Page 104 of Horns of Wicked Ebony (Deathcaller Duet #2)

I motioned for the males guarding the door to the tower to open it. All the Angels’ attention slipped there as Assyria—impersonating the Myrza—emerged, dragging the tongueless Padisa with her. A dark hood covered her head, and bronze shackled her wrists.

When they stopped between us, Assyria yanked it off, revealing the bruised and broken Angel officer. A gag wedged between her lips, and blood dripped from the corners of her mouth.

Ishim paled. The male he’d sent to Fured to kill our more powerful stood before him, wearing leather Demon armor. Holding one of his own hostage.

“So what do you have to exchange for her?” I prompted. His eyes cut back to me, albeit with much struggle.

“Someone you’d love to carve up again,” he purred like a cat pleased with the mouse it had caught for its master. Then, he shouted over his shoulder, “Bring him.”

Moments later, Zaph, escorted by two others, flew over the wall. His hands, bound in chains much like the Padisa, prevented him from using his magic. The males threw him at my feet, and Zaph looked up at me with even more hate than Ishim.

I laughed—a cold, cruel, violent sound that shattered the serene expressions on the Angel’s faces. “So you finally see how useless he is too?”

Assyria slid into my mind a moment later. “Are you going to trade for him?”

We hadn’t planned on taking any offer, given how much of everything we were faking. The only real person we could trade was the Padisa, who hadn’t really betrayed or converted, despite our attempts to do so. Ishim might still want her regardless.

I nudged the parasite with the toe of my boot to cover my attention diverting to my mental conversation with my mate. “What do you think we should do?”

“If they’ll take the Padisa, then yes. I’m more than ready to claim our vengeance and add his bones to your throne.”

“As am I. Let’s see what other cards Ishim thinks he has to play.” I resisted the urge to smile at her feral, dark tone .

Izzenna, playing the part of Assyria, snorted and shook her head, sneering at the male curled at our feet. Wisely, she covered her face like she was attempting to disguise her laughter as his attention drifted her way.

Ishim’s expression darkened. “Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”

Three caws sliced the air. My eyes drifted upward, catching the black feathers of the crows before they dipped around a guard tower.

Fuck.

“And that is?” I pressed, worry knotting my gut. The Fates were watching this moment. Testing us. Testing me. One step down the wrong path, and Kiira’s prophecy could change yet again.

I needed to know what Ishim had planned. Needed him to fucking say it rather than forcing me to guess. My strategic mind could have crafted a dozen possibilities, but feigning ignorance had served me in gathering intelligence in the past.

“Extermination of your race. The time has come to slaughter you all, once and for all. Our most powerful Seer,” he gestured to a female standing a few paces behind Vaeron, “has been blessed by the Goddess with the exact way in which it will happen. It starts with you handing over the traitors.”

The Seer’s lips quirked with knowing.

“Why would you tell me that?” I cocked my head to the side, studying him. “If that is truly how our end begins, why would I give them to you?”

“Do you actually believe me?” Ishim taunted, his sinister grin growing.

I didn’t, not for a second.

“So I have placed an option at your feet, Halálhívó. One that you know will affect whether you win or lose. But you don’t know the truth, and you won’t know if you chose correctly until you are about to meet the Reaper, the pretend Goddess who your filth thinks takes your soul onto the next world.”

Hot tension clawed across my neck and shoulders. A clever game, yet one I was determined not to lose. Not when there was so much at stake.

“Take the Padisa, then, if you care about her so much,” I ground out.

Assyria threw her forward with the same roughness they’d offered Zaph. He attempted to sit upright, offering his Zahal a look of indignation, but failed. Grem shuffled forward, lips curling back from his teeth mere inches from the inept male’s face.

“I want the others,” Ishim snapped, widening his stance and trying to take up more room like he was the one in charge here.

Assyria chuckled and shook her head. “I’m not going with you.”

