Chapter Thirty
CHAPTER
THIRTY
Severin heard the demons before he saw them.
Even through the rain he knew what to search for. The subtle scrape of boots against wet earth, the faint rustling of cloaks shifting in the underbrush. The low, almost imperceptible hum of their movements, betraying their presence before they revealed themselves.
He counted at least ten other demons trying to use the rain as their shroud.
Amateurs.
Severin slid soundlessly through the trees, steps light over the softened earth. The demons hadn’t caught on to him yet; they still believed themselves the hunters even while he stalked them, keeping low and allowing the rain to blur his presence.
He almost didn’t notice a new pair of footsteps from behind him until it was too late.
Severin spun fast, claws unsheathed as he lunged toward the attacker. He swiped as if to tear through their throat before stopping a hair’s breadth from their skin as he met pale eyes beneath soaked white hair.
Yuri.
Severin growled, not dropping his hand right away. “I thought I told you to stay with Aurelie.”
The rotten angel didn’t flinch. “And I told you I’m not letting you get us all killed.” He pushed Severin’s hand aside. “Vex is going to stay with her.”
“Ah yes, send the hummingbird. I’m sure Aurelie will be well-protected.”
“She will be, because you and I are going to take care of them before they become an issue.” He looked down at Severin’s claws expectantly, and the demon tensed.
Fighting side by side with Yuri. Hell’s teeth, he would have rather swallowed glass.
“Fine,” he relented, only because it was a better option to being killed by Kieran’s horde. “But I’m in charge. Stay behind me, and keep quiet.”
Yuri set his fist to his chest. “Captain.”
Eyes rolling, Severin resumed his hunt.
Kieran’s favorite lapdog, Velestra, was leading the horde. The envyborn’s bright yellow skin gleamed slick from the rain. Horns like polished stone curled from her temples, her red eyes slitted and eager.
He crouched behind a twisted yew, watching the way she flicked her tail in anticipation, too pleased with herself to notice she and her crew were being stalked.
“Stay here,” he warned the bird. “They’ll smell your stench if you get too close.”
Yuri said nothing as he positioned himself among the trees, a bow of gilded light materializing in his hand.
Severin watched, chest constricting, as the angel squinted one eye shut and took aim.
He forced himself to turn away and draw the lute from where it hung on his back, then slipped out toward the horde.
“Well,” Severin announced, voice smooth, “I see you’ve saved me the trouble of finding you myself.”
Velestra froze. The snap of tension in the air was immediate, and her poised smile faltered as she spun to face him. The other demons, too, shuffled back in surprise.
Though Velestra forced a smile back to her lips, it looked more like a grimace now. Her nails dug into her palms as she curled her fists, tail lashing in annoyance.
“Severin,” she purred. “What a surprise.”
He strode toward her, smile never wavering. “Is it? Because it looks an awful lot like you were hunting me. And doing a piss-poor job at it, might I add.”
“Radian was sent to speak with you.” Her voice dripped honey, but her eyes were all venom. “Strangely, he never returned.”
“Perhaps he grew bored of your lot. You know how prideborn can be.”
“I might have considered it a possibility, had his bonded not burned to ash before my eyes.”
Severin held back his grimace, hoping Yuri didn’t hear that part.
“I know you did something to him.” The others had begun to close in around Velestra, hands lingering toward their weapons. Most were prideborn, holding themselves with an air of arrogance. The others were envyborn in a variety of unique skin tones.
Severin rolled his shoulders, just enough to let the tension slip down his back.
“Why have you come here?” he demanded. “Kieran knows I don’t take kindly to threats.”
“The forest has been buzzing with a rumor. A curious little whisper that you’ve taken a bonded with pretty white hair. I thought I might like to see her for myself.”
“And who told you that, the vespers?” His eyes lifted to where several of them hid in the trees. It was lucky that the little shits enjoyed chaos so much. Otherwise, they’d likely have given Yuri away by now. “Not the most reliable source, are they?”
“No?” Her voice turned coy. “Because it seems to me like you’re hiding something.”
His finger brushed across the wood of his lute, keeping it tucked away as best he could from the rain. “Just my gag reflex. You have that effect on me.”
“You think this is funny?” Velestra’s purr dropped into something venomous. “You kill Radian. You refuse our request for aid and spit in Kieran’s face. And now there are rumors that you’re bonded with a Chantelune. Whose side are you on, Severin?”
He smiled at her, wide and sharp as broken glass. “My own.”
And then he raised the lute to let loose a piercing, discordant note.
