Chapter Fifty-Five
CHAPTER
FIFTY-FIVE
Yuri came to slowly.
At first, there was only scent—damp stone and metal, old wine soured by something acidic. His limbs were heavy, as though hollowed and filled with sand. Cold curled into the space between his bones, coaxing a shiver from deep in his chest.
He blinked once. Twice. Still, the world remained a blur of smeared shadows and crooked shapes.
When he groaned and tried to sit up, the sound scraped raw in his throat like he’d swallowed gravel.
His mouth tasted of iron, and it took several long minutes to recognize that the stone beneath him was wet and sticky.
Yuri jerked his hands away only for pain to flare in his ribs.
He tried to stretch his cramping wings, but grimaced upon discovering they were tightly bound.
His memory returned in fragments—finding the hidden passage, reaching the cellar, discovering the truth of what these demons were up to.
And then, Lute.
Yuri pushed himself upright, blinking hard to clear the haze. A second later, he wished he hadn’t.
Gareth’s body lay crumpled a few paces away, the blood from his slit neck the reason for the wetness beneath Yuri. The hybrid’s limbs were sprawled like a discarded doll, neck bent and sinewy wings hanging limp. His skin was ashen, the blood staining his clothes half-dried.
He’d been dead for some time.
How long have I been out?
The angel winced as he tested his bindings, struggling to free himself.
A sharp hiss snapped his attention to the left.
“Careful,” came a voice, small and tinny. “I tried to get away, too. It made the ropes tighter.”
Vex was curled by a barrel, her wrists bound behind her back with string. Her legs were tied, too, yet her mouth remained free. Her chin was smeared with dried blood, eyes gleaming in the dark, and Yuri guessed that those dagger-sharp teeth of hers must have taken a bite at whoever put her here.
Yuri’s pulse was quickening. Whatever they’d drugged him with was starting to burn out of his system.
He tried standing, but didn’t have nearly enough slack. He braced himself on the wall, pushing upward, only to slip on the blood and come down hard on his knee. The bindings dug deep into his wrists, protesting the fall, and he hissed.
“Told you.”
Breathe, he told himself, ignoring the vesper’s chiding. Look at what’s here. There has to be something you can use to free yourself.
A flicker of motion in the corner of the room stole his attention.
Something in the shadows shifted, and Yuri braced himself as a silhouette detached itself from the darkness between shelves. Lute stepped forward, as quiet as a thought.
“You’re one stubborn bastard,” she told him, voice like velvet over broken glass. “I was hoping you’d be out until evening.”
Yuri pulled against his bindings. “What did you do to me?”
She was like a cat in the way she tilted her head, glowing eyes piercing through the darkness. “I’m ensuring that our little golden canary doesn’t fly where he’s not meant to.”
“And the hybrid? What of him?”
Her eyes slid to Gareth and she hummed under her breath. “That one’s a pity. All he had to do was be patient, but he couldn’t stand being a human a second longer. Can’t really blame him.”
His stomach twisted as he looked once more to Gareth’s body. It didn’t matter how many corpses he’d seen; he suspected he’d never be used to them.
“Where’s Aurelie?” It was too many questions. He was wasting too much time. Still, he could only feel the barest trace of her presence, and fear was making his body tight.
Breathe, he told himself again. She knows how to take care of herself. Worry about getting out of here.
“She and Severin are probably in Rhovar by now,” Lute noted dully, inspecting her fingernails. “I imagine they’ll be toasting to the princess’s wedding any minute.”
There was a gleam in her eyes that made Yuri’s stomach drop, as he understood at once what they intended.
They were going to debut the wine during the kingdom’s toast.
And all of Rhovar was going to drink it.
He turned to Gareth, pulse galloping.
Find something, Yuri. Get out of these bindings.
“And what of the Noriclats?” he demanded, stalling as he took stock of the room. “Does the princess know what you intend to do to her people?”
He’d been stripped of his weapons, and while he could still summon his bow, he couldn’t nock an arrow from this angle.
“Ilaria will be glad to be one of us,” Lute said, her tone darkening as he clearly struck a nerve. “She and I can be together without issue.”
“So she has no idea, then.” Barrels. Glass bottles that would make for a good weapon but were far out of his reach. Vex. A corpse …
His gaze trailed back the way it came.
Vex.
Yuri’s attention flashed to the vesper, then to her teeth.
Vex’s beady eyes latched onto his like a burr. Alert. Watching.
“How long has this been the plan?” he demanded, an idea forming. “This hunt for the cure, was it all a hoax?”
