Page 124 of Hell-Bound

Azur gasped, and the song ended. Ren could feel the tightening in her chest as small thumps returned to her heart space.

She began to come back to herself and surveyed her body, starting with her hands. Her left hand looked completely normal, but her right, having taken the brunt of the acid, was maimed with raised scars. She moved them, testing. The skin felt tight, straining to stretch, and felt a similar tightness in her abdomen. Looking down, the lower half of her shirt had burned away, and she was deeply scarred.

Azur’s whole body slackened in relief.

“Fuck, Ren! I can’t even remember the last time someone scared me like that.”

Her head was swimming from the shock.

“Medical magic should be able to heal the scars,” he spoke clearly, “if that’s…something you’d want. Personally, I think you’re looking less like a daisy every minute, and I mean that as a compliment.”

“How did you know that my piccolo could heal me?” she asked, mind still fuzzy from the shock.

He shook his head.

Something else he couldn’t tell her.

“You saved me,” she said, groggily.

Azur thought it was a question. “No, your piccolo saved you. I just made it to where you were strong enough to play. Plus, I owe you. This dragon business was my fault.”

Ren reached for him, needing aid to sit up.

“Are there any other giant beasts I should know about?” she said, trying to inject a bit of humor despite her lingering soreness.

“No. I was pretty confident no one would survive Tevlov.”

Ren tried to stand, but her legs wobbled, and she had to sit again.

“Rest for a moment. We are close,” he said, steadying her. “We can’t help your parents if you can’t reach them.”

“And Nephele.” she said between shaky breaths.

“Nephele?”

“Yes, my partner—”

“I know who Nephele is,” he interjected.

Feeling a bit less woozy, she grinned.

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous, Mister Envy?”

“In the first place, I am within my rights as The King of Sinners to be envious. Secondly, I am not jealous ofNephele. I just didn’t realize I was on a mission to save your boyfriend.”

“And my parents!”

“Which is why I’m still here,” he said, helping Ren to her feet.

Her brain had mostly cleared, and her vision was no longer blurry, thanks to her piccolo’s apparent healing properties. Besides the scars, the only evidence that she had been close to death was the large burnt patches on her clothes.

“Why didn’t my piccolo work on the dragon?” she asked, remembering her desperate attempt to pacify the creature.

“Tevlov was a magical being. He would have been able to resist your song, or your piccolo was trying to protect you. Didn’t want you to give your position away—again—only for it to fail.”

“My piccolo has full sentients, then?”

His lips thinned, carefully considering his next words. “Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. Contracts siphon some of my godly powers. That’s what allows me to grant the desires of the recipients. Your contract, your piccolo, could have siphoned off more power than most. But itcouldbe that your piccolo was already imbued with some power before our…negotiation.” His words were delicate, dancing around as to not give away too much of her past.

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