“Nor am I,” Araquiel pronounced. I angled my head over my shoulder to look at her, impressed that she’d spoken up without being called to do so.

Wisely, Banand kept his attention firmly forward. But if anyone was paying close enough attention, they’d see what I did—the way his muscles were coiled tight, his hand hovering mere inches from her body like he’d pull her out of harm’s way before throwing himself into it to save her.

“Shivk,” Ishim spat the word for traitor in Angelic at both of them. Continuing in their language, he pressed, “Why do you turn your backs on the Goddess? On the Koron who elevated you? On your noble houses?”

“Because I will live,” Araquiel shot back. Their fresh coupling had unleashed her fire, for which I was grateful.

“And the Halálhívó is merciful to those who aid him,” Assyria added. “It’s why I’ve been entering our camps and trying to convince the others to join us. It’s why so many have.”

“Finhya,” he swore, his gaze narrowed. “You never would have given up so easily. The male I knew would have killed himself to honor the Goddess rather than change sides.”

Whispers abounded between the Angels as Assyria and Ishim spit venom at each other.

Before the animosity we’d brewed shattered with one wrong word from Assyria’s mouth, I rose from my throne, drawing everyone’s attention.

“If we could return to the matter at hand,” I intoned in the common tongue.

“Will you take the Padisa alone? Because I will not force them to go with you, knowing they’d be going to their deaths.

Not when they’ve changed their allegiance.

They’re too valuable for me to willingly relinquish. ”

Ishim dragged his attention back to me. The Seer’s focus was razor sharp on me too. I pinned her with a hateful glare.

“We’ll make the trade.” He gritted out each word like it was physically painful for him.

Victory warmed my veins and hardened my cock. Zaph shouted against his own gag, while the Padisa cried tears of joy. Dark satisfaction swept down Assyria and I’s bond.

Ishim snapped his fingers, and the two males who had hauled Zaph gathered the Padisa in their arms. Zurronar and Uzadaan swept forward and dragged Zaph away from the rest of the Angels, lest they attempt to grab him and run too.

“It was a pleasure as always, Ishim,” I growled, using his given name rather than his title.

Instead of anger flashing in his eyes, triumph shone.

So this was what he’d predicted happening…

Ice slithered down my spine. Kiira’s visions were always stronger and I trusted her over whatever this icy-eyed female saw. Still, I’d convey every detail to her, Rapp, and Trol when we debriefed later.

“I’ll enjoy killing you,” Ishim replied, grinning, as he flapped his white feather wings.

Around him, his companions did the same, keeping their faces to us as they descended back to their mounts and ground support.

Only Vaeron lingered, gaze searing into me, as if he weighed judgement like his Goddess.

Then, he turned and followed the rest of the Angels.

I stalked to the edge of the wall, finger digging into the balustrade. Assyria and the Parancsok joined me. Together, we looked down upon the overexcited Angels as they gathered their horses and disappeared into the trees.

“That went better than I expected,” Assyria muttered under her breath. “Especially after the caws.”

“Aye,” I said, a sick, sour feeling clawing in my gut.

Another crossroads had shoved into our path. Darkness loomed down each one, foreboding and ominous. If Kiira’s guess that the three crows were a symbol for moments where we’d be able to change the outcome of the war, I wasn’t sure if I’d chosen the right direction.

“How long until that poison works?” Banand asked as the last flits of white vanished.

“Maybe another hour?” Zurronar guessed, a dark chuckle rumbling in his chest. “By the time they return to their camp, she’ll be closing in on death and there isn’t anything they’ll be able to do about it.”

“You’ve earned your title as Parancsok now, Banand,” I announced, turning away and finding the male who’d ambushed me and started the fucking war in the first place.

“Your first responsibility will be to clean all this up and ensure they aren’t circling back for an attack.” I took a step toward Zaph, whose eyes widened in fear. “The Szélhámos and I have other business to attend to. ”

Let the Angels hunt visions of their victory. Assyria and I would carve ours in blood.