Page 86 of Demon Bound

Even the prosthetic arm seemed to have been intentionally made with an eye-catching, almost ostentatious color. Was that just the natural color of his magic? Or had he picked it specifically out of a rainbow of choices?

Her eyes went to the spot where magenta magic met what remained of his shoulder. “May I ask you a personal question?” she said.

His eyes shifted and refocused, as if he’d been thinking of something else. “Yes. Whatever you like.”

“How did you lose your arm?”

His eyebrows twitched. She held his gaze.

“It was taken at birth,” he said.

Raiya frowned. She had assumed he’d lost it during a battle. “What do you mean?”

He sank to his knees, tilting his head to look toward the side of the tent as he recalled old memories. “Something went wrong when I was made. All the sacrifices were made, the sacred words were said, the ritual was performed correctly, but when I walked through the veil, my right arm was misshapen and weak. There was no magic that could fix it. The eldress conducting my creation was offended by my ugliness and weakness. So she removed it and banished me.”

Raiya felt the blood run from her face.

“After that, she said that my fate was in my own hands, and that I would live if I was strong enough.” He shrugged, arching an eyebrow almost cockily. “I lived.”

Azreth had never been a baby, so his memories wouldn’t have faded, would they? He must have recalled every agonizing second of the process. “How long ago was this?”

“I was made ten years ago.”

Raiya stared at him. He’d only been alive for ten years?

“And the others just let her do this?” she asked.

“I was weak. It was the most practical course of action. Even if it hadn’t been, they had no reason to fight her on my behalf.” He cocked his head at her. “Don’t be angry, Raiya. It was long ago.”

“They shouldn’t have done that to you. You didn’t deserve that. You hadn’t done anything wrong. You’d only just been born, and your first experiences in the world were pain and loss.”

“She could have killed me, instead. I know she wanted to. She was angry because of how I’d turned out, because I wouldn’tmake a good servant to her. She was generous to spare me even though I was worthless to her.”

“That’s not generosity. You know it’s not. You wouldn’t do that to someone, because you know it’s wrong.”

He didn’t answer.

“What happened after that? You said you were banished. What does that mean?”

“It means that I was without a house. The fourth hell is dominated by a number of houses, each ruled by an eldress, that are eternally at odds with each other. Most of my kind belong to one of those houses. We roam alone for most of our lives until we are recalled by the leaders of our house when we are needed. The houseless are outcasts. They are beholden to no one, and no one is beholden to them.”

“But you didn’t have anyone to guide you, or teach you things? How did you learn to… to live? To speak? To use magic?”

He shrugged one shoulder, uncertain. “I just knew. We are born knowing many things. The rest, I learned on my own.”

“It sounds lonely.”

He said nothing, but reached up to take her hand. Despite everything they’d already done, touching him this way still made her heart race. She curled her fingers tighter around his hand, cradling it in both of hers.

“I shouldn’t have brought this up,” she said. “I’m sorry.” She must have been radiating sadness and pity. Perhaps he disliked that. Maybe depression tasted like something that had started to rot.

“You have been alone, too,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“I can see it. There is a deep unhappiness in you that never completely goes away.”

“That’s—that’s not true. I’m fine.”