"Well, if you're sure you won't tell me…" Eidolon sighed.
Alarm blared through my whole body, and fire whooshed to life on my fingertips.
As I ran, I saw him pull the arrow from his pocket, the sharp edge of silver shining, and I snapped out a whip of bright blue flame. The vicious end coiled around Dad's bicep and bit deep enough to draw blood—green blood. Okay. Right. Cool.
Relief made my heart skip when he hissed in pain, but he didn't slow, let alone pause. He let my fire burn welts into his arm, and brought his hand forward in a devastating slash and—and plunged the arrow into Taj's chest.
"No!" I screamed, my steps faltering. My voice was still hoarse from screaming the same damn thing in the great hall.
I thought he was going to shove it intoDev, not Taj, not my prince … fuck.
Fuck, fuck,fuck, I really cared about him. My hands shook so badly that the fire unspooled from my fingers and disappeared from Eidolon's arm. There was an angry red coil left, but it wouldn’t stop him.
"I have a theory," he said to Dev, judging Taj's frozen form with his scaled foot. "That you and your son have your own bond. If that’s true, you have about … oh, three seconds … before this weakening arrow hits you. I'm going to enjoy this immensely."
I shook my head, throwing myself across the last bit of bloody floor to Taj, skidding to my knees and grabbing the arrow, wrenching it out of him. His cry of pain killed me.
"It's too late for that, Avie," Dad said with clear disapproval. "And you're being a nuisance; don't make my friends knock you out, too. I wanted this to be a learning experience for you."
"Oh, sure," I choked out, clenching my fist around the arrow, blood dripping off the bright gold metal. "Killing everyone I care about;greatlearning experience."
He didn't reply for a moment. "I'm no longer included on that list?"
"Any love I had for you,Dad, died when you gutted me." I twisted my head to glare all my hatred at him. "Fathers don't do that to their daughters. You're nothing more than my abuser."
He shook his green head emphatically, genuinely taken aback and hurt if I could read his new scaly face right. Whatever he'd been about to say was swallowed by satisfaction when Dev choked on his next breath. All at once, my devil collapsed from giant, scary, and red to his more diminished form.
Oh god, like this … with his title stripped, and the power that came with the role probably fading … could Eidolon kill him?
I'd been scared of that this whole time, but that was because Dad was larger than life to me. Scarier than God himself.2
Dev's red hands curled into fists, his nostrils flaring—fighting. He was fighting it. And judging by the fury and fire in my bond with Taj, he was too.
Do something,I screamed at myself. Where was Arkan?Where the fuckwas Arkan?
Not so he could help, but so I could scream at him to run, sosomeonecould get out of this because I was starting to suspect we'd all die here today.
"Don't give up," I choked out, holding Taj's pained brown stare. "Don't you fucking dare."
I deluded myself that I saw agreement in his frozen eyes, that they even shifted a little as if the toxin was wearing off. But I knew I was just seeing what I was desperate for. Fear made you crazy; I learned that long ago the hard way.
"Sorry if I burn you," I said, hoarse and shaky as I set down the arrow.
I dove into the torrent of power slamming against my insides, and curled my fingers into the tight, silvery net cutting into Taj's body.
I hissed when it began to cut my fingers, the pain that exploded through me far more than the tiny cut should have caused, but then my magic forced its way out of me. I imagined having bolt cutters on the ends of my fingers like I was the demon version of Edward Scissorhands, and to my shaky relief the threads fell away where I touched them.
"Don't give up," I hissed again, flinching when Eidolon laughed behind me—not at me. At the devil struggling.
I'm coming, I'm coming…
I raked my fiery fingertips over the net, my power cutting it like shears through silk. I had enough power to kill Eidolon, but that had never been the problem; he was far more clever, he was always a dozen steps ahead, and my own emotions got in my way. First my love for him, but now my fear. I used to know what he was capable of, and that was terrifying enough, but likethis?
He could be the devil, could rule over hell with an iron fist. And all to soothe his bruised ego, because he felt entitled to power.
I dragged my fingers through more strands of the net until I could tear it away, and Taj twitched, like his body would be trembling if the toxin wasn't still raging through his system.
"I'll come back for you," I rushed out, and slammed my mouth into his for the world's fastest kiss before I grabbed the arrow, climbed to my feet and—
