Chapter Seventeen
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Aurelie longed for her sword as they descended a creaking wooden staircase into the tavern’s cellar. She followed after Severin, wedged between him and Lute, whose shadows swathed her every step. The demon’s eyes, two catlike slits of red, locked onto Aurelie.
“Like what you see, little knightling?” she taunted.
Aurelie met her gaze, lips curling into something just shy of a smirk. “Call me whatever you’d like, so long as you remember that this ‘little knightling’ bested you in battle.”
The base of the demon’s tail twitched, and for a brief moment her haughtiness reminded Aurelie vaguely of Solange. There was a second where she thought the demon might attack. Her pulse quickened as a low, warning rumble came from Severin.
“Lay a finger on the girl, and I’ll rip off the rest of your tail, Lute,” Severin warned, the ice in his voice turning the room cold. “We need her.”
Lute bared her fangs but didn’t argue, her tufted ears flattening against her skull. Severin didn’t spare her another glance as he ducked beneath a low beam, slipping between stacks of barrels with practiced ease.
“Mind your step,” he called back. “If any of these barrels go down, so do you.”
Aurelie wove through them carefully, coughing as dust swirled in golden shafts of light filtering through the floorboards above.
The cellar was cavernous, its high ceilings supported by thick wooden beams. Rows of wine barrels lined the walls, surrounding a small workspace.
She slowed, taking it in. A small table near the far wall cluttered with vials of faintly glowing liquid.
Leather-bound books left open to cryptic pages of scrawled notes.
An oil lamp that flickered beside a half-empty goblet of wine, casting long shadows across the walls.
Aurelie’s throat tightened. She couldn’t tell whether it was Lute at her back, Severin before her, or the weight of the place itself that made her so uneasy.
Severin moved to a set of shelves, pulling open a wooden alchemist’s chest. He sorted through its contents before producing a small vial of amber liquid, holding it with a reverence that set Aurelie on edge.
“This is it,” he said, and she was crossing the room before she realized it, eyes locked on the vial. The liquid inside was thick, shimmering in the dim light. When she reached for it, Severin pulled it away, a smirk playing at his lips. “Ah, ah. A little trust, if you please.”
“How do I know this does what you claim?” she challenged, holding his stare. “You’re a demon. Why should I believe this is anything more than snake oil?”
It wasn’t until she was standing before him that she remembered just how large Severin was, his very presence suffocating. He was built like a predator, with broad shoulders and a chest that tapered into a lean, coiled frame that seemed ready to spring at any moment.
The flickering light carved shadows over his features, highlighting the cruel angles of his jaw and the curve of his lips. Not for the first time, she wondered exactly what type of demon he was. A lustborn, perhaps? He certainly had the look.
“You don’t have to believe me,” he answered smoothly. “Sit, and I’ll show you.”
He motioned to the barrels behind her. Lute was already perched atop one, legs folded and looking entirely too comfortable.
Aurelie hesitated, then took her own seat several barrels down.
Severin was undoing the cap on the vial with great care, but before he could bring it to his lips, Aurelie called out to stop him.
“Not you,” she said sharply, mindful that he could change form and instead nodding to Lute. “Give it to her.”
“Me?” Lute’s ears flattened. “I don’t want to drink that shit.”
Severin sighed. “You’ll be fine. Make haste so we can be done with this.”
With a dramatic sigh, Lute unfolded her legs and slid off the barrel. Her boots hit the stone floor with a thud, and she stalked toward Severin with a look that could curdle milk.
“You owe me for this,” she grumbled, snatching the vial from his hand. Her claws scraped across the glass. Then, with a huff, she tipped the amber liquid back and downed it in a single sip.
At first, nothing happened. Aurelie stared, her eyes darkening, before she heard Severin’s quiet voice across the cellar. “Be patient, it’ll work.”
All at once, Lute gasped and fell to the floor.
Her spine arched, fingers clawing against the stone as her body twisted in ways that shouldn’t have been possible.
