Page 27 of Demonic Cage
The guards throw the severed heads in front of us. Their smell overwhelms me, and I turn away from the sight. Darya’s claws hold my shoulders tightly to prevent my body from following my gaze.
“And,” the Kraldem resumes, looking at the ceiling, “we are not yet finished.”
Darya moves his claws, and the wide grin spreading across his face freezes my blood. I want to break free, but I’m not sure which way to run. The demon holding me has extended thin, sharp teeth, and his mouth seems to be adorned with black, fresh blood. The shrill, whistling sound escaping its throat fills the entire chamber.
And then hell breaks loose.
The demons run or fly away in desperation. It’s futile. Random spikes strike them down. I observe that the area where they meet their doom is precisely where they attacked me. Darya knew exactly who wanted to get closer to me and is now hunting them down. Even those I didn’t notice in the crowd may be among them.
The spikes hit the ground with a loud thud. The Kraldem watches the entire massacre, uttering only a single hiss. However, anger and sadness are concealed in his features.
The chaos slowly subsides as the bloodbath ceases. The surviving demons kneel before Darya.
“I sincerely hope, emías nosoik –my demons– that we understood each other. You may go,” he says.
The harshness disappears from Darya’s voice, replaced by overwhelming calm and barely palpable grief. He has just destroyed his demons because of me. I stiffen as I realize the implication. The rest now want to kill me, not only out of hunger but also hatred.
The demons fly out through the open ceiling of the throne room or disappear into the tunnels. The rocky space slowly empties, leaving only Sylla, Hépotisz, Lizander, and the blue giant below us.
I whimper as Darya suddenly pulls me into his lap. I try to resist, but his strong arm holds me in place. I glare at him, but he just smiles, playing with my purple hair.
“I love the way you fear,” he whispers in his deep voice, sending shivers down my spine. How can his voice have such an impact on me? “Your scent is exquisite in this moment,” he adds, drawing closer; sniffing my neck, making me freeze. “Infernal.”
I gulp loudly as his nose caresses my neck. Someone clears their throat, and I look at Lizander.
“Léthé is here,” he says. All five demons fix their gaze on the wall where a wide waterfall cascades to the ground, disappearing under the rock. Seriously, things just keep popping up here…
The waterfall swells, and the water is no longer swallowed by the earth. Instead, the river seems to come to life, sliding towards the throne room. It stops in front of the stairs, rising, condensing into a sphere.
The water globe explodes, and from the foam emerges a black and red-winged demon woman. Her long, wavy hair reaches her knees, its color resembling coral in the ocean, absorbing shades of red, pink, and orange simultaneously. Her dark attire reveals more than it covers, with a deep neckline extending down to her navel. Her wide hips contrast sharply with her slender wasp-like waist. The outfit is practically lingerie, leaving her thick thighs exposed. On her dark, smooth skin, water droplets shimmer brightly. Her lips are as thick as mine, only wider and framed by lush eyelashes. Somehow familiar…
She’s the woman who nearly drowned me in the bathtub. I recognize her confident grin. I start to squirm at the thought, and Darya drags his claws along my back, playing with a strand of my hair.
The beautiful demoness’s confident steps momentarily falter as she looks at me in Darya’s lap. Her eyes flare up as if she’d prefer to drown me again. Wonderful. I’ve given her a reason to kill me, too.
Reaching the throne, she kneels.
“Kraldem,” she addresses mockingly, looking into Darya’s eyes without lowering her head. “It was a dazzling performance. Good to know you’d kill anyone for your new trophy.”
Darya smiles.
“I don’t remember ever having a trophy,” he replies, causing the woman’s lips to briefly part in thought, but the next moment, she confidently smiles again.
“Then perhaps you could introduce her.” She looks at me with her coffee-brown eyes, which I feel could pierce through me.
I wonder what Darya would do if he knew that this woman had already tried to kill me. Would he destroy her, too?
“I don’t think I need to introduce the one who will help us win a several-thousand-year war that—”
“We were not waiting for something likeherat all!”
“A war,” Darya emphasizes, his voice so deep that the woman falls silent, “whose outcome depends not only on her.” He turns his head aside, coldly assessing Léthé. “But on every task I give you. So, tell us, Léthé, what you have found out about the location of the herebias.”
It doesn’t escape my notice that Darya commands her as if narrating the next move.
The mermaid’s jaw tightens, but she nods, her eyes lowered.
“They reached the zone of Polémous,” Léthé announces.
