Page 61 of Fate and Fury

The now-familiar fury consumed Elena again. “If it’s Katerina you want, soon you’ll have to travel farther to find her. Your kind has loosed a plague upon our land. First the village of Drezna fell. Then, just nights ago, Satvala. Which doubtless you know; perhaps you were responsible.”You and Katerina, in league with the Darkness.

She shivered at the memory of waking up to the news that the village to the south of them had been destroyed, that Nadiaand Oriel were likely dead. “The Kniaz demands her protection. He will Reap her at the next Blood Moon, and Niko is meant to travel with her to Rivki.” There was no need to reveal Elena’s additional plans to the demon, about how surely Baba would sever Katerina’s bond with Niko when she knew the truth.

Gadreel’s eyes narrowed. “Your pathetic excuse for a nobleman plans to remove her from Kalach?”

Too late, Elena realized that perhaps she’d given the demon information he was thirsty to acquire. She didn’t care what befell Katerina, but the last thing she wanted was to put Niko in danger. Time was running out, and she had little of it left to free her beloved from the Dimi’s clutches. She had no intention of traveling to Rivki Island married to a man who believed he loved another. Still less did she intend to free Niko, only to lose him.

“Good fortune to you reaching her—or harming my betrothed—in Rivki, Grigori snake,” she said, and spat at the demon. “I wish Niko had ripped your head off and mounted it on a pike in the village square. I would celebrate as the crows picked the flesh from your skull, and rejoice in the passing of a coward.”

Twin fires blazed up in Gadreel’s eyes. Elena could see herself reflected in them, a tiny figure engulfed in flames. Though his shape didn’t change, his humanity evaporated, peeling away to reveal the beast that lurked beneath his skin. “How dare you,” he said, and lunged.

There was no time to run. Elena cringed back against the column, forgetting in her terror about the knives that lay on the altar or the newfound knowledge of magic at her command. Her vision filled with the demon barreling toward her, teeth bared to strike.

Then Sammael stepped between them, blocking Gadreel’s way. He grabbed the other demon by the collar and shook him. “Get away from her,” he said, the words reverberating through the ruins of the chapel.

Gadreel snapped at him, teeth gleaming, but Sammael didn’t budge. “Leave,” he said again.

A growl rumbled up from Gadreel’s chest, low and threatening, before he pulled free, smoothing the wrinkles from his shirt. “Happy to,” he said, pronouncing the words with perfect, furious diction. “She is not worth the effort.” Giving Elena one last venomous glance, he spun and strode back into the trees.

Sammael turned at once to Elena. “Are you all right?”

She couldn’t help but notice the difference between Sammael’s concern for her welfare and the way Niko had treated her after the recent demon attacks. This, she thought, a warm feeling bubbling inside her, was how it felt to be someone’s priority. “I’m fine. Thank you for not letting him hurt me.”

“I would never. You are mine to protect.” He drew himself up to his full height, nostrils flaring as if to be sure Gadreel had gone. Satisfied, he mounted the steps to the altar, stopping below the column where Elena stood.

“I should have tried to protect myself.” Shame colored her voice. “I have magic now. I could have tried.”

“Against Gadreel?” Sammael sounded incredulous. “Not and lived. Believe me when I tell you it is best he knows nothing about your gifts. Let him think what he wants about us; let him underestimate you. It is to your advantage you acted as you did.”

Elena shivered. “Couldn’t you have stopped him, if he wished to kill me?”

“Perhaps,” Sammael said, coming to stand in front of her, “and perhaps not. He was not truly resisting me when I bit him, and again, when I stopped him from attacking you. It was a test, to see how much you meant to me—the lengths I would go to protect you. One which I failed miserably.”

“How so?” Elena gave him a small, tentative smile. “Here I stand.”

“From your perspective, it was a success. You are not dead, after all.” He smiled back at her. “But from mine—he sees now that you matter to me. You have become a weapon in a war that has raged since before your kind walked the earth. He will use you against me, if he can.”

Elena tried to keep the fear from her voice. She’d known she courted danger when she entered into this bargain. To save Niko, she had to be brave. “Why do you two hate each other so much?”

He shrugged, looking weary. “It is an old rivalry. Nothing with which you need to concern yourself.”

From the closed look on his face, Elena knew he was unlikely to tell her anything else. She switched tactics, letting her smile widen. “Thank you for protecting me. And for keeping my secret.”

“It is my secret as well,” he said, gathering the knives from the altar floor. “As advantageous as it is for you to gain the power you need to free your Shadow, it is beneficial for me to have access to that power as well—as I am sure you must realize.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, she felt foolish. She had never thought about what Sammael would gain from helping her—but of course, he was right. What she’d done was tantamount to delivering a Dimi into the hands of a demon. Of volunteering to become a Grigori’s weapon. The blood drained from her face.

“Ah,” he said, watching her. “You haven’t. Sometimes I think you are the most innocent creature I have ever met.”

“I’m not innocent!”

“Oh, but you are.” He set down the knives, came down the altar steps, and took her hands in his—the first time he had ever touched her in such a fashion. His fingertips were rough, his skin cold. “I mean no insult, Elena. You are pure of heart. Even this—consorting with a demon—you do to protect the one you love. It is….a revelation to me.”

Elena was more than pure of heart. She was a Vila with a singular mission, to restore balance to their way of life and reclaim the man she was destined to wed. She’d never felt anything like the icy sensation of Sammael’s magic slipping through her veins, the surge of strength when she’d lifted those blades into the air and pointed one at his throat. It was a wonderful, dangerous thrill to feel so powerful, to hold magic in her hands that a Vila had never dreamed of commanding. All in the name of driving back the Darkness that threatened to devour both Niko and Iriska whole.

Elena closed her eyes, gripping his hands in hers, and concentrated on reaching outward with her mind, the way he’d taught her. She drew on the currents of air that rippled through the grass as energy flowed from Sammael’s hands into hers. A breeze began to blow, sweeping small sticks with it. They lashed against her legs as the breeze grew into a wind. When she opened her eyes, the tall grass bent to the ground, the leaves shuddering in the trees. The birds called in alarm as a branch above them broke free, hurtling to the ground with a thump.

Sammael’s mouth fell open in amazement, the most unguarded expression she had ever seen on his face. “That—” he said, sounding stunned. “Can you do it again?”

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