Chapter 35
CHAPTER
The corridor widened into a grand chamber, the arched ceiling high and flooded with moonlight.
The beautiful stained glass painted the marble in fractured colors: crimson, violet and gold.
At the far end, great windows overlooked the smaller cliffs outside, the wind howling through cracks in the walls.
“This is it,” Lionel whispered. “We can get down from there, easy stuff if we step carefully.”
Ashley was already digging through her satchel. “Assuming I don’t lose my balance and kill us all, sure.”
I stepped up to the windows, placing my palm against it, thin glass standing between us and our way back, freedom so close I could almost taste it. Malakai came to stand beside me, his presence steady and warm even through the ash and exhaustion.
The air shifted again.
It was subtle at first, like the heartbeat of the castle itself slowing, then stopping. Every torch flickered, the shadows stretched long and thin. My stomach turned cold.
“Take cover,” Malakai said, voice low.
The others barely had time to react before the world detonated.
A pulse of power reverberated through the room, deep and concussive, knocking the breath from my lungs even if Malakai shielded most of me with his own body.
The windows shattered outward in a hail of glass and I hit the frame hard, heat flaring in my thigh as the wound screamed back to life.
Around me, the team was scattered; Nate groaning, Jaden swearing, Ashley rolling onto her side.
And then he was there.
The Demon King stepped from the shadows as if the darkness itself had birthed him. Crimson eyes gleamed in the multi-colored light, his expression composed, but underneath it, fury radiated in waves.
“I leave you alone for one moment,” he said softly. “And you start thinking you can run from me.”
No one spoke. Even the air outside seemed too afraid to enter.
His gaze slid past the others until it landed on Malakai. “You, most of all,” he murmured. “My blood, my heir, crawling through my halls like a thief.”
Malakai steadied himself slowly, jaw set. “You don’t own me.” Malakai gave me a quick glance to make sure I was okay, before his gaze turned to his father.
A flicker of amusement touched the King’s lips. “No? Then why do you sound like you’re trying to convince yourself?”
A shot went off, and I saw Eve had pushed herself up on one knee, aiming her rifle right at the Demon King. The bullet went through him, and he turned his eyes to her. A dark black mist slammed into her, sending her flying into one of the pillars.
“Eve!” Lionel shouted, trying to make his way to her as she lay motionless.
Jaden stayed close to the ground, pushing his magic through the floor and spikes jutted up around the Demon King, closing him in a cage. But none of them pierced his flesh, he didn’t allow them to. He seemed to command Jaden’s magic just like he had mine.
The Demon King chuckled, before the spikes pulverized right in front of our eyes.
“An earth-wielder, huh?” His eyes landed on Jaden who froze in place. Before the Demon King was able to counterattack, they were interrupted by another gunshot from Nate.
Ashley searched her bag, gripping one of her bombs, but it was too late.
The Demon King raised a hand and power rippled outward, an invisible but merciless force. Everyone dropped to the floor again, pinned as if by an enormous weight. My chest constricted, I couldn’t even lift my head.
The King walked through the wreckage, unhurried. A hand landed on his boot, forcing him to a stop, then Nate drove a dagger straight through his lower leg.
There was no blood. No ichor. We all stared horrified at the display. He was an abomination, sighing as if we were a slight hassle before pulling the dagger out and stabbing Nate’s hand with it instead. His scream echoed through the chamber, but the Demon King’s footsteps continued.
“You disappoint me, boy. You could’ve had everything: my throne, my armies, my world. Instead, you squander it on… this human.”
His gaze cut to me like a blade.
The weight on my spine tightened until my vision blurred. I gasped, tasting iron. Malakai strained against the force, crimson threads flaring from his hands before the pressure tried to smother them, but the blood kept spreading all around us.
“Don’t,” Malakai hissed through his teeth. “Leave her—”
“Silence,” the King said, and the word itself hit like a hammer.
He stopped in front of us, eyes glowing with quiet disdain. “She brings out such rebellion in you… such hunger.” He crouched slightly, tilting his head as if examining a delicate artefact. “Perhaps, I should break her, see how much of your restraint remains then.”
