Chapter Twenty-Three
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Aurelie had always imagined that her first kill would happen on the battlefield.
She imagined there would be smoke in her eyes and steel clashing as her loved ones fought for their lives. In her mind, she’d always been protecting them. One less demon could mean one more human spared. It could mean the difference of life and death for everyone she cared for.
What Aurelie had not imagined was that her first kill would also spill human blood.
Her dreams showed her the scene on repeat, worsening it each time.
She saw the demon fall. Saw a human tumble to the floor beside him, writhing.
Aurelie knew from the demon’s eyes that he was bonded. She’d meant to maim him, not kill him. She hadn’t even stabbed the wretched creature.
“You need to wake up.” In her dream, the human twisted his head to look at her, eyes hollow and lifeless.
“Blasted girl,” someone said again, the voice deeper. Grittier. Suddenly, Aurelie’s arm was aching. “Wake up.”
Her breath caught as her eyes slammed open. The room tilted into focus—stone walls, faint light, the rustle of wind through broken shutters. Her skin was clammy and her chest tight, as though the dream still clung to her lungs.
Severin leaned against the door, pinching his arm, and Aurelie realized the pinpricks of discomfort mirrored along her skin were what had awoken her.
The demon had decided to put on a shirt today.
He wore a simple white tunic, the collar undone to reveal a deep slice of his chest and the faint curve of his collarbone.
The fabric hung loosely, draped over his broad shoulders and falling casually against his frame.
His dark hair was loose, and he’d been flaunting his horns since they’d left Rhovar—so solidly black it felt like staring into a void, with etched grooves that reminded Aurelie of the rings of an ancient oak tree.
Severin didn’t look like a man who’d just awakened, but one who’d been up for hours, meticulously bathing and grooming himself. His brown skin gleamed beneath the collar of his tunic, oiled and scented with something unfamiliar—amber, maybe, or myrrh.
Damn lustborn. It was blasphemous that such good looks were wasted on a demon. She should have known Severin’s beauty was inhuman from the moment she saw him.
“I’m injured,” she grumbled. “Leave me alone.”
“You’re bonded to both an angel and a demon. I imagine you heal quickly.” He tossed her a fresh pair of pants and a tunic. “Get up. It’s time that you understood my magic.”
She blinked, clutching the clothes to her chest.
“You’re going to teach me?”
“I don’t need to, you already know how to use it.” He tossed her a glance over his shoulder. “It’s how you killed Claude.”
Aurelie stilled, thinking of the sharp pop she’d felt in her chest. The magic that had caused so many knights to cry out in pain. Surely she’d know if she’d used that.
It took her longer than she expected to dress, her muscles stiff and the stitches aching. Still, she was faring better than she ought to given that she’d been brutally stabbed and then sewn back together. Severin must have been right about the healing.
The world was gray when she joined him outside. The demon was waiting for her at the gate, a thick line of trees shrouded in fog looming behind him. Aurelie watched it roll in, focusing on the direction it moved from—west. The way to the ocean was to the west, beyond those trees.
It wasn’t much, but she tucked the knowledge carefully away.
“It seems you have quite the affinity for my magic,” Severin noted coolly. “With some instruction, you’ll be able to better protect yourself. And, ideally, you won’t accidentally kill any more of my horde.”
“I can protect myself just fine.” She squinted her eyes at the sunlight reflecting off his horns, making them gleam like obsidian.
“You may know how to wield a blade, but now you have access to power far more lethal. You’ll want to know how to use it.”
The farther they walked, the more the buildings began to thin as they approached a large stretch of land with rows of grapevines that cascaded along sloping hills. They climbed upward upon trellises, stretching toward the sun.
“Is that the vineyard?”
“It is.” Severin’s eyes gleamed as he looked upon it, and Aurelie felt his swelling pride as though it were her own.
Dozens of demons prowled the land, offering quick greetings to Severin as they performed their tasks with meticulous care. Some stooped to mulch the soil around the roots, while others reinforced the trellises with fresh bindings in preparation for the winter.
“I didn’t imagine demons would be the working type,” she admitted, unable to cease staring.
Severin gave an amused hum. “That’s because you humans only ever think of us as monsters.”
True enough.
Aurelie breathed deeply, settled by the scent of earth as she looked out over the vineyard.
