Page 65 of Demon Bound

His smile wilted slightly. “That’s… refreshingly simple, I guess.”

“As if you had a better idea?” Madira snarled.

“No, I don’t,” he admitted.

“Make nice, Madira,” Jai said under her breath. “I’ll go with the Paladin. You go with Raiya.”

“Absolutely not.” Madira strode forward to grab a wary Adamus’s hand. “I will go with him. You stay with Raiya, Jai.”

They moved toward the temple. The street was empty, and their path to the door was clear.

“He didn’t go with the cultists willingly. They abducted him,” Raiya whispered to the Paladin as they padded across the street—because she felt it was important he knew. She felt Adamus looking at her for a few moments before he replied.

“I understand.” He was probably humoring her, but it made her feel better anyway. She wanted them to understand that this wasn’t Azreth’s fault.

When they came close to the light of the torches at the front door, Madira turned to Raiya and Jai. “Are you ready?” he whispered. “There’s no backing down after this.”

Raiya felt a sharp pang of anxiety in her chest. She was not a fighter or a spy. She wasn’t made for things like this. But lately, she’d been doing a lot of things she had never thought herself capable of. She could do this, too.

“Ready,” she whispered before she could change her mind. She squeezed Jai with one hand and clutched the handle of her baton in the other.

There was a beat, and then Madira and Adamus rushed the cultists at the door. The guards didn’t even have time to draw their weapons. Madira and Adamus quickly and quietly beat them over the head one after another with the hilts of their swords, and they dropped. Raiya couldn’t tell whether they were still alive, but at this point, after getting a glimpse of the cultists’ true beliefs, she didn’t care. One of the guards in the windows above gave a shout, sounding an alarm.

Madira shoved open the door and slipped inside, and the rest of them followed. Madira scanned the entrance, then nodded to Raiya. “Go. We’ll delay them.”

Raiya pulled Jai down the corridor to the main hall. They peered through the doorway into the room. Azreth wasn’t there. The spot where they’d imprisoned him was empty, the carpet smoothed over the runes on the floorboards again.

And yet she was certain he was still inside the building. She could feel him. His misery was seeping through the walls like a bad odor. They were getting closer.

They continued down the hall. Nearby shouts rang out periodically and rushed footsteps pounded on the floor above them. Behind them, Raiya could hear the clashing of blades.

There were only so many places in the temple that would be adequate for securing a demon. She doubted they would keep him in the sleeping quarters or the kitchen. The attic, perhaps?

She closed her eyes and listened past the footsteps and voices. She listened to the fury and darkness that scented the air and thrummed across her skin like a pulse.

She opened her eyes. It was coming from the floor.

“Cellar,” she whispered to Jai. “There must be a cellar.”

“Through the kitchen?” Jai suggested. Raiya turned and pulled her back toward the kitchen. They ducked into a dark alcove when a pair of cultists ran by, then continued on until they reached the darkened kitchen.

Raiya scanned the room, looking past a smoldering hearth, worn table, and neatly stacked dishes.

In the back corner of the kitchen was a trap door.

Raiya turned to Jai. “This is far enough. Go back to Madira.”

“But—”

“You need to get out. I can’t take both you and Azreth when I leave. Go on.”

Jai hesitated, then nodded. As she let go of Raiya, her spell left Raiya’s body, rendering her visible again. Jai disappeared back down the hallway.

Chapter 20

Raiya was alone. She stared at the cellar door, her heart racing.

She could do this.

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