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I hope she does, his demon, known by his unfamiliar name, Samael, hissed in his skull. Then she can find me a strong body, not an infirm, half-blood bastard.
Shut up, he shot back. How he wished he could discover his demon’s familiar name, for he’d get rid of him for good.
The demon’s laughter echoed in his skull. Do you think I’d tell you, you old fool?
He took a slow step back from the bush, then froze, his heart beating erratically when he heard a rustle behind him. He sucked in a scream when he looked over his shoulder. He was surrounded by thousands of demonlings!
There was no way out of this now, except to pick up his robes and run. He raced across spider bodies, crunching them in his wake, their cacophony of shrill screams puncturing his skull.
He’d just cleared the swarm of demon spiders when a sharp pain stabbed him in the back of the neck. He slapped his neck, making a face when green goo stuck to his fingers. When his legs gave out, he fell, crying out in shock.
Several shadows passed overhead, and he thought he heard his sweet Anya’s screams. A wyvern swooped in to catch him but pulled back when the demonlings sat up on their back legs and hissed. Thorin never regained his footing, for the spiders had bound his legs together with their sticky web. He tried to call for help, but his screams were muffled when they stuffed webbing in his mouth. The more he fought against his restraints, the worse his arms and legs became tangled. He fought so hard he feared his heart would beat out of his chest. And yet the spiders didn’t falter, weaving their silvery threads until the wild pounding of his heart echoed inside his prison chamber.
Samael’s demonic laughter reverberated in his skull.
Elements save him, he was going to die.
Chapter Twenty
Tari
We landed on the grassy knoll that had been transformed into a garden. Dozens of villagers were whistling while harvesting the bounty beneath the moonlight. I still couldn’t believe what we’d just witnessed. We’d had Thorin in our crosshairs, but he was attacked by thousands of spiders with red eyes. They’d wrapped him in a cocoon and then the earth had swallowed them. Thorin had warned me about these spiders. He’d called them demonlings, but I’d thought he’d only told me the story to scare me away from the Werewood Forest.
My sister and I dismounted from Isa with Blaze’s and Drae’s help. We faced our mates and Radnor.
“Did everyone see what I saw?” Helian asked as he jumped from Radnor’s back.
Ash shook his head as if to clear a fog. “Are we sure that’s what we saw, or did the mind spinner trick us?”
“It seems too wonderous to believe, doesn’t it?” Drae asked. “But most of us have been drinking the tea.”
“I’m not convinced that tea works,” Shiri grumbled.
“Those spiders are demonlings.” A shudder stole up my spine, like thousands of tiny spiders were racing across my back. I prayed we never encountered them again. “They are controlled by the demon mistress.”
Helian’s jaw dropped as he crossed over to me, taking my hand in his. “W-what?”
“I remember Thorin telling me stories about them.” I swallowed back bile, realizing those spiders could be beneath us this very moment. “They live under the earth and travel through a network of tunnels that span from the Fae lands to the human lands.”
Shiri clutched her throat. “Elements.”
Blaze ruffled his wings while looking behind him. Then Drae did the same. The dragons spun circles, checking their backs and tails.
“They’re not here.” Ash’s nostrils flared. “I’d scent them.”
Isa crouched like a cat about to pounce, her top lip pulled back in a snarl. So would I.
“So you think these spiders took Thorin back to the demon mistress?” Drae asked.
I wrapped my arms around myself, still feeling uneasy as a cool northern wind blew the hair off my neck. “Where else?”
“What does this mean?” Shiri asked me.
“Considering he’s been evading her for two years,” I said, grimacing, “I think this means Thorin’s in very deep trouble.” I almost felt sorry for Thorin. Almost. He had too much blood on his hands and deserved whatever cruel torture the demon mistress inflicted on him.
The wolf flashed in Ash’s eyes as his voice dropped to a deep baritone. “Hopefully, we won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“No, Ash, this is bad.” I shook my head, my heart slowing to a painful thud. “This demon mistress can steal the powers of the witches she kills.”
