Silence as heavy as heartbreak fell in the warming room.
A horrifying and beautiful chuckle lilted inside Saer’s mind.
Glacial water couldn’t have run colder.
With an elegance Kalia would never achieve on her own, no matter how many millennia she lived, the Seventh’s head lifted.
Rather than familiar, comforting earth-toned irises, the whole of the demoness’s eyes were bathed in infinite ebony.Her usually sardonic and rounded lips pulled into a coquettish expression he’d never seen on Kalia’s face.
The entity possessing the Seventh’s body projected Its thoughts directly into Saer’s mind while her lips continued to simper.From Kalia, yet not of Kalia.
This is an unexpected delight.
Taking a step backward, Saer tripped over his chair and fell with a cry while Kalia’s body advanced upon him.Her human frame stood nearly a foot shorter than his, but there was no questioning where the threat came from.The First scrambled back on hands and heels, ending with his spine shoved against a wall as the Seventh’s torso loomed over him.That excruciating melody simmered, unwanted in his brain.
It would be my greatest pleasure to tell you where my Errsheken resides if you will indeed do as I ask, Saerkhanum.
36
Murmursfromoutsidethewarming room door melded with the peaceful crackling of Kalia’s fireplace and Saer’s unnerved, heavy breathing.Saer held little control over his instinct to cower, yet a smoldering rage burned inside—the caged animal desperate to fight instead of flee.
If Saer could admit it to himself, embers of the impossible also seethed beneath coals of terror and fury—relentless, crushing devotion and an enigmatic desire to be back in his creator’s favor.
He shoved that inner desire away.
Another determined knock sounded at Kalia’s door, and the demoness’s head curled towards it with sinuous precision.
“The sun is down, Miss Kalia.Has—are you well?”
Sloth’s full lips split into a disconcerting grin, and Lucifer’s honeyed voice resonated throughout the chamber, Kalia’s mouth unmoving.Children, our guests are here.Simple as that, her bare feet glided to the door to allow the monks entry.
…a girl who spoke with angels…
Saer hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor, his brain fitting the pieces together.Kalia had done this before.The visits from the fallen angel must be on a pattern, as the brothers predicted that evening, for Lucifer’s possession.
His maker’s reaction upon seeing him, however, Saer couldn’t make sense of.
Drowning black eyes were worn for hostility and disfavor.Onyx bled to crimson to foreshadow pain and punishment.
Yet, his maker within Kalia’s body smiled.
Heart hammering in his chest like a bird skirring in a cage, Saer watched and held his breath as Kalia’s hand pulled open the door.
As though a beacon of divine radiance was bestowed upon the brothers past the doorway, they collectively gasped and murmured.“The light is upon us.”“Praise be.”“This is a blessed day.”A handful of monks bowed their heads in subservience
When Lucifer answered the door to the monks, It gazed upon them with a glowing, ivory gaze, no pupil or iris.
The Seventh’s body pivoted as gracefully as a lullaby, and the flicker of beaming white shifted to midnight in Kalia’s eyes.
Displeased.
Murderous.
You see how they worship me, Saerkhanum?
None of the monks reacted to the question.His maker projected it into his mind, and his alone.
The First didn’t have the chance to respond.Brother Thomas’s voice from earlier gasped and called, “The drifter!He’s been healed!”
