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Her eyes widened as the chill of her flesh filled my palm. My hand wrapped around her throat and I squeezed. There was no time to waste, I had to do this quickly before whatever magic surged through my brain returned. My thumb pressed hard into the sensitive flesh under her chin and her hands wrapped around my wrist.
“Asmodeus,” she gasped. “Release me and give me the key, my love.”
“No.”
“Asmodeus,” even without her breath my name on her lips was a siren song that lulled me back into the cloud.
Every muscle in my body tensed as I fought against it. I needed to clear my head. Flames breathed out of my pores to coat my skin. I embraced them, hoping they would eat away at whatever foul magic moved through my veins. Another wave of clarity came over me as my grip tightened further.
Veins danced over Maledictia’s brow as her eyes went bloodshot. The runes and sigils down her face lit from within as an eerie glow illuminated her gaze. “Let’s… not… do… something… we’ll… regret.” She sucked in strangled breaths between each word.
“It looks like the only one who will regret what they’ve done here is you, witch.” My flames cocooned around her and I watched as the tips of her toes turned to stone. They ate away at her slowly. Like an invisible hand slowly grazed up her legs and left a replica of her behind. Moulded and immobile.
Our eyes locked and I saw damnation dancing in hers.
Her pale lips curved into a smile as her nails dug into the flesh of my wrists. “Just wait,” the words were a rasped promise.
The haze that befell me got thicker and my eyes whipped down to where her nails pierced my flesh. My knees weakened as the transformation froze her arms up, her hands claws that looked like they still held my wrist even though I slipped to the floor. Darkness devoured the edges of my vision as my throat dried and my chest heaved.
A growl vibrated through me. I reached up, trying to hold my skull together as agony threatened to break it apart.
“Just wait…” the words echoed through my mind like a song I wouldn’t soon forget. The threat was clear and it made the blood that ached as it ran its course run cold.
I collapsed onto the floor just as Arzen’s hooves came into view. I wondered why they moved with such urgency. I was just resting my eyes for a moment. Dozing after a hard day, even though memories of what I’d done melted from my brain.
“Just wait…”
* * *
“It took me months to find him. She’d trapped him away in a little love nest and isolated him from me, knowing how quickly I would see through her plan.” Arzen flashed her teeth as she scowled at the statue she’d brought with her.
Maledictia stood in the same pose I remembered, a smirk on her face as her hands reached for a wrist that no longer squeezed the life from her. I stared at her and wondered how all the memories of who she was had just slipped out of my grasp. That was the power of the ruborae witch. She had toyed with my mind, just as Jasper claimed they did. Brow furrowed, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared.
“So…” Alicia dragged out the word, her eyes looking over everyone in the group as her lips pursed in thought. “You just had a witch on a shelf somewhere? No one else thinks that’s crazy?”
It was odd. I felt I should have known about it before now. “Where was she?”
“I kept her in the keep. I figured we might need her. You weren’t the first demon to fall to your knees before her and with how many she went through trying to get whatever the hell it was she was after, she accumulated enough power to become a problem to us.” Arzen frowned. “Do you not remember? We plotted for months to find her. Sacrificed many before you decided it had to be you.”
Pain lanced through me as I tried to search my mind. Why couldn’t I remember?
‘You don’t remember? Good.’ Vindictia’s words echoed through my head.
This was their doing. All of this was to finally get what Maledictia had her sights on this whole time.
“The key.” She’d asked for it knowing it was something she couldn’t just take. If what Arzen said was true, she likely absorbed demons in a fit of rage when they’d done the same thing I had — denied her.
All of that power was just sitting there, encased in stone.
“The key?” Arzen’s eyes widened. “Is she mad? That’s just a myth.”
“It’s not.” I’d seen it for myself.
She threw her hands up in frustration before she stalked away from the statue of Maledictia to walk behind the sofa. Her long black nails dragged lightly along the fabric before she reached out and traced the top of Sarika’s shoulder. Sarika erupted in a full-body shiver before a smile stretched over her face. Arzen winked at me before she raised a brow and glanced down at Sarika.
Oh, great. We didn’t have time for this.
“Fine, believe in bedtime stories if you want, brother.” Arzen grabbed some of Sarika’s hair and twisted it around her finger as she leaned her elbows on the couch behind her. Vi flinched away but Sarika sat firm.
