Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Nina
Madalena was waiting for me in the Heart of Hell.
Or what was left of her, anyway.
Her skin hung in loose folds, grey and parchment-thin, like it was trying to slip off her bones. The Magpies carried her high, like a queen, though it seemed no problem for them. It seemed she couldn’t walk anymore. She judged from her perch while her body betrayed her.
Lorkin stood beside her, her trusty advisor, keeping me at a distance from his Lady Torment.
Madalena’s gown was beautiful in Torment.
It had since been through a war. Strips of crimson silk fraying at the seams melted to her upper body.
This must have been what Hector had meant by Madalena being punished for directly trying to sabotage The Cycle.
Imagine if she’d succeeded and had killed me.
I couldn’t imagine her looking any worse than she did now.
I stopped at the foot of her procession, lips curling into a smile.
“So this is what Torment looks like now?” I said. “Carried on the backs of enslaved birds?”
Hector grinned, but his brothers glowered at me. The eldest even bared his teeth.
I laughed. “Careful, your majesty. They might decide they like the taste of their queen.”
“Nice to see you again, Nina,” Madalena rasped.
“I am surprised to see you here,” I said. “I heard your powers are nothing in the Heart of Hell. You’re basically like every other Hell-dweller.”
Her crimson lips curved into a smile. “Unlike the Serpent, Leander, I don’t play games. I’ve come to bargain.”
I crossed my arms. “I’m not interested.”
She rose from the throne, her movements like a predator circling prey. “Not even if it means you survive The Cycle?”
That gave me pause. “What’s your offer?”
She smiled, her black lips stretching, and wrinkles creasing in the charcoal marks around her eyes.
“As my bound soul, you can control the suffering of legions. You can take charge of my Magpies. Leander, he is easily bored. Temptation will not remain fun for long. But Torment? That can last for eternity.”
“Is that supposed to win me over?” I shot back.
“No, darling,” she said, stepping closer. “It’s supposed to remind you who you’re dealing with. Leander will tire of you. But me? I value loyalty and power.”
“As Champions go, I’m a poor fit for Torment.”
“You are in denial,” she purred. “If you join my ranks, you can focus your energy and your anger in the fighting pits. Your soul will be free of The Cycle.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Then tell me one thing, since we’ve all come this far,” she said. “Who brought on the infernal fires? I know you know . . .”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I will make it worth your time.”
I shrugged. “Like I said, I have no idea.”
“Don’t treat me like a fool, girl. I am a demon of Hell.”
I gave her a wicked grin, and turned away, marching through the archway of warped roots and into the Domain of Chaos.
***
The entrance to Chaos was a waiting room. At the centre was a man sitting on a chair behind a desk, his smile fixed and unblinking. His eyes flicked to me, and he gestured forward excitedly.
“Hello, Champion of Temptation,” he said smoothly. “My master, the Demon of Chaos, has been expecting you.”
“Let’s get this over with then.”
The man’s grin didn’t falter, didn’t so much as twitch.
“Right through there,” he said, signalling to a set of descending stairs at the far end of the room. “Go on. He’s waiting.”
The stairs led to a red-carpeted room, empty apart from Dominik leaning against a wall, throwing a coin into the air and catching it on his knuckles. He looked relaxed, as if he hadn’t just abandoned me to face the Magpies in Torment.
“You’re here,” I said flatly.
He beamed at me and then remembered himself. “I heard what happened in Torment.”
“Yeah? I was surprised you left early.” I raised an eyebrow.
Dominik looked uneasy. “I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t wait around. You saw those creatures. I had to go.”
I nodded slowly, but unease curled low in my stomach. The words were plausible. True, even. But the others had stayed. Felix had even saved Amabel from possible destruction.
Still, I let it go for now.
“Come on,” he said, pushing off the wall. “This way.”
He led me through an entryway to a pebble track lined by lanterns on poles.
We weren't alone. Firebreathers danced through the area, their laughter turning to shrieks as sparks rained down.
All around us, there was a new type of madness.
Jugglers brandished blades, naked dancers donned bizarre masks and body paint, and others waved rainbow ribbons in the air.
“So, this is Chaos,” I said.
“Yeah.” Dominik smiled. “A little less crazy compared to Torment or Fear.”
“If you say so.”
We came to a fork in the track with four paths. I felt a tug towards the second, but Dominik had other ideas.
