“Neyu,” he whispered, his throat suddenly tight.
“She’s well.You didn’t hold her long enough to do any permanent damage.Don’t move, Saerkhanum.”
He gulped.
“It’s a powerful gift and my way of maintaining order.You’re my First, and so not only may you wield it upon Neyuukhan, but the others as well.”
The rest of theDaemoenicashifted from their stances around the ring, looking at one another.
Saer nodded, uncertainty coiled around his insides as he stared at Neyu’s trembling body.“And you, Master?”
“I, Saerkhanum?”
He licked his cracked lips and tasted blood.“You could do it to me?”
“Of course.But I’m the only one, my child.Just as Neyuukhan can only perform such a deed to those below you, and not you.”
“If I hadn’t ceased the focus—”
“She would have been consumed by flames and reduced to ashes, Saerkhanum.”
Fear spiked, cold and horrifying in Saer’s chest as Lucifer continued Its elucidation.“This power is for unmaking.You may also invoke anyDaemoenictrue name to command them—orders which they cannot decline, so long as they are below you in the hierarchy.”
He licked his lips once more, not sure how to respond, and therefore asked a different question.“May I go to her?”
The fallen angel paused long enough for Saer to stop breathing, then, “You may.”
Saer unfroze and approached the Second with caution.When Saer’s limping hooves stood at her side, he knelt and whispered, “Neyu.”
She made a quiet noise and rushed to sit.Neyu shuffled away, keeping her gaze lowered in submission.
“Neyu?”
The demoness rose and dashed from the ring.
Lucifer’s pleased voice echoed from Its throne.“Thus is the price of leadership, my First.Come to me so I may heal your wounds.”
10
LuciferhealedSaer’sinjurieswhile consuming more of his blood.He stayed conscious long enough to note the blur of scarlet liquid on his maker’s lips.
Saer drifted off to the fallen angel’s praise, “You’ve done well, my child.”
He slept, soaking in the Hellsfire as the blaze worked to restore and heal what Lucifer could—or would—not.
A familiar, if tentative, caress skimmed his jaw, disrupting his rest.
Saer stirred and squinted his eyes open to take in a blurred version of the chamber he’d recovered in before—one down a long corridor from Lucifer’s throne room.His maker was nowhere to be seen.
Crouched next to him, Neyu’s bewitching face came into partial clarity.His good eye focused well enough, but the one Errshek stabbed swam with fluid, not yet recovered.
The First’s brow furrowed, and his heart went from steady to racing.“Neyu?”
“Saer.”
When she didn’t continue, he blinked in hopes of seeing her clearly.It was little help.
Saer swallowed and tried to work his rough voice again.“Why’re you here?”