A growl built low in Malakai’s throat. “Touch her, and—”
“And you’ll what?” The King’s voice was almost gentle. “Fail again?”
The shadows behind him twisted. He lifted his hand—
Another gunshot went off, piercing the King’s shoulder, earning us a moment of distraction.
He turned, eyes landing on Lionel whose breathing was ragged, yet he refused to show any sign of fear.
A tendril formed and shot towards him, but Jaden shoved him aside and ducked right before it had chance to strike.
I forced myself up on my feet, the power of his magic was suffocating, my head was spinning.
The Demon King scoffed as he turned back to me and raised his hand once more, the air screamed in response.
Malakai lunged, pulling me down, embracing me in a desperate attempt to shield me, but the spell wasn’t meant for him. It curved around him, deliberate, cruel, and struck me square in the back.
Pain flared hot. My fire roared, then slowly faded as if giving up on me. The floor rushed up towards me. I tasted blood, copper and smoke.
“No!” Malakai’s voice tore through the haze, raw and feral. He caught me before I hit the ground, cradling me as if he could save my life by sheer will alone. “Ethalyn!”
The Demon King watched, eyes bright with mockery. “You see now?” he said softly. “Everything you love dies for nothing… Because demons are not meant to love.”
Malakai’s breath came in ragged bursts. “Fix this,” he snarled. “Or I’ll haunt you through every life, I will make sure that crown becomes the very leash that chokes you to death.”
“You think I’d waste power on her?” The King’s laughter was like glass breaking. “Let her fade, and perhaps you’ll finally learn.”
My vision blurred. I felt the fire inside me flicker out, the bond between us thinning.
Malakai’s power pulsed against mine, wild, directionless, desperate.
“Eve, wake up!” I heard Lionel shouting in the background. I tried looking for Ashley, but everything behind Malakai blurred, like the world was slowly shattering, disappearing behind him.
The pain that had been unbearable moments ago faded, gunshots were muffled, the ground still beneath us for a moment.
It felt peaceful.
But his voice still broke through, it was the only thing keeping me here.
“Don’t leave me,” he whispered close by. “Don’t leave me alone, please.”
The King turned away, dismissive. “She was a weakness. You’ll thank me one day.”
Something broke then, not in the world, but in him.
The air between us thickened with heat. Malakai’s glow deepened from crimson to something darker, denser. He looked down at me, and in his eyes, I saw the decision crystallize.
“I think I finally understand her choice now.” He bent closer, voice shaking. “Forgive me.”
For a heartbeat, everything went still.
Malakai’s breathing slowed against me, his muscles locked as if he’d found an answer to a question I couldn’t hear. The fury in his face smoothed into something calm—terrifyingly calm.
He met my eyes, the glow in his irises softened, not fading, but focusing, aware, deliberate. I knew that look. It was the look he gave me before he did something irreversible.
“Malakai—” I tried, but the word died as he brushed past my cheek. His hand came up to my shoulder, fingers trembling, reverent.
The world narrowed to the heat between us, the silence stretching thin. There was a bite of pain, sharp but fleeting; a pressure that stole my breath.
My fire flared instinctively, but I didn’t push him away. I didn’t want to.
He was careful and controlled… Until he wasn’t.
The Demon King’s voice cut through the stillness like a blade.
“Really, boy? You’d feed here, like an animal? Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
He yanked Malakai backward, tossing him aside like a disobedient hound. Malakai hit the floor hard, blood and fire threading the air around him. The King’s disgust was almost lazy.
Lionel pushed up on his feet, charging at the Demon King, as Jaden sent a wave of rubble to act as a distraction, helping Lionel get closer.
Once he collided with the King, they stilled, not moving an inch. Lionel had pierced him with a dagger, twisting it. But the abomination didn’t even wince, he smiled. The Demon King’s hand gripped around Lionel’s throat and lifted him off the ground.
“No!” I tried shouting, but it came out weak.
“Lio!” Eve panted from across the room, pulling up her rifle and aiming shakily as she must have regained consciousness only moments before. The shot went off, right through the King’s arm and he dropped Lionel to the floor with a hiss.
