Page 39 of A Bond in Flames

Gripping my sword, I slashed at the bloated, foul-smelling demon swiping red-tipped claws at me. I shifted my body to protect my back; my leather armor creaked as I slashed again.

They kept coming. I was on my own. There were too many. I stumbled back, closer to the rocky cliff. Oh gods, there was no way out of this.

The demons closed in, one grabbing me by the throat while another snatched something from my back, something I needed to protect, something precious. The demon released my throat, then slammed a fist into my stomach.

I stumbled back, and then I was falling, falling toward the sea and jagged rocks. My screams turned into a roar of fury. This did not end here. They would pay for this—

With a gasp, my eyes flew open a moment before I hit the rocks.

My heart pounded in my chest, the familiar ache more intense than ever before, because instead of making me watch the scene unfold, whoever that was, she’d put me in her shoes. It was as if that were happening to me. Something tickled my cheek, and I reached up to brush it off, my fingers coming away damp. I realized tears were pouring down my face, likely from the lingering feeling of my entire world being ripped from me in that vision. Goddess, it was suffocating. Death was still beside me, breathing slow and steady. I needed air; I needed to shake the vision. I had no idea what his past consorts were trying to tell me, but the more they showed me, the more real they felt.

Easing out of bed, I quickly dressed, grabbed my knife from where Death had put it earlier, and slipped from the room. I wasn’t worried about the crew attacking me, not now that Death was here, and even if one of them did, they were lacking in skill and, as I’d proved earlier, not overly hard to kill.

Rushing up the steep stairs and onto the landing, I shoved the door open and stepped out onto the deck. I dragged in a desperate breath, letting the sea air fill my lungs, before I strode to the railing, sucking in another frantic breath.

Her pain, whoever she was, had been like nothing I’d ever experienced. She’d been filled with so much fear and heartbreak and rage. Her world had been snatched from her along with the people she loved with a fierceness that I felt to my soul, that I understood.

The revenge in her heart had been white-hot.

Was that what she wanted, what they all wanted? Revenge?

Against who? At first, I thought they were warning me about Death, but I didn’t believe that now. The female in that vision had loved him. Had all of them felt that way?

The thought had me gripping the railing tighter. Had they all fallen in love with him?

Did I truly think I would be the exception? That I’d somehow resist him? I wrapped my arms around myself. Did I really think I could outsmart the fates? That I could prove them wrong? I wasn’t better or smarter or stronger or in possession of greater self-restraint than the females who came before me. I knew I wasn’t. Death was a god, and I was a mere mortal; there was no resisting this pull I felt between us, not when it grew in strength every day.

Goddess, the way he’d touched me, held me, the things he’d said, the way he’d wanted me—I’d never experienced anything like that in my life.

His laugh when he’d wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight to him, had been heart-stopping—

A rough hand clamped hard over my mouth, and an oddly shaped body slammed into me from behind. I tried to fight, but there was no getting out of the demon’s hold. He pulled his hand away, but only long enough to stuff a dirty rag in my mouth.

“Over you go,” he said against my ear, then tossed me over the side.

I flailed, bracing, preparing to hit the water.

Instead, I was snatched from the air and shoved into the bottom of a dinghy. The demon who’d tossed me over the side quickly made his way down the rope ladder and got in as well. I didn’t recognize either of them; they weren’t crew. Someone else had sent them.

One of them started rowing while the other secured my wrists and ankles and tied a gag around my head, trapping the rag in my mouth. I couldn’t spell, and I couldn’t reach for my blade; I was fucking helpless.

The demon rowed for a while, and I wondered where they were taking me. We were too far from shore, but then I saw it, another ship, black and huge, camouflaged in the darkness.

Someone moved around on the deck, another demon, their misshapen shadow striding to the railing and watching us approach. They kicked down the ladder and stepped back.

Whatever this was, it was bad.

The eeriecooof an owl echoed overhead.

Really fucking bad.

CHAPTER13

Death

I jolted awake.

It was quiet—too quiet.

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