Page 66 of Hell Sent

Heavy, ugly emotion flowed from Raiya, savory and yet utterly unpalatable.

“You’re not so mouthy without your weapon,” Nirlan said to her.

“You opened a gate to the hells. Why?”

“That part was incidental. The priestess looked at Eunaios’s work from the last summoning, but she didn’t fully understand it. She said this was the best way for her to adapt his spellwork to connect to the hells and find another demon to bind.”

“This is madness. Anything could come through it.”

“I can find a way to close it later. The important thing was finding the demon.”

“But why? Why is it so important to you?”

Sudden anger billowed from Nirlan. “Because youdisrespectedme, you unfaithful—!” He cut himself off. For a moment, Azreth thought he was going to strike her. But Nirlan lowered his voice, starting over. “Because you deserve this. You were a fool if you thought you could cheat me out of my wife and my demon.”

Something nearby shifted. Azreth and Raiya both looked up to see Jai on the floor nearby, moving a little, but not quite awake. Beside her was Madira, unconscious, and Adamus. Not one of them had escaped.

“Let them go,” Raiya said to Nirlan. “Please.”

“Why?”

“They’re just children.”

“If they’re old enough to fight, they’re old enough to die.”

Anger and despair pulled at her lips. “Bastard.”

“Ah, there’s that mouth.” Nirlan crossed the floor unhurriedly, then bent to take Raiya’s chin in his hand. She grimaced, stiff in his grasp, but she didn’t have the strength to fight him. Dread and anger and humiliation flowed from her, and as much Azreth disliked it, it made his body cramp with hunger.

He glanced up at the demon, who lounged comfortably in his chair despite the fact that it was several sizes too small for him. Bright red eyes slanted down to meet his, alert but disinterested. He had certainly guessed what Azreth was thinking: if Azreth could feed from her, he might be able to regain a scrap of strength. He might be able to help her.The demon just tilted his mouth into a smirk.

“Don’t condescend to me,” Raiya said to Nirlan, and the demon’s attention shifted back to them.

“You think you don’t deserve it?” Nirlan replied.

Nearby, Madira shifted slowly, raising a hand to his head. Wincing, he opened his eyes, and his gaze eventually landed on Azreth. Jai and Adamus were still motionless.

Azreth’s eyes went to Adamus’s hip. His bow was gone, but his iron sword was still tucked in its scabbard at his side.

Nirlan bent over Raiya, holding her as she tried to pull away. “You’ll come crawling back to me now,” he said quietly, confidently. “Kiss me. Be a good girl.”

Azreth realized that he’d never known what true hatred of a person felt like, the way mortals felt it, until that moment. Anything he’d felt before must have been mere dislike.

Raiya’s mouth was a straight, hard line as she met her husband’s eyes. “Fine,” she said.

Something in her voice had changed.

She was going to kill him. Azreth didn’t know how, but she was going to save them all, just like she’d saved them from the vythian.

Nirlan didn’t notice. He was too stupid and arrogant to see what was plain. Despite sleeping at Raiya’s side every night for months while they were husband and wife, he didn’t know her.

He looked at Azreth, gloating. “No man will take what’s mine. And no demon, for that matter. Not without suffering dearly.”

Raiya’s hand began to move. Azreth watched as she surreptitiously reached toward a pile of clutter beside her. Her bag had been dumped out, its contents scattered. Though she never broke eye contact with Nirlan, she was reaching for a glinting, silver object with a sharp, pointed end. Her enchanting stylus. Azreth stopped breathing.

“You’re worthless without me,” Nirlan whispered to her. “Never forget that. Never forget this moment.”

“I won’t,” Raiya said. Then, without a trace of mercy, she stabbed the stylus into his throat.

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