Chapter Forty-Five
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
The tavern was every bit as busy as Aurelie remembered it, brimming with laughter and the deep hum of music echoing beneath the chatter. It’d long since been scrubbed clean from the memory of her fight, the blood where she’d slain her first demon vanished without a trace.
Yuri was stiff as they followed Severin to a table lit by the glow of a low iron chandelier, its candles dripping wax. With each step, the tavern seemed to quiet around them as more demons became aware of their presence.
“I don’t think being here is a good idea,” he warned, speaking low. Though there was little room for them, he had his wings flared wide, the feathers bristling as the eyes embedded within them scanned every resentful face.
Severin, of course, didn’t care. He smiled as he leaned back in his chair, surveying the crowd as if welcoming them into his home.
“It’s a fantastic idea,” said the wrathborn, loud enough for the whole tavern to hear. And then he stood, Aurelie’s stomach tightening as he stepped first onto his chair, then the table.
“Now, I know what you’re all thinking,” Severin began. “It was bad enough to bring in a Chantelune, but now I have the gall to bring an angel? He has no right to sit at our table, so why would I even let him walk through our doors?”
Several of the demons hissed their agreement, their murmurs building like a storm. Somewhere across the room, a tankard slammed onto wood.
“I say we burn the bastard and pluck out his feathers,” a greedborn hissed. “He doesn’t belong here!”
“Really, Lenora?” Severin’s face soured. “You should know by now that you’d have to pluck out the feathers first. Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel the pain.”
“Severin,” Aurelie hissed, panic flaring beneath her ribs.
The demon rolled his eyes, sighing. “Listen, everyone. This angel is not your enemy.” His voice had a way of filling every space, a true performer even then.
“How long have I protected you? I would never do anything to put this village in harm’s way, which is why I need you to believe me when I say that while I completely agree that this angel is a simpering, sanctimonious cur, we need him. ”
“I’m going to kill him.” Yuri’s words hissed into her mind, and Aurelie felt the beginning pulses of a blossoming headache.
“This world is about to change,” Severin continued.
“After tomorrow, none of you will have to live in fear any longer. We’re going to be free, and it’s all thanks to this white-winged fuck.
” He jerked a hand toward Yuri. “That’s what we want, isn’t it?
Not to be trapped in these woods anymore, forced to hide like vermin? ”
There was hesitation in their response, but not in their eyes. Hunger rolled off them, craving such a promise.
“Isn’t it?” Severin demanded again, met this time with a wave of agreement.
The shift was immediate. Shouted agreements echoed as demons banged on the tabletops, howling their approval as if they could already taste the world he’d promised.
“That’s what I thought.” Severin’s eyes gleamed. “Mari, drinks are on me. By the end of the night, there better not be a single sober soul in this tavern. Drink up, heathens!”
The demons cheered as mugs of ale and wine were passed among the crowd.
One made its way into Severin’s hand, and he raised it high.
Music roared to life around them, and just like that, the atmosphere of the tavern changed.
Aurelie grimaced as bodies pressed closer, all sense of personal space gone as the demons celebrated with toasts and sloshing mugs, spinning one another in wild, ungraceful dances.
A bottle of wine sat on the table, and as Severin poured each of them a glass, Aurelie took a tentative sip to steady her nerves. The wine tasted of spice with a note of honey, and it was some of the best she’d ever sampled.
Vex crept along her arm, gaze fixed on it with quiet interest. She leaned over the rim of the glass, fingers curling around it. Aurelie gave her a gentle nudge, and the vesper withdrew with a small, wistful sigh.
“How did you figure it out?” she asked Severin when she could no longer contain herself, careful to keep her words quiet as the question threaded beneath the hum of the tavern’s revelry.
The hearth nearby spat embers as it burned low, casting amber light across their table.
Shadows danced in the hollows of Severin’s face, carving him into something far older than he appeared.
The demon shifted in his seat, the legs scraping quietly against the flagstone floor. She could feel the spark of Yuri’s annoyance as Severin leaned in until his breath brushed her ear.
“Have you ever heard the stories of the Original Sins?” he asked.
She stiffened as an old wound was torn open. “I’ve met one.” Her words dripped with every ounce of the bitterness she felt. “Gluttony is the demon who killed my mother and brother.”
The vesper on her shoulder gave her wings a pitiful flutter, and Aurelie tilted her neck to press her cheek against Vex’s.
“Then you know their strength well,” Severin said, his tone apologetic as he leaned back.
“When I was younger, I was fascinated by the Originals. Few people have ever met them, but I was a new demon eager to learn more. I scavenged whatever information I could. Folktales, scrolls, lies dressed up as legends. Most of it was rubbish, but there was one story in particular that I never forgot.” He paused to swirl his wine.
