Page 91 of Cleansed By Water (The Nature Hunters Academy 3)

Liam was beside her a second later. “I’m with you, always. We’ll get through this.”

She knew he could feel her confusion and stress, but she nodded and then looked for her next target. They had to win, no matter the number of lives she had to take. Hell’s gates could not be opened.

* * *

Shelly was exhausted.Her hands felt like they were burning up, though she knew that wasn’t the case. If it wasn’t for Ra assisting her with his own power, she would have dropped long ago. She tried to assist Ra deal with three acolytes who were battling their way to the light royals in hopes of disrupting their spell to trap Dolion. But she was just so damn tired.

“Hang on,Mery,” Ra said as he put up a wall of fire between them and the acolytes. “It’s almost over.”

She looked over her shoulder and saw that the chalice in the center of the light royals’ circle had opened into a large hole in the ground. Fire leaped from it. A bellow shook the ground, and her head whipped around to see Dolion, the demon who Osiris had been fighting, throw back his head as his body began to crack—literally crack, as if he was made of stone and he’d been struck by a hammer. The demon shook his head from side to side, and fire sprang from his fingertips.

Osiris, who was looking all kinds of scary in his demon form—though Shelly would recognize those eyes and wicked smile anywhere—stood back, staring at Dolion with the satisfaction of a man who knew he’d won.

Ra wrapped an arm around Shelly and pulled her against him as the ground began to shake violently. She couldn’t take her eyes off Dolion as the demon was pulled toward the circle of light royals. By the time he reached the center, his body was coming apart. The pieces were sucked down into the hole, which closed with a resounding boom.

Everything went still. Those who had been fighting suddenly stopped, and the battlefield stood silent.

Shelly looked around and saw the shocked faces of the dark royals as they stared at the light royals.They clearly hadn’t expected to lose this battle. One by one, they disappeared as portals opened and acolytes dove through them. A few moments later, the forces of darkness had scattered. All that remained in the clearing werethe light royals, the warriors and professors, the stone golems, and the pixies.

“That turned out to be easier than I thought.”

And Osiris.She turned to look at the lord of the underworld, who had returned to his human form and appeared all clean and neat in a black suit. Who the hell puts on a suit after a bloody battle? Satan, that’s who.

Things were only calm for a second before movement caught Shelly’s eye. Zuri leaped from where she’d been standing. Using the earth like a springboard, she flew at Osiris.

“This is all your fault,” she roared as she landed in front of the lord of the underworld. Her fist came back and flew forward the second she was in reach, plowing into Osiris’s shocked face.

Shelly gasped and, without thinking, pulled out of Ra’s hold. She ran toward Osiris and Zuri as she yelled at him, “Stop! Don’t touch her.”

Zuri threw out bolts of green power, but Osiris batted them away as if they were pesky gnats. Zuri kicked and punched, and Osiris met her tit for tat. He didn't even look like he was trying.

“He would still be alive if you had done your job and kept your damn demons in line,” Zuri growled as she stomped her foot, making the ground shift. Osiris sidestepped the movement and backhanded Zuri.

Shelly came to a staggering halt, realizing he’d just been deflecting blows up until that point. He hadn’t actually hurt Zuri, but now the earth elementalist warrior wore a bruise across her face.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, little girl,” Osiris snarled at Zuri.

“I know that Dolion was yours, and you lost control of him,” Zuri spat back. She lunged again, but Osiris was ready. He whipped around and came up behind Zuri, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as a blade appeared out of nowhere and was suddenly against Zuri's throat.

“NO!” Shelly screamed, and she was moving again.

“SHELLY,” Ra’s voice finally broke through her fear, and she knew he’d been calling her the whole time. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw a wall of fire. Ra’s skin was burnt from where he’d tried to get through but couldn’t.

Shelly whipped back around and met Osiris’s flaming eyes. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded.

Zuri tried to stomp on Osiris’s foot but he moved, as if he knew what she was going to do before she did.

“You’re the reason Jax is dead,” Zuri said as Shelly watched a single tear slide down the female warrior’s face. “Because you couldn’t hold hell together. What kind of incompetent lord are you?”

Shelly wanted to tell Zuri to shut up, but she knew the woman was devastated and angry. She needed to take it out on someone, and Osiris was the logical target because itwashis fault. Dolion had gotten out of control, and it had been the lord of the underworld's job to keep his demons in check.

“You have no idea what it takes to rule my realm,” he told Zuri, though he was looking at Shelly. “You have no idea the sacrifices I make to keep the humans from becoming fodder to the demons I am tasked with.”

“Sacrifices?” Zuri spat. “You know nothing of sacrifices. You know nothing of the pain true sacrifice causes.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Osiris said as his eyes bore into Shelly’s. “I know exactly what kind of pain giving up something you want—someoneyou want--causes.”

Shelly shook her head at him. She knew he was talking about her, but there was no way he could mean that. He didn’t want her, not really. He wanted the idea of her. A bride to rule at his side. Someone to offer him company instead of just the wailing souls.

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