Page 33 of Trick Of Light

“Did you see Anahel?”

“I did, and I heard about your Remiel, that he was investigating the death of Saudrian the demon lord and the whereabouts of his mate, the blood witch Moira.”

“She’s the one who took me!” he cried, and dissolved into tears, face in his hands.

I moved through the water to reach him, and once I was beside him, I put my arm around his slight shoulders and hugged him to me. “Well, I think he knows that, and he’s hunting her—and not at all for the reasons Gabriel thinks.”

“I don’t understand,” he barely got out through his tears.

“I know,” I soothed him.

It all made sense. Remiel hadn’t gone to investigate Raphael killing Saudrian because a kyrie was supposedly responsible and that was an impossible feat. He’d gone because he was hunting Moira. He’d probably been terrified she was dead because then he’d never find Vaya, but what he did find was Raphael giving chase, and had reported that back to Gabriel, perhaps as an afterthought. He was trying to find his mate, after all, and nothing else mattered but that. If only Remiel and Raphael would talk, perhaps they could find both of us.

“I’m being selfish, whining about myself when you’re the one who will be meat for the beast when he returns this day.”

“I won’t go quietly,” I promised him.

He pressed his lips together as though in pain.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Taking a deep breath, Vaya met my gaze. “I’ve heard those brave words before and then seen the bodies thrown on the fire at dawn.”

I took a moment to let that sink in, terrify me, and then push it out of my mind. Warders didn’t die on trash heaps. We died in our homes with our hearths or in battle. None of us had our throats slit like lambs to the slaughter.

“Now, please,” he begged. “Tell me what kind of demon you are so I can help make the last moments of your life bearable.”

“And how would you do that?” I asked him.

“I have enchantments, spells, I’ve learned what can separate tracker demons from their bodies, and darshul demons can astrally project too far so that the tether to the body is broken and I have tonics I keep in the floor that––”

“It’s okay,” I assured him, my voice soft, soothing. “I’m not gonna die today. Mark my words.”

But he didn’t look like he believed me.

SIX

An hour later they came for me, and when I rose out of the water, I did feel healed, and the bruises were gone. I also smelled like jasmine and oranges and the scent clung to me.

One of the men took a step toward the bath, and from the way he was looking at Vaya, it was clear he wanted to ravage him.

“Oh no,” Jaro snapped at the man, stepping in front of him. “If you lay hands on the incubus, he may or may not lose his ability to heal, and the baron does not want that. The baroness, her ladies in waiting, the bruises he gives them all, as well as his children…no, no, no. He needs Vaya to heal them all. What would those at court say?”

The man turned to Jaro. “You’re telling me he abuses them all?”

Jaro snorted. “He doesn’t rape his kids, you sick bastard, but his lady, all those who attend her, even her sister and cousins—of course.” He gestured at Vaya. “Why do you think he’s so important and no one gets to fuck him?”

The man muttered and headed for the door, but then stopped suddenly and pointed at me. “And him?”

Jaro scoffed. “If there’s anything left of him after the baron is done, he’ll let you have a taste before we kill him. Though I’ll tell you, I think Farren wants some of this one too. He’s volunteered to bind him this evening, and sometimes the baron lets him go first.”

I didn’t show a trace of fear; it would only encourage them.

They took me to be shaved then, outside, where they wouldn’t have to clean my hair off the floors.

“If you fight,” Farren began, “I’ll cut your throat and drain your blood, and the baron will have to enjoy that instead of your body.”

And it occurred to me that many would have taken that option.