The candlelight caught the surface, and for a moment it looked like he was holding a goblet full of blood.
“It taught me that demons are the spawn of the Originals. They were lonely creatures, only seven of them in the entire world, and they craved more company in their own likeness. Their blood is powerful, and when they fed it to a human, that human would change into what we now call a demon.
“That blood has since passed down, thinning over the generations,” Severin continued. “Now nearly everyone carries some trace of it, and when they yield too deeply to whatever that ancient sin is within them … that’s when their change happens.”
Yuri watched, his focus unwavering. His wings were spread like a barrier around them, and he held the wine tight, not yet drinking. From across the table, Vex gave his untouched glass a longing glance.
“These stories got me thinking,” Severin said. “If the blood of an Original is strong enough to turn humans into demons, then what might the blood of an angel do?”
He took a long sip, watching Yuri from above the rim of his glass. “You’re not the first angel I’ve used to test my theory, though yours is the first angelic blood I’ve been offered willingly. You’d be surprised what a difference that can make.”
“I’m honored,” Yuri said dryly as Severin went on as though he’d never spoken.
“Unfortunately, an angel’s blood proved far more potent than an Original’s.
I knew I was on the right track, but I needed to keep experimenting.
One day, I heard the vespers whispering about a place where dead angels went to rest. I knew it was hallowed ground, which is half the reason why I needed the two of you.
I thought maybe if I could truly find a dead angel, their blood or bones would be weakened enough to change a demon without killing them. ”
Silence stretched for a long moment before Yuri scoffed, shaking his head. “There’s something wrong with your brain to even have that thought.”
“There are many varieties of genius, Yuriel.”
Aurelie ignored their bickering, her fingers drumming against the table as she tried to make sense of all she’d just heard. “Why are the Originals so difficult to find? Only one has ever been killed.”
“One that we know of,” Severin agreed, happy to turn his attention back to her.
“But who’s to say there are only seven sins?
Only six were known until Wrath appeared, so maybe there have been others, too.
Or maybe more will still come in time, who knows.
Regardless, Originals understand the stakes.
Kill them, and every demon born of their line dies with them. It’s a blow we’d never recover from.”
“And what of bonds?” she pressed. “Do Originals make them, too?”
“I see no reason why they couldn’t. Bonding makes us stronger. A bonded Original would be a dangerous beast, indeed.”
She thought of Gluttony, her heart aching. “If they’re truly that powerful, then my brother never stood a chance, did he? No single person could ever kill an Original.”
Vex wore a deep frown as she set her hand upon Aurelie’s cheek and patted it as if to try to soothe her.
It was Yuri who spoke, his hand gentle as it settled over hers. “Your brother changed the course of this world, Aurelie. He saved you, and look where we are. Look at what you’ve helped create.”
She lowered her gaze, swallowing hard as heat stung behind her eyes. Before she could linger too long on the sorrow, Severin pushed back from the table with a flourish, the legs of his stool dragging against stone.
“That’s enough talk for one night,” he declared far too brightly. “This is meant to be a celebration.”
He stood and offered his hand with the air of a man inviting someone to dance. “Miss Chantelune, would you do me the honor of joining me for a song?”
From her shoulder, Vex squealed and gave her hands a delighted clap as nerves flared to life like butterflies in Aurelie’s stomach.
“A song?” she echoed.
“You are a performer, aren’t you? We’re surrounded by mediocrity.” Severin nodded toward the stage where Melisandre played, her gaze flitting toward them with thinly veiled irritation. “What do you say we show these demons how it’s done?”
Light, when had she last played simply for the joy of it?
Was this what life could be, once the cure was widespread?
Was this how she might spend her days if she wasn’t worrying for the safety of those she loved?
If she needn’t spend every waking moment training to protect Rhovar from monsters that would no longer exist?
Her hands tingled, fingertips aching with the ghost of a melody. She could almost see it—herself on an unfamiliar stage in one city after the other, weaving stories into song the way her mother once had. The way she had always longed to do.
She turned to Yuri, pulse racing. “Will you be all right here alone?”
The angel only smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve always wanted to hear you play.”
It was decided, then.
“Let’s do it,” she told Severin, the decision cracking open something raw and gleaming within her.
It didn’t matter that the tavern was filled with demons. It didn’t matter that her partner was the very creature she’d trained to kill.
This night was the start of a new life. One where she could be more than just a knight concerned for her people. One where she could let herself fall in love, no longer afraid that demons would take everything from her.
One where, finally, she could play her music.
Aurelie finished her wine in three quick gulps to steady the racing of her heart. Then she helped Vex off her shoulder and reached for Severin’s waiting hand.
His smile was as bright as starlight as his fingers curled around hers.
“Very good, songbird. Let’s give them a show.”