Page 67 of Hell Sent

Blood gushed from Nirlan’s neck. It had pierced an artery. She’d struck perfectly, beautifully. Like she’d been born to kill him. Like it was fated. Blood and hunger roared in Azreth’s ears. Raiya’s triumph filled him, and he felt lighter, stronger. Mesmerized, he watched her raise her arm high and stab again and again, until Nirlan was on the floor beneath her and she was drenched with his blood. He wished the moment would last forever. He’d never loved her more.

He looked down at his palm. The runes on his skin had gone dark. The marks remained for now, but the enchantment had perished along with his binder.

As Raiya stopped, breathing hard over Nirlan’s body, the demon in the chair moved. Azreth braced himself, but the demon was moving past him, toward Raiya.

Azreth rolled over and sat up. He heard a wet sound—his own blood hitting the floor. His torn abdominal muscles screamed in protest as he struggled to his knees. Pain and blood loss made his head pound.

“Madira!” he shouted. “The Paladin’s sword?—”

The boy was still not fully awake. He must have been sedated by the same thing Raiya had been. He gave Azreth a confused look, his eyes distant.

Azreth crawled to Adamus’s sword, but the iron repelled him almost magnetically. His fingers were trembling before he’d even touched the hilt. The miasma of iron was too toxic.

“Here,” came a slurred voice.

Azreth turned to find Madira offering him a bundle of black cloth. His cloak.Azreth grabbed it, wrapped it around his hand, and grasped the hilt of the sword with it.

Ice and fire shot up his arm. The iron was a choking poison, an arc of lightning a hair’s breadth from his flesh. His grip weakened, and the sword almost fell from his hand. Steeling himself, he tightened his grip and yanked the sword from its scabbard. It nearly made him faint.

He took a step toward Raiya, and then another. His body was numb, and his feet and hand were somehow not his own, as if he were controlling his body from afar.

The demon stood between Raiya and himself. Looming over her, trapping her against the wall, he reached toward her with a clawed hand. Azreth staggered toward them, but he was slow. The demon began to cut into her.

He felt Raiya’s fear rising and then peaking into panic. Her pain burst forth like fiery, glaring sunlight.

Azreth didn’t resist. He followed the alluring, sickening scent of it. He let it feed him. It tasted wonderful and terrible as he drank it down. It gave him strength.

Raising the sword, he surged forward.

There was a damp crunch.

His hazy vision focused. Red and black swam in front of him—black liquid foaming and steaming as it flowed over crimson skin. The sword was deep in the demon’s back.

Azreth released the hilt, leaving it buried. He couldn’t feel his hand, but that seemed of little consequence now. Raiya staggered away from the demon, holding her hand over her stomach. She was alive.

As she ran for the table, Azreth’s knees gave out. He dropped to the floor, his ears ringing, as he watched Raiya pick up her bow from the table and point an arrow toward the demon.

“Get back!” she shouted, cornering him against the shimmering gate.

The demon was doubled over in pain. He gave her a dark look, and Azreth feared he would somehow keep fighting despite the iron weakening him.

Raiya drew the bowstring taut. “Go!” she snarled, her arms shaking.

There was a tense pause. And then the demon backed away. The surface of the portal rippled as he retreated into it, as if he’d sunk beneath the surface of a pond.

It was over.

Raiya lowered her bow, her shoulders slumping. Then she turned to him.

“Azreth,” she breathed, hurrying to his side. He reached out to her, and a hundred cuts and burns and bruises all over his body lit up with pain, but he could hardly feel them as she embraced him.

Twenty-Six

In a dark, windowless room, Azreth lay curled inside a fireplace, flames caressing his skin. The stinging warmth was a balm on both his physical wounds and his soul alike. The smoke reminded him of the fourth hell, and for some reason, despite how much he never wanted to go back, it was comforting.

After they’d killed Nirlan and banished the demon, Azreth had retreated to one of the castle’s smaller bedrooms. Raiya and the others had set to work building a barricade of iron implements around the gate to discourage anything else from coming through.They would guard the gate while he healed. They were safe, for now.It was over.

Wasn’t it?

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