Sir Collins muttered, “What are you even trying to hit—Gods above!”
He knew what I was trying to hit now. The bloodcurdling scream of my target, one of rage and pain, was a pretty good hint.
Once again, however, they yanked the arrow out. This time out of their chest! Theyhadto be a demon to be able to do that and recover. Dammit, demons, even demons hosted in a human body, were notoriously difficult to kill.
Sir Osbourne shifted in his saddle next to me. “That’s a demon, isn’t it, Your Majesty?”
“Looks like it. Which means if we can kill it here, we might be able to prevent a harder fight ahead. Let’s charge. And”—here I turned to meet both of their eyes—“just keep hitting it, no matter what, until it’s in pieces on the ground. Nothing short of brutality will kill a demon.”
“Understood.”
“Will do.”
I nudged Titan forward, and he was all too happy to start running. Titan was a horse of action, thank you very much, and this standing around business was not for him.
My war horse amused me sometimes.
I did steal a glance here and there, just to be situationally aware, as we moved for the woods. My soldiers were doing an excellent job subduing the possessed. A lot of the people were down, the possession having left them, and were unconscious as a result. They’d hopefully wake up fine, but it depended on how long they’d been possessed. Anything over a few months got progressively dicey. Who knew how long it had been for some of them?
The demon I’d hit still headed directly north, and I realized in a flash what they were doing—trying to get to the road. Did they have a horse tied there? Were they trying to get to the portal before I could?
Either way, I had to stop them.
I couldn’t move much faster than this. People were in the way, and Titan had to dodge them. I kept my eyes glued to the demon’s form, trying to fit another shot in, but I couldn’t quite manage it. Buildings were getting in the way now, and I’d have to skirt the village completely to get another shot off.
Finally, though, Titan’s hooves touched the hard-packed road. The second we were free of people and buildings, I could finally get a clear line of sight, but my relief was short-lived.
The demon did indeed have a horse waiting, and they were scrambling onto it. They were also much farther ahead on the road than I’d realized and arguably out of my range.
But that had never stopped me from trying.
I immediately nocked an arrow, lifted the bow, and only settled enough to feel the shot out. The second it felt right, I released.
The arrow made a whistling sound as it pierced the air, then a meatythunkas it hit flesh. The demon let out another scream, this one aborted between clenched teeth. I’d hit it right in the neck, at the top of the shoulders, and to my surprise they were still able to grab the arrow and yank it free. I’d have thought the angle too awkward to manage but I stood corrected—
All thought in my mind ceased the second they ripped the arrow free, for the cape fell as well, revealing bright red hair. Few people had that shade of fiery red, except a certain princess who had always made my life hell.
Then the head turned, and Valentina glared at me with every fiber of hatred on full display. Her eyes were purely black, her unnatural lip shade also of pure black, and the wounds upon her were already healed, barely any blood visible.
I was so startled I nearly dropped my bow.
Valentina wasn’t a channel but was ademon host?!
Did this mean she had been a demon even in our first life together?! When had the demon possessed her? Rage so hot and pure I nearly felt scalded by it raced through me. To think I had been married to anactual demon. Vuheia preserve me, I’d even had sex with her a few times. The realization made me physically ill, and I had to shove the thought to the side before I started vomiting all over Titan’s neck, which he wouldn’t appreciate. Iwould definitely throw up later, because that seemed the only appropriate response.
How was this even possible, though? The demon portal was closed! How had the demon escaped into this mortal form? This life or the one before, that shouldn’t have been possible. Unless it had somehow escaped from the portal before the wards were renewed? They were weaker then, granted, which was why I’d had them renewed. I wasn’t sure if I was right, though, and I’d be thoroughly looking into this later, because I did not need a repeat.
Now I understood so many of Valentina’s actions in the first life. All the things she’d done to slow down our progress in battles, to interfere with supplies we desperately needed for the troops, the way she’d undermined me in court until I’d banned her from any sort of responsibility. It all made so, so much sense. She’d been a double agent the whole time.
I wanted so badly to kill her. For all the pain she’d put both myself and Edwin through, I’d kill her. For what she had done to us, death was the least of what she deserved. Fortunately for me, my job was to kill her, and I wouldn’t rest until she was dead under my hands.
Unfortunately, since she was a demon, that became trickier. I’d have to kill her human body—which healed frustratingly quickly—then make sure the demon couldn’t respawn into another person’s body. That had been the main issue fighting demons in the previous war. They kept respawning, using innocent people as their hosts, and it had been hell getting them out again. Often, we’d had to kill the human host, as their mind was destroyed by a demon inhabiting their body.
I would guard against that here, make sure no one near the portal was without holy oil. I wouldn’t lose more people to that tactic.
I’d handle the fallout of killing a foreign princess on my own soil later. Right now, I didn’t give two shakes of a fuck about it.
“Took you long enough to catch up, even on that damn horse of yours!” She sneered at me before kicking her horse into motion.
