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Chapter fifty-five

Nerys

T he knife the R?ll used to slice Nery’s wrists and ankles was honed like a razor.

She only felt the bite of pain moments after the fact—a fiery slice accompanied by a warm trickle down her arms, under her chemise, down her legs, and finally into the tub.

The men had tied her like Adelyna—arms above her head and stripped down to her shift.

Not the fastest way to bleed someone out, but they were probably not aiming for speed.

They were the last sacrifices—they were going to be special. Savored.

Nerys watched, helpless, as the R?ll sliced Adelyna the same way, her pitiful moans breaking out under her gag as she thrashed.

Adelyna’s eyes burned at the R?ll like molten iron, her gaze consumed with fury.

For his part, the R?ll turned away from his bleeding child like he had merely carved turkey.

No wonder he had no issue sacrificing his citizens—he was willing to murder his daughter himself.

What was wrong with him? 215

Grisly task complete, the R?ll left the two of them bleeding into the tubs and moved to stand in front of the shrine. There he stopped, raised his hands, and chanted in some strange guttural language. Immediately, the air shifted. Something was happening.

With her stone eyes, Nerys watched the light around the shrine change and felt the accompanying heaviness descend on the room, the dropping temperature, and a prickle like her hairs were standing on their ends. A ghastly howl broke into the air, like winter wind thrashing in the night.

The summoning. What they had hoped—fought—to prevent was happening. The R?ll was reaching out to Beleth, and she was answering.

How much longer until the rulers of the other kingdoms died after the summoning? Instantly? Days? Weeks? How long until chaos erupted, until endless civil wars broke out?

However long it took, it would be longer than she had left to live.

Long moments passed—an hour? Five minutes?—and the tub slowly filled with her dripping blood. How much, Nerys couldn’t tell, and was only able to judge how long she had left to live by the growing fuzziness in her head.

Nerys tested her bonds, tugging her burning wrists against the rope. The soldiers were busy watching the R?ll and not her. Good. She was not going to hang here and die with no protest. Even if all she could do was struggle, she would. She would do whatever she could to fight.

The rope jutted into her skin—she had long since lost feeling in her hands.

Her feet were also tied together, but not as tight as her wrists.

She still had some feeling in those. But—Nerys jostled—it seemed that the soldiers failed to consider Nerys’s height.

If she moved correctly—if she stretched just right—her feet rested on the edge of the tub.

Could she knock it over? Maybe. Probably.

To what end? She could spend her last moments alive making a mess. Much good that would do. She eyed the salt barrier.

…Or would it?

A disturbing plan worked its way into her head. But she would have to time it perfectly. Even the distracted men would notice her thrashing. She lifted her feet off the tub, as much as her hands begged her to use it as a rest.

Would this even work?

She glanced over at Vine, who met her gaze—and nodded. He had been watching her. He seemed to have guessed her plan.

Why wasn’t the R?ll ordering his demons to get rid of Vine? Maybe he didn’t notice that her demon was here. Maybe he didn’t think Vine merited the energy. 216 Regardless, she had her own, painful dilemma.

She waited. She had to wait. It wasn’t time yet. Her body screamed at her to move, to fight, to do anything to stop the searing pain in her wrists and the throbbing in her blood-deprived hands. She couldn’t—not yet. Not yet…

The air in the room shifted again—charged like lighting about to strike—until a light formed at the altar. From that light, a creature took shape, reaching out of the light. Beleth, the demon, was beginning to break free. Vine snarled while the other demons stared and moved, ready to attack.

A woman’s arm broke out of the light and a roar emerged, the sound reverberating through Nerys’s body.

Beleth’s hands had long red nails like claws that tapped and scraped at the table, sending some of the stones falling into the light, where the rest of the demon waited.

Terror gripped Nerys’s heart, forcing the desperate organ to the edge of what it could do.

Living Gods…

Nerys needed time.

She needed strength.

More blood. She needed more blood to fall into the tub. Too soon and this was for nothing.

Not. Yet. She had to wait. But would she be strong enough to act once there was enough? Her vision shifted and her stomach heaved. She closed her eyes for a moment. If only she was somewhere else. Just for a moment.

There was no where else.

She opened her eyes. A soldier walked out of the wall.

Soldier?

