Ursula’s breath caught in her throat as she caught a glimpse of something large looming in the shadows. After a moment, she made out the shape of a chimney and a peaked roof.
Hope leapt in her heart. Using the last of her energy, and still dragging Bael behind her, she pushed through the drifts until she reached the steps of a small wooden cabin. She lay Bael down in the snow, then knocked on the door. Her breath froze in the air as she shivered uncontrollably. No one answered, and the tiny windows were too grimy to see through.
She tried to turn the doorknob, but it wouldn’t open. A cold winter wind blew through the treetops, dusting her with snow. An iron lock hung from the latch. She tugged it, but it didn’t open. She slumped against the door. Exhausted. So close to safety. Bael moaned in the snow at her feet. Think, Ursula, think.
She reached out for the lock again, finding the metal ice cold. Digging deep within herself, she summoned her fire, and flames flowed into the lock. She gasped as the heat thawed her frozen fingers. The lock cracked as it broke, and the door swung open.
She’d hoped to hear a worried voice call out with an offer to help, but she was greeted only by a puff of dust and a faint musty odor. She inched forward. I need to get warm.
Her eyes fell on a small cast-iron stove, and she instinctively crawled toward it. Its door was shut, but when she pulled it open, she found a few half-burned logs. Hardly thinking, she channeled the last of Emerazel’s fire into them, and they burst into flame.
She fell back, nearly spent. Show drifted in from the open door. She still needed to bring Bael inside.
One final push, Ursula.
She crawled toward him, now too tired to stand. Somehow, she latched her arms under his and pulled him in behind her. With the very last of her strength, she shut the cabin door.
She awoke shivering on the cabin floor when the fire died down, and the winter chill began to settle over her again. Bael lay next to her, his face gray. Crawling to her knees, she put her cheek to his mouth. The slimmest of breaths brushed her skin.
I’ll help you as soon as I can.
She stood, her legs shaking. She made her way to the stove, where she found a small pile of logs. She threw a few more on, then turned to survey the room. Judging by the light that shone through two small windows, one on either side of the door, it looked to be midmorning. A small table stood by the stove, and a small bed sat in the corner. A thin layer of dust covered everything in the room.
Her stomach rumbled.
On a shelf on the far wall, she found a few cans of stew, a can opener, and an old pot. This will have to do. She opened the soup—some kind of beef stew with carrots—and dumped two cans into the pot.
As the stew warmed on the stove, she crossed back to Bael, pressing her hand over his heart to feel his heartbeat. His gray eyes fluttered open.
“Ursula?” he muttered, his voice husky with pain.
“Bael, you’re badly hurt, but I found us someplace warm.”
“Ursula...” he said again, but his voice trailed off, and his eyes rolled back into his head.
Fuck.
In the rush to find safety, Ursula hadn’t had time to process Bael’s injuries. Now, she knelt by him for the first time, forcing herself to take in the horror of what the avalanche had done to his body. Grief hit her like a fist to the throat. Both legs had been shattered, broken in multiple places. But that wasn’t the worst of it. His hips were twisted at an entirely wrong angle. His back was broken.
Ursula looked to the bed. That would be the most comfortable place, but with his back broken, she worried that she would make things worse if she moved him onto it.
Instead, she crossed to the bed and pulled off the sheets. Returning to Bael, she began to remove his clothes. “Don’t leave me yet, Bael. I still need to teach you to cook.”
She pulled off his shoes first. His trousers were another matter—with his legs mangled and his back broken, pulling them off would be risky. After searching around the cabin, she found a small knife. Carefully, she cut his trousers off him, revealing a mess of purple bruises.
When she got to his hips, she undid his belt, then cut off the rest of the fabric. Under his trousers, he wore a pair of black boxer-briefs. Throughout all of this, the only movement from Bael was the slow rise and fall of his chest.
Next, she carefully cut off his navy sweater. His chest was bare underneath, and without thinking, she ran her fingers along the dark tattoos inked onto his skin. As she removed the fabric at his stomach, she swallowed hard, her throat tightening. The skin there was a deep purple, and not from tattoo ink. Massive bruises wrapped round his muscular core. This must have been where the chunk of cornice hit him.
