Page 56 of Demonic Cage
Darya delivers this last sentence with such emotion that I’m taken aback. I know what it’s like not to be free. To lose your wings; to be tethered, controlled by drugs, suppressed by the world around you. To be declared insane. I feel a faint electric buzz under my skin as I imagine what it would be like if I transformed. I’d have wings. I’d never be insane.
I glance back at Darya, who steps even closer to me. I have to tilt my head up to look at him. His bare chest, unlike mine, rises and falls evenly.
“Interested in fallen angels?” he mocks.
“I’m interested in your world.”
He ponders this for a moment, and eventually, I have to break our gaze – we’ve been staring at each other for too long.
“Then come,” he beckons. “I’ll show it to you from above.”
I resist, but he grabs me, and we leap out of the tower’s massive window together.
The landscape is breathtaking; mountains embrace each other, and I hear birdsongs. In the distance, the castle’s towers resemble elongated dragon tails.
No matter how many times Lizander has taken me, I’ll never get used to flying this high, so completely at the mercy of another’s whim. I cling as tightly to Darya as I can.
“I saw you reading Pandora’s book,” the demon says after a while. I look at him, but as our gazes intertwine, I break eye contact. He’s too close.
“Twin books,” he continues. “There are only two in the world.”
“Why did you put the other one in my room?”
“I thought… it would beusefulreading for you. Perhaps not today, but someday.”
I fall into silence. I look over Darya’s dark attire, while his strong arms ending in black claws support me under my knees and back. I’m nothing compared to these monsters, yet I’ll have to fight one soon.
“Why am I the only one who has to wear white?”
Darya’s gaze softly paints my face, and my skin flushes.
“To set you apart.”
“So, you don’t want to sacrifice me?”
Darya scoffs. “Why would I bother with you so much if I wanted you to die?”
“Perhaps because you’re too old and have realized you’ve never truly had fun?”
“Ouch. That hurt more than if you’d cut my throat while I was asleep,” he says, looking at me knowingly. “You’re dressed in white so everyone can see you. To be a warning in the crowd, to signal that this is not a place to come. Demons aren’t accustomed to the color white, unless it’s angelic wings. They’re more cautious around white and won’t come near you. This prevents someone from harming you when neither I nor Lizander are watching over you.”
“But then they’ll always know where I am!”
“Putting aside the recent atrocity when one of my subjects attacked you a couple of moonturns ago, didn’t you find my demonstration effective? Demons are bloodthirsty, but even they don’t desire their own death. Generally. There are few of us left, dwindling in number as we fight against the herebias. Yet I’ve killed dozens of our comrades for you.”
I open my mouth to retaliate, but then shut it and gulp. Darya doesn’t want to sacrifice me. So why is he doing this? What will happen in a year?
“Let’s play a game,” he suggests after a while, as if he’s reading my thoughts.
“No,” I declare firmly.
He just grins.
“If you do, I’ll grant you one wish. How does that sound?”
“What kind of wish?” I ask uncertainly, because I don’t want to make a bad deal with a demon.
“Don’t expect anything that would return you to your world. Don’t ask for the impossible. But there’s surely something I can grant you.”
