Chapter 2 #2
“No! Please, please… You can’t do this!” Her plea struck me harder than it should have, but it wasn’t enough to change my resolve.
“I can and will.” The certainty in my voice carried easily across the room. Because there was no scenario in which I would allow that demon to remain anywhere near her.
“It is time for him to return to where he belongs and face the punishment he deserves.” This time the words were not spoken for her benefit.
They were a ruling.
The small demon understood that immediately.
“It’s okay, girly,” he said, his voice rougher now as the runes tightened further around him.
“It… it was fun while it lasted.”
Something changed in her then. Something subtle at first. A tension was building within the air around us that had nothing to do with the spell itself. My focus remained on the Kobalos for only a fraction of a second longer before my attention snapped instantly back to her.
The energy gathering beneath her skin was undeniable. Her body had gone rigid within my hold. The heat radiating from her rose sharply enough that I could feel it even through the thin satin between us.
“Eliza?” I spoke her name as a new emotion took hold of me… it was dread.
The Kobalos noticed it as well. His attention was no longer on me, his gaze fixed on her with an intensity that carried both warning and recognition.
The pressure in the room thickened rapidly and the words left her mouth before I could stop them.
Ancient syllables. Not of the mortal world…
not anymore. Not of any language she should have ever known.
Not when it was one that was only spoken in Hell.
“?U-BAR NAM-TAR!”
The sound struck the air like thunder, and for a fraction of a second, the runes faltered. My breath caught abruptly as the magic woven through the floor trembled beneath the force of the words she had spoken.
The spell did not break immediately.
But it cracked.
And the marble beneath our feet split open.
For a fraction of a second, nothing happened as my spell held.
But my relief was short-lived as the runes flickered along their outer edges like a heartbeat skipping rhythm.
The green light stuttering beneath the marble as though the magic itself had suddenly become uncertain of its own authority.
I felt the change immediately through the circle.
The connection between the runes and my will tightened sharply as the ancient binding resisted the disturbance that had struck it.
Then the floor cracked completely.
A thin fracture split through the marble directly in front of us, racing outward in jagged lines that followed the glowing paths of the spell work beneath the stone.
The sound was sharp rather than explosive, like glass snapping under sudden strain.
Yet the vibration of it traveled up through the soles of my boots and into the structure of the throne room itself.
My arm tightened instinctively around her.
Not to restrain her, but to steady her. The silver veins that threaded the marble widened violently as the light inside them surged brighter.
The runes pulsing in uneven bursts that sent jagged splinters of white and gold energy scattering across the floor.
The circle shuddered and the demon staggered back half a step as the bars of green light flickered violently around him.
Their structure destabilizing as though something at the root of the spell had been severed.
Impossible.
My magic did not fail.
Ever.
Gasps rippled through the demons gathered around us.
The controlled murmurs of earlier were now replaced by genuine alarm as the cracks splintered further.
The fracture raced across the outer ring of symbols and tore directly through the center of the circle.
Through the heart of the spell itself. Then the runes pulsed once more before…
They collapsed completely.
The light imploded inward before bursting outward in a violent surge that rippled across the floor like a shockwave, forcing the nearest onlookers back a step as the circle shattered entirely. Fragments of fading green light scattered through the air before dissolving into nothing.
Where the cage had once stood seconds before, there was now only fractured marble and the faint haze of heat rising from the broken spell work.
The Kobalos did not hesitate.
The instant the final strand of magic collapsed, he vanished, his body dissolving from the center of the circle as though he had never been there at all. The space he had occupied snapped closed behind him with a sharp distortion in the air.
Silence followed.
Absolute.
Even the music had stopped.
The entire room had frozen in place. Every demon present stared toward the shattered marble beneath our feet, their expressions ranging from shock to something far closer to fear.
As for the cause, Eliza’s body had gone still within my hold. The heat that had surged through her moments before was now receding rapidly. As though whatever power had erupted from her had withdrawn just as suddenly as it had appeared.
My grip loosened slightly. Not to release her, but to move her. My hand slid from her waist to her upper arm, my fingers closing firmly around it as I turned her toward me with controlled force. When her eyes lifted to mine, I saw the truth instantly.
Shock.
Pure, unguarded shock. There was no triumph there. No awareness of what she had just done. Which meant only one thing… she had no idea what she had done or how she had achieved it.
Around us, unease rippled through the crowd. Where curiosity had filled the room moments earlier, something else now threaded through the atmosphere of Veneficus. Fear, but not of me… of her.
I felt it in the way they watched her now. The subtle tension running through the demons who had once viewed her merely as a mortal curiosity standing beside their ruler. My jaw tightened as I studied her face, the silver light in my eyes flaring brighter despite the steady rhythm of my breathing.
“You didn’t know that would happen.” The words left me quietly. Not a question, but a statement. Because the truth had already settled into place within my mind. She swallowed hard, her pulse racing visibly beneath the delicate lines of her throat.
“I don’t know,” she said softly, and the admission struck deeper than any denial could have. The power she had unleashed hadn’t been intentional.
It had been instinct.
Something ancient, buried deep within her, had reacted to my judgment. That had shattered the spell without her even understanding what she had done.
My hand closed around her arm more tightly then as I pulled her against me, the movement firm enough that she stumbled the final half step into my chest.
Up close, the energy around her was unmistakable now. Not mortal. Not demon. But something far older than either. Something I hadn’t felt in centuries.
My gaze searched her face with a focus far sharper than anger alone, studying every flicker of confusion and disbelief written across her expression.
The truth continued to assemble itself, piece by piece, inside my mind.
The ancient words. The broken circle. The power that had answered her command.
All of it pointed toward a conclusion that should have been impossible.
Yet she stood before me now, trembling slightly in my arms. As though she were nothing more than a frightened mortal woman who had wandered into a world she did not understand. Which was why I lowered my voice as the final question formed…
“What are you… my little Siren?”