Page 123 of Savage Claim

“Let go of me, Tate!” Ruin struggled in the amulet’s grasp.

“I can’t control it.” My heart hammered out a frantic beat, blood dripping down my nose.

Denton moved to Ruin’s side and tried to pull him back. “It’s not working.” He turned his attention to Nadia. “Stop the spell.”

Her chant sheared off, and the wind stopped howling, but the Infernal Sol still clung to the high demon lord.

He deserves what he gets.

Ruin’s gaze drilled into mine as he silently pleaded for me to release him.

A blast of power erupted out of me, hitting anything in range. Screams pierced the lab, Nadia and Denton were tossed back, and metal bent and glass shattered. The high demon lord trembled as a vibrant glow encased his whole body.

“Don’t let the amulet consume you, Tate,” Ruin whispered, a pained smile melting over his lips. “I wanted to save you from that.”

And then he exploded into dust.

The force of his death blasted through the lab, blowing everything back like a bomb. If the table I was strapped to wasn’t bolted to the ground, I would have flown across the lab too. Ringing filled my ears, and blood and ash lingered on my tongue. I blinked hard to clear my vision.

Ruin was—gone.

I hated the aching in my chest. Ruin deserved to die for what he’d done. The person I knew never existed. He was a lie.

So why did I want to break down and cry because he was gone?

Movement on my right caught my attention, ringing still blaring in my ears, and Nadia appeared above me. Her violet eyes held a sheen of satisfaction as they roamed over the gaping cut in my abdomen.

“I warned the demon lord of the dangers this would pose.” She tsked, a smile pulling at her lips. “He should have listened.”

Why wasn’t she knocked out like everyone else?

Knots fisted in my gut as she waved her hands over me and chanted under her breath. Had she known exactly what would happen when Ruin tried to grab the amulet? Did she betray him?

“You wanted this.” As I coughed, blood spurted out of my mouth and more still leaked from my nose and the wound in my stomach. “You knew Ruin wouldn’t survive.”

The witch gave a lazy shrug. “Ruin’s loss is my gain.” She slipped a thick gold necklace from her pocket, a large sun-shaped medallion dangling from the end.

Chills slithered over my sweaty flesh at the similarities between it and the one the Infernal Sol had originally broken out of to burrow inside of me.

“I may have kept a small piece of the puzzle from Ruin.” The witch’s long fingers brushed over the metal. “You can’t simply reach inside and grab the stone. You must coax it into a proper vessel.”

“And you just happen to have one?”

“This came from an ally within Maleor Suprema who hid some of the former grand witch’s effects before they could be locked away after her demise.” Nadia’s Romania accent thickened as she let the medallion sway above me. “She used to have a vast reliquary of the most powerful objects imaginable.”

My heart hammered against my ribs, forcing more blood to ooze out. Ruin’s last words, a warning, played through my mind. Don’t let the amulet consume you. He wouldn’t waste his dying breath to tell me a lie. Had he felt just how much of a hold the Infernal Sol had on me?

This was my chance to be free—except my limbs strained against the binds, attempting to escape the witch’s magic.

Why did the thought of Nadia taking my amulet send me into a jealous rage?

Because you don’t want to give up all this delicious power.

I ignored the wicked voice in my head as Nadia held the empty medallion over my sternum and chanted.

“Bring forth this power so ancient and consuming. I beseech you to infect this artifact of the darkest elements. Forged in the bowels of the Underworld and imbued with a thousand deaths.” The wind kicked up again as Nadia continued to cast her spell. “Come to me. Take this offering. Be free of fleshly confines and unleash your wickedness. This place will know true fear. Heed my words. Let my intent be clear.”

Fire poured into my veins again, but instead of erupting in a blast to throw Nadia back, the amulet hummed within me. It moved like worms wriggling against my organs.

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