Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Yuri was halfway up the steps to Aurelie’s chambers when Rhovar’s warning bell tolled. The portraits lining the wall trembled as a powerful peal shook the stones, the sound like rolling thunder.
“Another demon has been spotted inside the walls!” a knight bellowed, his cry chased by the pounding of several dozen boots.
Yuri didn’t hesitate. His wings flared wide, the eyes embedded within them blinking open.
He vaulted down the stairs, boots slamming against stone as he picked up speed.
Knights joined him at each turn, some still strapping on breastplates or hastily buckling weapons.
Their faces were drawn, fear straining every expression.
He knew what they were thinking. Another attack? Already? What are the demons planning? But Yuri’s mind was elsewhere.
Aurelie.
His panic bloomed. Was she safe? The bond pulsed, tugging at him like a current beneath the surface. There was no time to go to her; he had to trust that she could hold her own until they were reunited.
“Get the townsfolk to safety,” he ordered the others. “I’ll take the skies.”
Yuri took flight the second he broke into the open air, wings cutting through the wind as he scanned the landscape. Just beyond the castle walls, he saw it—a massive demon, black wings slicing through the sky.
Yuri summoned his bow, the weapon forming in his grip with a hum of light, and suddenly the wind fell away. The chaos behind him dulled to a hush. Yuri’s mind, so often crowded with doubt and noise, went perfectly quiet as it narrowed onto a singular focus.
Eliminate the sin.
His breathing slowed, focus sharpening as he readied an arrow that pulsed white with Glory. Squinting one eye shut, he took aim at the middle of the demon’s back.
The demon’s head swiveled, just enough for Yuri to catch a flash of surprise, followed by a stare so vicious it sent ice down his spine.
The angel was no stranger to the loathing of demons, yet something about the way this one’s eyes fixed upon him turned his skin cold.
What stared back wasn’t just fury, but ancient, coiled hatred.
He shoved aside his unease, but just as he prepared to release the arrow, darkness ensnared him.
Tendrils of shadow coiled around his ankle, ripping him down.
He hit the ground hard, twisting to search for the source of the attack.
A second demon stood near the tree line.
Her body was masked by umbra, only her slitted red eyes visible from the gloom.
Yuri wrenched his leg free and snapped his bow up, adjusting his aim toward the beast.
His arrow flew true, striking the dead center of where she should have stood. Instead, it buried itself in the bark of a tree as the demon melted into shadows. If he squinted, Yuri could vaguely make out the small, wingless shape of her body.
The knights had begun to rally, their weapons drawn, but the shadows were relentless, slithering outward like a living tide. Darkness devoured the ground, blotting out stone and grass alike, a creeping abyss that threatened to swallow everything in its path.
Yuri cursed under his breath, taking flight once more. The demon wasn’t retreating; she was trying to mask her companion.
“There’s a second demon in the shadows!” he shouted. “Aim for it!”
The winged demon snarled as more than a dozen bows took aim at his companion, though it wasn’t the knights he lunged for. His gaze ripped upward, and Yuri’s stomach dropped when he saw Aurelie standing on a balcony, skin flushed and her chest heaving as she drew her bow.
She loosed her first arrow, though the wind worked against her. The demon twisted, slipping past it with ease. His attention was locked on her.
Though Yuri saw it coming, the demon moved faster. He shot through the air and snatched Aurelie by the hair, wrenching her back. One arm coiled around her waist, locking her against him as his wings billowed wide.
Yuri’s breath left him. He’d been in the mortal realm for a single day, and already he was going to die.
The demon’s grin spread wide and victorious as he slid behind her.
Every muscle tensed as his eyes dragged across the battlefield and locked onto the angel.
They narrowed, simmering with hatred. He leaned down, speaking into Aurelie’s ear.
Yuri couldn’t hear what he said, but he saw the effect—Aurelie’s spine went rigid, her hands curling into fists.
Then the battlefield fell silent.
Yuri strained to catch even a trace of sound, but there was nothing—not the rustle of armor nor the scrape of weapons, nor even the soft hiss of his own breathing.
Silence pressed in, suffocating. Yuri searched the battlefield for something to break the stillness, and when his eyes settled on the second demon, screams erupted from the knights beside him.
They shattered the silence with their cries, several clutching at their throats while others crumpled where they stood, blood leaking between trembling fingers they pressed to their ears.
Yuri’s grip on his bow tightened.
Aurelie’s eyes were wild as she gripped the demon’s arm, trying to shove away his hold. Yuri watched helplessly as the demon leaned closer, his dark wings stretching behind him like the shadow of death itself as he prepared to take flight.
Yuri raised his bow, an arrow already drawn and glowing. He couldn’t risk hitting his bonded, and his muscles screamed with tension as he waited for the briefest opening.
Before he could act, the demon pulled Aurelie closer. And with a single step, he propelled himself off the balcony, dragging her with him.
Aurelie’s scream knifed through the air. Wind whipped violently around them, her hair a wild halo of white. Yuri dove after them, but the darkness from the second demon still clung to the battlefield, stretching out to consume her companion and Aurelie alongside him.
Yuri’s attention snapped to the demon hidden amid the gloom. If he could take her down, the winged bastard holding Aurelie would be left exposed.
I’m coming, Aurelie, he promised, taking aim.
But Yuri wasn’t the only one with a clear shot.
Behind him, Solange Beaumont staggered to her feet, breath ragged, blood streaking from her ears. Her face twisted with pain as she lifted her bow, hands trembling as she nocked an arrow. Yuri loosed his shot a heartbeat before hers.
Neither arrow reached its mark.
Solange’s arrow clipped his mid-flight, splintering it into shards of light and sending it spinning off course.
Fury burned hot in Yuri’s chest as the shadowed demon scurried to safety. “What are you doing?” he snarled, whirling on Solange. “Are you trying to get us all killed?”
Solange paled. “I—I didn’t mean—”
Yuri didn’t wait for her to finish. He turned away, unwilling to waste another second. The failure had already cost them.
Ahead, the winged demon smirked. His hand curled around Aurelie’s waist, taunting Yuri. Then, with a sharp squeeze that made her gasp, he carried her into the darkness.
Aurelie’s fear surged through the bond, sharp and searing.
But they hadn’t killed her.
Frustration roared through Yuri. He raked his hands through his hair, spinning to face the knights. “Get the injured to the infirmary. I’m going after her.”
Marcel stepped forward, one of the few not bleeding from the demon’s strike. “Solange and I can go with you.”
“Solange just cost me the kill.” Yuri’s gaze shifted to the woman, who flinched beneath the weight of his scrutiny. “You both are staying here.”
Marcel’s grip squeezed around his sword hilt, and while his feelings about the situation were plain enough, Yuri had no interest in them.
He reached back, plucking a single white feather from his wing and handing it to Marcel.
“Keep this with you at all times. If anything happens and you need me, burn it.”
Marcel took the feather almost reverently. “I promised her brother I’d watch over her,” he said, no louder than a breath. His eyes lifted, steady and pleading, as he tucked the feather into the inner pocket of his coat. “You have to bring her back.”
“Don’t worry.” Yuri spread his wings to their full expanse. “I intend to.”