Page 43 of Blood and War
The air stunk like them. Rotting. Burning. Demons had telltale signs if you knew what you were looking at. Smell was one of the biggest ones.
Kellan urged the horse faster, Atlas obeyed before he’d even touched him. Exploding toward the entrance where he slid to a stop. Kellan was running the moment his feet hit the ground, blade drawn. Poised. Ready for battle. Waiting for the bloodshed that he knew lay ahead.
“Where are you going?” Eire shouted angrily, but she was on his heels anyway. They all were at the scent.The sounds. Kellan didn’t answer her. “Let them finish the job that you couldn’t!”
He should have listened to her and should have let them have her nearly two weeks ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.Then she’d tried to save him, a being sent to kill her, and she’d still shown him kindness. Humanity. Then the rooftop. Hearing the story of her parents. The hardships she’d faced?—
His questions that still needed answers.
Kellan couldn’t let the girl die.
He didn’t know how to feel about his decision. If he hated himself for letting things get so out of hand.
His feet propelled him forward. Faster as he raced into the darkness. Black all around him, the only sounds the pounding of their footsteps as they ran, one after the other. And her screaming. That was the loudest as they ran down the tunnel on agile steps.
They emerged into the fire-lit room as one. Shock. Disgust. Worry. A range of emotions took hold. Beside him, even Eire’s breath hitched at the horrific sight before them. Her body, screaming and limp against the rock. The blood.Fuck.
His fingers clenched around the pommel of his blade, so tight he knew his knuckles were white as everything ignited within.
Eire’s arrow hit her mark before he even managed another step. With his sword swinging, Kellan charged, the edge of his blade ricocheting from demon to demon as he made his way toward Demetria.
Twenty-Six
DEMITRIA
Arush of air whooshed past her cheek and suddenly, Reim was toppling over. Hands grasping at its throat as an arrow protruded from it. Scurrying into the shadows, he disappeared. Another flew, embedding itself into the forehead of another demon. She could just make out the small metal ring around each arrow, a crest carved into the center. Marking each one for who it belonged to.
A running horse.
Horsemen.
Her vision was starting to narrow, blurring more and more at the edges. Darkness seeped in. She willed it to come. Reveling in the feeling as it began to sweep over her.
A cloak.Red. Like a single flower blooming in the dead of night.
His cloak.
Demitria honed in on it, trying to keep her focus as the haze of color spun toward her. Blinking as if it’d help. Red. It was all she saw. Nothing more than a blur as it danced gracefully around the shadows, closer and closer before it was nearly in reach.
“Are you alright?” Kellan. The burning had stopped and she’d grown numb. His large body loomed over her as a gurgled scream echoed off the walls from somewhere in the cavern.
A new wave of tears swept over her. Kellan. She didn’t care if he saw her cry. Not after this.
Demitria lifted heavy arms toward him, begging, reaching like a child needing to be coddled. She didn’t care. Weak and shaking, her limbs looked pale white, inky veins snaking along her skin. His sword clattered to the ground in a heavy thud, and she slowly flinched at its intensity, the movement feeling dragged out. Shoving the hood of the cloak from his head, he picked up her bloodied body in his arms.
Kellan.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner.” Something woodsy and sweet wafted through her senses, triggering memories of a time long gone, but she grabbed onto it like a lifeline.
More tears. Like a gushing river. Instinctively fastening her fingers into the material at his chest, unwilling to let go
“You came.” Demitria tightened her grip around him. She wanted to be held by him, something to anchor her. “There was nothing I could do.” Weak. She was so weak, and her voice was no different.
“I found Atlas and knew something wasn’t right.” He said, “You should have never left without me.” Atlas was safe? A new wave of relief rushed through her at the news. Atlas had been found safe… unharmed. Her lips tugged up in a pathetic excuse for a smile, and her body shuddered with the effort it took.
“Kellan!” A voice thundered from behind them, followed by a grunt. “You’ll want to hear this.”
Demitria didn’t recognize the voice.
