“Iris, we don’t have time—”
“I am called Murmur or the Necromancer. Either works.” He smiled thinly at Iris’s horrified expression. “I see you’ve heard of me. Yes, the rumors are true.”
What rumors?There wasn’t time to ask. Lily recognized his name but hadn’t studied enough to know anything else about him.
“Ris, we have to go.” At this point she’d take any ally she could get, and her guts were telling her to trust this one—at least, for now. If Belial had sent him that meant he was their best hope.
“Can you at least untie us?” Iris asked.
Murmur grabbed Lily’s arm, and she flinched at his ice-cold hand. A claw tore through her bonds a second later, and she rubbed the blood back into her hands. “Thank you.”
He looked repulsed by her gratitude.
After freeing Iris, he stared down on them with utmost disdain. “Try to keep up, will you? I’m not accustomed to pandering to humans.”
He turned his back, long braid swinging, and started walking. He may have looked like a zombie, but he didn’t move like one, his lean form flowing with each graceful stride.
Iris grabbed the discarded torch, and they hurried after him down the passage. Leading them past several forks in the tunnel, he appeared to know exactly where he was going.
Lily’s head spun with questions. She was pretty sure Murmur was ranked as a Duke of Hell. So how had he gotten into Paimon’s lair without her noticing? Or, if she had noticed, why weren’t more guards being sent after him? And what was his plan for rescuing Mist?
He stopped so abruptly, she nearly crashed into his back. She saw for the first time that there were slits in his jacket that would allow his wings to fit through if he chose to materialize them.
Despite everything going on, the seamstress in her was unable not to study the design, and she immediately envisioned creating something similar for Mist. Her demon never wore shirts, and she thought he might appreciate one made to fit his wings.
Murmur’s words snapped her out of it.
“Head through there. Take two right turns and a left, and you’ll arrive in the chamber where Mishetsumephtai is being held. I will aid my souls in keeping Paimon and her guards busy. Once you retrieve the Hunter, return here. If Mishetsu is unable, I will activate the hellgate.”
“Head through… where?”
Murmur pointed a claw at what appeared to be the cave wall. On closer inspection, however, she discovered what appeared to be the mouth of a tunnel so small, she wasn’t sure her butt would fit.
“Oh, hell, no,” Iris said when she saw it. “I’m not going in there.”
“The tunnel is a direct route to the Pit. It’s either that or walk through the lair.” He lifted a brow at Lily’s glowing body. “You might stand out.”
“Doesn’t Paimon know about it?”
“It was created by gorath larvae. They explore but are drawn back by the scent of blood. She has no fear of them escaping, so she hasn’t bothered to block the tunnel.”
Did that mean they had to worry about running into them? She didn’t want to know what gorath larvae looked like. Mist’s description of the full-grown ones was enough.
“How do you know all this?” Iris asked, still eyeing Murmur warily.
“My souls told me. And I’ve been casing this castle for a long time.”
“Why?”
He smiled thinly. “Because I want it.”
Iris opened her mouth, but he cut her off with a slice of his hand. “Go now before I renege on my bargain with Belial out of sheer vexation.”
Iris crouched and thrust the torch further into the tunnel.
“Leave the torch. The flame will suck away what little breathable air you have.”
Lily gulped. Her palms were sweaty, and her stomach was still churning from the violence. She was so terrified, she wanted to puke and pass out at the same time.
