Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
S omewhere in the background, Throk announced that the rest of the tournament would continue tomorrow. I didn’t care. I focused on getting to Vaelor.
He rose to his feet, his arm dripping with the same black liquid that had spurted from his opponents. It looked bad.
He moved away from the fighting ring.
I hurried up next to him. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” he snapped, not looking at me as he headed toward the manor.
“But—”
“Know your place, slave,” he snarled.
Shit. Yes. I couldn’t care for him here. I dropped behind him, pulling my shoulders in and stared at the ground.
“Come. We are going to the manor. I have tasks for you.”
“Yes, sir.”
He strode forward, his back straight, the black substance dripping as we walked. A large gash ran the length of his bicep. I couldn’t see the bone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was broken.
He pushed open the door and stalked into his home. I followed him inside and shut the door. I spun around when I heard a groan, and Vaelor slumped against the railing.
Rushing over to him, I ducked under his shoulder. He leaned on me, and for a second, I worried we’d both collapse. But I forced my legs under me and helped him up the steps to his bedchamber.
Vaelor fell onto the bed, not even caring that he was a mess.
My blood and his mingled all over his body.
I hurried to my bedchamber and grabbed the vase where I had stored water and dumped it into a small washbasin in his room.
I didn’t know where the linens were, so I opened his closet and pulled down a shirt from his collection.
The water was lukewarm as I swirled the garment through it, then pressed the damp cloth to his wound. Vaelor sucked in a sharp breath.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “How can you feel pain?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I know you can feel pleasure,” I said. That much had been obvious when we’d had sex. “But you’re dead, inhabiting a body. Do things feel the same as they did when you were alive?”
He took my hand and pressed it to his chest. “Everything is the same,” he said. “If anything, I feel more now. It takes constant concentration to control this form.”
After washing the wound, I used another of Vaelor’s shirts to wrap it. When I finished and began to clean up, his other hand reached out, wrapping around my arm. “Leave it,” he said. “Rest with me.”
I climbed into bed with him. He grabbed me with his good arm and flipped me over to the opposite side of the bed where there wasn’t blood.
I landed on his spread wing and flinched. “I’m sorry, did that hurt?”
He let out a tired chuckle as his wing curled around me. “My wings aren’t that delicate.”
“I assumed that they were since you never wanted me to touch them.”
“They’re not delicate. They’re just very sensitive.”
I reached out and gently ran a hand over the soft skin of his wing. Vaelor shut his eyes, drawing in a shaky breath, his grip on me tightening.
I stroked it again and he shuddered.
Keep that up, human, and I’m liable to forget I’m wounded and I’ll fuck you right here and now.
Drawing back my hand, I looked at him. As delightful as that sounds, you need to rest.
He released a low growl but didn’t fight.
His arms encompassed me and urged me closer. It was odd. So long, I’d associated Vaelor with coldness and the mist that he brought. And while a low vapor still hung in the room, his body was raging hot against my skin.
Abandoning his wing for now, I reached up and ran my finger along the black lines on his neck. “You have two more fights tomorrow to gain the commander position. Can you make it through?”
“Do I have any other choice?” Vaelor asked.
“You could back out.”
“I doubt Throk allows those who have entered to withdraw,” he said dryly before casting me a concerned look. “Besides, I was under the impression this was required to safeguard Misophae.”
It is. I… I just don’t want to lose you. My fingers traveled up to his face, where I met that beautiful, glowing gaze that watched me with such tenderness. Gods, what this demon had come to mean to me—he was mine—he was my life.
Vaelor leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine. Don’t give up hope on me, Denara. We decided to see this through. I have some fight left in me.
If there is anyone I have faith in, it’s you. I bit my lip, hesitating a long moment before changing the topic. “Creedan is here.”
Vaelor’s expression darkened and not due to the pain. “Yes.”
“That means Raxus must have told Throk about Aeria’s plan to take over Misophae,” I said.
“Creedan knows he needs Throk’s army to succeed. They’re most likely negotiating how to divide the spoils of war between them.”
I frowned. Everything we’d feared was coming true. My brother—and everyone else I loved—was in danger.
Movement at the edge of my vision caught my attention. I glanced toward the doorway and found two large, glowing eyes fixed on us. A hulking demon with massive horns glared from the shadows, malice burning in his gaze. Nausea twisted in my stomach.
Raxus.
He barreled into the room. I jumped over Vaelor and rolled off the bed, turning over the bowl of water. Raxus seized my hair, and I cried out as he too easily lifted me off my feet. Pain seared through my head and neck—tears stinging my eyes.
