Page 40 of Demon Bound

Raiya couldn’t help but watch him.

It took less than a minute. He slowly went dead still, his entire body going slack. She almost thought his breathing had stopped, but then she realized it had only grown incredibly slow, his chest expanding only three or four times in the span of a minute. His prosthetic arm disappeared as the spell lost power.

“Azreth?” she said quietly.

He didn’t move.

She reached out and brushed her fingertips against his arm. He didn’t move. Didn’t even twitch.

Taken by an overpowering curiosity, she raised her hand to his neck, letting her thumb and middle fingers rest on either side of his throat. She squeezed slightly. His pulsed thrummed dully under her touch, but he remained limp and still, unaware.

Stunned, she sat back. He’d been telling the truth. He was dead to the world. It would really be up to her to protect him from any threats, and she had to hope she was up to the task.

“Nothing will happen by,” she told herself, settling against the rock behind her. No one could see them from the road, and no one would have a reason to come this way. They would be fine.

She took the baton from her belt and laid it across her lap so it would be ready to use, nonetheless.

A couple of hours in,she realized that she’d forgotten to ask him how long he would sleep. By the time night had fallen and he still hadn’t awoken, she was beginning to think it might be longer than she expected.

As the night went on, the cold crept through her skin and into her bones, and eventually she stowed her pride and curled up beside Azreth to leech his warmth. He still hadn’t moved.

She’d been lying there for an hour or more, wide awake and alert, when she heard a footstep beside her. Something metal touched her throat, and when she moved, it nicked her. She took a sharp breath.

“Don’t move,” came a voice from the darkness.

She didn’t. Her heart raced as she searched the darkness, blind. After a moment, a shaft of rune-covered crystal lit up in front of her, and she winced in the sudden light. The mage torch was in the hand of the young night elf male holding a sword to her throat.

Raiya’s baton was still clenched in her hand by her side, but she wasn’t brave enough to lift it. The boy looked twitchy. He’d probably slice clean through her throat by the time she raised it halfway.

“Lady Raiya, it’s me!” whispered a familiar voice from somewhere nearby.

“Be quiet,” the male hissed.

“What’s wrong with saying that? I don’t want her to be frightened.”

He groaned. “By the Goddess, Jai. Don’t talk so politely. This isn’t how you threaten someone. She’s not your friend.”

“I didn’t say she was.”

The two of them had approached so quietly that Raiya hadn’t heard them over the sound of wind in the grass. Amazing that they were suddenly so loud now. “What do you want?” Raiya asked.

The sword, which had drooped slightly during the argument, jerked up to touch her chin again. “Be still,” the male commanded.

“Madira, you’re hurting her! She’s bleeding, look! Stop, just let her go.”

“Are you joking?”

A hand reached over in the darkness and shoved him. With a frustrated growl, he moved the sword away from Raiya’s neck and glared down at her.

Raiya dared to tilt her head to look over at Jai. She was on Azreth’s other side, holding a knife near his throat. An iron blade. She smiled at Raiya.

“You followed us,” Raiya said.

“We came to help you,” Jai replied. She glanced down at Azreth, her brow pinching. “The demon’s not waking up.”

“He’s in a deep sleep,” Raiya said. “He told me he can’t easily be awoken from it.”

“Fantastic news,” Madira said flatly. “Just kill him now, before he wakes.”