Page 66 of Demon Bound

She pulled on the door. It was heavier than she expected, and it didn’t budge. Planting her feet, she heaved, and it opened with a creak. The stairs down into the earth were dimly lit by mage light coming from somewhere farther down. She stepped down, her feet quiet, both hands on her baton.

She had never thought of a cellar as a place that required decorating, but the earthen corridor was lined with alcoves containing skulls, candles, eerie violet mage lights, and statuettes of the goddess of death herself, who was always depicted with a veil covering her face. Raiya had to give the cultists credit for committing to the theme.

At the bottom of the stairs, the cellar fanned out before her. It was a sprawling space filled not with food storage but with more altars and statues—places for worship or rituals. She passed a long slab that she at first thought was dark wood, but then realized was actually pale stone stained by massive amounts of blood. The walls were lined with neat rows of suspiciously ornate jars. It wasn’t a cellar after all. It was a crypt.

A distant voice came from somewhere on the other side of the room. Raiya clutched her baton even tighter, though her fingers were already aching and sweat slicked her palms. She crept toward the voice. As she rounded the corner, the other half of the room came into view, and she sucked in a breath.

Azreth knelt on the floor, sagging and bent over. There was no magical barrier holding him, but his body was wrapped in chains. Before him were two cultists, one holding a sword and the other wielding only her hands. The woman waved her hands slowly in the air, gathering magic for a spell. Raiya watched as lightning crackled through the air and then bolted into Azreth. He barely reacted. His body stiffened and convulsed for a moment, but he didn’t seem conscious enough to feel much pain.

“Wake up!” the woman snapped at Azreth. He didn’t respond. His head was drooping, his eyes on the ground. “Pitiful, useless creature,” the woman spat, then motioned to the other cultist. The man brought his sword up and pressed it lengthwise beneath Azreth’s chin, where—though the metal looked cold—it sizzled against his skin like a brand. Iron.

Raiya broke into a run. She raised her baton above her head and brought it down on the male cultist with a furious roar. The man stumbled, bleeding heavily from the head, then dropped to the ground. Raiya spun toward the mage, who was staring at them in shock. The woman quickly whispered words to a spell, but Raiya was faster. An enchantment didn’t need words or weaving—it only needed her will.

A bolt of energy burst from the baton and hit the cultist in the chest, sending her flying backward. She slammed into the wall, then went still.

Raiya turned to Azreth, who was swaying, not looking up. She shoved the baton through her belt and took his big face in her hands, forcing him to look up at her. “Azreth?” she said,her voice hoarse. The flesh on his throat was dark and raw—a magical burn from the sword. Beneath the iron chains wrapped around his torso and arm, his skin was peeling and covered in welts.

“Azreth?” she said urgently, needing to know that he was still alive. What would this much iron do to him? What if it was too much for him to heal? What if it had poisoned him beyond repair?

His eyes flickered. His lungs seemed to flutter in his chest, his breathing hitching. “Raiya,” he murmured.

She squeezed his cheeks. “It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe.”

She had half expected that he would be suddenly invigorated now that he saw he was saved. She had pictured him standing up and shrugging off the chains. But he didn’t.

When she began pulling at the chains, she realized they were merely wrapped around him—there was no lock. The iron weakened him so much that none was needed. Raiya began unwinding them as quickly as she could, but she struggled under their weight. Azreth jerked in pain occasionally when the metal dug into him, but mostly he remained still, even as the iron seared his skin.

“Azreth, please stay awake,” Raiya begged as she worked. Chain clanked to the floor as she successfully unwrapped a short length of it. “Stay with me. Can you hear me?”

He said nothing.

She heard shouting above them. The door to the cellar creaked, and footsteps pounded on the stairs. She gave up trying to unwind the chains and just grabbed Azreth’s arm. Thrusting her hand into her pocket, she curled her fingers around the enchanted stone, feeling the etched runes. She channeled her will into it, activating the spell.

A group of cultists came around the corner. Raiya urged the spell to work quickly as the cultists ran toward her. She felt theenchantment coming to life, the magic taking hold of her and then crawling along her arm to where she clutched Azreth. One of the cultists raised his hand. A stream of fire burst from his fingertips. Raiya watched the flame as it shot toward her face. And then, just as the fire was about to reach her, it faded away. Or rather, she and Azreth faded.

The world spun around them and then turned into a messy, gray limbo laced with flashes of color, images of other places that went by too quickly to make out. Raiya’s stomach did flips, and she got the distinct sensation of moving very quickly, though she was standing perfectly still.

They collapsed to the ground in a heap, Raiya on top of Azreth. Her head spun. It was too dark to see much, but they were outside. Grass tickled her palms.

The enchantment had worked. They’d been transported outside of the temple, outside the city, far from anyone who would harm them.

She let out a shaky breath. “Azreth?”

He exhaled softly.

She cursed, pulling the unwieldy chains off him. It took longer than she would have liked. When she pulled away the last of them, she threw them as far away as she could—which wasn’t far, given how heavy they were.

Azreth would need magic to heal himself. Raiya climbed up to straddle him, thinking to… to what? Thinking about sex while he was in his current state made her feel ill, but what else could she do? Would he die if she didn’t find a way to force-feed him?

She gave a frustrated sob. “I’m sorry. We should have left when you wanted to. I let this happen. I’m so sorry.” She reached for his hand, one of the only parts of his body she was certain wasn’t hurt by the iron. “Please tell me what to do. Tell me how to help you.”

His fingers slowly closed around her hand.

“Azreth?”

His eyes glowed very faintly, barely there. He was looking up at her. Slowly, his arm circled around her waist and pulled her against him until her head rested against his pectorals, his soft breath puffing against the top of her head.

She lay still as his breathing grew deeper, sharper. His palm moved up her back to the base of her neck, holding her close as his nose pressed against her head. He opened his mouth, breathing her in greedily.

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