Something in Malakai snapped.
He rose with slow, dangerous grace, crimson light crawling over his skin. “You should have kept your hands off her and our friends,” he said, voice bristling with power.
“Friends?” The Demon King scoffed. “Adorable.”
The red threads burst from Malakai, slicing through the air in a storm of light. The King deflected them with a single motion, amused, until Malakai was no longer there.
He was already beside me again.
I barely had time to breathe before he caught me, his hand sliding to the back of my neck, eyes bright and wild. “Trust me,” he whispered.
And I did, his teeth burrowing into my skin again.
The world tilted. Magic flooded through me, pulled from somewhere deep, deeper than pain. It rushed out of me and into him, fierce and scorching. I felt the strength leaving my limbs, felt the dizzying pull of our bond.
“Malakai!” Ashley’s voice tore through the haze. “Get off her! You’re killing her!”
He didn’t stop.
Wouldn’t. Or perhaps couldn’t.
“What the hells is he doing?” Jaden barked in the background.
“Should I… shoot him?” Nate asked confused.
“No,” I panted, breathless.
The Demon King moved to intervene, but Malakai’s power shielded us, his magic blazing in defiance. The crimson threads lashed out again, driving the King back with a snarl of surprise.
The chamber shook.
“Now!” I heard someone scream in the background, but I couldn’t focus, couldn’t register all that happened, only bits and pieces.
My vision blurred at the edges, heat fading into cold. Through it all, Malakai’s arms stayed around me, tight, desperate and trembling.
Even as the strength drained from me, I smiled.
Because he wasn’t losing himself. He was fighting for me. I knew that; I trusted him.
Still, he didn’t stop.
The world throbbed in my ears, every heartbeat weaker than the last. I felt it, the fire leaving me, drained from every vein, every spark that made me who I was. My body trembled against him, weightless, hollow.
“Malakai,” I tried to speak, but my voice broke into a gasp. “I lo—”
He pressed his fingers harder into my skin, his grip hard, not ready to let go. The glow in his eyes burned fierce and tender all at once. His breath trembled against my skin as he whispered, barely audible over the chaos around us.
“I love you. I’ll always love you. If your heart stops,” he murmured, quietly, broken. “Mine will carry it.”
I didn’t understand, my head was too far gone.
“Malakai—” His name echoed, was it from my lips or merely in my mind, I wasn’t sure anymore.
Crimson light ripped through the room, painting every surface in blood and fire. Shapes danced along the walls, flames, silhouettes. Slowly my eyes adjusted, taking in what looked like hellfire.
I was dizzy, but I fought against it. Trying to stay alert, trying to not slip away as my sight slipped back and forth between darkness and my friends.
The Demon King barely raised his arm, readying to strike me down once and for all, but before he was able to, Malakai’s blood burned a path through the air and struck him, clean, unstoppable, divine in its fury.
The flames exploded on impact, the blast cracking the marble, tearing through the walls behind him, and for the first time, I saw it. Fear flooded the King’s eyes. He staggered, dark blood pouring from a gash that refused to close.
Malakai held me in his arms amid the wreckage, shaking, his teeth once again buried in my neck, his marks glowing crimson red like a God carved out of ruin. He was combining our powers, blood and fire to fight the King off.
Wielding hellfire itself.
The strength in my body was gone. My heartbeat stumbled, weak, unsteady, each breath shallower than the last.
It was too late. Darkness was crawling into my vision. I couldn’t tell where anyone was. I couldn’t find my friends. I couldn’t find him.
I heard a roar that was inhuman, felt a surge of power that didn’t belong to me.
The noise faded, the shouts, the crashing, the hiss of broken fire, all gone. Only Malakai’s voice remained, soft and breaking.
“Please stay. Live,” he murmured. His hand brushed my cheek, gentle, trembling.
Was he crying?
“I love you. I’ll give you anything, just…” He continued pleading. “Please stay with me, sweetie. I can’t handle being alone anymore.”
Then the world went completely dark.