Chapter Twenty-Four
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
“Lucifer’s bloody fucking ball sack,” the demon snarled as he staggered to his knees. Ichor poured from where the arrow had lodged into his shoulder.
Yuri heard Aurelie cry out simultaneously as she folded forward as if in pain.
It took only a second for the same sensation to strike through his own bond.
The angel’s hand shot out with a gasp, catching the edge of the nearest tree as his knees buckled.
The pain wasn’t his, but it might as well have been. He could barely breathe around it.
Had the demon struck her? He hadn’t seen any wound.
He forced his eyes upward. The infernal creature should have been writhing on the ground as Glory burned through him. And yet he remained standing, gritting through the pain of the blow.
How in the blazes is he still alive?
The demon burst forward with a hiss, grabbing hold of Aurelie and clutching her toward him like a shield. Yuri could feel the phantom graze of claws sinking into his arms when she tried to squirm.
He readied his bow, then hesitated. One wrong shot, and she’d feel it before the demon did.
A dozen red vespers dove from the trees, suddenly circling the demon as if to protect him. Yuri couldn’t make out their sharp jeering, though he watched as the demon’s eyes grew darker and Vex cowered from the swarming Nyxaris.
“Come forth,” the demon commanded, seething.
Yuri didn’t move.
“Strike me again, and the next arrow goes through her shoulder. Come forth, angel.”
Aurelie opened her mouth as if to shout something, but no words escaped.
She glared at the demon restraining her, thrashing violently in his arms. Her foot came down on his, heel to toe, and the demon bucked in pain.
Yet rather than release her, he clutched Aurelie tighter around the waist, his fangs extending as he hovered them over the delicate skin of her neck.
Yuri’s gaze sought the arrow, still lodged in the demon’s shoulder. It should have worked. It always worked.
So how was the demon still standing?
Only one way to find out.
Dropping the bow to his side, Yuri stepped into the clearing.
The demon’s eyes narrowed, the miasma around him suddenly looming as he looked upon Yuri’s face.
“Release her.” Yuri’s voice didn’t waver, eyes flashing to Aurelie just long enough to ensure she wasn’t wounded.
The demon ignored him, lifting a wooden flute to his lips.
Aurelie’s face drained of color, but before the demon could play a single note, she drove her head into his nose with a sharp crack.
The flute tumbled from his grasp as the demon staggered back.
“Leave him alone,” Aurelie snapped, whirling on the demon. She caught his arms and wrenched them behind his back. Still clinging to her shoulder, Vex’s ears flattened as she hissed at the Nyxaris still swarming them.
“Unhand me, you miserable cur—” the demon spat, nails elongating into black claws he unsuccessfully tried to swipe at Aurelie.
A sharp, lancing pain shot through Yuri’s nose, and he hissed. He’d missed his opening to assist his bonded, caught entirely off guard. He expected a Chantelune to be skilled, but perhaps he needn’t worry about Aurelie after all. She was far more capable than he’d given her credit for.
“Grab the flute!” Vex snapped at him, clutching Aurelie’s hair as the Nyxaris tried to pry her off.
As ridiculous as it felt, Yuri didn’t hesitate. He lunged for the instrument, tucking it into the back of his pants.
The demon’s face shriveled with disgust. “That’s filthy. I should kill you for that!” No sooner had he spoken than Aurelie stumbled backward as a set of black wings burst from between the demon’s shoulder blades, making space between himself and the knight.
Yuri felt the echo of her fear, as if her heart had caught mid-beat.
The demon turned, closing the space between them and taking Aurelie by the throat.
“One move,” he told Yuri, “and I’ll sever her carotid.”
“Yuri,” Aurelie gasped. “He wo—”
The demon’s hand clamped tighter around her throat, choking the words off. Yuri, too, struggled to breathe around the hold.
“Drop your bow,” the demon ordered, “and I’ll let the girl go.”
Yuri tightened his hold on the weapon. Aurelie shook her head, but he turned away and let the bow fall. It disappeared in a haze of light the moment it struck the ground.
The demon looked him over, appraising. “The dagger beneath your shirt, too.”
Wretched beast. How did the bastard even see it?
Yuri reached slowly beneath his tunic, drew the blade, then let it drop.
Only then did the demon release her.
Aurelie stumbled forward, and though her mouth moved, no sound emerged.
“I struck you with Glory and still you stand.” Yuri searched the demon’s face, silver eyes narrowing like blades. “What are you?”
The demon only smiled.
Then, slowly, he reached back and wrenched the arrow from his shoulder.
Aurelie buckled with a soundless scream the same time as Yuri saw stars, his vision turning white.
“Enough,” he snapped, gasping through the pain. “What sorcery is this?”
“It’s no sorcery.” The demon lifted the arrow from the ground as if it were a prize. “Strike me down if you’d like, but all three of us will fall.”
Yuri lunged for his dagger. In a breath, he had it against the demon’s throat. When the beast didn’t flinch, Yuri angled the blade lower, slicing a thin cut across the demon’s forearm instead.
Black blood welled to the surface. A sharp, immediate throb bloomed up Yuri’s own arm.
The blade in his grip pulsed silver, but again the demon didn’t react.
He was immune to Glory.
The demon skimmed a finger across the cut on his arm, thumb dragging through the blood. He stared at it for a long while before his lips curved into a slow, creeping smile.
“It’s about time you showed up, Pigeon,” the demon mused, savoring Yuri’s disgust. “Honestly, I expected you’d be quicker.”
He danced back as though this were all a game, seeming to bask in the frustration that roiled within Yuri.
“What did he do to you?” Yuri demanded of his bonded as Vex perched protectively on her shoulder, patting Aurelie’s arm as if trying to soothe her. “How did he force you into this?”
“Ah, but that’s the best part.” The demon’s voice went quiet. “She made the choice herself. Go on, Badger. Tell him.”
Sound passed through Aurelie’s lips in the form of a soft gasp.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, bending to take her face in gentle hands. He searched her eyes, tracing the bruises blooming along her skin. “I felt pain last night—”
“I’m fine.” She took his hand, squeezing. “You have to listen to me, there’s a cure.”
He recoiled, brows knitted. “Aurelie.” Her name was sharp on his tongue. “Tell me you’re not here by choice.”
Her stare was unwavering, her silence answer enough.
Yuri dropped her hands from his.
All the fear, the urgency pressing on his heels, the panic that had him hunting through the woods without rest. And she was telling him that this was her choice?
Angels above. Just who have I bonded to?
“The demon is lying to you,” he said, clinging to the hope that she was simply naive. But that had never been the impression she’d given off.
“If Severin’s lying, then I am the kingdom’s biggest fool,” she said. “I promise you there’s something here, Yuri. You have to trust me, please.”
There was so much conviction in her voice. So much hope that Yuri wavered. It threaded under his skin, seizing him until he didn’t know how to ignore her.
Were she anyone else, he’d refuse having any part in this. But as her bonded, he had to know what could have convinced her to make this decision.
“Show me,” he relented, though his gaze had already shifted to Severin. “If there’s a cure, then show it to me, demon.”
Severin’s smile was razor sharp as he bowed his head. “Gladly.”