“Once Bael is dead, what will be left of me?” I asked the darkened room. “What reason will I have to wake up each morning? To put one foot in front of the other? To go on while every single person that I cherished is cold and dead in the ground?”
It took him a moment to speak.
“Hate will be a cold consolation for the losses you have endured,” he said softly.
I looked into the fire. “Perhaps. But I have nothing else.”
He sighed. “Rose.” When I turned toward him, he was looking at me with such tenderness that it caused my breath to catch in my throat. No young man had ever looked at me in such a way. “If I agree to aid you in destroying Bael, will you promise to wait until tomorrow when we are both rested and I can fight by your side?”
It took me a moment to speak, so speechless was I by his offer. “You would ... You would do that?”
“It is our task to protect the Descendants. Allowing you to go after Bael on your own would increase your odds of being killed and Bael’s chances of escape, thereby rendering my own mission unsuccessful.”
I tried to mask my hurt. “So that is the only reason you would agree to help me? To ensure that your mission is successful and to see me out of the way so that you might earn your place as an Assassin?”
He reached up to stroke my cheek, his eyes clouded with something I already knew was desire. “You want me to give voice to what has happened between us. To explain it.” He took a deep breath, shaking his head. “I cannot. I have traveled the world over. I have slain frightful demons and been faced with questions that have no answer. Yet none of those questions come close to the one I have found in you.”
I lay my head back on his chest, embarrassed at the intensity of his gaze. “After we destroy Bael, you will have to leave, won’t you? You will be an Assassin in your own right and must continue the Council’s quest to rid the Earth of the remaining demons.”
“Yes,” he said softly. My heart warmed to him further for his honesty. “We should sleep. Tomorrow will be a challenging day for us both.”
I nodded, trying to memorize the feel of his arms around me, the rise and fall of his muscled chest as he breathed. And then, just as I fell into the mystery of sleep, I was flooded with complete and total peace.
His absence was not the first thing I noticed upon waking. It was the weak slant of light spilling from a crack in the parlor’s curtains, casting everything in the unfamiliar room a soupy gray. It took me a moment to remember; Bael at the street fight, Asher’s hand on my arm, our hiding place in the alley, my last visit to the house.
And then, Asher’s hands in my hair. His mouth on mine. The chiseled plane of his chest under my hands.
I sat up, the blankets falling away as I looked around the parlor. The embers were still hot in the fireplace, but there was no one else in the room.
Asher was gone, as I should have known he would be.
The streets were nearly empty as I made my way through town. It was too early for civilized people to be about, though I came across a few laborers and a drunkard passed out cold on the side of the road.
I was no longer nervous in the more questionable neighborhoods Bael preferred. In the past week, I had followed him to brothels, fights, seedy drinking establishments, and of course, the boarding house in which he rented a room. I saw it now, rising before me in crumbling brick, and thought back to all the times I stood in the shadows, cursing myself for allowing him to live another day.
But now I understood. Now I knew.
Those moments all led to this one. This was the moment when Bael would finally fall. And if I had anything to say about it, he would not do so at the end of the Apprentice’s Blade, but at the end of mine.
I made my way up the steps, eyeing the dark places along the buildings on either side. Bael was a creature of habit and would likely still be asleep in his bed, but it would not do to be careless now. Not after all I had been through to reach this moment.
The front door was unlocked, as it always was, and I made my way inside, closing the door softly behind me. I started up the L-shaped staircase to the right of the entry, stepping over the second squeaky riser. I was grateful my initial fury at Asher had passed. I could not afford to have anything cloud my judgment. Besides, I should be angry at myself for trusting him.
Even still, we were on the same side. We both wanted the demon dead, and I was happy to allow Asher the glory. I wanted only the knowledge of my vengeance.
The thought caused me to move faster. It was quiet in the boarding house, and I began to worry that I was too late. That Asher had already dispensed with Bael. But a moment later, a loud
I raced up the last few stairs, stopping at the top of the landing, trying to follow the sound. There was a muffled grunting and cursing, punctuated by a slamming that seemed to shake the very house. I turned my head to the right, following a terrific
Passing by the first door on the left, I continued down the hall to the second as the crashing grew louder. I stopped in front of the second door, gathering my wits and trying to calm the slamming of my heart against my chest. Then, all at once, it grew quiet, the noise from within the room stilling as quickly as it had started.
There was suddenly no time to wait.
I flung open the door, quietly but swiftly, not wanting to give Bael an advantage. It took only seconds to assess the scene before me. I calculated my options at lightning speed the way Father had taught me.
The disheveled room. Broken glass on the floor. An overturned writing desk two feet in front of me. And fifteen feet away, Bael and Asher, their bodies frighteningly still and close, against the wall across the room.
Then, the most important thing of all; Bael, one arm shoved up against Asher’s neck, choking him as he held a glistening Blade against the throbbing pulse at Asher’s throat. My fingers caressed the handle of my dagger, raising it as I felt Father’s hand on my arm, heard his voice in the recesses of my mind.
Instinct took over, and the knife left my hand before I could contemplate my chances. It sailed through the air, the ancient words inscribed on its hilt writhing and swirling as the weapon cartwheeled toward its target.
Everything slowed down, and Asher’s eyes grew wide, meeting mine over Bael’s shoulder. I did not see the fear I expected. Nor was there anger that I had come despite his obvious desire that I remain at the cottage.
No. There was only relief and gratitude and something deeper and too complex to name.
It all happened in the instant before the knife hit Bael between the shoulder blades, a sickening
But then a crimson blanket began to spread outward from the knife protruding from his back. Bael’s arm loosened and then dropped from Asher’s throat as he staggered backward, falling to the floor, his eyes roaming the room desperately for a glimpse of his killer.
When he saw me, still standing in the doorway, his eyes flashed.
“You.” It was not an accusation but a declaration.
A second later, flames erupted at the center of his body, a flash of purple fire rising from them in the moment before the flames disappeared in a muffled whoosh, leaving nothing in its place save the faint smell of burning mortal flesh.
Asher slid down the wall, his breath coming in ragged gasps, a fine line of blood trickling from a small cut in his neck. I knelt beside him, waiting for his breath to steady and wondering if he would be angry after all. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, and I braced myself for his wrath, my arguments at the ready.
“You have good aim,” he croaked.
I nodded, my shoulders sagging in relief. “Thank you.”
I do not know how long we sat in the now-quiet room. Time had warped and slowed in the aftermath of Bael’s destruction. Finally, I could not wait any longer.
“I suppose you’ll be going now? Moving on to the next demon? Attempting to protect another family of
