“You don’t own her, she’s not your property!” the insolent, lesser demon shot back, his voice rising sharply as he stepped closer to the glowing barrier.
“She is mortal and forbidden to you, Enforcer!”
Something snapped inside me then. A rumbling snarl tore from my chest and vibrated through her body where she stood pressed against me. The sound was so dark and primal that even the demons gathered around the room shifted uneasily.
My arm slid higher across her torso, drawing her more firmly against me as I held her exactly where she was. Not violently, but unmistakably possessive.
The runes pulsed brighter in response to the surge of my anger, the green light flaring higher around the small demon as the spell tightened its hold.
“No! Please, please… You can’t do this!” Her plea struck me harder than it should have, but it wasn’t enough to change my resolve.
“I can and will.”The certainty in my voice carried easily across the room.Because there was no scenario in which I would allow that demon to remain anywhere near her.
“It is time for him to return to where he belongs and face the punishment he deserves.” This time the words were not spoken for her benefit.
They were a ruling.
The small demon understood that immediately.
“It’s okay, girly,” he said, his voice rougher now as the runes tightened further around him.
“It… it was fun while it lasted.”
Something changed in her then. Something subtle at first. A tension was building within the air around us that had nothing to do with the spell itself. My focus remained on the Kobalos for only a fraction of a second longer before my attention snapped instantly back to her.
The energy gathering beneath her skin was undeniable. Her body had gone rigid within my hold. The heat radiating from her rose sharply enough that I could feel it even through the thin satin between us.
“Eliza?” I spoke her name as a new emotion took hold of me…it was dread.
The Kobalos noticed it as well. His attention was no longer on me, his gaze fixed on her with an intensity that carried both warning and recognition. The pressure in the room thickened rapidly and the words left her mouth before I could stop them. Ancient syllables. Not of the mortal world…not anymore.Not of any language she should have ever known. Not when it was one that was only spoken in Hell.
“ŠU-BAR NAM-TAR!”
The sound struck the air like thunder, and for a fraction of a second, the runes faltered. My breath caught abruptly as the magic woven through the floor trembled beneath the force of the words she had spoken.
The spell did not break immediately.
But it cracked.
And the marble beneath our feet split open.
For a fraction of a second, nothing happened as my spell held. But my relief was short-lived as the runes flickered along their outer edges like a heartbeat skipping rhythm. The green light stuttering beneath the marble as though the magic itself had suddenly become uncertain of its own authority. I felt the change immediately through the circle. The connection between the runes and my will tightened sharply as the ancient binding resisted the disturbance that had struck it.
Then the floor cracked completely.
A thin fracture split through the marble directly in front of us, racing outward in jagged lines that followed the glowing paths of the spell work beneath the stone. The sound was sharp rather than explosive, like glass snapping under sudden strain. Yet the vibration of it traveled up through the soles of my boots and into the structure of the throne room itself.
My arm tightened instinctively around her. Not to restrain her, but to steady her. The silver veins that threaded the marble widened violently as the light inside them surged brighter. The runes pulsing in uneven bursts that sent jagged splinters of white and gold energy scattering across the floor. The circle shuddered and the demon staggered back half a step as the bars of green light flickered violently around him. Their structure destabilizing as though something at the root of the spell had been severed.
Impossible.
My magic did not fail.
Ever.
Gasps rippled through the demons gathered around us. The controlled murmurs of earlier were now replaced by genuine alarm as the cracks splintered further. The fracture raced across the outer ring of symbols and tore directly through the center ofthe circle. Through the heart of the spell itself. Then the runes pulsed once more before…
They collapsed completely.
