Chapter Eighteen #2
His smile flickered, sly, as he pivoted towards me with dancer-quick grace.
“Actually, little Champion,” he said softly. “I was going to say your weakness makes you strong. It means you’re no stranger to suffering.”
I let out a harsh laugh. “Next, you’ll tell me beating Elise bloody was some kind of lesson.”
“You can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it.” His eyes shone bright, charged with energy after fighting with Elise. “She would have loved it if the roles were reversed.”
“Well, I’m not Elise, and I’m not a sadist.”
“I know. You and Elise are different creatures.” He circled me with unhurried steps.
“She arrived in Chaos before she bound herself to Temptation. So, here’s the lesson: You should be thinking about how to exploit someone’s true nature.
” His hardened expression chilled me. At that moment, he was the general of the Thorns.
A man forged for battle, for killing, and for cruelty.
How had he ended up in Temptation? “Think about it this way. Elise thrives in chaotic conditions. You, on the other hand, are motivated by desire. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in Temptation.
So learn to use that against her. Learn to use every Champion’s true nature against them. ”
I bit back a retort and settled for a stiff, “Alright.” But it had me thinking about my rivals in The Cycle, and how I might be able to use what I knew about them to my advantage. I pushed the thought away. It was something I’d have to think about later.
“I know you’ve been tapping into Temptation.” Leander’s expression was elusive, but I could sense, sure enough, that he was pleased with me.
I lifted a shoulder. “Doesn’t everybody?”
“No, they don’t. Souls are either too weak or too stupid to tap into the magic in a domain.” He tilted his head, studying me like I was something fragile he might crush. “Let me see what you can do. Use the power that’s around us.”
My stomach tightened. “Now?”
“Yes. Show me how you draw from the fabric of Temptation. Show me . . . so you can fight me.” His voice lowered to a dangerous softness. “Or are you afraid?”
I narrowed my eyes but refused to give him the satisfaction of an answer. Instead, I called the want into my chest, letting it spread through me until the pain in my hip started to fade.
Leander moved around me, his steps soundless, his voice barely audible over my pounding heart. “Just like that,” he murmured. “Good girl.”
A shudder rushed down my spine at his words of praise. I suddenly wanted more of his approval. I hadn’t realised how much I craved that small acknowledgement until it was given. Suddenly, I wanted more of his approval, more of his gaze turning towards me like I mattered.
So I breathed in more desire, willing my discomfort away, and imagining my hip and leg lifting easily.
Magic swelled in my bones, relieving the ache. It was dizzying, and the pain was soon replaced by a warm, tingling sensation.
“You’re ready,” he breathed close to my ear. “Fight me.”
“I don’t have a weapon.”
Leander laughed. “You think you’ll always have a weapon to hand? You need to learn to use your body.” He set his hands on my shoulder, positioning me in a sideways stance. “Keep your weight forward, and lunge for me. Hands up. Thumbs over knuckles.”
Heat bloomed over my face. I ignored it, and did as he said. I jabbed towards his chest, and his palm caught my wrist and redirected.
“Aim for the vulnerable spots,” he said. “Ribs, throat, and groin are a good place to start.”
I nodded and tried again. This time I aimed for his throat, but I skimmed his forearm, the sting of contact like an electric shock up my arm.
Seriously. My fist is a wet sponge against his muscles.
I clipped him, and my exhaustion sent me barrelling to the floor.
Leander caught me just before I fell, cupping the back of my head.
Our faces were so close. I was breathless.
My eyes searched his face, his smouldering gaze that had me pinned.
It was as though I was being seen for the first time in a very long time.
And heat bloomed somewhere in a deep part of me.
Fire ignited. My teeth bit into my bottom lip, and Leander grinned, sheepishly.
Did he know the effect he had on me?
“I think we’re done for the day.” Leander pulled me to my feet. “You should get some rest.”
He retreated from the courtyard, leaving me standing there, panting, and lost for words on what had just happened between us, if anything had happened at all.
***
The fire blazed, radiating heat through the chamber.
I lounged in a vintage armchair near the fireplace, sipping tea, relishing the warmth that seeped into my body.
I could stare into the flames for hours, if not forever, allowing the crackle and brilliance to transport me to my past: back to the village, to my cottage with Tobias.
Time passed. Minutes and hours passed, and all that remained was the hum of the fire.
Then the light shifted. A low hiss rose from the floor as smoke rushed upward, expanding and rolling until it gathered beside me, a mass folding in on itself and forming a figure of sorts, reclining casually in the plush chair across from mine.
“You again,” I murmured. “Come to settle your debt?”
The monster focused its golden eyes upon me. They were the only thing human about it.
It hummed. “You reek of blood and sweat.”
I threw the creature a look out of the corner of my eye. “You stink of charred meat.”
“Tell me. Did you enjoy the moment the pitiful creature got her comeuppance?”
I snorted. “I don’t care for violence.”