The murmur of conversation and the rhythmic rustling of vines made the scene feel almost peaceful.
She stilled, however, when she saw that one of the workers kneeling in the soil was human.
Their head lifted as if they could feel her watching, nerves turning their eyes wide.
“Just how many humans are here?” she asked, the words stony. “How many have you taken from us?”
He stopped mid-stride, turning to stare at her plainly. Then, to her astonishment, the demon bellowed a laugh that echoed across the vineyard.
“You think we took them? Shit, I’d toss them all out of here if the others would let me. Humans throw off my whole system.”
“You mean they came here on their own?” She glanced again at the human in the vineyard, her focus sharpening. The girl’s head remained lowered, deliberately avoiding Aurelie’s stare.
“People like power, Badger. They like magic.”
“And what about you?” She kept her tone carefully measured. “Have you ever been bonded before?”
He led her past the vineyard, having taken to masking his wings again.
Light, it was terrifying to see just how easily he could blend in with her world.
Demons like him were supposed to have a tell, something that couldn’t be made perfect even when they tried to blend in.
Yet no matter how much she searched, Aurelie couldn’t find anything that gave him away.
“No,” he said. “There’s never been anyone worth tying my life to.”
She let Severin guide her into a clearing, where she sat upon the stump of a long-felled oak tree.
“I want you to know that Claude wasn’t a bad guy,” Severin said, and she looked to him in surprise.
“We weren’t friends, but he worked at the vineyard and was a hard worker.
The woman I killed was his wife, and while it might be difficult for you to imagine, he treated her like a princess.
He’d have to, given that she put up with his ugly ass. ”
Her stomach twisted, unsettled. “Why are you telling me this?”
He crouched before her, taking hold of her hand and holding tight when she reflexively tried to jerk back. “If you’re going to kill someone, you damn well better know whose life you’re taking.”
She ached to think of the demon this way. To look down at the blood beneath her nails and know that she’d taken his life. She’d never thought of demons as anything other than monsters. Never thought that they could love, or have a family.
“There’s no escaping your decision,” he said, “and I can’t blame you for making it. It was your life or his, and I vastly prefer that you keep yours. But if you’re going to make the decision to kill, the least you can do is honor the lives you take by facing them head-on.”
He was right. She knew he was.
“I never imagined I would kill a human,” she admitted. “It’s why I spared Lute.”
“Yesterday, you stripped away all pieces of Lute’s identity.
You referred to her as ‘it.’” His words were cold.
“Our lives hold value, too, Aurelie. There are several reasons why I wanted to bring you to Veritas, but among them, I wanted you to see our village with your own eyes. It was foolish of me to risk the lives of my people, but I thought that if you came and met them yourself, then maybe you’d realize we’re not all bad. That maybe we’re worth saving, too.”
It was true that demons were not as she’d imagined.
Never had she envisioned them jesting with one another, or breaking bread over music and drink.
And yet she couldn’t bring herself to let go of her hatred.
The memory of her mother’s final moments haunted her, and the fury born of her brother’s death burned too deep to forgive.
“Tell me about the cure,” she said, leaning back and wincing as her stitches pulled. “Will you take it, too?”
“I enjoy being a demon.” The longer he spoke, the wearier his expression became. “But I’m tired of watching everyone I’ve ever cared for die simply for being what they are. The cure will fix more than the problem of the hybrids—it will save my kind from yours.”
Aurelie stiffened, more unsettled than she’d ever admit. The pieces may have looked different, but their objective was the same. All they wanted was for their homes to be safe.
“If a demon attacks me, I will choose my life over theirs every time,” Aurelie began. “But I’ll try not to hurt any of the others. At least while I’m here.”
“Good.” Severin rose to his feet. “Then I’ll teach you my magic.”
Aurelie tensed as he slipped behind her, settling a large hand on her shoulder as his chest pressed against her back.
She shivered. “What are you doing?”
“The closer the bonded, the stronger the power. Now shut your eyes. Preferably your mouth, too.”
She stole a glance around the forest. She didn’t feel anyone else nearby, but this was a demon village. Who was to say what could be lurking in the shadows.
She squinted her eyes halfway shut.
“All the way, Aurelie.”
She sighed and pressed them closed, tense as his fingers curled against her skin.
“Good. Now I want you to tell me what you hear.”
“What I hear?”
“Are you going to be this difficult the entire time?”