Page 14 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

Gods, he’s tall, she noticed. She had to raise her chin to keep the eye contact engaged.

“I’m Gideon,” he said, his voice a little deeper than before. “This is my home—well, training facility. This is the tower.” He paused, trying to gauge her reaction. But she had no clue what he was referring to. “You are at the tower that separates Huntswood and Mossgrave,” he said.

She pulled her stare away from him to look back out the window, mapping in her mind where she was located. It was early daytime, and the winter sun was low enough to split the trees as she gaped out at the landscape.

“You might know it as the old Huntswood infirmary for healers,” he added.

She winced as the sunlight tunnelled into the room, burning her eyes.

“Be careful” he advised as he moved a step closer. “You lost a lot of blood last night and hit your head real hard—a couple of times, by the looks of it.” He offered her a sympathetic smile. “You’re a little banged up, but the healer said you will survive.” He offered her a friendly smile.

She couldn’t smile back even if she tried hard. “Are you a guard for the Minister of Coin?” She looked at his waist again.

“Something like that.” He laughed a little.

“Can you take me home?” She tried to move, to get out of the bed, but agonising aches gathered in every cell of her body, causing her to flinch.

“Easy,” Gideon warned. She saw his soft features harden for a second, but they relaxed immediately.

“Why am I here?” she asked reluctantly.

Abruptly, thoughts and memories of last night started pouring through her mind, exploding into her thoughts. They were no longer broken pictures, but real memories.

They were real!

She tried inhaling and exhaling rapidly to calm herself, panic gripping tightly in her chest. She pulled off the blankets that were suddenly too heavy for her body. Lowering her eyes to her legs, which were covered in bruises and scrapes, she tried to move them.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t let you go out just yet. Not like that, anyway.” He gestured to her lying on the bed. “A healer will be around to check on that wound any minute now.” His eyes locked onto her arm. “She has been here every hour to check on you.” His voice was fond and light, like he appreciated the work the healer had done. He trusted her. “In case you have forgotten, you were blasted with demon magic last night. Your arm took a pretty bad hit.”

She blinked.

“No, wait, sorry.” She touched her temple again to steady her waves of dizziness. “Did you just say demon magic?” Her tone changed along with the feeling in her stomach. “Demon magic?” she repeated. If she had enough energy to scoff at him, she would have.

“There is a lot that you need to learn, and shortly you will learn all of it. My commander will tell you everything you need to know, but for now—”

“I think I deserve an explanation of what is going on, don’t you?” The sharpness in her tone reminded her of her grandmother.

“Demons attacked your village last night,” Gideon stated, very matter of fact. “They burned your homes; they murdered the people of your village...” he trailed off.

Emara’s eyes were stinging with tears that lay waiting to fall down her face. “Something killed my grandmother last night.”

“That something has a name.” He paused, shifting on his feet. “It was a demon. It was a higher demon, to be exact. They appear as human as possible. Although some others don’t bother taking a human form at all. But I won’t go into that now. More will be explained to you later once you have rested.” He faltered, seeing the shock on her face. “That demon would have killed you and your friend if we had gotten there a second later.” He palmed his closest knife as if out of instinct and her eyes trailed to it before they went back to his face.

“You expect me to believe that thing last night was a demon?” The memory of his face, his hands, and his smell overwhelmed her.

To be truthful with herself, she knew it wasn’t human. She knew it deep in her gut when it had attacked her grandmother. Its unearthly eyes, its powerful radiation, its brute strength as it batted Cally away—

Cally. Oh, Gods! Cally!

With whatever strength she had left, she wrestled to remove the covers entirely, pushed up from the bed, and got to her feet in a matter of seconds. Pain like a hundred stabbing needles punctured up through her feet and into her shins.

Gideon’s eyes moved with her as if trained to anticipate sharp movements. His face showed a little shock, but he bent his knees, ready for her next move.

He was prepared to stop her.

“My friend.” She stuttered over her words, “Sh-she was with me last night; you must go back for her. You need to help her,” she begged.

“Don’t worry, she’s here too,” he said. “Take it easy.”

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