Page 29 of Discord and Cinder (Fire Witches of Salem #7)

CINDER

I dropped, spinning and kicking out a leg like Ember had taught me. My move knocked Seraphine off balance, and I grabbed the crossbow as she fell, aiming it at Bedlam’s heart. He struck out, but before his claws could penetrate Discord’s heart, I pierced his with Seraphine’s poisoned arrow.

His eyes widened, his jaw falling slack as he clutched the shaft protruding from his chest. Discord shoved him to the ground and rose, his face contorted in pain.

“My demon!” Seraphine jumped to her feet as Bedlam’s skin turned the telltale icy blue with black lattice.

She rushed toward him, hatred and fury igniting in her eyes. I hit her with a fireball, knocking her back. She lifted her hand toward me, making the claw-like gesture she’d used the last time she sucked the air from my lungs.

“Not this time.” I drew in a breath and held it.

Discord shot a stream of flames at her chest. I threw a fireball at her head. She staggered backward, falling into the river with a splash.

Seraphine screeched and screamed, flailing in the acid as it ate at her skin. If I’d had another arrow, I would’ve put her out of her misery. Instead, I stood there watching, my heart aching as she dogpaddled to the opposite side and dragged herself onto the stones. She let out one more agonizing wail before collapsing face down on the rocky bank.

My stomach soured, and my chest ached at the sight of her lying on the riverbank. Never would I ever wish that kind of pain on anyone…even someone trying to kill me.

Bedlam groaned, drawing my attention away from the lump of burned flesh. Ice crept up his neck, and he wheezed as his lungs began to freeze. “She…will avenge me.”

I scrunched my nose. “Not in that condition, she won’t.”

A high-pitched whining noise emanated from his form, and he crumbled into ashes.

I looked at Discord, and he looked back at me, his expression a mix of concern, relief, and admiration all at the same time. We stood there for a bit, locked in each other’s gazes, and warmth expanded in my chest, making it ache in a good way.

“I’m okay,” I finally said, and I closed the distance between us.

“As am I. It’s already healing.” He lifted his torn shirt to show me his wound. The edges had begun stitching themselves back together.

We stood a foot apart, his sigil on my arm heating and pulsing in response to…our proximity? Our magic? My desire?

“Looks like we beat the first level of the game.” My lips tugged into a smile, and a weird giddy sensation spiraled through my stomach.

“Indeed we did.” He reached for my hair, brushing it from my forehead and tucking it behind my ear as he stepped toward me.

The giddy sensation bubbled up to my chest before shooting into my brain and erasing all logical thought from my mind. I slid my hands up his chest, clasping them behind his neck and pressing my lips to his.

He responded, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him. Cradling the back of my head in his hand, he drank me in. I opened for him, and he brushed his tongue to mine, sending an electric jolt through my entire body.

All my muscles turned to goo, and I leaned into him, allowing myself to get lost in his essence. I fit in his arms as if I were made specifically for his embrace. His lips were soft, the kiss firm and purposeful.

Was I certifiable for standing next to an acid river, making out with a demon? One hundred percent. Did I care? Not right then. Not at all.

I reveled in the warmth of his embrace, wishing the moment would last forever. But you know what they say. All good things must come to an end.

The thing that ended the best kiss of my life? My chest feeling like some magical force was trying to turn me inside-out. I groaned, and he gripped my shoulders, pushing me away.

“Someone is attempting to summon me.” Alarm crumpled his brow and widened his eyes at the same time. “I cannot fight the pull.”

I heaved in a breath and stumbled, dripping to my knees. “It hurts.”

“If they succeed, you won’t survive.” He kneeled next to me and reached for my face, but his arm turned into green smoke.

I cupped his cheek in my hand and closed my eyes, focusing on our bond, willing, hoping the completed binding ritual would be enough to keep him by my side.

It wasn’t.

Smoke crept up his arms, spiraling around his head, billowing down his body until his entire physical form morphed into a cloud of green. My head throbbed, my skull threatening to split beneath the pressure. I lay on my side, clutching the sigil on my arm as my vision tunneled into blackness.

A bright white light appeared in front of me in my mind. Was this the end? Was my soul being obliterated?

The light flashed, and a vision formed. Ash’s studio. She and Ember stood outside a summoning circle with two men.

Chaos and Mayhem.

I recognized them instantly, my bond with Discord not only allowing me to see with his eyes, but to feel his emotions, read his thoughts. In his smokey form, he moved around the perimeter of the circle, first looking at Chaos and then Mayhem.

A spark of hope ignited in my chest, and though my pain tried to extinguish it, I held on to the flame. Ash had found my journal. She and Ember had released Discord’s brothers. But the veil…

Even as my body was dying, I could sense the unnatural thinness, could feel the rifts my sisters had mended. All Hallow’s Eve was fast approaching, and in its current state, the veil wouldn’t survive.

“Ask them for the amulet,” I said in my mind, hoping to Hecate that Discord could hear me. “It has the power of resurrection. I can’t go home without it.”

My muscles screamed with pain. My bones were about to splinter and crumble.

“Have you the amulet?” Discord’s voice echoed from both sides of the veil.

“We have the means to avenge our imprisonment,” Chaos said. “Join us in the mortal realm so we can identify Isabel’s descendants and claim our prize.”

“I owed a debt to the witch who freed me, and no one else,” Discord said, being cryptic AF, as usual.

“Tell them to get the amulet, and then get your ass back over here. I won’t last much longer.”

“That’s our sister, Cinder,” Ash said. “She needs you to find our parents and bring them all here to break my family’s curse.”

He had the nerve to laugh. “That was not the debt she asked I pay.”

Okay, this was ridiculous. I got that withholding information to maintain control was kinda Discord’s thing, but I was lying there about to die while he played games with our siblings. It was time to pull the plug and bring my demon home.

I focused on the fire symbol etched into his skull and sent a pulse of persuasive magic through his sigil and into his psyche. “Come back now.”

“I’m trying, but your sisters are strong.”

“Our soul bond is stronger. Come back. I need you.” I pushed out every ounce of vim in my system and latched on to Discord’s essence.

Mayhem stepped toward the circle. “Join us, brother. We have fae to battle.”

“Not now, you don’t.” I imagined my vim digging claws into his soul.

“Find my amulet, and I will consider it,” he said before I wrenched him home.

Bound to a disgraced demon.

Trapped in Hell.

Hunted for sport.

I really didn't think this through…

The saga continues in Demanding Discord…