Chapter 31
Thirty-One
I stood on the dais where Throk had once been, completely bare in front of an army of demons. Blood poured out of my wounds. I didn’t know how much longer I’d remain on my feet.
But the chain of command was broken, and Vaelor now controlled the Spiritu Malignos army.
I looked out at the soldiers. Demons, large and small, stood there, horror and fear on their faces.
They must have never seen anything like my blood spell. I certainly hadn’t.
The sound of flapping wings caught my attention. Creedan took flight, fleeing. My grasp tightened on my sword, wishing I could have done him in as well.
Vaelor stepped forward to address the army.
He’d taken the cloth off his wound, though it looked grotesquely present in the middle of his stomach.
“You are now under my command. We know that those bound to Spiritu Malignos must swear allegiance to someone.” He faced me as blood trickled over my torso and ran down my leg.
Vaelor dropped to one knee. “So I, Lord Vaelor, vow my utmost allegiance and loyalty to the human Denara of Antioch.” His eyes rose to mine, filled with such devotion. “My lady, I swear to wield my sword in your service until the end of my days.”
I hadn’t expected this. I’d wanted to give Vaelor the power over the army.
I uncertainly looked over the demons that I’d been given.
It was smart and necessary, what he’d done.
If Vaelor swore allegiance to me, a living being, before the Spiritu Malignos leaders in their nation received the news, then they could not simply name someone else as Vaelor’s superior, reclaiming the army. We were now set apart.
And we could use these troops to defend Misophae.
Vaelor rose, albeit slowly. “And as my first command,” he announced. “You will swear to follow Denara, to never raise a hand against her, and to do everything in your power to keep her safe.”
The demons were silent, and I half expected some to fall over and give up their spirits to pain and nothingness rather than agree to follow me. A human. The human who had killed most of them.
A few closest bent the knee. Then those behind followed until it was a tidal wave to the rear of the army. A thousand voices uttered their oaths.
The heat of the sun beat on me, and I swayed on my feet. Vaelor snatched me up into his arms. I relaxed and laid my head on his shoulder. Despite the pain in my body and blood everywhere, everything was right with the world.
“Now,” Vaelor said. “I want the lead medic of this army to meet me at my manor. I require two demons who can fly to a small town called Frezaran and get a demon named Resha and escort her here as quickly as possible. Tell her that she’ll be well paid.
And lastly, I command that at least three other flying demons go retrieve that bastard, Creedan. ”
It only took a few seconds, and five flying demons came forward offering their services. Vaelor accepted them and ordered the rest of the demons to return to their camp. Then he spread his wings and flew me to the manor.
He burst through the doors and rushed me into the dining room. He brushed any dishes left over onto the floor and settled me there.
“You were magnificent,” I murmured tiredly.
“Me? Denara, you were—You put the fear of the gods into me and the entire army.”
The medic hurried in. “I am the lead medic, here to serve you, Commander Vaelor. I can do up your wounds?—”
“Treat her,” Vaelor said, pointing to me.
Surprise crossed the medic’s face. “I thought?—”
“Who is in charge here?” Vaelor growled.
He swallowed. “She is.” He scurried to my side.
I’ll be all right , I promised Vaelor, who stayed nearby, holding my hand. You should rest.
Not until I’m sure you have been taken care of. He sighed. That was close. If Throk hadn’t shared you with the army, or said that he and his subordinates were to go first… A shudder ran through him.
I knew the chances were high that he would. Demons in leadership positions like to share pain and torture as a way to reward loyalty, as long as it is in order of seniority. Throk seemed similar to Raxus in that sense.
His grip tightened, his hand sweaty in mine. I didn’t know if it was from being poisoned or if he was still overcoming his own fear. He controlled the army. He didn’t need their loyalty—he had it.
And yet there are ways around that, as we both demonstrated. Loyalty prevents the scheming we got away with today. I groaned as the medic pressed a wet cloth into one of my more open wounds, and pain flared.
Vaelor shook his head in disbelief and more than a little awe. You are clever and damned powerful.
“I’ll have to stitch up some of these worse ones,” the demon tending me said.
Vaelor stepped aside but remained hovering nearby through the medic’s ministrations.
The doors to the dining room were thrown wide, and the three demons entered with Creedan in their grasp. They’d bound his hands, and the blood spilling onto the floor indicated they had shredded his wings.
He looked up with panic in his violet gaze.
“I’m sure we can work something out,” Creedan said. “I—I can give you my lands. Anything.”
