Page 94 of Fiendish Delights
‘Screw that,’ Hester muttered. ‘Choose me! I don’t want to die!’
I looked at her. She fixed me with a glare, her eyes narrowed, and suddenly I knew exactly what she was saying – I knew what they wereallsaying. I was backed into a corner and my options were limited but, as Miriam had said not long ago, there was always another way.
Everyone was ready.
‘What’s it to be, Daisy?’ Athair asked silkily.
I turned to face him. His expression was expectant; I was surprised he wasn’t rubbing his palms together in glee. I opened my mouth as if to answer him and the anticipation in his red eyes intensified.
In one swift, sudden movement, I dived to the ground and reached for Gladys. At the same time, Aine roared, heaved herself free and thundered towards Athair. Hugo blasted a wave of earth magic directly at Athair’s feet that opened up the ground and made the fiend stagger. Otis and Hester zipped forward and threw themselves at his head, their tiny hands curled into fists so they could pummel him.
My hand found Gladys’s hilt. From a kneeling position I raised her blade and swung it at Athair’s neck, but I barely scraped his skin. He sprang away, howled in fury and flung out his own tremor of jolting earth magic. We all fell backwards, even Aine.
My head hurt, my back was bruised and bloody, and it was difficult to breathe. Tiny lights were dancing in front of my eyes and I was on the verge of passing out. A shadow fell across my face as I tried desperately to lift Gladys. My hand wouldn’t obey the signals my brain was sending it. I was done for.
Athair crouched beside me. ‘Interesting,’ he murmured. ‘I gave you a way out, offered you life, and yet you refused to take it. You continued to fight even though you knew you would lose.’
The best I could do was to hawk up a ball of phlegm and spit it at him, but I failed even at that. All it did was dribble down my chin.
‘Daisy,’ Hugo groaned from somewhere far to my left. ‘Daisy.’
‘Always with the interruptions,’ Athair muttered. He reached for me and I flinched, expecting pain; instead, his fingers stroked my cheek. ‘You should know thatI never cared about the chess set – I already have all the power I could ever need. I only dangled it as a hook to see what you were truly capable of. You were never in any real danger because they were under orders not to harm you. I simply wanted to be sure that what I saw in you last time was not a lie. It was not. You have proved your worth, Daisy. It’s you I want, not that old treasure.’
His features swam. I blinked, horror and confusion warring with a desperate need to slip into unconsciousness.
‘You’re more than I ever could have hoped for.’ He brushed away a curl from my face and smiled. ‘I will let you go. I will let you all go. You must remember that when we meet again. Remember that I could have killed them all and I chose not to.’
He paused. ‘I am walking away because of you, Daisy. We do not have to be enemies. Don’t forget that.’ He lowered his head further until I could feel his cold breath against my skin. ‘The old saying is correct.’ He murmured eight chilling words into my ear.
A moment later, darkness descended. And then there was nothing.
Chapter
Thirty
It was the smell I noticed first. Sour, faintly rancid but not altogether unpleasant. It was followed by a strange, wet, fuzzy thing slapping the side of my head. I raised my arm and tried to push it away, then I opened my eyes. When I glimpsed the row of massive sharp teeth looming over me, fear-induced adrenaline made me spring up and scoot away as fast as I could.
‘She is awake,’ Aine rumbled, unperturbed.
I stared at her then reached up to touch my cheek. It was still damp. ‘Were you …lickingme?’
‘The loud, angry one suggested it might help rouse you,’ Aine said.
Hester and Otis were sitting on her stout purple shoulder. I narrowed my eyes at Hester. She pointed at her brother. ‘It was him! It was Otis’s idea. Not mine!’ Otis merely snorted.
I wet my lips. Being tongued by a dragon was the least of my concerns. ‘Hugo?’ I asked fearfully. ‘Is he?—?’
‘I’m here.’ He placed his hand on my arm and I spun around. When I saw his bruised but still handsome face, I threw myselfat his chest. His arms went around me. ‘You’re safe,’ he murmured. ‘We all are. The fiend has gone.’
I drew in a shuddering breath then pulled away and looked around. There was no sign of Athair. He really had gone. ‘Your tail,’ I said to Aine. ‘Is it?—?’
‘It is sore but it will heal.’ Her eyes gleamed. ‘The fiend wounded me but he did not destroy me. Not even close.’
‘He left the chess set,’ Otis said. ‘And it’s still got all its magic. I can feel it. He didn’t drain it.’
Hester smacked her lips. ‘He was scared of Daisy. She hurt him too much and he decided to run.’
That was definitely not what had happened. I rubbed the back of my neck.