Lute gave a dry laugh as she wandered farther into the light, her boots clicking across the stone.
“It’s no hoax. The cure is as real as you or me.
We weren’t certain we’d find it in time, but now that we have, our victory is going to taste so much sweeter.
” She was watching him with that lazy feline smile, so certain of her victory.
Rage took shape in his chest, sharp and stinging, as he lunged.
It wasn’t graceful. His legs barely obeyed him, and his head swam with the sudden movement, the pain in his wings flaring in protest against their bindings.
Lute didn’t even flinch—why would she? He was tied. Bleeding. Weak. She watched with the bored curiosity of a cat observing a bug crawling across the floor.
Yuri only made it halfway to his feet before his knees gave out and the ropes snapped him back. His shoulder struck the edge of a barrel with a loud crack as he went down, cursing as he hit the blood-slick stone beside Vex.
Yuri’s shoulders dropped, his head bowing low. To anyone else, it would have looked as though his strength was failing.
“Light,” he whispered under his breath, “forgive me.”
From this angle he couldn’t see Vex, yet he felt her shimmy forward and tried not to flinch as her fangs brushed his skin, beginning to gnaw on his bindings.
“You won’t get away with this,” he told Lute, speaking to block the vesper’s sounds. “The angels will come for Severin.”
The demon’s smile was as sharp as a sickle, her tail swishing contentedly as she perched herself up on the ledge of the barrel. “Have you not realized it by now? That’s the whole point.”
He didn’t know what she meant, but the threat lodged under his ribs like a blade. Anger burned through him, and his hands flexed against the loosening rope.
Almost.
Lute reveled in the chaos, soaking in his fury as he clenched his jaw hard enough to ache.
It took everything in him to be patient. To quell the anger writhing inside as, thread by thread, Vex loosened his binds. Finally, the ropes around his wrists frayed, and with one last yank he split from them, lunging at the demon, whose pointed ears flattened against her skull.
Yuri drove himself across the cellar like a throwing axe, striking Lute hard enough to send them both crashing into shelves of empty bottles.
Glass exploded around them.
He caught a glimpse of Lute’s startled cry, shadows snapping around her like a storm cloud, but he didn’t stop. Yuri grabbed for her throat, fingers an iron grip around her as he slammed the demon into the stone wall with every bit of strength he had left.
But Lute was an envyborn, the fastest of all demons, and he should have known better than to expect such an easy victory.
One moment his hands were around her. The next, they fell empty as shadows encircled him like a cyclone. He ducked just in time to avoid a slash of darkness, masking claws that tore through the air, black and shimmering like obsidian.
“Do you think it matters what you do to me?” she snarled, launching herself at him again. “Rhovar is as good as gone! Your angels are as good as gone. We’ve won.”
She seemed so certain, but surely that couldn’t be true. Surely there was still time to fix whatever it was she and Severin had planned.
He just needed to get out of there.
Yuri barely blocked the strike, his bound wings throwing off his balance. Pain lanced through his side as she took another swipe.
Vex shouted something from her corner, and though the specific words were drowned beneath the flurry of motion, the vesper was very clearly cheering him on.
Lute’s claws struck across his shoulder and Yuri staggered, nearly losing his footing. She came again, a blur of teeth and claws as he twisted, catching her arm as she slashed toward his thigh.
One foot braced, he twisted hard, sending her slamming to the floor. Yuri’s weight followed her down, a knee pressed to her chest and one hand wrapped tight around her neck. Glory surged beneath his skin.
His other hand drew back, finally summoning his bow.
Lute’s mouth twisted into a cruel grin. “Go ahead. Kill me, angel.”
He didn’t loosen his grip, but his heart was thundering now, loud and uneven in his ears.
“Do it,” she taunted. “Kill me, and see what happens to Rhovar next.”
He couldn’t, not with Ilaria’s life on the line. And the damned demon knew it.
Yuri changed his grip, taking the demon by the hair and slamming her head hard against the floor until her body went slack beneath him. The shadows wilted at her side like felled serpents, and Yuri breathed easier.
“Finally,” Vex squealed, thrashing from her corner. “Now get me out of here!”
He staggered to his feet, first taking the rope from the floor to tie Lute’s wrists and ankles, binding her with the same knots she’d used on him.
“We’ll see how she likes it,” he spat, earning a hiss of agreement from Vex. Then he moved to the vesper, undoing her tiny fastenings.
Freed, Vex gave an indignant huff as she fluttered up onto Yuri’s shoulder, untying his wings. “We need to find Aurelie!”