My muddled thoughts of Elise, injured and battered, and Leander enacting my revenge. I told the creature the truth, didn’t I? I looked from the cloud of smoke on the chair to the fireplace, becoming uneasy about the silence, the unspoken truth.
The smoke seemed to scrutinise me.
“What?” I rasped harshly.
“You know—” its voice dropped to a low rumble “—lying is a virtue in Hell.”
I took a deep breath, and reminded myself I wasn’t wicked like everything else in this gods-forsaken realm.
“You seem upset.”
I let out a stiff laugh. Of course, I was upset. Angry, even. My mind was racing with a combination of rage and anxiety because I was slowly becoming a Hell-dweller like everyone else. Bloodthirsty. Violent. Too easily tempted.
“Did you know?” I asked. “Because you seemed to want me to leave my chambers so badly, so perhaps you knew Elise was going to face a beating.”
“I suspected,” it said. “Leander has always punished those who deserve it.”
“That’s why you wanted me to go?” I said, my voice rising. “So I could watch her be beaten to a pulp . . . so you could watch it, too?”
The smoke continued to roll. “You might think me a monster, but I don’t take pleasure in pain for its own sake.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“The miserable soul deserved the beating,” he said calmly, but with grit in his tone. “Down here, everyone bears the burdens of their actions. No one walks away unscathed.”
“And what will I face?”
“That’s not for me to say.”
“Well, you seem to know a lot . . . you follow me, you watch from the shadows. I don’t know why. I don’t even know what you are.”
An awkward pause followed my words.
“You’re not like the others in Hell.” I swallowed nervously. “You don’t even seem . . . real.”
“I’m the same yet different.”
“Don’t play games with me,” I said. “Are you a monster, like Dimitri’s pet, Morgana?”
An icy glare in response. I almost squirmed away. Had I misjudged the creature?
“If not a monster, then what are you?”
A pause, then, “A wrongly imprisoned demon.”
My mind was spinning. I thought the only demons in Hell ruled domains. Yet, there was a truth I’d learned in the Market of Desires. The Creator had shown me the history of The Cycle . . . the fallen ruler.
“Salazar.” My voice was barely a whisper. “You’re Salazar.”
A creeping, dreadful terror seized me. I found myself staring, partly terrified I was about to die my second death . . .
“You don’t need to fear me, Nina. If I wanted to harm you, I’d have done it long before now.”
I gulped. “Why the smoke . . . is it common for demons to look like you?”
“No. My banishment to prison left me . . . fractured.”
“But why are you here? If you’re in prison, how are you here?”
“There are some who would see fit to sabotage The Cycle. I’m merely a neutral party, making sure there are no kinks in the game. And in the case of my current state . . . the Essence of Hell always finds loopholes to make these things happen.”
My heart thundered in my chest, and I prayed to the Mother, the god of creation, that Salazar lacked the heightened senses so many in Hell possessed. I nodded.
“Sabotage how exactly?”
“Obviously, the demons interfere indirectly. You could be crushed in an avalanche atop Fear’s frigid mountains, drink poison from Corruption’s molten rivers, or perish in Misery’s toxic maze. It would be part of their quiet design.”
Basically, I’m doomed. Good to know.
“So, you’re what? Looking out for me, and the other Champions?”
“Not everyone.”
I blinked, speechless. I had no other questions left, not at that moment. I had too much information already, and my thoughts were racing as quickly as my heart.
Salazar did not say goodbye as his form shrank and rolled down, down through the floorboards, down to the depths of his prison, wherever it lay.
I sunk into my armchair, wondering if the other demons were aware that Salazar could leave his prison.
If they gave his existence any thought at all.
And as my mind drifted, I nearly missed the fire intensifying.
With a crack and boom, a bright ember erupted from the flames, arcing through the air before settling at my feet.
Instead of burning out, the ember began to transform.
Its light flickered irregularly, forming the distinct shape of a leaf.
It burned, but it did not crumble. Fire licked its delicate veins, consuming it without turning it to ash. I could only watch golden sparks flicker from the edges, spiralling outward in a mesmerising dance before pooling on the ground. The embers twisted together, forming something new. A vine.
Not just any vine. A twisting length of pure gold, slithering across the stone floor. It coiled and reached, creeping forward until it brushed against my foot. I stepped back too late.
The vine surged upward, winding around my wrist with a gentle, almost affectionate pressure.
A shiver ran down my spine as warmth bled into my skin.
The golden vine pulsed and curled in my palm.
Along its length, tiny golden flowers began to bloom, their petals curling open.
The final flower unfurled, and nestled at its centre was a brown parchment with the message:
Champion, you are hereby summoned to face an infernal trial in the Domain of Corruption.
I had no choice but to go along with the demons’ game.
I tried to free my hand. The vine resisted, reluctant to let go, before slithering back to the ground. It withered instantly, gold melting into nothingness, leaving a gilded stain across the floor.
This was the next test in the game and another domain.