Page 2 of Demon Bound

“I do.”

“Then why do youinsiston testing me?” he hissed, his temper snapping.

Was it her imagination, or was the corridor getting narrower?

A passing thought came to her, and she swallowed tightly. “I hope you don’t mean to bury me down here, Nirlan,” she joked, her lips twitching into a nervous, half-hysterical smile. If he did, no one would ever find out. Perhaps her mind truly was broken after so many months of misery with him, because she nearly laughed at the irony of walking into her own grave.

Nirlan ignored her. His lips were pressed in a tight line, and his dark eyes were focused on the tunnel ahead. As Raiya followed his gaze, she could see why. There was a soft glow coming from around the corner at the end of the tunnel. It was a color that seemed almost outside the spectrum visible to mortal eyes, like something that shouldn’t exist on this plane. A sense of foreboding squirmed through her belly.

The closer they got to the unnatural light, the worse she felt. She could hardly describe the waves of unpleasant sensation that made her want to run, made her stomach turn. It was as if the light itself emitted fear and hatred. It was physically oppressive, like being in a hot room filled with smoke.

“Nirlan?”

“Be quiet. We’ve arrived.”

They passed beneath a stone arch, beyond which was a vast, high-ceilinged room. A swell of something heavy and intangible washed over her, taking her breath away.

The room was mostly empty, except for the hundreds of glowing runes circling the floor around a large, translucent box, roughly six feet on each side, which was the source of the otherworldly light. The box was a magical barrier of some kind, its sides formed by that strange light. Inside it was a large, dark shape that Raiya couldn’t quite make out through the barrier… until it moved.

Vague outlines of long limbs. A head that slowly tilted up to look at her. Eyes that were vibrant, glowing blue, somehow lit from within. The creature was mostly man-shaped, except forthe goat-like horns curving from its forehead along the top of its head. It was not human, nor elven, nor anything else she’d ever seen in Heilune, and it was massive.

She took a step backward, running into Nirlan. “What is that?” she breathed.

“Don’t you know a demon when you see one, Raiya?”

The demon’s eyes met hers. They were flat blue, without iris or pupil, making it hard to judge the direction of its gaze, but somehow she knew it was looking directly at her.

She had found the source of the terrible sensation she’d been feeling. The demon’s anger filled the room. But, curiously, the expression on its face was blank.

Was it furious because it had been imprisoned in this dungeon, or was this just its baseline emotional state? It made sense that demons would be perpetually filled with rage. It positively radiated hellish power, even from behind the barrier.

“Why is there a demon beneath the castle?” Raiya asked.

“Because I summoned it. Don’t worry. It can’t escape its cage.”

“Does it… obey you?”

“Not yet. But it will.”

Raiya turned to look at Nirlan with disbelief. The only people who summoned demons were fools desperate for power and not too concerned with how they obtained it. In a way, she wasn’t surprised. Nirlan had always had an interest in occult lore and magic, though he seemed more interested in the idea of it than in actually learning. She thought it was one of the reasons he’d been attracted to her in the beginning. She had no doubt that Eunaios was the brains behind this, though. Nirlan must have tasked him with obtaining a demon, and Eunaios had figured out how to do it.

Demons inevitably turned on their summoners. They were immensely powerful beings, halfway between mortals and gods.It was said that they were relentlessly evil, violent and lustful, motivated only by a desire for chaos. They came to Heilune to toy with mortals, to kill and rape and feed. They could cast spells to rival any mage. They were stronger than giants, and even harder to kill. Raiya doubted it could be held captive for long. Nirlan and everyone around him could end up dead by this monster’s hands.

“Well?” Nirlan asked. “What do you think of it?”

She tentatively looked up at Nirlan, not knowing what kind of response he wanted. He smiled at her, then pushed her forward. Raiya instinctively dug her heels into the floor, which made her trip and fall to her hands and knees in front of the demon. Suddenly, she was far too close to it. Only the magical barrier kept it from reaching out and touching her.

The box was too small for the demon to stand in, so it was kneeling. It looked down at her, its expression still impassive and somehow judging.

Had Nirlan brought her down here to kill her after all? Did he mean to sacrifice her to the demon? What would a demon do with a sacrifice? Torture her? Eat her? Fuck her and then eat her?

She felt cold, chilled to the bone. She had always feared he might kill her someday, but not like this. “Why did you bring me here?”

Nirlan’s hand clasped the back of her neck. She winced as he angled her head up to make her look at the demon. The creature leaned closer to the barrier, cocking its head a little as it stared at her. Its eyes flared brighter in its cold, stony face. Raiya felt faint.

“Do you see the glow in its eyes?” Nirlan said in her ear. “It senses your panic. It’s drinking your fear. You’re feeding it power.”

“Nirlan, please don’t do this.”

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