Page 67 of Each Their Own Devil

“No. No one is going on a suicide mission. I already have some Ignisium, but I might need more,” she snapped. “Give me the vial.”

“Lady of Wrath, I’m afraid I must disagree with this decision. After Val, it’s most important that you?—”

“The High General and I worked out a plan,” she said. This was mostly true. “That’s why we have an Avisai with us.”

For a moment, Aleja felt pity for these soldiers, who had fallen under her command through no fault of their own. The little dragon huffed, but it was the sharp-toothed officer who answered. “The Avisai are faster and can fly higher than the Authorities, Lady of Wrath, but they tire quickly. We lost many of them to such diversion tactics.”

“It’s not going to be a diversion tactic. I just need to get close to them from the air for a moment. Garm, stay near Val. As soon as the rest of you see your opening, advance as quickly as possible.”

Her hellhound gave a low grunt of agreement as she climbed from the Umbramare onto the Avisai, with only half an idea of how she was going to pull this off. The Authorities’ scent was familiar by now, washing over her as she urged the Avisai skyward and tried to balance herself in a way that would allowher to raise her left hand. This wasn’t to shoot fire but to aim the small packets of Ignisium she had taken from the officer’s coat.

“Listen to me,” she told the Avisai. “We’re going to fly fast and low, and you need to outmaneuver them. Do you understand?”

The Avisai huffed again.

“Good. And most of all, whatever you do, just keep pushing forward, okay?”

At the Avisai’s next huff, Aleja turned in her saddle, suddenly aware that the Authorities weren’t as slow compared to her dragon as she had hoped. There was no time to decide what she would summon when several sets of gnashing, stinking teeth were eager to adorn themselves with her blood. She half-blindly tossed the bag of Ignisium in their direction, then freed her left hand from the saddle.

The two beasts that emerged from her torrent of fire were enormously large. They most resembled wolves—no,hellhounds. Her magic didn’t stretch as far as that of the other Dark Saints, but the hounds did their jobs, gnashing their flaming jaws. It was only two seconds—one—until they reached the packets of Ignisium spread across the ground, and they began to smolder.

The world turned gold. Here, in the land of the First, it was an exquisite color, as fine and rare as chunks of pure precious metal flecked with licks of dark fire. The air filled with the smell of burnt hair—a scent Aleja had come to associate with the Authorities whenever her flames caught one of their wings.

The Avisai veered upward, sensing the massive tower of fire that followed as the Ignisium exploded. One of the Authorities made a sound close to a scream, but Aleja couldn’t see it through the billowing black smoke.

The Avisai could not move quickly enough to avoid the rush of noxious smoke that engulfed them. It veered too sharply,and Aleja slipped to the side. She felt the dragon try to adjust beneath her to keep her in the saddle, but it was too late.

Aleja had already fallen down its flanks so far that gravity took hold, forcing her to let go of the reins.

The Avisai screeched.

The smoke rose.

And Aleja fell.

For a moment,as she regained consciousness, Aleja believed she was back in her dingy apartment in the city, waking from a long dream about the Knowing One, his Dark Saints, and the enormous people in winged masks who claimed the world was about to end.

She gave a hiss of pain as she pushed herself to her feet. The sharpness in her side told her she had, at the very least, broken a rib in the fall. She had no idea how long it would take for her to stop feeling as though a blade was being driven into her lungs with every breath. A choked sob escaped her mouth before she managed to steady herself and try to get her bearings.

The smoke was still too thick to see more than a few yards in any direction—if not for it, the Authorities would have swarmed her by now—but she could hear shouting. She ran blindly toward the noise, drawing her stiletto blade as she moved. Even this motion was painful, and she wasn’t sure how much fire she had left to summon without a few moments to recharge.

She tried to reach out through the marriage bond, but the distance between her and Nicolas was too great. What Aleja did see, however, was the silhouette of a burnt Authority throughthe smoke. It was no longer twitching or taking its last gulping breaths. Her makeshift bomb had dropped on two of them, but the others had undoubtedly already spotted Val and the Third.

It’s a shame…she thought distantly, in a voice that sounded like the one that used to reside behind the locked door in her mind.…that I’ll have to scorch this beautiful place.

Her ribs were already feeling better, but any physical relief was dampened as the smoke began to clear. There was another lump on the ground, sweeping its long tail weakly against the dirt as if trying to push itself up.

“No,” Aleja gasped, rushing toward the Avisai. Even through the smoke, the patches of its burnt flesh were pale pink and raw. Her touch was met with a weak rumble of pain.

“I’m so sorry?—”

The Avisai whined and tried again to move before giving up.

“It’s okay,” Aleja soothed. “I have to go and make sure that Val gets this done, but then I’m coming back for you. Just keep breathing.”

When she summoned a fiery hellhound, it was wispy and transparent. “Protect her,” Aleja said to it, unsure whether the creature would obey her as easily as Nicolas’s Umbramares obeyed him.

“Keep breathing,” she commanded the Avisai again. It took all her strength to run toward the sound of fighting, leaving behind the pleading whine—a universal sound that meantplease don’t leave me alonein every language.

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