Paimon aimed a kick towards her side, but Iris was there, throwing herself in front of Lily. Her body intercepted the blow, and she went flying back towards the table. Lily shouted her sister’s name. Pulling himself over the side, Mist reached out and grabbed Paimon’s leg. He yanked. Paimon tripped just like her camel and toppled over the edge.
Just before she disappeared, her hand shot out and seized Lily, who was distracted looking over her shoulder for Iris.
And Paimon and Lily went down together.
24
One Fell Swoop
There was a whooshing sensation in Lily’s stomach as she fell, and she distantly thought,It’s definitely over for me now. Paimon’s tangled wings flapped erratically as she tried in vain to slow their descent. There was no way Lily could survive a fall from this height, no way she could—
They hit the ground, Paimon’s body crunching gruesomely beneath her, and Lily was thrown from the impact.
She bounced and rolled several times. Her arm or leg should have been broken. Her ribs. Something.
Instead, she sat up with a jolt. “Mist!”
Had he fallen with them? He’d been right there in the skirmish, but now she saw nothing but—
An unholy shriek split the air. Not Paimon.
Lily looked up, way up, only then noticing what was looming in the dark.
Enormous centipede monsters surrounded her. They had no heads, only gaping mouths full of teeth. Eyes on long stalks protruded from their slimy bodies, and their legs—so many legs—looked like sword blades.
Her scream stuck in her throat.
Their sheer size short-circuited her brain. Mist hadn’t exaggerated when he compared them to airplanes. If anything, he’d understated it.
“You little fiend!” Paimon hissed from nearby, hauling herself up. Her wings snapped out, one crumpled slightly, and she charged toward Lily with ungodly speed. “How dare you defy me! You’re mine. Mishetsu is mine. Everything in this castlebelongs to me! And I will—”
Seconds before she reached Lily, one of the monsters’ huge tongues snapped and wrapped around Paimon’s waist. Momentary surprise flitted across the Queen of Hell’s face.
And then she was yanked through the air with incredible speed, right into the gorath’s mouth.
The crown toppled from her head with a clatter to roll away on the ground. There was a sickening crunch, and Lily was unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of Paimon’s body folding like crumpled paper, her shriek abruptly silenced as blood sprayed—
She gagged. Okay, maybe she was able to look away after all.
Especially when she became aware of the four other monsters who had missed out on the feast now turning their sights on her.
She pushed onto her palms, scooting back away from them.
A sudden intense burning on her chest made her gasp. A powerful sensation tugged at her chest, linking her to… something. Someone, perhaps? The energy felt familiar, safe, and she welcomed the bond without question. The pain vanished the next instant, and she quickly forgot about it in light of current circumstances.
The goraths’ eyes tracked her movement. At any second, one could eat her, and she would stand no chance.
Frantically, she scanned the darkness for Mist. Was he somewhere, fallen on the ground? Or had he already been eaten? Her heart lurched. Terror clogged her throat.
“Mist!” Her hopeless cry seemed only to reach the approaching monsters. “Mist!” He had to be here. He couldn’t be gone—
A black cloud coalesced above her.
Wings spread, claws reached forward, and she was scooped into a pair of bloody arms.
A gorath’s tongue snapped out, inches from them. Lily screamed as Mist swooped to dodge, dropping so low they nearly hit the ground.
His wings pumped, but they were shredded and broken, and his flight was erratic. They crashed into the wall a second later. He held her with one arm and used his claws to find purchase with the other, and then he pushed off the stone.