Aurelie barely stopped herself from recoiling as Lute’s deep blue skin faded, streaks of warm tan bleeding through like ink dissolving in water.
Her ears softened, rounding. Her claws retracted.
For a moment, she looked almost … human.
Aurelie leaned forward despite herself, breath shallow.
Severin had been telling the truth. With this, they could finally change not just Rhovar, but the entire world.
Hybrids would never be relevant enough to matter; they could beat the demons not by killing them but by healing them.
She could save her father, and Azriel. She could—
Lute’s transformation stopped abruptly.
Her body seized, then wrenched upright with a violent jerk.
The claws that had begun to retract reemerged with a vengeance, dark blood oozing from her nail beds.
She dug them into the edge of the nearest barrel to steady herself, breaths ragged.
Gone was her natural tan as patches of blue seeped back into her skin like ink spilled over parchment, her ears lengthening to their original sharpened points.
As quickly as she had changed, her body had once again returned to its demon state.
Lute blinked, her crimson eyes narrowing as they found Aurelie’s from across the room. She was breathing hard, a sheen to her skin.
“Happy now?” the demon spat, her voice raw with the strain of whatever she’d just endured.
Aurelie stared at her, numb. “What just happened?”
“That’s what I’m unsure of.” Severin pushed off the barrel he’d been leaning against. “No matter how far the reversion goes, something always forces it back. We’re close, but something is missing. Some key piece to make the transformation stick.”
Aurelie wouldn’t have believed him had she not seen it herself. Her pulse quickened, thoughts racing as she looked between Severin and Lute. “We have to show the king. If he saw that this was possible—”
“He’d see a half-finished experiment from a demon and assume it’s a trap,” Severin interrupted. “If I go to the king now, I’ll never be able to finalize the cure.”
Aurelie gritted her teeth, her pulse hammering against the weight of restraint. Every part of her screamed to seize the cure, to run, to make for Rhovar before the last flicker of hope burned out. Instead, she forced her shoulders back, lifted her chin, and said, “Tell me what you need me to do.”
Severin shut the alchemist’s chest with a click. “First, you bond with me. Here and now, no more waiting. If you’re to remain in my village, I need to ensure my people remain safe. I also need to ensure that you are kept alive. Otherwise, part two of this plan falls apart before it even begins.”
“And what, pray tell, is part two? You said that you needed my help, but why me?”
“I suspect I know what the missing ingredient is.” Severin’s eyes gleamed in the lamplight as he stepped forward until the space between them all but disappeared. “Unfortunately, it’s on hallowed ground. No one I know is able to reach it, and loath as I am to admit it, we may need an angel’s help.”
That’s why he wants me here? For access to Yuri?
Aurelie clenched her jaw. “What’s the ingredient?”
His hooked his finger beneath her chin, tipping her gaze up. “If you want to know more, I’ll need your decision. We’ll drop the glamours on Veritas so your angel can find us. But before I let him in, I need to know if we have a deal.”
She forced herself to breathe steadily, though her pulse roared in her ears. She thought of her mother, blood blooming across her chest. Her brother, felled by one of the Original Sins. The screams that echoed through Rhovar, fire burning through every home.
Was there a world in which this war could finally end without any more bodies burning upon the pyres? One where she no longer had to fear losing everyone she’d ever loved? If such a world was possible, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to reach it.
“I’ll do it,” she whispered, meeting his eyes. “I agree to the bond.”
She held out her hand, palm facing him. Expecting Severin to draw his blade, she braced herself for the sting of steel. Instead, he stepped forward and pressed her against the wall with the weight of his body, his knee settled between her thighs as he braced her.
Heat bloomed where he touched her. He was still shirtless, and everywhere their skin met, her body sparked like flint to tinder.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Anger caught in her throat as his mouth hovered just above hers, his breath hot against her lips.
“This is how it’s done.” Severin’s voice was like velvet and his eyes like simmering coals as they drank her in. “Is this not how you bonded with your angel?”
