Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Nina
Steam curled from my tea, carrying the pleasant smell of spices. I wrapped my hands around the cup, letting the heat sink into my aching fingers and soothe the exhaustion in my bones.
Every muscle in my body ached from Madalena’s domain, and my arms were covered in shallow cuts, already healing nicely.
The low light of the enchanted lanterns hanging from the ceiling told me it was evening, though the sky always shone red in Hell.
Across from me, Kob sat perched on the worktop in the form of a small bear, his thick fur ruffled, his eyes bright with mischief as he licked at a bowl of honey.
“The Magpies were shapeshifters,” I said, watching as he swiped another paw of honey into his mouth.
He made a low, humming noise of acknowledgement.
“Could you transform into a bird like them?” I asked, tipping my cup to him. “If you wanted to?”
Kob chuckled. “Beastly creatures. They can’t even fit through doors, much less pick anything up with those monstrous talons.” He licked sticky drips of honey from his claws. “They can only shapeshift into one form. What a waste of magic. I can alter my form into whatever creature I desire.”
I huffed a quiet laugh, taking a sip of my honey tea.
Footsteps clicked on the tiled floor, and I lifted my eyes to see Elise stepping inside, dressed in fighting leathers. Her features twisted the moment her gaze landed on me. Her eyes flicked to Kob and then back to me, and she said nothing. She just turned around and swept out of the room.
“What is her problem?” I muttered.
Kob hopped off the worktop and went to the cabinets, rifling through glass jars. “She was captivated by Leander, promised many things . . . but she was just one Champion in a long line of Champions.”
I glanced back at the door. So Elise had been bound to Temptation and maybe once, she’d cared for the demon who ruled it.
The way she looked at him told me she still had feelings .
. . let alone her behaviour since I’d arrived.
Had Leander ever felt anything for her? Was he capable of human emotion?
Was it all an illusion spun to keep Elise here?
“Was Leander human before he became a demon?”
Kob stretched and transformed into a sleek black cat. “Finally asking the right questions,” he said, and then shoved a handful of small fishes in his mouth. “Souls have power, and when bound to a domain, that power fuels the demon’s magic. The more souls, the more power.”
“Why am I here, Kob?” I couldn’t face the truth that I belonged here. “Why can’t I remember anything from before? I don’t even remember what I did to deserve this fate.”
Kob stared up at me with feline eyes, looking thoughtful. “Champions never remember their past. Give it time. It’s been that way since The Cycle began.”
“What do you know of Salazar?”
His eyebrows quivered.
“He’s been telling me the demons rig The Cycle,” I continued. “He thinks there’s a way to end it.”
“What do you mean he’s been telling you?”
“Well, he appears to me sometimes.” I shrugged.
“Well, piss in a demon’s chalice and call me Cerberus. Salazar has shown himself to you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He must have found a way to project his consciousness from his prison,” Kob gasped.
“What do you mean?”
“If Salazar had escaped prison, we’d all know about it. So that tells me he’s still imprisoned, girl. He’s just somehow able to talk to you. Now that’s another thing. I’d be careful with that one.”
“He doesn’t seem so bad.”
“Salazar was the fiercest demon of them all.”
I supposed that wasn’t too much of a shock. Salazar was after all a big swirling mass of smoke.
I set my mug down on the worktop, rubbing at the exhaustion pressing behind my eyes. “I need sleep,” I muttered, pushing to my feet.
I turned to the door and strolled through the corridors. I passed the staircase that descended into the depths, a red light pulsing.
My mind slipped to the first day I had arrived in Temptation and came to the palace. Elise had told me there was one place I could not go – down that wide stairwell leading to the bowels of the palace.
I stiffened, getting ready to run. I’d seen a knife in the kitchen. I could rush back and grab it quickly enough. But it was Jules who stepped into the candlelight.
“Tired?” he said.
I forced a smile, tightening my robe around myself. “I survived Torment. I’d say that warrants a few hours of sleep.”
Jules chuckled, but his eyes remained watchful.
“Where have you been?” I nodded to the chains in his arms.
“Had to visit the Hollows. Nasty place they’re in. Always gives me the chills. But Leander tells me I have to.”
“The Hollows?”
“Yes, in the catacombs below. At least I get to see the snufflebeasts now. Want to join me?”
“I’ll come by later, if that’s okay? I’ve got something I need to do.”
He nodded and shuffled off.
I stood there for a long moment, knowing curiosity was about to get the better of me.
Perhaps, I could find more answers in places I’d been warned to avoid.
I let my feet carry me towards the catacombs.
A deep groan of sorrowful voices, a chorus of pain and misery lifted as I descended.
The rich decadence of Temptation was quickly replaced with cold brick floors and walls.
The gilded chandeliers disappeared, replaced by flickering torchlight.
The deeper I went, the less inviting it became.
Not after long, I came upon cavities in the walls, and copper plaques were fixed under each one. The words made me shiver.
A murder of convenience.
Immoral debauchery and indulgence.
The inscriptions were different beneath every cavity, and when I looked closer, I saw trinkets, rings, rusted coins, and skeletons inside.
The descent grew tedious, until at last the stairs finally ended, and I reached solid ground.
The catacombs stretched on and on, the end lost in darkness.
Light pooled weakly from torches along the damp walls.
I moved cautiously, the sound of my footsteps swallowed by the moans and sorrowful cries around me.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of souls were chained to the walls.
Some knelt with heads bowed, their hands curled around rusted chains that bound them to weathered tombstones.
Others sat hunched, rocking and murmuring words I didn’t understand.
The catacombs were wide, and I walked through the centre, safely out of reach, but close to read the headstones.
LETHAL ENCHANTRESS. CLAIMED 303 LIVES.
