Page 115 of Not Today, Satan
Maybe it will fizzle out.
But I know fire, and it doesn’t take long to engulf the bedsheets and anything in the room that’s not ice. The walls begin to disintegrate from the heat.
I gasp under my breath. A piece of my heart dissolves with every block of ice that melts away.
“You missed, Princess.”
Shit.
I’d forgotten about Ferus.
My head snaps up at his voice. He smirks at me, Father’s wings battering the air behind him. Blood throbs against my skull, and I lob another ball of flame at him with a scream. He jumps out of the way and flies from the castle. The fire hits the parapet he’d been on, melting the turrets and pouring water down the rest of the building in cascades like waterfalls.
In moments, the castle bends into itself and collapses with a loud crack.
My heart falls with it, and I cry out.
No.
Please no.
The one spot in this dark world built not to punish, but to love. The one remnant left to remind me of happy times with Nate until I can see him again.
Gone forever.
I shake my head and swallow the lump in my throat before jetting after Ferus. There’s no time to mourn that loss now. I have an asshole to decimate.
Ferus disappears through the wall leading out of the lot, and I finally realize what he’s doing. My stomach falls as fast as the crumbling ice castle.
He’s going to throw the ring in the Ignis River. Make sure neither of us can formally take Father’s place before insisting it belongs to him since that’s how Father left it.
“Oh, absolutely not.” I’m already bleeding, so I don’t need to cut myself this time to smash through the magicked brick wall and land on the bridge. Ferus stands before me, a snarl curling his features. He dangles the ring over the river.
“Ferus,” I call. “You already lost. Take it like a man—demon—whatever you are.”
He opens his mouth to reply when one of Father’s chariots soars over our heads with a screech. It’s almost as out of control as Ferus was with his pilfered wings. It darts back and forth, struggling to maintain direction as it bounces through the air.
“What the—?” I ask.
I’m too distracted by the chariot to realize that Ferus has released the ring over the railing. By the time I notice his fingers are empty, the crimson gem is glittering on its way to the fires below.
“Fuck!” I rush to the railing, ready to jump over the side, but the metal is falling too fast. I’ll never catch it before it hits the flames. It’s too small to slow itself down.
I watch in horror as it disappears from view and lands with a sizzling sound.
Ferus is on me in seconds. He doesn’t have a weapon, so he uses his fists. I dodge his blows, and he punches only air. He screams and lunges again.
“Oh, no you don’t, Ficus,” a voice shouts from the wayward chariot as it gets closer.
The voice punches me almost as hard as Ferus, and I blink the figure it emanates from into focus. “Nate?” I wheeze. “What are you doing back here?”
He manages to half dock the vehicle on the bridge and jumps out, landing between me and Ferus. I squint at him, sure I passed out long ago in the throne room and he’s some figment of my imagination.
“I thought you could use some help. Luckily, one of those chariot things was parked near the entrance. You know, we really could have used one of those when we broke out.”
He smiles at me, and my chest warms the way it always does when I see him.
Not a figment of my imagination.