“We bonded with our blood,” she snapped, despising the heat curling low in her belly. “We cut our palms and shared our blood while the archbishop bound us.”
Severin laughed, dipping his chin closer. “How barbaric. I’m not giving you my blood, knightling. You wouldn’t like it.”
Her body truly was a traitorous thing, for she wasn’t nearly so eager to be rid of him as she was curious. There was a challenge in Severin’s eyes, daring her to back down, and it only made Aurelie stand taller, never once breaking his gaze.
“Do whatever you must,” she said, unwavering. “It means nothing.”
“Very well.” He flashed the barest hint of a smile before seizing her by the hips and crushing his lips against hers.
Her first instinct was to shove him away—to draw her dagger and ram it straight into his throat.
And yet, it was as if lightning flared from her toes to her very soul, freezing her in place.
Heat roared through her veins, wild and immediate, blurring the edges of thought.
She hated how quickly the world narrowed to his mouth on hers, the heat of him pressed so tightly against her she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began.
Severin’s lips were warm and softer than she expected, though the way he kissed her was unapologetic and commanding, as if he had every right to do so.
As if he’d been waiting all his life for this moment.
And when she gasped—Light help her, when she gasped—he took it as an invitation to deepen the kiss, his tongue slipping between her lips, brushing against hers with slow, deliberate strokes.
A shudder ran through her, and laughter rumbled in his chest as his hands framed her face. His touch was firm, calloused fingers cradling her as though she might otherwise flee. And maybe she would have if not for the way he angled himself against her, his knee pressing firmer against her thigh.
Severin bit her lower lip, and the heat in her veins ignited.
She was horrified to find that her initial revulsion was beginning to slip, drowned beneath a pleasure unlike anything she’d ever felt.
It was infuriating, the way his kiss made her thoughts splinter, unraveling her so completely.
Her hands fisted strands of his hair, half to pull him closer, half to push him away—
A sharp, deliberate clearing of the throat broke through the haze.
Aurelie tore herself free, stepping back so fast she nearly tripped.
The room spun faster, brighter. Lute was watching with an arched brow, arms crossed over her chest and looking thoroughly annoyed.
By the force of that throat clearing, Aurelie guessed this was not the first time she’d tried to get their attention.
Severin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his grin wolfish. “Well, that should do it.”
Aurelie could still feel the heat of his gaze, the ghost of his touch burning on her lips like an ember refusing to die. Her breath was uneven as she whirled on him, her palm striking his chest with enough force to echo through her own ribs.
“What was that?” she demanded, ignoring the way her voice came out thinner than she liked. The impact rippled back at her like a shock wave, a force slamming into her chest with the same sharpness she’d given him. She gasped, stumbling.
Was that … a bond?
“You gave me your permission.” Severin rubbed the spot where she’d struck him, making a face. “This feels fucking awful.”
“It’ll settle,” Aurelie said with a frown, feeling immediate relief now that the bond had taken hold, no longer queasy in the demon’s presence.
Curiously, the bond itself wasn’t hitting her nearly as hard as the one with Yuri had, and she wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“So all you have to do to bond with someone is kiss them?”
“A bond doesn’t happen automatically,” Severin answered, still adjusting.
“Both parties must be willing, but yes. Part of my essence must transfer into you, and yours into me. Blood works, spit works, other bodily fluids work, too, though I figured it was a bit abrupt for that … As much as they hate to bleed, I’m not surprised the angels never told you any of this. Celibate bastards.”
Aurelie felt her face burn, her teeth clenching so tight her jaw ached. “And what of vomit? Because I think I just threw up in my mouth.”
“Liar.” Severin’s gaze slid over her with lazy satisfaction. “I can feel you, you know. You’re positively burning from that kiss.”
Aurelie went rigid. She could feel his amusement curling through her like a tendril of smoke, smooth and insufferable. She willed herself to stay cold, forcing her emotions into an iron vault. “What folly.”
Severin’s laughter was rich with delight. “Oh, knightling,” he purred, stepping close just to watch her bristle. “You and I are going to have so much fun.”