Chapter Six
Lailah
Nuri was somewhere below ground level. Her soul called to mine, and even without the full power of our mate bond, I could sense her.
My feet stumbled over each other as visions plowed through my mind like flashes of a movie.
They were chaotic and hardly made sense.
My mother said I needed to focus on certain people to help guide the visions, so I filled my thoughts with Nuri.
The problem with doing so was that in all the visions with her in them, I was gone. Something was coming, and whatever that disaster was, it would separate us. But what was it? If I could see it, maybe I could find a way around that fate.
The thought of being parted from her was not just a punch to the gut, it was like my heart was being wrenched in half. How could I live with only half a heart?
Caligo’s royal castle was heavily guarded, but one of my visions showed me sneaking in through a window at the top of a turret on the east side.
Among the stones were barely visible handholds, made by someone decades ago.
The stone was smooth from years of use. Just the thought of it brought on another vision.
A daemon prince sneaking out of the castle.
This one was different, his face was filled with mischief, not greed like his older brother.
I climbed the stones quickly, choosing not to fly in case someone spotted my bright-white wings. The moment I hopped onto the window ledge, I froze. The visions did not show me the prince would be waiting in his room on my arrival.
He was already an imposing figure, despite his young age.
He couldn’t be more than a hundred years old, which was young for a daemon.
Daemons and lumens aged differently than humans.
It took creatures like us decades to age up to a quarter century.
The first sixteen years flew by similar to humans, but once our powers emerged, the aging process slowed significantly.
And then after the age of twenty-five, it could be a millennia before our flesh began to show any signs of aging.
“Hello, Lailah, is it?” The prince smirked, twirling a ball of fire in one hand.
I stiffened. “How do you know me?”
“Well, my elder brother has been raging about the princess who eluded him, and the lumen he captured instead as bait.” The prince tossed the fire back and forth between his hands absentmindedly.
“Of course she’s being used as bait.” I rolled my eyes, but kept my power at the ready. “And yet there weren’t many guards. Certainly none as I climbed into this room.”
The prince smirked, silver eyes glowing with power. “I suppose he thinks no one in this castle would dare make a move against his wishes.”
My power tingled beneath my flesh, ready to be unleashed. “But you would?”
The prince grinned, flashing his sharpened canines. “Yes, I would. We met once, you know. You were an infant then. I’m Phenex, the best looking prince of the three of us.”
As soon as he spoke his name, visions flared to life within my mind. A beautiful blue-haired girl appeared, familiar and foreign all at once. Seraphina. She was with this prince, fighting at his side. And there was something more.
“You met Belfegor before he died.” I started, straightening out of my fighting stance.
Phenex went rigid, his playful fire snuffed out. “What did you say?”
I sighed, more visions coming as my thoughts remained tied to the prince. “Remember his words. Don’t give up. Don’t give up on her. She will need you in the darkest hour.”
Phenex nodded grimly, his eyes darkening. “I will never give up on my mate.”
It seemed I could trust this daemon prince. “Good. Now take me to mine.”
We raced through the castle at speed, Phenex leading the way. A roar of anger filled my heart with fear. Someone pissed off Belial, and I had one guess who that person was. My Nuri was too fierce for her own good, and I refused to let these assholes hurt her because of me.
Phenex stopped short, just before a set of massive wood and iron doors. He turned to me with that trickster grin. “I’ll go in first.”
He didn’t give me time to respond before pushing open the doors and sauntering into the room. I jumped to the side so Belial wouldn’t see me.
“Bels, what’s this about? I never pegged you for a sub,” Phenex taunted his brother, feigning a nonchalant attitude.
I chanced a glance through the doorway, and my heart lurched at the sight of Nuriela straddling Belial, a block of ice encasing his head and his hands. The daemon’s fire attempted to melt her icy cage, but Nuri, my badass best friend, held her own.
“Nuri!” I shouted, unable to wait any longer, but it was a mistake. As soon as I shouted, her focus turned to me and Belial’s fire power rushed out in a fury of flames.
Nuri jumped back, her wings snapping out to lift her up and out of the flames engulfing the prince. I raced for her, but a wall of fire appeared between us.
Belial snarled. “I was going to offer your petulant mate a quicker death, but now I plan to have you both watch while I torture the other.”
“You will never touch her again!” Fury laced each of my words with venom I didn’t even know I had. The thought of this monster hurting Nuri made my blood boil, and power thrummed through my body. I closed my eyes, calling on The Sight to guide me.
The reason he craved this power, the reason all daemons and lumens, and even witches, revered it, was not only because it allowed you to to see all things past, present and future, but also manipulate the very fabric of time.
I might be new to its strength, but the movements and words I needed flowed through me as if they were always there.
“I command you, STOP!” I brought my hands together in a clap that rebounded off the walls as loud as two cymbals crashing.
Belial’s movements slowed, and his fire stalled and stuttered. Nuri rushed through the smoke and landed at my side.
“We need to find the King.” Worry filled Nuri’s voice. “King Corson. Belial, he bound my power to the King, and we need to kill him.”
More visions flooded my mind, and I shook my head. “No. If we don’t leave now, we will both die.”
Nuri’s face fell. “But how can I stay connected to that monster? He’s as bad as Belial. They say he’s even worse, the things he does to women, to their slaves.”
Another vision flared up, and I scrunched my face in confusion. “I don’t think that’s right. There’s something dark in his mind, something not his own.” I couldn’t make out exactly what was happening, and we didn’t have time to linger. “Remember Lo. She’s the key. Now run.”
Nuri turned and fled for the window, opening it and readying to jump. She stopped, waiting for me, but I had one more thing to do first.
I stalked closer to Belial, my power pulsing with life.
I smirked at the silent roar stuck on his stupid face.
A bright aura cloaked my skin as I let The Sight take hold of me in this moment.
When I spoke next, my voice was not one, but many, echoing through the room.
Phenex’s eyes widened, the only movement he could make in his frozen state.
“I have seen your death, Belial. And even though I won’t be around to witness your end, I take heart in knowing my sisters will be the ones to get revenge. And trust me when I say I will do everything in my power to bring that fate to you and yours.”