CHAPTER 1
When one finds oneself face to face with a diafol, it’s vital to maintain a staunch grip on your nerve, but better yet, keep a prayer to Evella in your heart.
— LORD SILAS VANCOURE, SELECT INSTRUCTIONS FOR DIAFOL HUNTERS
The Gods must fucking hate me. It was the only fathomable explanation why, with all their infinite and omniscient wisdom, they’d decided to shove a raging diafol outside the only escape route from the Tower.
Pablo’s hackles rose as I clung to his coarse grey fur. A deep rumble vibrated through the wolf, a warning to the aberration snarling outside.
‘Hush,’ I whispered. ‘We’ve got to get through the damn door first. We’ll deal with…that once we’re through.’
The warmth of Pablo’s snort tickled my fingers as he took a lunging step down. Rolling my shoulders back, I exhaled. This was it. Wehadto make it this time.
We descended curving stone steps so narrow the wolf couldn’t avoid stepping on my foot. With a set of crushed toes I wouldn’t be able to run away from the raging beast snorting on the other side of the door, but as I had no alternative, I swallowed my frustration. By then, we were so far below the fading light slipping through the windows of the Tribute Tower, that even if I’d had my full sight, I’d still have had to rely on the wolf. My other hand twitched towards the wall of damp stone, desperately seeking another guide, but no, that way I risked dropping the keys I’d worked so hard to steal – and would probably alert the guards that they were one Tribute down. They might not be the cleverest, but neither were they deaf.
Or half-blind for that matter.
So, in one respect, they were better equipped for a game ofPursue the Tributethan I.
I stumbled on the next step. The cursed stone was lower than expected and my stomach lurched as the ground slid away. Swearing, I heaved in a settling breath. Pablo offered a soft whine and a rough lick to my hand. Raising my chin, I tugged his fur and we set off again.
I needn’t have worried about dropping the keys. My hammering heart was enough to draw the guards. Pablo halted, ears twitching. He craned his head upwards. On silent paws, he padded back. My breath misted in frantic clouds, and I shivered. Then his taut muscles slipped beneath my fingers, his tread more urgent. Uttering a stream of half-whispered curses, I tugged him closer, realising we were no longer alone.
Our absence had been noted.
My pulse skittered. ‘We must be close to the bottom,’ I whispered through hitched breaths.
Pablo tugged me further down and down, round and flaming round. Squinting into the darkness, I prayed to Evella that the door was near. I wouldn’t have long before they caught up withme. As ice flooded my veins, my feet finally settled on an uneven floor.
We’d made it! The door, my freedom, was devastatingly close.
I reached out through the darkness, twisting my body towards the door, in hopes that my better eye could locate it. After a few faltering steps, I collided with the rough oak blocking my way out of the Tower and the deadly fate my stepfather had presented as my twenty-second birthday gift. He was wonderfully sentimental that way.
The fucker.
I cursed as the keys jangled in my trembling fingers. Pablo gently placed his maw over my wrist, guiding my hand to the lock as the diafol scratched longingly down the other side of the wood. I froze, shuddering almost as violently as the door, envisaging its claw. There was no way of telling the size of the beast that waited with increasing impatience beyond. Diafols had once been nothing more than unfortunate woodland creatures. Now, victims, they’d been cursed by the poisonous Vyrium lying beneath the planet’s crust, and all that remained were masses of toxic sinew and chaos, with a compulsion to consume.
‘As soon as this opens’ – I cringed as my whisper echoed off the cold stone – ‘you dive past and then I’ll…stop it.’
The wolf huffed. I practically heard his amber eyes rolling in his great shaggy head.
My fingers shook as I forced the first key – the rustiest, possibly the least used – into the lock. After almost two months and two failed bids for freedom, this was the closest I’d come to escaping my fate as a sacrifice. One of ten blessed souls thrown into a volcano named for the God who’d tried to destroy our world. I’d been informed it was the highest honour a ruler could bestow on one of their subjects. An honour I’d every intention todecline. And decline it I would. As soon as I opened this damn door.
Then, ensure I wasn’t eaten on the other side.
I grunted as I tried the next key. Running my fingers over the lock, I cursed at the realisation that it eclipsed the hole.
Exhaling hard, I pushed back the rogue strands of my ebony hair as it escaped my braid. Next to me, Pablo froze, his massive form rigid. The skin on my arms pebbled as the beast outside released a guttural groan.
Damn thing thinks its lunch is about to walk straight into its mouth.
Pablo growled, and I shivered as the sound rang around the curved chamber.
‘Shh,’ I hissed, immediately disregarding the next key. It was the wrong shape anyway. ‘I’m hoping it won’t realise there’s two of us. We’ll have the element of surprise. Now, quiet.’
Was it too much to ask him to obey? A snarl erupted from the wolf, and I jolted, the keys slipping from my hand.
‘Damn dog.’