“Humans are so easy to kill,” he said, watching me with delight.
Gods, it was just like when he’d broken into my home and dragged me off by my hair. The horror of that moment mixed with the terror of this one.
Vaelor rose from the bed, rage in his gaze.
Raxus stepped back a little, his attention fixed on me. “How does it feel to know that I hold your life in my hands?” he taunted.
I struggled in his grasp, my fingers digging into his flesh, trying to ease the pain. And Raxus looked on in delight, his mouth twisting into a cruel smile as I struggled.
Vaelor rammed into Raxus from the side, and Raxus lost his grip on me. I crumpled to the floor, wrapping my arms around my head as the agony ebbed.
The two fought back and forth, Vaelor lashing out and Raxus striking with his meaty fists.
Then I saw silver flash in Raxus’s hand.
“He has a knife!” I shouted.
Raxus lunged, and my heart stopped as the blade plunged into Vaelor’s side.
No.
Raxus backed up as Vaelor collapsed. He lumbered over and gripped me by the arm, hauling me to my feet. Again, I was getting in the way. Raxus was right. I was useless.
“You are so pathetic,” Raxus said to Vaelor. “Do you suppose this human is any more important than any of the other worthless human slaves we keep?”
Vaelor clutched his side, breaths coming fast. “She… is… everything.”
My heart sank when I saw the green tint around the edges of his wound. It was a sign of the water hemlock. The knife must have been laced with it.
Raxus laughed and released me. Scrambling, I threw my body over Vaelor’s. I wouldn’t let Raxus kill him here.
“I won’t kill either of you today. I need Spiritu Malignos to see me end you tomorrow.
And her… I want her to watch.” Raxus leered down at me.
“Then I will feed her as an offering to the mercenary army. Sleep well knowing tomorrow is the end for both of you, and you are powerless to prevent it.” And with that, he turned and stalked out of the room.
“Denara, are you all right?” Vaelor asked, the pain clear in his voice.
“Am I? Vaelor, what about you?”
He grimaced. “Winning the tournament might prove more… difficult than a few moments ago. Something is wrong. A weakness is spreading through me. I think… I think the blade might have been poisoned.”
Rage filled me. I wasn’t useless. That was what Raxus wanted me to believe. I resolved not to crumple and blame myself like I had in the past. I loved Vaelor, and he loved me. There had to be a way to fix this.
“Denara… you have to run , you can’t stay here?—”
“You know I won’t go. We can still win. We can.
Shit.” I grabbed my hedge witch book and desperately flipped page after page.
There had to be an answer here. An answer that wouldn’t lead to Vaelor being defeated tomorrow.
I refused to let Raxus win. I wouldn’t lose Vaelor.
“That cheat…” I seethed. “He realized he couldn’t beat you in a fair combat, so he attacked us to weaken you. ”
Vaelor shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Denara, please…”
“We understood this would be dangerous. We can’t allow that boorish, brainless beast to ruin everything for us.” I turned more pages and then paused. There. “I have a cure. I have all the ingredients except…”
“Except?”
I paled. “The calendula plant. It speeds the healing process. Without it, I can still make it, but you’ll be fighting the effects of the poison for the next twenty-four hours.”
“It doesn’t matter. The poison… won’t kill me. It can’t. But it’ll weaken me just as Raxus planned.”
I hissed. He was right. Poisons didn’t fully work on undead bodies. The poison could incapacitate, but even the worst concoction wouldn’t kill an embodied Spiritu Malignos. I had intended to poison Throk and the others, but understood that the final blow had to be delivered by me.
“I should have known this wouldn’t work,” Vaelor said.
“The curse is broken, Vaelor. It is.”
“We don’t know for sure, and even if it is… I could still lose you.”
“And I could lose you.” The idea of him remaining and perishing for me was more dreadful than someone leaving.
“But Bargoth, my mother, my brother, Erlinen. They are worth fighting for. If we can do this. If we can protect them without dying, then we’ll know for certain that the curse, our curse, will be broken.
” I brushed a kiss on his lips. “Trust me.”
“Do you have any tricks in your book that could help us?”
I gripped it.
I had killed him. Now I’d do anything to save him.
“I just might.”
I swept a few strands of hair from my face as I stirred the bubbling pot. Two books were open wide on the counter of Vaelor’s kitchen. One was the history of Spiritu Malignos and the other was my hedge witch book of spells.
I gave the pot another stir.