Demon Marked

it would never go.

Her laughter faded, but her amusement didn’t. “Oh, Nicky—your expression almost makes up for all of the pain you’ve caused me. It almost makes up for that stupid girl throwing herself between us, even after she agreed not to. It almost makes up for three years in the Pit, with my skin flayed, and my flesh stripped from my bones and fed to hellhounds. Do you know what that is like, Nicky? Oh, but I would love every human to know.”

Not just evil, Nicholas recognized. That torture had broken her. “You’re mad.”

“Mad?” Madelyn’s laugh rang out again, wild, unchecked. “No, not anymore. Not after three years of searching for the right Gate, through every ruin in England. Do you know how many ruins there are on this cursed island? And when I finally found it, I learned that you’ve taken my little Ashmodei and have tried to hide her away.”

Not well enough. “I’ll destroy you, any way that I can. If it means you fail to sacrifice her and break your bargain with Lucifer, all the better.”

“We’ll see if someone will break their bargain—but it won’t be me. Oh, Ashmodei,” she sang out, and vanished her swords. “You can stand up now, love. You can also speak again. I think it’s time to play a little game with Nicky.”

Ash rose, naked and lean and strong, with her eyes shining fiercely red. Mud tangled in her hair and concealed half her tattoos. Leathery wings folded at her back.

She was absolutely beautiful . . . and she’d been going to let Madelyn sacrifice her. She’d been willing to die, just to keep from returning to that frozen field.

Nicholas would give everything he could to make certain she didn’t have to do either.

He smiled, his arrogant son-of-a-bitch smile that had led to Madelyn trying to shoot him once before. “What game will we play? ‘Make Ash kill Nicky?’ There’s only one problem with that, Madelyn.” He showed her the grenade in his left hand. “You let her get close enough, and I’ll blow her to Hell. That means you wouldn’t be able to fulfill your bargain with Lucifer, and you’d end up screaming in the frozen field.”

Madelyn’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me. You’re going to kill her, anyway. I’ll take a lot of fucking pleasure knowing that you’ll pay for it.”

“And that close to the explosion, you’ll die, too.” Madelyn tilted her head. “But let’s see what happens, make a little test. Ash, take that grenade from him and bring it to me.”

“That will break the Rules,” Ash said softly. “It’ll bring the Guardians. By ‘take,’ do you mean that I should persuade him to give it to me?”

“Are you disobeying me, halfling?”

“I’m simply verifying exactly what you want, so that I can obey to your satisfaction.”

No, Nicholas thought. Ash was lying. She could do anything she wanted to him. But if Ash could do anything she wanted to Madelyn, she’d probably have already done it. He had to assume she was bound not to hurt the demon.

So that would be up to him.

He slipped his finger through the pin. “She can take the grenade straight back to you. You better hope that she holds down the safety lever.”

“Ash, bring me his finger, too.”

“Of course. Which one?”

Madelyn frowned at her. “The left forefinger, the one in the pin. And that way, his hand will be a match to yours.”

“What?” Cold fury spiked through him. “Show me.”

Ash didn’t. Laughing, Madelyn grabbed her wrist, lifted Ash’s hand into view, and flicked a long fingernail against the stub of a knuckle. Jesus.

“Nicky, love. You always give yourself away. You shake with rage because of a finger and yet threaten to kill her? I don’t think so.”

Ash closed her eyes. “If you let me go, I’ll bring the grenade to you now.”

“No, no. Just kill him. And we’ll finish the sacrifice before the Guardians come.”

“Of course, Madelyn.” Her voice was flat. “How should I do it?”

The demon pursed her lips, her gaze running the length of Nicholas’s body. “So many possible ways. But I can’t ask anything complicated of a halfling and expect it to be done right. So let’s keep it simple: Break his neck. Then come back here and lie down again, so that we can finish this ritual.”

Without hesitation, Ash stepped forward. Over the sick beating of his heart, he held her gaze, tried to let her know that this decision was right. Anything to keep her from the frozen field. Anything to bring her a few steps away from Madelyn, where maybe, maybe, he could think of some way to give her time, to help her escape.

“Just make sure you kiss me first,” he said.

A sad little smile curved her lips, the first real expression he’d seen. She paused, midstep. “Madelyn, when I’m breaking his neck, should I twist to the left or to the right?”

“What does it matter? To the left.”

“My left or his left?”

“His. You idiot.”

“I am just trying to be precise as I carry out your orders,” Ash said, and this time her eyes narrowed slightly, in the same way she had when they’d trained together and she was considering her next strike. “There are several vertebrae in the neck. Which one should I aim to snap? I’ve never killed a man in this way before.”

“I don’t care. The third.”

“Oh.” Ash’s smile turned slightly apologetic. “I’m sorry, Nicholas. I have to ask you to face away from me before I can break your neck, because I first have to feel along your spine and count your vertebrae. I must find the location of the third, you see. I cannot disobey her.”

What was she doing? Simply delaying?

“Are you delaying, halfling?” Madelyn’s voice filled with threat.

“Obeying,” Ash corrected. The crimson glow of her eyes faded, and through the dusk, her gaze sought Nicholas’s. “I know that as long as I am in the process of carrying out your orders, I am obeying—and that in this sort of bond, it is not the completion of the task that matters. All that matters is that I am acting to fulfill it. So even if one of us dies before I finish, I am not reneging on our bargain.”

No, not simply delaying. Trying to tell him—

“Are you trying to tell Nicholas to kill you?” Madelyn’s laugh rang out over the field again. “Answer me truthfully.”

“I’m not,” Ash said. “I know he would not, even though it would stop the ritual.”

He wouldn’t have hurt her for any reason. She had to know that. What did she need from him, then?

“Are you telling him to kill me? Answer me truthfully.”

“No such words have passed my lips. That would be disobeying. I only obey, as I walk to him now with the intention of finding his third vertebrae.” Her gaze fell to the grenade in his hand, lifting to meet his eyes again. “I would never disobey.”

Oh, Ash. He realized now that she wanted him to throw it toward Madelyn as soon as she reached him, and hope that the distance—and a small, ruined wall—would be enough to shield them both. A desperate, last-ditch attempt . . . that didn’t have a chance. Madelyn was too quick. She could be halfway across the field before the toss he aimed landed at her feet.

When the explosion failed to destroy Madelyn, Ash would refuse to kill him, and she would be lost to the frozen field. Only the miracle of the Guardians’ arrival might stop any of it.

Nicholas wouldn’t count on a miracle to save her.

“Stop,” he said. His throat had thickened, his lungs filled with burning lead. He pushed the grenade into his pocket, held up his empty hands. “Stop, Ash. I’ll come to you. I’ll let you kill me of my free will.”

“What?” Horror filled Ash’s face. “Nicholas, no.”

“I can’t bear knowing what will happen if you do this.” Hoarse truth. He stepped over the low wall. “I just want to kiss you. Just let me kiss you, one last time. It won’t break the Rules. It won’t bring the Guardians to kill you. Madelyn, please.”