“And should they be insufficient to restore our maker, are you volunteering as the next in line, Runeakael?”Saer didn’t hide his impatience.
Neyu touched Saer’s elbow and she shifted forward, partway between the First and the Fifth.“Stop.”The demoness moved further so she could rest a reassuring hand on Errshek’s tense shoulder.“There’ll be no sacrifices today.Errshek is as eager to please as the rest of us.”She lifted her other hand and touched Kalia’s jaw in a calming gesture.“Kalia hasn’t been given opportunity.Regardless, these are not our calls to make.”
Wrath made a noncommittal noise as though it mattered little, but Saer knew for Runeak to back down from confrontation, respect must hold strong.
Errshek gazed upon Neyu with relieved thanks.He moved to touch her hand on his shoulder, but Neyu returned to Saer’s side.
Envy curled his claw into a fist, a hint of resentment pinching the Sixth’s face.
Easy enough for Saer to dismiss.
“Errsheken, you will go with Kaliaspher.”
Errshek’s lower jaw jutted forward, displeased, but he nodded as Kalia stretched out next to him.
Saer pivoted to the Twins next, the obvious pair, but Alus half-chuckled and waved him off.“We got it, Boss.”
Fighting his own smirk, Saer shifted his gaze to Runeak who shook her head.“I require no partner.”
Precisely as he’d hoped.A fluttering swirled in his stomach as he turned his attention to Neyu.She offered a soft incline of the head, and it was all he needed.
TheDaemoenicaknelt at the foot of Lucifer’s dais.
Though high above and slumped over Its throne, Lucifer’s voice carried to them like a flutter of dark butterfly wings.“I require blood from each of you to complete your secondary forms.”
Neyu stilled next to him.A small, frightened sound escaped Kalia.Or was it Errshek?
Lucifer shifted to lean on the opposite arm of Its magnificent throne.“MyDaemoenica, I had hoped—” Their maker stopped to catch Its breath.“You are the first of my army.One day, you will command others, and we will take back the Heavens.To do that, you all must learn to fight.”
A spike of anxiety threaded up Saer’s spine.Lucifer alluded to such before, when he’d commanded Runeak to construct the arena.He’d forgotten.
The fallen angel lifted Its chin to the sparring ring behind them.“Saerkhanum, as my First and their leader, you will begin.”
Saer’s brow furrowed.“You wish us to fight one another, Master?”
“Each will fight you, one after the other.”
Anxiety spiraled into gut-churning dread, warring with the innate need to please his maker.One after the other, which meant Neyu—
“Step into the ring, my Saerkhanum.”
He bit back his growl, rising and approaching the ring’s edge.
Runeak’s expansive, circular arena boasted endless swathes of gray stone, serving as both floor and border which she’d polished to a fine sheen.Pillars of ever-burning flames stood at four sites around the circle, casting heat and dancing shadows.Further patches of fire lined the sparring ring, brightening the space beyond the usual shadows of Hell.
“Kaliaspher,” Lucifer called.
Saer shut his eyes.
“You will go against Saerkhanum first.”
Saer’s ash-skinned, littlest sister shuffled into the ring with a fearful eye on Saer, her body language closed off and slumped.
“Begin,” Lucifer said.
They’d taken an oath to obey.
They began.
