Chapter 37
Chapter thirty-seven
Seraphina
Burned grass crunched under her boots as she followed the demon lord to the perimeter of Ironoak Forest. The howling was louder, and Sera couldn’t help the pit opening in her stomach.
All she could think of was the agbris chasing them, their snarling, the claws swiping for Alistair’s middle.
Whatever beast was screaming in pain, the agbris had probably gotten them too.
“Our power”—Vasso paused for a moment, cleared his throat, and began again—“is destructive. It kills, burning almost everything to ash.”
“I’m fully aware of the type of destruction it can do,” she said, stepping over a fallen log. “It seems like that’s the only thing it’s good for.”
Vasso wove between the thick trunks of the ironoak trees.
It was cool in the shadows of the canopy, and besides the painful shrieks of the creature they were walking toward, the forest was silent.
No rustling nor chirping. Even the rays of sunlight that dared to touch the forest floor seemed to shy away from him.
“I used to think that too,” he said, almost a whisper.
They approached a dense thicket full of brush and brambles, and before it lay a small fox, its leg mangled and bloody. The poor thing grew quiet as they neared.
“This magic is death. But sometimes it can be a mercy to those suffering. We dark ones wait for our souls to reach Shadow’s realm. It is no different for them.” He lowered onto his haunches beside the animal. Vasso petted its white-tipped ears and gray muzzle.
“You’re not going to kill it, are you?” she asked.
“No,” Vasso said and glanced up at her. “You are.”
Sera stilled. Her darkness pulsed inside her.
“I’ve already told you the horrors I’ve committed, the countless people I killed in Feybury.
And now your lesson is to kill this poor animal?
” She was going to be sick, but she worked to push down her magic, lock that cage tight around it.
He’d have to pry it out of her if he wanted her to hurt this creature.
“You wished to learn how to wield? Looks like fate has granted you the chance to experience what this magic was made for.” The animal sighed in relief as Vasso began petting it again. It seemed almost comforted under his touch.
“You said you had healing abilities. Why not heal it instead?”
Vasso shushed the creature, who nuzzled his head into the demon lord’s hand. “This one’s time is up. He wants to go home, and I can guarantee the death either you or I give him will be twice as merciful as the end he will meet out here.”
“I won’t.” She took a step back. “I wanted to learn how to control it, not kill more.”
Vasso stood. Without his comforting hand, the little fox whimpered again. “You want control?” Vasso’s eyes turned bloodred; his jaw clenched tight. “This is control!”
Sera couldn’t stop the tears from forming. He was cruel to make her do this. An innocent animal, and he expected her to do what? Burn it alive? No, she wouldn’t. The lock rattled inside her, but she raised her chin.
Vasso took a step toward her.
“We don’t get to choose our lot in life, Seraphina. Prophecies, fate—it has all been written. The only control we have is how we use it.”
“Then I refuse to use it to kill another innocent thing.”
Vasso’s straight mouth turned into a devious smile.
In an instant, he was every bit a deadly demon lord.
Sera couldn’t stop the trembling in her hands.
Shadow, this was a mistake, all of it. Begging for his help, the bargain—all of it.
She tried to get away, tripping backward when her ankle hit a downed branch.
Vasso caught her before she landed on her ass, his grip punishing around both wrists. Sera’s heart pounded in her ears.
“You’ll do it, or consider the bargain called in,” he snarled.
“You can’t do that. I didn’t break it!”
He smiled, and again she saw that deadly beauty. His white teeth, the flash of his red eyes below dark brows, and that single white strand of hair falling across his forehead. “You are refusing to take my instruction, and that was the deal, wasn’t it? I must teach you, correct?”
He was so close they shared breath. She couldn’t help but feel his gaze settle on her lips. She didn’t have her books to figure out if he could do this, what the laws for bargains were. All she knew was that she couldn’t chance being indebted to him. Nora needed her, Dom needed her…
Vasso ripped her forward, dragging her toward the downed fox.
