was to his comrades.

You see, Clades and I were friends.

“Lana Malesuis,” he said, his voice pitched deeper than most Infernari, “you dishonor me with your plea, you who have been marked for death.”

I swallowed delicately. Deathmarked.

I stared up at him from where I knelt.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “Please, as my friend, tell me why the primus has ordered me to die.”

Clades came closer. Around us, the swarm still buzzed, enclosing us in our own room of sorts. “You’ve failed to kill Jame Asher, the one who seeks to destroy our kind, and now youhelphim?”

I felt my nostrils flare. “I was hisprisoner. And I—I tried to kill him, but...” I swallowed. “I couldn’t do it.” I looked up at Clades, letting him see my shame. “I’ve never been able to,” I whispered.

Clades knew this, that being a healer made killing nearly impossible for me.

The Infernarus stared back at me unflinchingly, and I couldn’t read his expression.

“When Azazel came for Asher,” I continued, “I got caught in the crossfire. He saved my life. Now I’m oathbound to protect him.”

Clades came forward, kneeling before me. He placed a warm palm on the side of my face. “He cannot live, Lana. So long as he does, and so long as you protect him, you both will be deathmarked.” His gaze was sad. Because he knew the lengths I would go to—the lengths I must go to—to save Asher’s life.

I felt my eyes well. “I know,” I whispered.

I couldn’t kill Clades to defend Asher either. I had already sworn an oath to protect my race. I now found myself in the same situation countless other Infernari had found themselves in. Bound by contradicting oaths. Forced to die with honor. I thought I had avoided this fate entirely by healing rather than fighting.

“What must I do, brother?” I asked.

“You must surrender and step aside. Return to Abyssos on your own. We will spare you then.”

“Ican’t,” I pleaded. “If I step aside, you’ll kill him, Azazel will kill him... I’m supposed to protect him.”

“Thenhemust surrender,” Clades said. “He must kneel before us and pledge his loyalty to our kind. That’s the only way he lives. He’s a predator. One way or another, he has to be defanged.”

I nodded, my throat dry. I had pieced together as much myself. “I’ll get him to surrender,” I said firmly, my voice much surer than I felt. “Just give me some time... time to convince him.”

Clades studied me, his eyes grieving like he had already lost me. “He cannot be changed, Lana. If we give him time, he will only kill more Infernari, he will destroy more portals, he will destroyyou.” Hand still resting on my cheek, the bringer of blight lowered his voice. “But you are dear to me. I won’t let this hunter be the death of you. Thereareways.”