Chapter 16 #3
The words might as well have slapped him across the side of the head. “The key?” If they were all convinced Neyu was the catalyst, how in the Hells could he convince them in another direction? Saer’s mind raced, putting pieces into place.
Kalia tugged on Neyu’s arm, her face equally dazed. “We should leave before they all get here.”
So be it. If this was the hand they were dealt, they’d play it.
“We need to run!” Kalia half-yelled.
Saer swallowed and shook his head. “No.”
They couldn’t turn back, now.
“No?” Neyu asked.
“No,” Saer repeated with more finality. A new plan formed in his mind, the components fitting together as quick as the darting glances they gave one another.
“Saer, I don’t think you understand—” Ahraan began.
“No.” Saer interrupted the man with finality. “Get out. Keep them at bay for as long as possible.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Then just get out.”
Ahraan stared at Saer, then shook his head and started for the door.
Before he exited, he turned to address the three from over his shoulder.
“Running is your best option. Stars know I didn’t perpetuate the rumors leading to this bloodthirst.” His gaze shifted to Neyu.
“Though I don’t disagree with their intentions. You’ve brought this on yourself, Neyu.”
“Then why not try to kill me yourself?”
The gold-skinned man inclined his head. “All life is precious. I don’t want to harm anyone, but I follow the will of my people. They’ll determine your fate and, if I must, I’ll carry it out.”
“You won’t succeed,” Saer said.
“No,” Ahraan replied just above a whisper, “I don’t suppose any of us will.” He turned and left.
The moment Ahraan exited, Neyu opened her mouth but Saer spoke before she could. “We can still overtake them.”
She gaped at him. “Have you gone mad? Can’t you hear the crowd gathering? We didn’t anticipate this.”
“This is better.”
“Saer.” Neyu’s incredulous tone rose with her dread.
“The spectacle in and of itself will convince them—”
“It’s not your bloodless body on the line,” she hissed.
Kalia stumbled to the only chair in the room and dropped into it with her arms wrapped around herself, her face lined deep.
Neyu swallowed, looking like she wanted to embrace Saer and strangle him at the same time. “If we do this—”
“Take a breath, Neyuukhan.” He moved to Neyu and put a hand on her cheek. As she leaned into Saer’s palm, his voice softened. “They can’t destroy you. I won’t allow it.”
Even though Kalia sat a touch straighter, her keen brown eyes aware and analytical, Saer dismissed it in the face of comforting his beloved.
One problem at a time.
Saer leaned in, whispering for Neyu alone, “Fight them, feed this frenzy, and in the end, they’ll all come to us. I have you, Dearest. We’re unstoppable, just as you said.”
She swallowed and leaned back to meet Saer’s eyes. Understanding filtered into her gaze, pushing away some of the initial panic, and he knew she reached the same conclusion he had. His brilliant demoness—how he loved her.
The voices outside the hut rose. Neyu nodded, took another deep breath, and stepped away. “I’m rea—”
Villagers broke past the doorway, filling the room with shouts.
Three entered first, pointing at Neyu, yelling as they grabbed her upper arms. She fought, pulling away, but their grip held strong and more poured in.
Her shrill scream dissipated against angry yells both inside and outside the hut.
Trying to push through the swarm of people to get to Neyu, Kalia was shoved away as they dragged the demoness outside.
“My people!” Saer ran after the crowd and held up his arms. Half of the settlement stood outside the hut, their faces lit only with torches, the fading dawn, and every so often a great flash of far-off lightning. A stillness fell after his address, though Neyu remained their prisoner.
He had this one chance to say everything right.
Saer took a long breath, steeling himself.
“Of those who follow me, where is your faith?” He lowered his arms as he spoke in a quieter but no less authoritative tone.
“To those who are Ahraan’s believers, would you commit murder to prove you are right in this?
” The questions hung on the stormy evening, answered only by thunder.
Saer’s eyes blazed over the crowd, careful to skip over Neyu, settling upon Ahraan.
An energy strung tight between the two males, dominance matching dominance.
“And to you, Ahraan,” Saer growled. “I ask, does the Grandfather condone killing?”
The power in Saer was backed by aggression and an awful passion. Ahraan, staring back, emanated stoic control. It was subtle, but no less commanding, and the golden-skinned man carried it with terrible grace. “The Grandfather condones choice, Saer.”
Saer’s bark of short and humorless laughter was his only answer before dismissing the man and once more addressing the crowd.
“My people, do this if you must.” From the periphery of his vision, he saw Neyu struggling against the villagers, just as they’d discussed.
Fight them, feed this frenzy, he’d said.
Something squeezed in his chest to witness it, yet he forced himself to continue.
Stick to the plan. “However, know that this woman you choose to carry this outrageous sentence upon will not be kind to you at its end, for she will survive.”
The crowd stirred, uneasy. Again, Saer raised his voice over their mutterings.
“Neyu has walked the same path as I. You all knew it the moment you saw her.” Only then did Saer turn to see his love’s face.
The quiet intensity in her gaze bolstered him, and Pride put more conviction in his voice.
“You may try to kill her in whatever way you wish, but you’ll only provoke the wrath of a vengeful goddess!
” He tore his gaze from her lest he lose his nerve at the thought of harm coming to her.
They were in this. A commitment had been made.
Saer allowed his words to linger, then filled the void one last time. “Is your doubt so great, my people, that you would take such a chance?”
More murmurs rose atop the thunder. From the corner of his eye, he saw Neyu resume her efforts to escape and he balled his hands into tight fists.
A villager noticed Neyu’s struggles, and a faceless voice from the crowd rose to match Saer’s. “Look how she fights. She’s afraid. We’ve been lied to!”
Playing right into their hands.
The words fed into the smoldering chaos. Shouting, challenges, and disagreements took over the mob. The crowd swallowed Neyu’s screaming form as they dragged her further away towards the center of the settlement.
“People!” Saer called with half-volume, putting no force behind the address.
He turned to see Ahraan’s half-smile, touched, as always, by sadness. The golden man lifted his hood over his head as the first drops of rain fell, leaving to follow the mob. Anticipation stuttered in Saer’s chest.
“Saer,” Kalia said. He jerked his head down to see her drained, stricken face.
Saer took her arm, tugging her towards the crowd in pursuit. “We don’t have much time, and we’ll have one chance at this. Listen carefully…”