Page 58 of Every Spiral of Fate (This Woven Kingdom #4)

Fifty-Five

IBLEES CRIED OUT WITH A startled, gasping breath.

“ How dare you ,” she said, grabbing him by the throat and lowering him, forcibly, to his knees.

“How dare you,” she said again, breathing hard.

She tightened her grip on the hilt of the blade still lodged in his chest, holding him at her mercy.

“You despicable, vile beast. Did you really think I’d be too afraid to kill him?

Did you wager you knew me better than I knew myself?

Did you really think I’d allow the devil near my crown or my magic or my people?

Did you really take such a foolish gamble? ”

She released his throat, but not the blade, and he made a hacking sound, blood seeping softly at his lips.

“You—you—”

“You are at my mercy now,” she said. “And for as long as Cyrus manages to live within you, you will be at my mercy.”

Iblees choked on his blood. “You wouldn’t—risk—killing him—”

“If you think that, you don’t know me at all,” she said darkly. “I am willing to kill him precisely because I care for him, for I will not allow him to be murdered in his own body by a corrupted creature like yourself—”

Iblees took a ragged breath.

“So I will give you one opportunity,” she said thunderously. “You will make a deal with me , or you will remain in this purgatory for as long as I live.”

His eyes widened in disbelief.

“You will let Cyrus’s father go. You will release him from this horrible bargain, and you will not murder the people of Tulan—”

“Never,” he breathed.

Alizeh yanked the blade free and he gave an aborted cry, for she had acted entirely on instinct, casting a spell for paralysis she hadn’t even known she could conjure.

Iblees was frozen on his knees before her, his mouth open mid-horror.

She lowered her mouth to his ear. “Do you think I am incapable of torture? Did you think my tender heart wouldn’t bear it?

Fear not,” she whispered. “For I will comfort myself, each time I bring you back to life, with the memories of all you did to my innocent husband, and I will happily drive this dagger through your heart, over and over, until the day I die.”

She unfroze him.

Iblees slumped badly, touched a shaking hand to his wound, and drew away bloodied fingers. “You—cannot—”

“You will let Cyrus’s father go,” she repeated angrily. “You will release Cyrus from this horrible bargain, and you will not murder the people of Tulan—”

“ Never ,” he rasped.

Alizeh paralyzed him again, then caught him once more by the throat.

She pressed a hand to his bloody chest and watched in amazement as she capably healed his wound, skin knitting together with miraculous, seamless power.

She then released him from his paralysis only to drive the dagger through his chest.

He screamed.

She yanked the blade free and Iblees collapsed, stunned, as he gasped for air. He stared at the fresh wound in his chest with marked astonishment.

“In your hurry to inhabit a human body,” she said to him, “you forgot how easily killed they are—”

“You are wasting—your time,” said Iblees, struggling. He choked once more, then coughed. “Even if you kill this body, you cannot—kill—the devil—”

“Don’t you understand?” she said. “So long as Cyrus still lives, you can’t touch me. You can’t even leave me, should your escape intend me harm. I’m not trying to kill you, you fool. I’m trying to make you a deal.”

“I have never ”—he coughed again, spattering blood—“never released anyone—from a bargain—and I won’t—”

She paralyzed him again, then grabbed him by the collar, drawing his frozen body toward hers.

“Then this will be your existence forever,” she said.

“Make your decision now, while I still allow you a choice.

Should you deny me the bargain I desire, I will keep you like this, locked in this human flesh, for the rest of your mortal life.

If Cyrus dies, so be it. You will already belong to me.

And while you suffer in paralysis, I will return to you the cruelty you so easily deliver others.

“I will dedicate my life to your eternal humiliation,” she said.

“I will reshape the earth into a sight that will leave you sick with impotence. Your vile acolytes will never be safe so long as I reign.” She leaned in.

“You will soon come to know the true cut of my heart, and for you, I promise it will be fatal indeed.”

She drove the blade, once more, into his chest, and his immobilized body couldn’t so much as twitch as the pain doubtless assailed him.

She yanked the blade out of his body.

“How does it feel?” she whispered. “To be so savagely tormented? Shall we play this game forever?”

She pressed her shaking hand against his wound and felt the power coursing through her as she healed him, her heart thundering inside her. The pulse of the blood oath still beat between them, and while it fortified her to know that Cyrus was still alive, it gutted her, too.

Again, she drove the blade into his chest.

His frozen face didn’t move, not even as hot blood seeped from his wounds.

She didn’t allow herself to think of Cyrus enduring these blows. She didn’t allow herself to imagine his agony.

Again, she yanked the blade out of his body.

“Agree to my terms,” she said to the devil.

“Agree to my terms and I will allow you to return to the hell from whence you came. You will never speak to me again. You will never come near my friends. You will let Cyrus’s father go.

You will release Cyrus from this horrible bargain, and you will not murder the people of Tulan. ”

She healed him then, just enough to stitch the wound closed, and released him from his paralysis. Iblees made a guttural, animal sound, his body heaving as he came back to life, his limbs trembling in torment.

“ Agree to my terms ,” she shouted, lifting her dagger again.

When the devil said nothing, when he only stared at her and made no refusal—she knew she had broken him.

“Swear it,” she said angrily. “Swear it by the earth, by the dark power that runs through your veins.”

“You know not the consequences of what you seek,” he forced out, his breath rattling. “You don’t want me as your enemy—”

“ Swear it ,” she cried.

“I swear it,” he said, and they both watched as a plume of black smoke exhaled his mouth.

Alizeh stepped back then, releasing him, and Iblees slumped sideways, bracing himself on shaking limbs. The dagger was still clenched in her fist, blood dripping down her skirts.

She felt her ribs might shatter from the force of her hammering heart.

“I’ve agreed to your terms only in the interest of retribution,” he said, struggling to breathe. “You’ve made a terrible mistake. You’ve never”—Iblees swallowed painfully—“you’ve never known life without my protection—and now, I promise you—you will never know peace—”

“I don’t need peace,” she said softly. “I want war.”

He shot her a final, venomous look before his eyes rolled back in his head. The black veins in his face slowly retreated, and a flag of darkness curled away from his body like a sail, this shadow disintegrating into the sky with a disembodied scream.