Enp smiled, and I lashed power through my father’s blade and brought it down upon the demon’s neck. This had to be clean. I couldn’t bear to saw through him as I had done so easily with others.
Enp’s head rolled across the ground, and the ghost faded to nothing once more.
Tsan rose from his knees to straighten Enp on the ground, then he picked up his head and placed it so the face of Owu’s father was to the sky.
I crouched and closed his red eyes. “Goodbye, Enp.”
The crowd stamped and shouted, and I did not care whether they cheered in favor or in disapproval.
I stood as the winner of Tiers, which I’d entered with so much fear and determination while driven by love for my child.
I was still alive for him. We were on the path to our freedom.
“Shall we?” asked Tsan.
I glanced at him and nodded. “Let’s.”
And now I had more help than ever before.
30
I stared at the stone wall of my room in the Pinnacle. Tsan was back at his home. Enp was gone. His parents would face my eternal wrath.
And this was the last time I could see Adeuto because the intention ceremony would go ahead. The longer Carmine was ignorant of Tempest’s escape, the better. The more power I gained from our mating, the better. He would gain it too. But when I severed the mating, he would be incapacitated as well. That could well be when we’d kill him.
And if Carmine could feel my every move, then he may not feel the need to seek out whoever remained in the desert.
If Owu’s mother had found the strength to let Owu go, then I could too.
For a far shorter time as well.
First. This craving. I couldn’t return to the fortress and risk going mindless over Carmine again. I hadn’t dared to look at him after winning Tiers. Following the trend, I expected the craving this week to be stronger than ever.
I crossed my legs and closed my eyes. Drawing in my magus power and black smoke, I began the task of centering. Centering was a full feeling, and not always in a good way. But over time,I’d grown used to the feeling of holding so much under my ribs. So much pain from the smoke, and so much power from my affinity too. As a result of centering, I had a large asterisk of black scales at the base of my ribs, which wasn’t typical for a demon. Not a bad thing. Important things dwelled under there, after all.
“Where are you, you bastard?” I murmured to the room.
I inspected both of my powers but couldn’t find the little bug that was the craving magic. It had to be on orinme somewhere. Not at my center, clearly.
I pushed my magus power out first, from center to extremities, from bone to skin.Nothing.But then my affinity hooked on my right boot and wouldn’t let go.
I followed its path with my fingertips.Ah, finally.
The gem from Adeuto.
I eased the blue gem free then held it tight. Another scan of my body with my divination magic didn’t yield further clues, though.
My smoke was begging to be released. I eased it from my center and through my body. As the smoke drifted back through my stomach, my hand holding the gem slammed against my lower abdomen.
The gem was glued under my belly button. I peered inwardly at the area and found a tight coil of white magic buried there.
What?
I touched it with my demon power and yelped when the white pulsed in warning.
Shit!
White power? That wasn’t meant to be strong. How was it even in me? I examined the white coil with my magus magic next, but though the demon presence didn’t react violently to that side of me, it wasn’t lessened or loosened by magus power either.