Tentatively, she touched the purple skin. Bael’s eyes flashed open—black as the void. He grabbed her wrist in one of his massive hands.
“Nooo,” he growled.
“Sorry,” whispered Ursula.
Bael released his grip, and his eyes closed. As gently as she could, Ursula removed the rest of his sweater. She didn’t try to turn him over, but she could see his back was wounded as well. Blood seeped onto the floor.
She sat back on her haunches and surveyed him. He’d been injured so badly, she didn’t know where to start. The temptation to use a conjuration spell was overwhelming, but Bael would never forgive her for ruining his chance at getting his wings back. She’d only use that as a last resort. Maybe she needed to go back to town after all, to find a healer. She pulled the steaming pot of soup off the stovetop. I’ll come back for that later.
Carefully, she covered Bael with the duvet. Then, she crossed to the door and unlatched it.
Except, when she pulled open the door, her heart fell as a snow drift slid into the room. She slammed the door closed against it. It had snowed while she’d been sleeping, burying them in the cabin. Leaving here right now would be virtually impossible.
Gods damn it. She needed to think clearly, but she could hardly focus. Her stomach rumbled, and she poured the stew into a ceramic bowl. Maybe she could feed a little to Bael, too.
When she returned to Bael, his skin had gone even paler. He moaned softly. When she touched his forehead, she found it hot with fever. Taking a bite of stew, she studied him for a few minutes. Then she sighed and put down the bowl.
There was one way she could save him without ruining his future as a winged demon—but it wouldn’t be pretty. She shivered in her freezing clothes, drenched with snow.
First, to get dry. She peeled off her sodden clothes, stripping down to her underwear, and hung them by the warm stove to dry. In nothing but a skimpy lace bra and knickers, she set about collecting everything she needed.
Five minutes later, she laid out a coil of old rope she’d found hanging from a nail, and a small knife. First, she unwound the rope. Then, as gently as she could, she tied his feet together. The spare end she secured around one of the legs of the cast-iron stove.
She crouched by his head with the blade in her hand.
“Sorry about this, Bael. This will be messy.” She cut into the palm of her hand, then let a little of her blood dribble into his mouth.
The effect was immediate. Bael’s eyes flashed open—red as her blood, and intent on her wrist. She’d planned to pull her hand away, but Bael was faster. He grabbed her arm, drawing it to his lips. His mouth was hot on her skin, and she could feel the blood begin to drain from her.
Bollocks. I am quickly losing control of this.
Chapter 26
Ursula’s eyes snapped open. She was no longer in the cabin on the side of Mount Acidale. Instead, she sat in an immense hall. Servants bustled around her, carrying trays of roast chicken, baskets of steamed prawns, and piles of meat pies. Someone spoke in her ear, and she turned her head to see Abrax dressed in an indigo uniform. His silvery eyes shone with excitement. She opened her mouth to scream, but instead of a shout of terror, out came a deep male voice. Bael’s voice.
“This is quite the feast, don’t you think?”
Abrax nodded. “For humans, the food is exceptional.”
“So we’re on the same page,” continued Bael. “After dinner, we sign the armistice. The king gives up his disciples, and we retreat.”
“Correct,” said Abrax.
In Bael’s body, she felt herself stand, carried along with him, in his memory. He raised his glass.
“A toast to King Midac,” he said. “This armistice will bring peace to Mount Acidale. A truce to the war between Emerazel and Nyxobas.”
The room cheered, but Ursula’s eyes went to the king’s table at the far end of the room. A man in a ruby-flecked golden crown sat at the far end of the table—King Midac, presumably. His golden hair curled from beneath his crown, blue eyes taking in everything. To his right sat the queen, her dark hair stark against her white gown.
And to his left—Kester. A sword hung at his hip, and he scanned the room.
But it was the woman next to the queen that drew Ursula’s attention. Her auburn hair tumbled over a purple velvet gown. With her bright blue eyes and heart-shaped face, there was no mistaking that this woman was Ursula’s mother. Ursula’s blood roared in her ears.
She wanted to shout, to run across the room and ask the woman a million questions, but of course she couldn’t. This was Bael’s memory. She had no control as it unfolded.
