Page 22 of Dark Captivation

“Never hurt someone Mally loves. Not if you like your legs,” she said in a somber tone as the air chilled.

I didn’t understand what Ferina meant by that. But it all became crystal clear the instant I saw Malek seize the screaming mage. With the skill of an Olympic weightlifter, Malek swung the mage over his head, holding him up there like a barbell. So that one hand clutched his ankles and the other his wrists.

I flinched, my blood running cold as I contemplated the horror of what I was about to witness. The mage had barged in, crashed a peaceful picnic and tried to kill us all. What he did was unjustifiable. If it was up to him, we would have been burnt to smoky crisps.

Brutal as his methods could be, Malek was the reason Ferina and I were still alive.

I’d fight to the death to stop him from waging war on the helpless innocent, but I would not stop him now.

Malek pulled the struggling mage’s legs one way and his arms the other. The sounds of bones cracking chilled me to my soul.

Sparing the gruesome details, our mage assassin now came as a two-part set, and he would not be ruining anyone’s picnic ever again.

A friendly female doctor dressed the wound on my right arm with a cotton ball soaked in purple antiseptic. It stung a bit and the smell made me want to sneeze. Other than a few scratches and scrapes from my encounter with the mage earlier, I was completely fine.

It seemed like a bit of an overkill for Malek to have rushed me all the way up to the major trauma unit of Demon City's largest hospital. But this,of course, was an opinion that King Malek, my protector, didn't share.

“Are you sure she’s going to be alright?” Malek asked the doctor for the fourth time.

With a graceful smile and respectful nod, she reassured him that, yes, she was certain that I would make a full recovery.

Malek restlessly paced from one end of the private room to the other, cursing in Demonish.

Ferina followed at his side, matching him toe to toe, wanting only to calm her anxious brother.

“The Grand High Mage is a dead woman! How dare she break into my city and attack my bride!” Malek pounded his fist against the wall, creating a deep, snake shaped fissure.

“The assassin is dead, and Sunny will be fine. Now why don’t you sit down so Doctor Silveira can treat your wounds?” Ferina rubbed Malek’s shoulder, but it didn’t seem to calm him much as the veins popped up literally along his face, neck and shoulders.

This was a new experience for me. I’ve never been fussed over like this before. Every time I’d fallen and gotten hurt, I had to pick myself up and treat my own bruises. Nobody ever cared this much before. How could a man capable of such empathy be so desperate for more war and carnage?

“How in the hell did he even get past my defenses? I’ve had twenty-seven different defensive spells, enchantments and booby traps placed on the city’s entire perimeter. Our traps and barriers span one hundred feet in the air and below ground.” Malek flew to the window, wrenched the curtain back and gazed through the window, visibly perplexed. “Where did he find a weak spot in our defenses? Where?”

“Mages are the ones who cast most of our defensive spells.” Ferina folded her arms, leaning against a wall adjacent to the window. “That’s what we get for relying on rogue mages for hire. Even the best mages can’t cast defensive spells that are a hundred percent foolproof. Even Jeffrey mentioned that he didn’t trust the job the mages did on the walls.”

“I’ll have to get the walls fortified, maybe include some human surveillance tech this time.” He turned from the window to face us. With brows drawn up tight, he pointed a questioning look at his sister. “Wait.” He paused, holding one leg behind the other. “Have you been talking to my familiar? When did this happen?”

This conversation was finally getting juicy. I leaned forward, listening intently as the doctor moved on from my arm to clean the scratches on my upper chest. Who was this Jeffrey? And what kind of familiar was he? I read a book on familiars once.

Familiars are supposed to be a mysterious type of being from another world with immortal souls housed in the bodies of small animals like birds, mice, snakes and cats so they can remain on Earth. Ancient and powerful gods have been known to keep them as pets and companions, but I’d never seen one in real life.

“Oh, Jeffrey and I are like besties. We watched Vampire Diaries reruns the other night over pizza. We even did each other’s nails.” Ferina displayed her hot pink nail polish proudly, beaming at him.

His face went blank as he pulled the curtains covering the window. He came in closer to his sister, lowering his voice, “No more painting my familiar’s nails or discussing military matters with him when I’m not around. We talked about this.” Malek said, his cheeks puffed up as if he were jealous.

Oh my God, he was jealous.

His face grew flustered and pink in a cute sort of way, like he was a child who didn’t want to share his toy.

“I’ll do Jeffrey’s nails as long as he allows me to and the same goes for our movie nights. If you don’t like it, you can bite my plump demon booty.” Ferina bit back, and I applauded her internally.

Malek’s shoulders sank to the floor, and a defeated look rolled over his face. Blowing the wind out of his cheeks, he folded his arms.

“Fine,” he blew.

Malek may have been the Demon God, but he was still powerless against his little sister.

“Who’s Jeffrey, and what kind of animal is he?” I asked.

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