“We want to take the path to the far right,” Dominik said over his shoulder. “Trust me, it’s the safest way.”
A part of me resisted. But Dominik had been in Chaos longer. Surely, he knew the right way. I gave him a small smile, and followed behind him. We soon came to a cave with a narrow passage. “Just through here. It will take us straight to Alexei’s gathering ground.”
I nodded, and watched him disappear into the passage. I quickly followed. The darkness swallowed everything. I fumbled inwards, feeling the walls in front of me.
“How far until we’re on the other side?” I called.
“Not long now,” Dominik called back, but his voice was quiet and so far away. “Keep to the right.”
I felt the tunnel open out into two paths.
“Which way now?” I called out into the darkness. But there was no reply.
I was beginning to think this was a very bad idea.
I kept to the right, just as Dominik had told me, and a few moments later, I was falling. I landed on my backside, and pain jolted through my hip. A sharp gasp escaped my lips, and stars burst across my vision.
Clusters of glowing blue insects clung to the craggy ceiling. I could actually see some details, and eyed the hollow, open cavern around me.
Great. Just where I wanted to be – flat on my arse in the middle of the pit in Chaos.
Dominik was a hellkind, and would get a mouthful from me when I got out of here.
“Dominik,” I called. “I need some help down here.”
There was no sound except for my own voice. Panic flared in my chest.
Then something wriggled underneath me. Despite the pain in my hip, I jumped to my feet. Chunky tree roots were curling through holes in the ground. One branch lurched and wrapped around my leg. The more I fought, the stronger it became, stretching up my thighs and wrapping around my wrists.
“Dominik,” I shouted again. Had he known precisely where to bring me? Was this a trap?
The roots were everywhere now, winding up my ribs and pressing against my throat.
I struggled hard, wrenching my arms, trying to break free, but it only made them stronger.
Damn it.
I forced myself to stop. What could Chaos be feeding on? Like all the other domains, there had to be something that powered the fabric of this place, something that powered these roots entangling me.
Emotion.
My panic.
I wasn’t winning this fight with brute force. I breathed slowly and wondered if I could conjure a weapon from my panic. I closed my eyes, but nothing.
The tangle of thick roots, and my failed attempt to fight them off, left my limbs akimbo: legs kicked out, arms hooked.
My right hand, though, was close to my throat, and now my fingers – one of the few parts of me I could still flex, though not for much longer – brushed the key around my neck, and the emerald ring.
An idea came to me. One that might not work, but it was all I had.
Daring, hoping, yet knowing the desperate action could strengthen these woody bindings enough to lock me here forever, I yanked the chain free at my neck, fumbled with the little movement I had left, and then struck the steel key against the emerald ring.
Sparks flew.
They caught the roots.
As though stung, the roots flinched back, loosening their grip on me.
Hope flared. I struck again and again and again.
A roar of flame surged up the roots, and they retreated. I didn’t wait and pulled myself out of the pit, fingers scraping against the rock, and onto the ledge. I kept to the left, crawled on and saw the light.
I fell from the cavern tunnel onto my back and stared at the red clustering sky, breathing hard.
Dominik was waiting, standing before a dark archway of stone, hands in his pockets.
“You’re late,” he said, his tone light, too casual. He was nervous.
I stopped just short of shoving him. “You left me,” I hissed, still breathless, still shaking.
“I told you to keep left.”
I took a step forward. “Are you kidding me?”
His grin widened. “You’re here now. Why are you angry?”
“You knew what that path would do,” I snapped. “And you didn’t say a word.”
Dominik exhaled dramatically. “You really think I’d throw you to Chaos? Come on, Nina.”
I clenched my fists. “That’s exactly what you did.”
“You’re still breathing.”
“And you’re a prick.”
His laughter was light, but he seemed nervous. Something had been off about him the last few times I’d seen him. In Torment. And now in Chaos. Did it have anything to do with what I saw in Temptation? That would be ridiculous. There was something else going on. I knew it.
He stepped forward. “You really think I’d want to see you fail?”
Or could it be that realisation back when we first met in the Heart of Hell – that only one of us could win The Cycle.
That we were competitors.
I hesitated. For the first time, I wasn’t sure. “Why don’t we just get this over with?”
I didn’t have an answer for him because I suddenly realised I didn’t trust him at all.