Vaelor glared at him. “Can you give my family back? My people?”
Creedan shrank away. “Look?—”
“Not only did you take my wife, my unborn child, and my mother from me, but you also forced my brother to prove his loyalty by having him kill the people he was supposed to protect. Don’t deny that it wasn’t your idea.”
“How about I give you my people? And my son and heir, you can have him too. Kill them and add them to your army. Just don’t…” Fear crashed across Creedan’s face.
“Don’t what?”
His gaze fell on me, as I lay there helpless and being wrapped for my wounds. And yet, there was no mistaking the terrified expression in his eyes.
Vaelor released a low chuckle. “It is tempting.” He looked up at the guards. “Give me your soul blade.”
“Yes, sir.” The soldier handed over the obsidian dagger. Vaelor weighed it in his hands but then said to the guard. “Hold him, don’t let him move.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vaelor stalked from the room and returned a moment later, a rose in his hand. The blood drained from Creedan’s face. Vaelor sliced at Creedan’s bonds with the soul dagger, freeing his hands and stuck the rose in them.
“Smell it.”
“Now, Vaelor?—”
“Smell the damn rose.”
Creedan glanced at the dagger. “You—you won’t turn me into a ghost, will you?”
The second fear. Vaelor could take him as part of his army and spend the rest of Creedan’s miserable days torturing him. I couldn’t imagine how satisfactory that would be for him.
Vaelor didn’t promise. “We’ll see how I’m feeling in the moment.”
Creedan shook and lifted the rose to his nose and inhaled.
The poison took effect almost immediately. Creedan fell to the floor gasping. His body shook uncontrollably and a foam poured from his lips until his eyes bulged from his head and he tipped over, striking the floor with a sickening thud. Moments later, he lay unmoving.
Vaelor looked at him with no pity. His fist clenched around the dagger, but he didn’t use it. “Dispose of his body.”
“Yes, sir.”
The guards disappeared, dragging Creedan’s corpse away. Vaelor picked up the rose and placed it in the case before setting it on the mantel along with the dagger. He stepped over to me.
“You didn’t want to make him a ghost?” I asked.
His fingers grazed my skin. “I’ve lived too long in vengeance, thinking of all the horrible things I wanted to do to that demon.
But now, I have more important things to worry about.
A mate, a cause. They are so much more valuable than the hate I would allow to fester if I kept him.
In the end, I wanted justice. I wanted him to experience the pain inflicted on my mother and wife as they died. ”
The medic bowed, having ignored Creedan’s death on the floor of Vaelor’s dining room. “I have done all I can for her, sir.”
“Thank you,” Vaelor said. “You may leave.”
As the medic left, the dining room doors were again thrown wide, and the female who had healed me from my broken leg stepped in.
“I’ve come. Once again dropping everything to assist you,” Resha said, annoyance flashing in her eyes.
“And yet you came,” Vaelor said, amused. “You’ll be well compensated, as promised.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I would like a page out of her spellbook. A potion.”
Vaelor looked surprised but turned to me.
I nodded. “Let her.”
“After you tend to her,” he said.
The female walked over and began examining me, lifting bandages and putting them back into place. “The medic did a good job. Here.” She reached into her satchel and pulled out the potion and same weed bark she had given me before. “I think you remember what these do?”
“Yes. The potion will ease my pain and the weed bark will make me heal faster.” I took it from her a popped some into my mouth.
“Take it twice tonight,” she said to me, then she turned to Vaelor. “She should be better by morning.”
Tension released from Vaelor’s shoulders. “Thank you.”
“And you,” Resha said, hands on her hips. She motioned for him to turn so she could examine his wing and other wounds. She made him take off his shirt and then she wrapped the wound on his abdomen. Lastly, she gave him a potion and some weed bark. “You’ll need this as well.”
Vaelor accepted the potion and downed it and then chewed on the weed bark.
Resha raised an expectant eyebrow. “My payment?”
“Come with me,” Vaelor said.
He guided her out of the room, and I allowed my head to fall onto the table. Exhausted from everything that had happened that day. Vaelor returned a short while later.
“Did she take a potion or spell?” I asked.
“She chose a healing potion.”
I frowned. “Did she copy it down?”
“No, the deal was she could have it, so I let her take it.”
“Will you join me? I just want you close.” Part of me was still coming to terms that we had made it through this alive and having Vaelor nearby would be proof of all we had accomplished.
He slid onto the table, his wings splayed and hanging off the side.
“Are you uncomfortable?” I asked.