“Remir?”
This way, he mouthed, his ability to speak apparently gone.
I didn’t want to go with the Darkling who had collaborated with Sin Garu, but knowing what I did of my brother, I could well believe the Djinn had been ensorcelled. The Remir I remembered had been loyal to a fault, in love with me — a woman who had, at the time, no love to give anyone.
Pity filled me once more, and I angrily blamed Arim again for allowing me to feel when numbness right now would have been most welcome.
Not having anywhere else to go but up, I followed Remir into the ball of light and flew with him through a void into Mount Malinta.
Once in the demon world, we stopped on a craggy black rock and looked down into hell.
“I’m so sorry,” Remir said in a husky voice. “I was powerless to refuse the Dark Lord. And now I pay the price.”
I wished I could have predicted his future and saved him from his downfall. “I should have protected you.”
“You couldn’t have.” Remir’s once dark brown eyes were now a shimmery blue-green and full of regret. “I joined Sin Garu, thinking he was you. I could never deny you anything.”
I remembered a time back in Foreia when I’d been trying to amass the Djinn and deal with unruly Storm Lords. I’d seen my image on a treetop — an image I now knew to be Sin Garu. But I hadn’t been sure it had been Remir with my likeness. I could only imagine the horrors the poor Djinn had suffered, and all because he’d loved me.
“I know where they keep your soul, Dark Mistress. Let me help you retrieve it. Here, in this plane, I’ve the strength to aid you as I couldn’t in life. Allow me this gift.”
I blinked back angry tears and nodded, not knowing what to say. I followed him, flying in a weightless body no more substantial than air. Here, in the demon plane, energy existed in thought, not physical presence. I could only hope I’d soon escape back via the bridge.
The last time I’d left, only hatred for the place and a love for Arim had given me the strength to leave. After suffering that toll on my energy, I didn’t think I had the power to do so again under my own steam.
Perhaps with my soul intact, I could manage it. I had no other choice, really. Not with Sava working so hard to distract the demons for me.
Remir led me to a section of Mount Malinta guarded by three towering demons. These three were red and tall, shaped like men but with horns protruding from various parts of their bodies. The differences in their size and color presumably meant they guarded demonic treasures — souls.
Crouched behind slabs of sharp rock, Remir and I watched the demons pacing below in the dark crater that surrounded green bars of sickly light.
“It’s in there, with the other souls they’ve stolen.” The intensity with which Remir stared made me wonder.
“Do they have a piece of you as well?”
“Yes. A large piece,” he said with a scowl before smoothing his expression. “I’ll divert their attention while you hurry in and take back what’s yours. You’ll have to be quick —”
Sava’s sudden appearance by the demons startled us into silence. That Sava didn’t look well was a gross understatement. Dark matter covered the once pristine Aellein king, his hair tangled and matted, his skin blistered and oozing. But his eyes scared me the most. The Sava I knew didn’t exist in that gaze.
He approached the red demons without glancing at our hiding place, yet I knew he was aware of us.
“Lord Sava?” Remir whispered, a frown on his face. “What’s he doing here?”
“Come brothers. It’s been a while, and I want to play.” Sava winked at the demons and flicked a finger at one of them.
The creature blew up, energy exploding into a tightly confined field, a blast of filth hanging suspended over the other two demons.
“What have you done?” one of them screeched.
“I’m hungry, Feor.” Sava grinned, his teeth alarmingly like Sin Garu’s. He opened his mouth and inhaled the suspended energy of the dead demon in one long drag, as if sucking through a straw.
Feor snarled and left his post. “You’ll pay for that, white one.”
“Feor,” the other demon said. “We must guard the treasures.”
“Come, Vrak. This one needs a reminder about life in the Pit.” Feor tilted his head. “Sava, you’ve changed. Why, are those Monitors inside your eyes?” Feor chortled with glee. “Possessed are you?”
Damn. Even the demons can tell Sava isn’t right. Why did he allow himself to become possessed? Does he really expect me to save myself at his expense? He’s as dim-witted as Arim. I fumed as I compared the two males, neither of which came out favorably. I glanced at Remir and realized I was surrounded by people who sacrificed themselves for me. And I didn’t like it one bit.
