Page 16 of Hell-Bound (Pacts of the Infernal #1)

She is toying with me. Monster. She is truly despicable and stunningly clever. Too clever. Somehow, Xarek knew. She might destroy me if she doesn’t destroy herself first.

Ren slept exceedingly well in the huge four-poster bed. Though with what she had pulled the night before, she doubted it would be a repeat occurrence.

Azur hadn’t tried to call upon her again that night, which suited her just fine. She knew she had the upper hand and assumed the Devil was just licking the wounds he’d sustained to his insurmountable ego.

She lay in the plush bed, soaking up every ounce of comfort, knowing she’d soon return to a lumpy bed at the tower, when she heard a knock.

“Come in!”

she grumbled, assuming it was Jester.

Instead, a pink Devil with matching pink hair walked in. Zelaia. She was carrying a tray of breakfast food and locked eyes on Ren, giving a knowing grin.

Well played, Azur.

She strolled over and placed the tray on her bed.

“You must be veeeery important for Lord Azur to let you sleep in here.”

She looked Ren up and down.

Suddenly feeling both frustrated and insecure, Ren tried to flatten her bed-head and pull the sheets up to cover her half-naked body.

Zelaia touched her tail and wound it through her hand, reminiscent of how Azur had clasped onto her as they moved in unison.

“You’re not really Azur’s type,”

she said, tilting her head as if confused.

“He typically likes his lovers bigger-breasted or perhaps a male with long hair, but I guess everyone gets adventurous sometimes.”

“Did you need something?”

Ren snapped.

“I assume you’re here to wait on me. I’m sure Azur wouldn’t want to know how subpar a job you’ve been doing.”

Zelaia ran her tongue across her sharp fangs.

“Oh, little girl. I am not here on Azur’s orders. I was just curious.”

She turned with the elegance only achievable by a Devil and sauntered out.

Ren clenched her teeth but tried to keep her feelings in check. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was envious.

She kicked off the sheets and searched for her tunic and trousers, stubbornly refusing to wear the new ones Azur provided. But to her dismay, Zelaia had brought them newly laundered. She pulled them on, grumbling angrily to herself.

She settled next to the tray and popped a few pieces of fruit in her mouth, surveying the rest. There was a small bottle on the spread with red liquid and a note.

“Of all the things you finished last night, it turns out your wine wasn’t one of them. Make sure to drink it where I can hear that lovely moan again.”

All in his familiar handwriting.

She wanted to throw the damned thing across the room but knew he’d notice this wrathful action. Besides, the beautiful carpet didn’t deserve such an offense.

“Wake up caaaaaaall!!”

she heard Jester yell before her door banged open and a presumably invisible Jester barged in.

She saw the sheets shift on her bed, and when he finally became visible, he was a mere inch from her face.

“Acccck!”

she yelped, almost tipping off the bed.

“Reeeeen. You have a secret, don’t you?”

he said in a hushed voice, dark eyes mischievous.

Her pale cheeks turned red, and her eyes widened, horror-struck.

He smiled wickedly.

“Oh, settle down! I know you weren’t with Azur last night. He was positively grouchy this morning! He’s never that way when he’s had a tussle in the sheets. Unless! Unless you were very, very bad.”

He tilted his head, feigning curiosity and pity.

“Oh, my lovely Ren! Were you very, very bad?”

She shoved his shoulder.

“No! I left his pompous ass before dinner was even over.”

He surveyed her for a moment.

“Yes…I think I believe you. You’re also way too moody to have been with sexy Devil-daddy.”

“Jester,”

she said, a thought occurring.

“Have you and Azur ever—”

“Ew, yuck! No way! Whyyyy would you even ask that?!”

he bellowed, rolling around on the bed dramatically.

“I don’t know. Zelaia was in here, and I just thought that maybe—”

“Listen, Ren. Zelaia is a special lady. She is a good friend, and I think Azur sought comfort there. But, say what you want about Azur, he doesn’t make it a habit of sleeping with his minions, okay?”

After their previous night, Ren wasn’t convinced. Then again, so far, she had been the one to initiate all of their intimate contact.

“But we’re getting off-topic!”

The devil said, in a serious whisper.

“Your secret is that you’ve been summoned by someone in the tower. They’re all panicking, looking for you. It’s quite funny, actually.”

Her food felt like it was about to make a reappearance.

“Oh, hells. Yeah, I was…expecting someone,”

she said, trying to swallow her panic.

Jester narrowed his eyes.

