Page 32 of Each Their Own Devil

Garm took a step closer, his hot breath brushing against the back of Aleja’s neck. The mage who would be called theDissenter did not turn to look at his comrades, but they did not share his discipline. There was a rustle as several feathered masks turned to one another, a series of silent questions passing between them.

“Well?” Nicolas said.

When the mage’s lower lip twitched slightly, Aleja realized that these mutineers had come prepared to negotiate at any cost. “Fine,” he snapped. “You can call me Merivus. What I’ve heard about the Otherlanders is true—you’re all a bunch of brutes.”

“Brutes that you are desperate to bargain with,” Nicolas said. “So go on. Let’s assume you summoned me with a black candle. Tell me what you wish me to grant you and make an offer.”

One of the Astraelis standing behind Merivus shifted. Though his hand came no closer to the sword hilt hidden by his robes, Aleja noticed the way his fingers flexed in anticipation. Her palms warmed with magic, but Nicolas’s warning to Orla applied to her as well.

“It was not our faction that decided to attack your realm—we would not be so foolish—but our goal is the same,” Merivus said. “We want you to kill Val, the traitor currently in your custody.”

There was a long silence. Even the birds that had returned to the field to pick insects from the grass disturbed by the Umbramares’ hooves stopped chirping. Orla’s low scoff broke the quiet, but Nicolas spoke over it.

“Interesting,” he said. His tone carried no emotion other than the soft tilt of curiosity; the same tone Aleja had heard when she once offered him the heart of the next person to fall in love with her in exchange for Otherlander magic.

“Interesting?” Merivus rumbled back.

“I don’t need to inform you that Val is the Messenger’s son, and therefore, a valuable prisoner. What could you possibly offer that would make us want to kill him in exchange?”

“The Third,” Merivus said. “That is all I will say until we have your agreement, Knowing One. Nor will I enter into a formal bargain with you. You’ll have to take my word for it.”

For the first time, Merivus turned away from Nicolas to look at his fellow soldiers. If Aleja had suspected division in their ranks about simply coming here to negotiate, this seemed to confirm it. Her thoughts flickered to Val, locked in his cell beneath the palace. Nicolas wouldn’t allow him to die, no matter what the mutineers offered. Val was too useful, and he had never?—

Aleja forced herself to stop. Sympathy for Val was dangerous. He had betrayed the Otherlanders to his mother, which was why he now sat in a bare cell.

“That last part is going to be a problem,” Nicolas replied. “The only thing I trust the Astraelis to do is fertilize the soil of the Hiding Place with their fallen bodies. If we can agree on anything before one of my Saints decides they’re done entertaining you, it is going to be sealed by magic.”

Aleja tugged on the marriage bond, an unspoken question flowing through it. Nicolas could not seriously be considering this bargain, could he? The Otherlanders did not execute war prisoners, no matter what they might tell the Astraelis. And Nicolas could not fail to fulfill a bargain for a second time. Aleja had only been able to bring him back by entering into a deal with the Second—a deal she had yet to pay for. She had to be the one to kill the Messenger. Nicolas knew that.

He returned an answer, but the response was a mess of sensations—something dark, conflicted.If we have the Third, then we stand a chance of stopping the Avaddon ourselves, assuming it’s real,he said.

It doesn’t matter if we don’t have Val or if they don’t let us into the Astraelis realm to destroy the First, she shot back.

I have no intention of losing Val, Aleja, but we still need to consider the fact that the Messenger is…

Lying,she finished, feeling ill for having to think the words.

“I will think about it,” Merivus said after a long moment.

“Good,” Nicolas replied. “But we have terms as well. I will not deal with you blindly. Why do you want Val dead? He’s a useful bargaining chip for you too.”

Merivus’s shoulders straightened, but he was nearly as inscrutable as the Messenger behind his mask. “The Messenger is weak. We want to weaken her further.”

Nicolas raised a dark eyebrow. “Your only interest in killing him is toupsether? Perhaps I should let you open a void beneath their feet, Orla,” he said as he turned to the Dark Saint of Envy. “I was prepared to entertain these mutineers until they revealed their war strategy.”

No, Aleja thought wildly, as two memories clicked together in her head—separate warnings, from both Violet and the Messenger, each given in secret from the other. There were Astraelis that welcomed the Avaddon, the end of all things. If Val was dead, there was no hope of killing the First. The next yank she gave on the marriage bond was violent enough that Nicolas’s eyes flickered to her for a moment.

We can’t do this. The Messenger believes that there are Authorities who want the Avaddon to happen. They want Val out of the way. He’s the only one who can stop it,she sent.

Half the Dark Saints don’t believe that. These mutineers are offering peace. If we turn them down, and you’re wrong…

I…I don’t know why I believe it, but I do. Please trust me.

I do. But by stopping this, I may lose Orla and Bonnie’s support, and we’ll need them for the fight to come. Not to mention Merit, who will follow Orla’s lead.

Then I’ll do it.

Aleja—

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