Page 56 of Hell-Bound

Jester paced anxiously behind her, darting his eyes around the hall.

Ren took a full minute to find the switches—there were two—and pick the lock, but they entered without incident.

This empty room was even more spectacular than the hall. It was an elegant office, every wall covered in shelves upon shelves of vestiges, relics, and books of all shapes and sizes. The only surface uninhabited was the large window on the far end.

“Don’t get all doe-eyed, Elfy. Get in, get out! That’s the plan!” he said as he ran over to the first set of books, pulling them off the shelves and discarding them roughly.

Ren fully gasped now.

“Jester, what are you doing!? These things could be thousands of years old!”

She dashed to pick them up gingerly and return them to their rightful place.

He didn’t pause his rummaging.

“Leave the junk! Azur said that lives were on the line here! And say what you want about thatprick,but he isn’t prone to lying!”

Then, something caught Ren’s eye, lying on a polishedstone desk.

A violin.

I know that violin.

Memories of Xarek’s breath, too close to her skin, sent an involuntary chill through her body.

Ignoring the thumps of books hitting the carpet, she walked, almost floating, to the violin.

It was lacquered and shining, the bow laying delicately astride it. It looked ethereal, god-like in its perfection.

I need it.

“What are youdoing?” Jester grumbled from the other side of the room.

Ren quickly busied herself with the papers lying on the desk.

“Looking! Not all of us throw things around like a banshee on a bender!”

Most were written in the now-familiar, sharp script. She picked one up, examined it, and returned it to the desk. She repeated this motion several times searching for Azur’s mark until she spotted a small scratch of writing that she could read—written with such twisted letters that she almost didn’t recognize it.

Only two words.

Renata Eldanuer.

Alas, I am incapable of good or selflessness. Trying only leads to the inevitable pain and tragedy I wrought upon The Planes. I cannot deny that it is a part of every cell in my Immortal body.

Spots appeared in her vision. Renata Eldanuer.

My name.

She clutched the letter in her hands, wrinkling the edges slightly. Another Devil, Xarek, knew about her. More thansheknew about her. Knew her name—had been writing about her.

Hands sweating, Renata shoved the page into her pocket.

I have to get out of here.

Plonk! Plonk! Plonk went the heavy tomes as they hit the floor.

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