“Hmm. So you need to get back to the tavern, yes? I could send you there,”

he said, tapping a long nail on his chin.

“But you’ll have to do something for meeeeeee!”

She pursed her lips.

“Nothing binding, right?”

He raised his hand in a swearing gesture.

“Not binding! Why, Ren? Are you planning on betraying me?”

he swooned.

She ignored the comment.

“What do you need?”

He bit his lip, and despite being so close to her, he whispered.

“I’m helping a friend. A Lesser Devil named Gabriela. Do you remember that guy, Lord Evernight, that I mentioned? A fan of sword throwing? Thing is, Gabriela recently fulfilled her contract. But Evernight won’t let her leave! He locked her away until she agreed to sign another contract and indebt herself to him.”

“That’s awful! Can they do that?”

Jester looked sorrowful.

“They can do whatever they want. She’s free from obligations to serve Evernight contractually. But that doesn’t mean she’s free.”

“Of course, I’ll help you Jester.”

she said decisively. One of the first decisions she was absolutely sure about.

The Devil smiled ear-to-ear, his dimples alight on his cheeks.

“Thanks, Ren. I don’t think I’d be able to do it without your sneaky tricks. I’ll fill you in on my plan after your mysteriooooous meeting.”

He stood up on the bed, giving it a few test jumps, before somersaulting to the ground. He clapped his hands twice and made a complex form with his arms and fingers before a large fiery portal appeared.

“Show off.”

With mock annoyance, Ren stomped to the portal and jumped in.

After appearing in her familiar room, she suddenly felt anxious. How much did The Gilded Triangle know? She scrambled to the door and bounded down the stairs lest the God of The Heaven wait longer for a Mortal Half-Elf to appear.

“I’m sorry, Fred! I was just going out for a bite!”

As she dismounted the last stair, she saw a figure sitting in a dusty chair. The first patron she’d ever seen in the Denizen’s tower. His face was old and creased with deep wrinkles.

“Excuse me, sir. I heard someone was looking for me?”

“Renata Eldanuer,”

he said politely, standing.

“My name is Nainaur. I am glad to finally meet you.”

If Ren hadn’t been holding onto the railing, she would have fallen over. The Lord of The Heavens looked nothing like she had imagined and even less like his brother.

The god had cheery cheeks and a wide nose with wispy white hair that struggled to cover his balding head. His eyes sparkled like Azur’s, but were an otherworldly blue instead of red. His voice was gentle, almost a whisper, but looking again, he was still imposing. Not in the way that Azur was. Azur sucked the air out of the very room, threatening to choke anyone who opposed him. Nainaur had a calm power.

“My followers have told me that you have taken up the mantle to find Vutar’ka Zhartun. I hope you can appreciate the magnitude of this task, my child.”

Ren was dumbstruck. It was strange to her that this being, appearing so unassuming and meek, could intimidate her to speechlessness. She felt that if she said something wrong and provoked his ire, it would be the soft ire of a disappointed father rather than the fiery anger she had come to know from Azur. In some ways, so much more painful.

“Yes, Leo told me this task was of utmost importance to you.”

The god pinched his brow together.

“It is indeed. The recovery of this tome could help millions of people, Ren. It will even help you.”

“Me?”

“Without question. If you recover the relic Vutar’ka Zhartun, I will be able to restore some of your memories.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

“I know that you have doubts, my child,”

he continued, seeing through her in the uncanny way gods did.

“You exchanged your memories, and now you fear their recovery.”

He shook his head solemnly.

“But do not fear, Renata. I am The Almighty. I can protect you. Restore you. Redeem you.”

Her breath caught.

“You can…redeem me?”

He smiled.

“Yes, even you, Renata, if you serve my holy purpose.”

Her throat bobbed. She thought of Azur. Of the fragile trust they were starting to build. But her relationship with the male, notwithstanding, he was evil. He was a torturer and a killer. He trapped people and took their souls. Why should she ever put her faith in such barbarity?

Nainaur, in contrast, was the God of The Heavens. The Almighty God of Forgiveness and Mercy spoke of the importance of helping people. That’s what she wanted—to help people. The decisions should be so easy, yet somehow…

“Perhaps I should show you, Renata. I know that your time in The Hells has been difficult. It is almost impossible, even for the most devout creatures, to resist its temptations. I was able to capture some memories of yours, and I can give them to you.”

Ren stared, confused.

“How can you have my memories?”

His eyes sparkled kindly.

“To be more precise, they are another’s memories. But they’re shared. You’ll be able to see them as if you were remembering them yourself.”

