The mocking smile did little to ease his anger. Nor did the curt bow. “As you wish, milord.”
Then, as quickly as Belial had appeared, he left.
Outside, Belial smiled at the rain that didn’t drench him. Nay, the rain, unlike mortal fools, knew better than to evoke his wrath.
How he enjoyed toying with them. ’Twas indeed a shame he couldn’t end their pitiful lives. That he could only tempt them to do it for him.
Oh, to have the heady power of life and death. But the actual giving and taking of life belonged solely to other creatures.
A hand touched his shoulder.
He whirled about to face the old crone, Mildred. Lucky her that he recognized her wrinkled face before he’d ripped out her heart.
“Why did you tempt him to die?” she asked in her screechy voice that sent painful stabs all the length of his hated human body. “She must fall in love with him first, and then she must watch as his life drains away. If the Norman dog kills himself before she falls to her desire, you cannot claim her soul and we might have to wait years before she finds another man to love.”
Putrid, hot anger ran through him. He’d never liked being questioned. It reminded him of too many nights spent in his master’s company. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Then explain it to my human wit.”
Why could he never once find an intelligent accomplice? One who could understand the nuances of subtle manipulation.
All of mankind was too stupid to live. The sooner his demonic brethren wiped them from this earth, the better for all.
Belial took a deep breath, his head throbbing from the strain of his anger and human form. Soon he’d have to leave and restore his strength. And the dark ones knew he needed every ounce of strength to deal with imbecilic humans.
Facing her, he allowed his full venom to enter his voice, turning it into its true echoing, demonic form. “I knew Valteri would never kill himself. I was merely remindinghimof that fact.”
He smiled, cruelly relishing her fear and his coming triumph. “All these years past, he has lived solely on hope, and now that hope has a name. Andhername is Ariel. Trust me, crone, she is his undoing.”
And both of them were the key to his rise on the other side.…
CHAPTER8
Valteri blew out the lantern, his thoughts drifting between Ariel’s innate goodness and her brother’s causticity. How could they have come from the same womb?
He frowned as a familiar tightness settled in his gullet. Would he have been so different from his twin brother had his brother lived?
Would his unnamed brother have been cursed with his deformity?
While it was selfish of him, a part of his being that he didn’t want to think about was angry that his brother had been spared the misery. At least if his brother had lived, there would have been someone else who would have understood his mindset. His anger at the injustice of his life.
Would they have even been friends?
It was a lot to think about. For all he knew, his brother would have been normal and would have been the first to curse him for casting a shadow on his brother’s “normality.”
Weary and cold, he leaned his head against the coarse wood of the stall, and allowed his pain to flow freely through him. All his life, he’d wondered how things might have been had either his father or brother been around.
If his mother had actually claimed him.
Valteri preferred to think that they’d have been like William. Definitely reserved and respectful, but not cruel, fearful, or hating.
Closing his eyes, he could still remember the first time he’d seen William. His brother had ridden three weeks to visit the small monastery where their maternal grandfather had abandoned him. Brother Jerome had often described the fear in his grandfather’s eyes.“Fulbert of Falaise begged us to save your soul, boy, and that’s what we’re going to do!”
They might have saved his soul, but it came at the expense of Valteri ever believing there could be a god who would turn a blind eye to the cruelty of those who served Him, abusing an innocent child.
How could they really save his soul while they condemned their own?
Ignorant sycophants. How could anyone believe their lies?