Before the R?ll’s men had a chance to pull out their weapons, Idris entered the salt circle and stabbed them with two smooth movements.

Blood splayed from their wounds and soared through the air.

Idris worked through the soldiers as if they were nothing.

They crashed against the ground, leaving the salt circle untouched. Leaving Vine outside.

Idris’s eyes glowed gold, like they were illuminated from within his skull.

Eyes of light, eyes of gold. She had never seen him with her stone eyes while he was also using his magic.

How was he able to hide at the palace so well?

The fact he was Cerdorani was impossible to ignore.

No wonder he needed her for their mission.

She smiled. Idris was here. Between Vine guarding the outside of the circle and Idris the inside, she was safe.

At the commotion, the R?ll whipped around right as the second guard collapsed, watching his minion clutch at the streaming gash in his throat.

The R?ll’s eyes widened when he saw Idris—who had changed his face back to himself—and screamed.

“Idris!” the R?ll yelled, “What are you doing? You’re ruining everything. ”

What? The R?ll knew Idris? She had to have misheard. Had to.

Had to. She could barely hear them over the sound of Beleth attempting to claw her way free, the roar coming from the portal.

For his part, Idris didn’t react to the R?ll’s greeting.

Like a wolf approaching a dying animal, he strode towards the R?ll, his sword drawn.

Once he was within arm’s reach, he stopped.

“I’m here to keep you from ruining everything,” Idris said.

Pride swelled in Nerys’s heart—Idris would fix everything.

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” the R?ll said. “This is the only way to break the curse.”

“No.” Idris shook his head. “We both know it won’t work. I know what needs to be done, and this is not it.”

“That’s not true.” Fear flickered in the R?ll’s face, and Nerys smiled. He deserved to be afraid.

“We both know it is. If you’d be honest with yourself, for once.”

The R?ll paused, his fists clenched at his side. He eyes the sword, the sword Idris still firmly gripped at his side. “Then what are you going to do?”

“Merely what I should have done a long time ago, dear Uncle.” Idris said the last part sarcastically.

Uncle. Uncle ? 217

With that, Idris lunged forward and stabbed the R?ll in the chest, plunging the sword up to the hilt.

For a moment the R?ll grunted and his eyes bulged, and then he fell to the ground.

There, the R?ll cried out and clutched the wound, which spread bright red blood like wine poured out of a glass.

His cries were some of the most beautiful sounds Nerys had ever heard.

The R?ll, Nerys’s enemy, lurched once, twice, and then closed his eyes, forever.

No matter what happened next, her quest for vengeance was over.

With the R?ll and his two men dead, Nerys thrashed and moaned, trying to get Idris’s attention. She needed help—Adelyna needed help. Nerys glanced at the Kor’yitz’s unconscious form. Did she know that her father was dead and that she was now the R?ll ?

Idris—he needed to set them free. He was here. She was safe. He would help them. The R?ll was gone, but Beleth was still half-summoned and thrashing on the table. Nerys needed Vine to help them still. It wasn’t over yet.

Nerys groaned louder, trying to get Idris’s attention. He didn’t have the sight—was he able to see that Beleth was there, almost summoned? Could he hear Beleth roar, the storm taking over the room? The altar was vibrating—that much was visible to the ungifted.

In the chaos of the R?ll’s death and Nerys’s desperation and relief, she almost missed the light that enveloped Adelyna’s face shortly after her father’s last breath, which quickly faded like a blown-out candle.

A glowing face wasn’t Nerys’s most pressing concern. No, that was saved for the half-summoned demon, who motioned at them like they were going to be her first course. Could she get through the rest of the way on her own? Nerys didn’t want to find out.

“Iffisss!” she cried out, the gag stopping her from forming actual words.

They had to get rid of Beleth. The R?ll was dead, and now Vine was the only one who could stop that demon before it was too late.

Like he woke from a dream, Idris jerked at Nerys’s cry and looked up from the R?ll’s—his uncle’s?—body. He smiled at Nerys and walked towards her, and when he was close enough he reached a hand out—

—and merely caressed her cheek. “I’m sorry, Nerys.” He stood there, watching her bleed and struggle.

Nerys screamed under the gag. That bastard! Sorry for what ? Why wouldn’t he cut her down? Her eyes widened, asking the questions her moaning mouth couldn’t.

