Page 41 of A Bond in Flames

The massive stone doors swung open as I was carried toward them. The demons strode inside and continued on through an enormous entranceway. The tile floor was black obsidian with flecks of opal. Everything else was dark and cold. The only light was coming from a giant chandelier made of bone and huge charred antlers from some kind of otherworldly creature.

Another set of double doors opened as we approached, and I was carried into a room full of demons, and other creatures I’d never seen before in my life. They all went silent as I was brought in and dumped on the floor. The crotch sniffer undid the ropes around my wrists and ankles and tugged off the gag as the crowd gathered around, looking at me as if I was the oddity in the room. I tried to flex my magic, but the temple had the same ward, binding my powers here.

My hands and feet throbbed as blood rushed back, and it was hard, but I dragged myself to my feet. I was more than outnumbered, but that didn’t mean I’d give up. No, I’d make as many of them bleed as I could before they took me down. I slid my blade free, gripping it tight, and turned in a slow circle, waiting to see who struck first.

Several of the demons laughed, one of them jerking forward, trying to scare me. I slashed fast with my knife, surprising him, and sliced through the side of his face, splitting it open. He shrieked and bared his bloody teeth, about to lunge.

“Enough!”

A voice echoed through the room, and it had the same kind of resonance as Death’s. I locked my knees and turned to face Nox as the crowd parted to let her through.

“What do you want?” I said through gritted teeth, bracing for anything. I couldn’t win, but that didn’t mean I’d just lie down and die.

There were hisses and gasps around me at my question. Perhaps addressing a goddess the way I had was considered rude, but so was being kidnapped and knocked out.

“Forgive her. She is a witch and ignorant. She means no offense, I’m sure,” Nox said as she finally emerged from the parting crowd.

She was tall and willowy, her skin like mother-of-pearl, her hair a glossy black waterfall down her back. She wore a long, flowing black gown in a sheer fabric, and her hands were folded in front of her, tipped with long, pointed black nails.

She blinked, staring at me with large black eyes, no white to be seen. It was the same way Death’s and Somnus’s eyes looked when they changed, looking like the sky on a starry night. On Death, it could be unsettling; on Nox, it was terrifying.

“I honestly don’t care if you’re offended,” I said. There was no surviving this. If Nox wanted me dead, I was sure she could click her fingers, and I’d be splattered all over the marble floor. I wasn’t going to bow down to her.

“I can hear your weak little mortal heart pounding in your chest, witch. Best you speak to me with respect, or I will rip it from your chest and crush it in my fist.” She smiled, revealing bright white teeth. “But none of us want that now, do we, Zinnia?”

“I have no idea what you want.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she smiled wider. “Oh, you are delightful, so full of fire, even when it can be so easily extinguished.”

“The fact you can easily kill me isn’t lost on me. You’re a goddess, and as you pointed out, I’m a witch, one who has her powers currently bound by you. I know I can’t win here, but if you think that scares me, you’re wrong. I’ve faced fiercer monsters than you before, and if I die today, I will do it fighting.”

Nox blinked at me, then threw her head back and laughed. The peanut gallery joined in, laughing with her uproariously. When her chuckles finally died down, she wiped away an invisible tear. “My dear, I only wanted to meet my son’s consort. He can be…” She waved an elegant hand through the air. “… so possessive of his things.”

“I’m not a thing.”

“Of course you aren’t, dear.” She smiled wide again. “I want to get to know you, that’s all. You’ve arrived just in time for dinner, so we can sit and talk.” Her gaze slid over me, her mouth twisting with distaste. “We dress for dinner here,” she said, then waved her hand toward me, and my leathers were replaced by a long black gown, my weapons vanishing. I looked down at myself. The dress brushed the floor, and the lace was like a delicate black spiderweb that covered nothing. My naked body was totally visible beneath. The gown was old, extremely fragile, and smelled slightly musty.

I ran my hands carefully over my hips, and a strange feeling filled me—a weird kind of excitement, a rush of happiness. I was getting something off it, vibrations from the past, from the female that had worn this before me; there was no other way to explain what I was feeling.

“Something wrong, dear?” Nox asked.

I looked up. “Give me back my things.”

She ignored me and glided forward, toward a massive table. “Sit, Zinnia, it’s time to eat.” I had no choice but to follow. She sat, and a demon rushed ahead and pulled out a chair. I reluctantly took my place beside her. Was she going to kill me by poisoning my food? Poison could be nice and fast or slow and drawn out. Nox wouldn’t enjoy clean or fast. She’d want to take her time; she’d enjoy my screams of pain. I grabbed the steak knife beside my plate and gripped it tight.

Nox glanced my way and shook her head with a tittering laugh. “Are you going to stab me with that, witch?”

She saidwitchwith mockery in her voice, as if I were so insignificant, it was hilarious, and I supposed I was to her, but the demons still gathered around, sizing me up, were another story. “If any of your friends come any closer, they’ll be losing an eye.”

She chuckled again, then clapped her hands, and the food was brought out.

“Are you planning on poisoning me, goddess?”

She gave me a sidelong glance. “Poison? How very boring. No, my dear, the food is quite safe.”

“You would say that.”

She shrugged one elegant shoulder. “Suit yourself. Go hungry if you must.”

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