“In truth, he’s the demon, not you.”
His expression turned droll and irritated. “How so?”
She took a step back. “As you so often say about yourself, he was demonspawn. Born of demons. His only purpose is to damn others and wreak havoc. Only in his case, it’s true.”
CHAPTER14
Ariel braced herself for more of Valteri’s mockery as trepidation filled her. Should she have told him that?
Maybe it would have been better for him to continue to deny the truth.
If Belial found out that Valteri knew the truth of him, what would he do? He was a cold-blooded bastard.
Ruthless.
He’d destroyed so many people. And for what?
His own gain? To make his overlords happy? She’d never understood what had made Kadar and Azura want to harm mankind. Prey on them.
From the beginning of time, they’d seen humans as the ultimate vermin.
Same with their servants, who’d always been set on the utter destruction of everyone and everything.
There was no kindness in any of them. All they wanted was to take over the world and ruin the lives of anyone who got in their way.
Her mind reeling with all the damage Belial had wrought throughout the centuries, she reached for her kirtle and donned it.
Silence hung between them like a thick pall.
Valteri turned away from her, and the betrayed expression on his face hit her like a fist to her heart. To think she’d been so worried about his leaving.
As if physical distance was the worst thing that could separate them.
What actually separated them was far more than just his brutal past, far more than what could be eased by a few tender words. They were two different beings entirely. Nothing could traverse the chasm between them.
He wasn’t demonspawn.
Valteri was the son of an ancient, primal power. One who’d done his best to ensure the survival of mankind.
A creature who’d enslaved himself to the king of all darkness and the queen of shadows to ensure that the greatest evil facing man would remain in chains and unable to break the world.
His father was a hero.
Jaden must have had some reason for fathering him. He didn’t do anything haphazardly. Especially not when it concerned humanity.
But to leave his son in this world unprotected…
Utter madness.
The last time a primal power had done that with a son, Kadar had taken the boy in to be his guardian in Azmodea—the hell realm where Kadar was trapped. While Seth wasn’t the son of Jaden, he was the son of the god Razar, and almost as powerful. And a potent force for Kadar and Azura to use in their war against Ariel’s father and the forces of light.
If Kadar could enslave Valteri the same way he’d done Seth…
A shiver went down her spine.
The combination of those two half-human warriors, along with the Adarian Malachai, who held dominion over all the demons…
Even without the powers of their missing sister, Braith, Kadar and Azura could use the Malachai to break free of their prison and overrun the world. And they would rain down hell upon it.