Idris took his hand away from her face and rubbed his eyes slowly, like he was the one suffering while Nerys dripped towards death. “I should’ve told you. Everything. But there isn’t time.”

With that, Idris—ignoring Nerys’s screams—turned back to face the table. Beleth was no longer just an arm—she had broken out further. Now her head was visible. Fuck, the demon was going to break out.

Far from being a fearsome demon, Beleth was a beautiful dark-haired woman—only her orange eyes and black lips betrayed her demonic origins.

She smiled at Nerys, her sharp teeth glistening with blood.

Idris stood at the altar, composed, though he rested his hand on the altar.

He obviously couldn’t see, or he would have shown some more reaction to the woman licking her bloody lips at him .

Idris returned to Nerys. “Look,” Idris said, “if there was any way I could have finished this without taking your life, I would. Please, please believe me. I didn’t know the R?ll was going to do this.

I didn’t know he was going to use you. I didn’t know that any of this was going to happen.

” Idris looked at her sadly. “But I have to take this chance that has been given to me.”

Nerys groaned. He didn’t want to be here to save her—what was he doing?

It was all a lie. He was going to let her be sacrificed to Beleth. He was going to leave her to die.

Idris caressed her cheek again as hot tears worked their way down her face.

“You will save the world, Nerys.” Now he was crying too.

“I’m of the R?ll’s blood. I can finish this.

I can, and with me in control…it’s the only way to work around the curse without sending the world into chaos—by ruling all of it.

And if it wasn’t for you… Nerys, I’m not sure what I would’ve done.

Waited for my mother’s death? Waited for mine?

Engaged in a full assault that would have slaughtered thousands?

Sshhh…” Idris pressed a finger against her gagged mouth.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nerys watched Beleth stare at them, like a cat waiting for a mouse to emerge from its hole.

“It will all be over soon,” Idris said in her ear, his hot breath against her skin.

“And it wasn’t a lie, you know. It was not a lie.

I do love you. But I can’t take away a sacrifice.

There’s no time. You will be the one to save us all. ”

With another roar, Beleth raised her other arm, her upper torso coming free.

Her progress was getting faster. How much more blood did Beleth need?

How long until she bled and there was no chance for her to live?

Adelyna twitched. Adelyna was barely conscious, her eyes weakly flickering over the scene.

As for Idris, he stared at her with something like yearning—he as good as killed her himself.

Fuck him.

With one giant thrash, Nerys kicked her feet towards Idris’s crotch, sending him leaping backwards.

But that was not her true target—using the momentum from the swing, she then thrashed backwards as hard as she could and knocked her feet against the backside of the tub.

For a dreadful moment the tub didn’t flip over, hovering on edge, until it went the rest of the way, sending her blood cascading to the rim of the salt circle.

“Nerys, no!” Idris’s eyes widened, horrified, as the blood reached the salt, soaking it, pushing through—

Enough for Vine to come in.

Choas broke out.

Nerys barely had the ability to take it in, but she relished the sick pleasure of watching Vine run up to the half-exposed demon, pull it all the way out of the portal—and eat.

His teeth ripped into the demon’s throat as his former lover thrashed, screaming, in his arms. Vine pulled off one of Beleth’s arms, and then another, leaving strips of flesh like taffy on the ends of the limbs.

Beleth was trapped, unable to escape back into the Underworld, and she would die in this one.

Vine held her too tightly, she’d never leave.

The demon squealed, a piercing screech that made Nerys’s skin tremble.

Meanwhile, the R?ll’s demons fled the scene, disappearing into the ether.

Cowards. They probably didn’t want to anger Vine, who now tore apart Beleth like peeling skin off grapes.

Right as Vine began to devour Beleth, the strands of sinew caught in his razor teeth, Idris turned to the altar and gasped as the stones shook.

Idris turned back to Nerys, all blood drained from his face.

Even without the sight, he had to have known the ritual was ruined.

He pulled out his knife and held it out in front of him. He leaned over Nerys, knife raised—

And cut her down, catching her in his arms.

“I told you I’d save you if I had a choice,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m not losing you if I don’t have to.”

Any retort Nerys had to that was stifled, as she faded into unconsciousness.