Or, rather, he tried to.
Unfortunately, the sound that came out cracked sideways, wet and warped from the waterlogged wood.
“Ah, fuck,” he hissed seconds before the magic stuttered in his chest. Pain lanced through his ribs, sharp and halting, as his own song turned inward and struck him clean in the gut. Severin’s vision swam. He staggered, clutching his chest as he fell to his knees.
Velestra’s laughter struck like ice in his veins. “Don’t worry. Every musician has a bad day.”
Severin gritted his teeth as magic thrummed from her body, the ground beneath him beginning to tremble just as silver glinted through the trees.
An arrow struck the nearest prideborn clean through the chest. The moment it hit, silver light exploded from the wound. The demon shrieked, the sound short and wet before he collapsed and Glory seized hold.
Every demon stilled, their bodies stiff as they looked toward the trees.
Out of the darkness, Yuri stepped forward.
White hair was plastered to his brow as rain ran down his cheeks, but somehow his aim was as true as ever. The gold of his bow burned in his hands, and the next arrow was already drawn.
“I guess you needed me after all,” he mused, smile smug while Severin fantasized about slitting the bastard’s throat once this was all over.
Yuri loosed the second arrow before the demons could react. Another prideborn fell, consumed by Glory.
Velestra’s snarl broke through the chaos like thunder.
“An angel?” she spat, her voice sharper than any blade. “You fight beside an angel?”
“Believe me,” Severin sighed, “I hate him even more than you do.” Wings exploded from his back with a wet crack, and he hurtled into the air just as the ground beneath him shattered with Velestra’s magic.
He dodged as a column of jagged stone slammed upward, nearly skewering him.
The stone scraped across his side, leaving a deep gash as he fell back.
Hissing through his teeth, he tossed his lute aside and fumbled instead for the flute.
The second it touched his lips, Severin let the music pour.
The song was a fast series of notes sharp enough to split bone. The envyborn he targeted staggered back with a shriek, clawing at her own skull as the song tore through her mind. Blood gushed from her nose. Another step, and she collapsed, twitching in the mud.
Severin didn’t stop.
He pivoted midair, adjusting his focus to Velestra. She reeled, teeth bared as blood trickled from her ears.
Yuri moved with precision, loosing arrow after arrow and felling one demon after the next.
“Two on your left!” he called, nocking another shot.
Severin banked to the side, but it was too late for escape. A prideborn’s claws shredded down the length of his wing, and he landed hard on one knee as his balance stuttered, snarling in pain.
The prideborn landed beside him with a heavy thud. His claws glinted, but before he could strike, a streak of silver cleaved through the air and buried itself in the demon’s chest.
Yuri stood behind the demon as he fell, every inch of his smile grating on Severin’s nerves. “You’re welcome.”
Severin shot him a sharp look. “Don’t be smug.”
“Given how confident you were about this, I’d say my smugness is warran—”
He was cut off as vines surged from the soil, snaring around his ankles. The angel readied his bow, but Velestra was quick to wrench him backward. His head struck the ground with a sickening crack.
“Yuri!” Severin dove, but another vine lashed out at him, thorns tearing across his leg. He veered lower, spinning another song from his flute.
The envyborn staggered at its beckoning. Blood continued to leak from Velestra’s ear, but she smiled through it.
“I’ve had enough of your tricks,” she hissed. A new tangle of thorns snapped upward from the ground, and Severin jolted back as they stretched around Yuri, caging him. His body twisted against the grip of the ivy, but his eyes locked onto Severin.
For a breath, neither moved.
Rain carved lines through the angel’s bloodied face. His bow was gone, his limbs pinned. The vines coiled tighter as more shadows stirred, the rest of Kieran’s horde closing in.
There were too many of them for Severin to fight alone.
He hovered just above the mess of vines, chest heaving and blood slicking his side. Not once did his eyes leave Yuri’s, and a silent understanding passed between them.
They weren’t getting out of this together.
“Go,” Yuri ground out. “Get to her. But don’t you dare leave me with these bastards, Severin.”
“And you’d better not die on me,” Severin snarled, words he’d never imagined he’d say.
The vines snapped upward just as his wings beat down, and he shot into the sky before the horde could catch up, gritting through the pain of his injured wing as he took off into the trees.
Somewhere on the ground below, Yuri cried out as the vines wrenched him upright, squeezing around his throat like a collar.
Severin didn’t look back. The only thought in his mind was that he had to get to Aurelie.
He only hoped he wasn’t too late.