“No, I don’t want to.” Sera tried to break free from his grip, her boots sliding in the dead leaves. The pulsing magic rang through her like a chant. It craved… it wanted. “You’re a monster!”
“Oh, my dear, you have no idea.”
The leaves crunched under her knees as she landed hard beside the injured animal. It was so small, no larger than her arm. She’d kill Vasso for making her do this. She’d hurt him once and could again. Her magic seemed to flare in answer.
The thorns from the bushes within the thicket tore at her arms and cheek as she scrambled to get away. Vasso’s dagger brand on her spine burned in warning. It was all ruined: her time, her magic. She was tainted… wrong. Sera was halfway into the brush when…
“No, you don’t,” he said and yanked her by her waist.
“Let go.” Sera panted, her cheek burned, but Vasso’s arm was tight around her middle, holding her to him. Sera swung and scratched, did her best to try and get away.
“You’ll learn your duty… just as I did… and the ones before me.”
“Please, don’t make me,” she sobbed. He sat her in his lap right on the ground, his chest stretched around the curve of her back like a solid wall as he took her wrists in each hand. The smooth skin of his cheek brushed against hers, and his strong arms held her still. “Vasso… please.”
“I think I rather like the sound of you begging,” he chuckled in her ear. Sera began to thrash again. “Enough… look.”
The fox raised its head, and Sera paused.
Its eyes were the color of honey. The ginger fur had long since turned white around its brows and snout. Slowly, her wrist in his bruising grip, Vasso extended one of her arms and laid her hand atop the fox.
The animal’s fur was soft under her fingertips, and its wet nose tickled her palm. Moons, she couldn’t pull away even if she wanted to. Vasso kept her so still.
Memories swirled in her mind. The Legion soldier burning alive. The homes engulfed in black flame and even blacker smoke, with their inhabitants watching on as their entire lives were burned to ash. Sera choked down her sickness, not caring now if her tears fell… if he saw them.
“Good,” Vasso whispered in her ear, steadying her hand on the animal’s head. “Now, feel.”
Sera gasped at the flood of sensations that rocked through her. Pain—terrible, unrelenting anguish. She couldn’t stop herself from crying out. Vasso’s grip loosened a touch.
“It is suffering.” His words were hot in her ear, but his tone had softened. “You can end it.”
So much pain. The leg had festered. Infection had settled in, and deep in the bowels of the poor thing, maggots were already eating, destroying.
It is the way, her magic hummed to her.
“Help me,” she rasped. “I don’t want to do this alone.”
Vasso adjusted himself behind her. He let go of her wrists, and his hand covered hers. A surge of power rolled off him, through her. That same vibration she’d experienced in the field bloomed in her chest, washing her in understanding.
“You are not evil,” he whispered to her. “You are not death… you are… mercy.”
Sera sucked in a shuddering breath, and the moment before she released her darkness, the fox blinked his honey eyes at her. There was no more pain running through her, only relief and thanks.
Hot black flame burst from her hands, and a second later, there was only ash, blowing away on a strong wind.
Vasso lifted her from his lap and stood. “Let’s go,” he said, not giving her a second glance.
How? How was this possible? Never had she done something like that, experiencing another’s pain from a touch. She rose from the ground and followed the demon lord back to the field. Their magic had opened up something inside her. She couldn’t place it, only knew that it felt right.
His confident stride didn’t falter, nor did he slow for her to catch up. She wiped away her tears and righted herself as they entered the tunnel. Vasso flicked his wrist, and the stone door scraped closed, dropping them into darkness.
The strands around her face tickled her temple and cheeks with his breath. His body heat washed over her in waves, and the first thing she noticed as her eyes adjusted to the tunnel’s darkness was the look of bewilderment across that beautiful face.
“You felt it too,” she whispered. That hungering need when their magics mixed. “What does it mean?”
Conflict played across his features. He raised his hand and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “It never said—”
“Sera?!” Alistair yelled.
She peered around Vasso to a warlock barreling toward them. This was not going to be good. Vasso stiffened when her shoulder grazed his as she went to deal with the captain.