Perhaps Nainaur thought she would jump at this chance. But she couldn’t. She was terrified. Now that it came down to it, by living through Renata’s memories, she would have to admit they were one and the same. Before, she could pretend Renata was some severed appendage—painfully cut but no longer relevant to her current, albeit at times more complicated, life.

At the same time, she couldn’t deny the temptation for a glimpse. As the god had said, resisting temptation was not something she was currently succeeding at.

“Take my hand, Renata. I will show you.”

Letting her body lead, she obeyed and took his hand. It was soft, like landing on a safe cloud, before she looked into those ethereal blue eyes.

“This might be a bit disorienting at first,”

he said right as her body was flung across time.

She saw flashes—images of different moments—blurs of colors blended together in a cacophony of unintelligible scenes. She tried to focus—to capture any single time to identify. Then she saw him—

Nephele.

His face was bright, blue eyes shining. He tilted his head back in unabashed laughter and threaded his fingers through hers. She saw herself—Renata—beaming at him, blissful. Her face looked almost unrecognizable with so much joy painted upon it. They were sitting together under a bright yellow sun, talking and smiling—unable to look away from the other lest they lose even one second of time together.

The image melted into another, this time in the lively bar in her hometown of Vergessen. She was standing on a table playing her piccolo, and Nephele was next to her, singing and dancing. They circled each other playfully as the patrons clapped and cheered. She saw him nudge her teasingly, making them almost topple off the table. They both had to stop their performance to laugh at their clumsiness, and the crowd joined in their laughter and toasted the two musicians. Nephele wrapped a strong arm around her waist, pulled her in, and kissed her. It was a beautiful kiss. Tender but passionate.

Another scene appeared.

“Nephele, I have to go,”

she heard herself say.

“Why, though, Renata? Why does it have to be you? Stay here, stay with me. You don’t have to fight! This isn’t our battle.”

She saw herself clench her fists.

“I’m not special, Nephele! They are taking citizens from our city to fight in a war, and I can’t just sit in the tavern playing songs night after night, knowing that I could do something to help!”

She saw Nephele’s face pinch with distress.

“Then we will go together.”

“Nephele, no, I—”

“Renata, I’m coming. I can lend medical aid, work in the field hospital. I can help. If you go, I go. That was our promise to each other. That we would never leave the other behind or alone. I’m coming.”

Ren was whipped back into the ether and then landed hard on her feet, standing once more before Nainaur in the dusty tavern.

“Nephele. You took these memories from Nephele.”

The god nodded sadly.

“He loves you, Renata. He still waits for you to return to him.”

She was so dizzy. Through Nephele’s memories, she could feel his love. How honored he felt to be a part of Renata’s life. She felt the want in his heart when he kissed her and his determination to follow her even into war. That was everything, wasn’t it? A love like that.

“I broke my promise,”

she said, almost whispering, voice cracking.

“I broke my promise to Nephele. I left him alone. I left him behind.”

Nainaur set his hand on Ren’s shoulder.

“It wasn’t your fault, Renata. I know you’ve been running. Running from your memories and your fears. I want to help you. I want to send you back to your family. I want you to recover those moments of happiness and live your life the way you are supposed to be living it. In the sun. Not trapped and groping for meaning in The Hells.”

Renata felt her eyes prickle.

“You can do that? You can send me back? Break my contract?”

His kind eyes surveyed her once more.

“I can, my child. But only if you recover the Vutar’ka Zhartun. And I know where you can start. Azur, your patron, knows of its location. Find out where it is, and seek it out. Only then will I be able to restore your memories and return you back home.”

There it is, then—the way forward. But then why did she still have doubts? Was she standing in her own way, determined not to be happy? In the end, this was why she was here. To follow this through. What was the alternative? That she would live in The Hells, trapped like Jester, fulfilling deed after deed for Azur?

Jester…

“If you can break my contract, could you break someone else’s?”

she blurted.

He gave her a concerned look.

“I try to stay out of my brother’s machinations.”

“I have a friend—Jester. He has been a slave to Azur for a long time, and maybe, if I get you the tome, you can free him too?”

the god responded, sounding almost proud.

“You are truly a kind person. Yes. I think I might be able to make an exception for Jester.”

Ren let out a long breath.

“Okay. I’ll get the information from Azur.”

The god kept his smile.

“I will leave you now, Renata. Please find Vutar’ka Zhartun. The longer you terry, the more people will suffer. Remember, Nephele is waiting.”

He vanished.