PHYSICIAN, TORTURER. CLAIMED 214 LIVES.
MURDERESS, POISON GIVER. CLAIMED 787 LIVES.
Ghostly phantoms drifted through the catacombs, their forms thin and wispy.
They hovered over condemned souls, circling like birds.
I stood frozen as one descended upon a man, his skeletal frame trembling beneath the phantom’s touch.
The fog wrapped around him like binding silk, and the moment it did, his back arched, and his mouth opened in a silent, wretched wail.
When the thing finally floated away, the man collapsed, curling in on himself, his body limp, defeated. His eyes were hollow, and I couldn’t tear my gaze away.
Another phantom passed over a woman, barely a flicker of movement, yet she suddenly clutched at her chest, choking on a sob, shaking.
The phantoms were tormenting these souls.
A grumble rocked the ground, and a familiar scent of cherries enveloped me.
“This place unsettles you,” Leander said, his voice flat. He stood only a few paces away, watching me carefully, his usual smug amusement absent.
For the first time since I had met him, there was no trace of teasing in his tone, and that infuriating grin was gone. He looked at me like he was searching for something. His cobalt-blue eyes flicked over my face, scanning every reaction, every breath.
"You've met the Hollows,” Leander murmured, his voice weak and faint.
I nodded. “So this is the dark underbelly of Temptation I was told never to visit?”
A dark shadow passed over his face.
I sighed. “If I make a bargain with you, is this where I’ll end up?”
“The condemned dwell here because of their deeds. Damned because of their choices as mortals.”
I glanced back at the souls squirming in the shadows of the catacombs, their cries echoing off the stone. Phantoms drifted overhead, weightless and hungry.
“Did you decide this for them?” I asked, my voice coming out more bitter than I intended.
“Someone must.”
I turned to him. “So, you decide who deserves punishment?”
“No.” His voice was quiet, steady. “They brought this upon themselves. You saw the tombstones.”
I frowned. Leander’s gaze didn’t waver. “They chose their actions. And all choices have consequences.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. The silence pressed in around us, thick and cold. I moved deeper into the catacombs, and Leander followed, whether as guardian or observer, I couldn’t tell.
I wasn’t sure I disagreed with him. Still, their painful existence didn’t feel . . . humane.
I stopped short. A figure knelt near the base of a crooked tombstone, shoulders shaking. The air turned to ice in my lungs. Leander followed my gaze.
The man’s face was hollowed by grime and despair, his fingers clutched around rusted chains. But I knew him. Even in ruin, I knew him – the man from my village, the one with the leering grin, the one who had disappeared in the swamps.
Sickness twisted in my gut as I read the inscription:
INVADER, DEFILER, RAIDER, ABDUCTOR. CLAIMED 307 LIVES.
“I k-know him,” I whispered.
Leander’s expression softened, but his eyes were full of something like pity.
I turned and strode back towards the entrance, desperate to escape the stench, the memories, the truth. Anger and fear tangled inside me. Leander followed, oddly sombre and quiet, which was entirely unlike him.
“So where does my fate lead?” I blurted out. “Who did I kill to earn my place in Hell? Is that who I am? A murderer? A torturer? A defiler?”
Bile rose in my throat. The thought of what I might have done clawed through me. Not because of the punishment I could face, but the person I must have been to deserve it.
He held my gaze. “You don’t belong here with them.” Leander gestured to the damned souls around me. “Yes, some were once Champions, just like you. But they lost The Cycle and bargained with me. Only then did they face their punishment.”
“So, if I bargain with you, stay in Temptation, where do I belong?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
That sent a horrible shiver up my spine. “What if I don’t want to bargain with you?”
“You have the freedom to bargain with any demon you like. Choose any domain you like.”
My breathing became erratic, the souls around me wailed, and the whispers prickled at my skin. I was overwhelmed. All I wanted now was to crawl into a deep, dark hole.
“Take my hand,” Leander said. “I think you’ve seen enough.”
And I did. The wails ended as we vanished away from the catacombs and into the gardens of Temptation.
I breathed in, catching the smell of jasmine. I’d always liked that smell, whether jasmine tea or flowers. It relaxed me. I raised an eyebrow at Leander. I wonder if he knew that and had planted the jasmine just for me?
“I assume this is where you make your offer?” I said.
“You’re catching on.” His smirk was back, but gentler. “Forget The Cycle. I want you to stay in Temptation. With me.”
A scoff broke from my lips. “And what? Live out an existence like the rest of them? In eternal damnation?”
Leander’s smirk didn’t falter, but something flickered behind his expression. “I told you already. That isn’t your fate.”
“Like Elise, then? She once felt something for you. You must know that. Now she’s just another soul, forever angry and spiteful.”
Leander sighed, dragging a hand through his blonde hair. “This is different,” he murmured.
I narrowed my eyes. “Really? Because I know when you gain a bound soul, you gain power. Is that why you came to me pretending to be someone you weren’t?”
Leander looked at me straight-faced.
“I still have a chance at winning The Cycle,” I muttered. “I don’t need to bargain with you.”
Leander let out a soft breath, almost a laugh. “No one has ever won The Cycle, little Champion. I don’t think you’ll be the first.”
I frowned, but before I could respond, he closed the space between us. “And I don’t want you to be the first. I’d rather you stay with me.”
I took a step back, and Leander let me, but his eyes never left mine.
“I have Tobias to think about,” I said.
Something flashed in his eyes. Regret. Confusion. “You can’t win,” he said. “You still need to win my relic, remember?”
A small, knowing smile played on my lips. “Well then, it’s a good thing I’m ready to face your trial again.”
“You’re going to lose. But you know I hate to disappoint. I’ll see you tomorrow night, little Champion.”
“I can’t wait,” I said dryly.
He grinned, and then vanished away.