Instead, she sat quietly and began to eat. With Bael’s eyes focused on the meal, Ursula couldn’t see anything beyond an enormous steak and a pile of potatoes. Please look up. Please look up.
A scream pierced the peaceful atmosphere, and Bael’s eyes flashed up. A fracas had erupted at King Midac’s table. Everything seemed to slow, growing quiet as Bael’s eyes moved from person to person. First, his gaze flicked to Kester, who reached for his blade. Then they moved to the king, whose expression was one of abject horror. When Bael looked at the queen, the source of the horror was obvious. Blood bloomed from the center of her chest, where a steak knife stuck out. Bael’s gaze slid to Ursula’s mother. Her hands dripped with blood as she lunged for the king.
The scene slowed further as, for the briefest of instants, Ursula’s mother turned toward Bael. Where Ursula would have expected to see some sort of grimace, the woman’s face looked instead strangely calm. And then she saw her eyes—black as Nyxobas’s void.
Ursula shrieked in silent agony.
Then everything sped up again. Bael leapt over the table. Across from him, Kester drew his sword. Pushing the king aside, Kester drove his blade into Ursula’s mum’s stomach.
Bael reached her a moment later, but Kester leapt into his path. “You betrayed us.”
“No!” Bael shouted.
King Midac pushed forward, standing next to Kester and drawing his sword.
“I saw her eyes,” roared the king. “One of your night hags. There will be no armistice. This was an assassination.” The king’s voice was thick with emotion, his eyes blazing with rage. “Kill the shadow demons!”
Bael started to charge, but a king’s guard intercepted him. With a single swing, Bael hacked off his head. When Bael’s eyes refocused on the king, more guards had moved between them. Led by Ursula’s grandfather, they closed in around Bael and Abrax.
The memory skipped forward. Now, Bael and Abrax were fighting back in a wild blur of shadows and fury. Around them, the floor had grown slick with blood. Still, the guards pressed in. Bael and Abrax continued to eviscerate them, hacking through necks and pressing closer to the king’s table.
When they reached it, Abrax leapt on top. Bael knelt to examine Ursula’s mother. She lay on the floor, blood oozing from the wound in her side.
“Who sent you?” asked Bael.
Ursula’s mum stared back at Bael. Her eyes had returned to blue—no longer reflecting the darkness of the void. She didn’t answer.
Bael pressed his hand to her wound, putting pressure on it. “I said, who sent you?”
Ursula’s mother moaned softly, but she didn’t answer.
A shout turned Bael’s head. A young girl was charging for him, a sword aimed at his throat. Abrax lunged for her, blade extended, but Bael blocked the attack with his own sword.
The girl pressed on, coming for him anyway. In a flash of shadows, Bael dodged under the girl’s blade. With a chopping motion, he batted it from her hands, then wrapped his arms around her tightly. Nearby, Abrax was playing defense, fighting any king’s guard who approached.
“Who are you?” said Bael.
The girl looked up at Bael, and Ursula nearly screamed. The blue eyes, the auburn hair, the fierce expression she’d seen a million times in the mirror. It was her own face that looked at Bael. F.U.’s face—Former Ursula.
“Don’t hurt my mother.” Her own eyes streamed with tears, looking back at her.
“I need to know why she betrayed us,” said Bael.
F.U. struggled against his grip. “My mother is a follower of Emerazel.”
Bael shook his head, gripping her tightly. “I saw the void in her eyes. She’s a follower of Nyxobas.”
“N-no…” F.U. stammered. “My mother would never betray King Midac. She loved the queen.”
Bael looked at the queen’s body where it lay on the floor. The handle of the steak knife still protruded from her chest.
The rising of Bael’s wings behind him cast a dark shadow over Ursula, and she pulled herself from his grip.
Flames began to rise around them.
Chapter 27
Ursula opened her eyes slowly. Outside, storm winds howled around the cabin, and the fire crackled in the stove. She was pretty much naked, apart from her lacy bra and knickers. Bael lay next to her, his eyes closed, his mouth no longer pressed to her wrist. Her hand lay on his chest, and as she started to move it away, his eyes opened: two orbs, the color of blood.
“Ursula,” he said, his voice rough. His body was full of tension, like it was taking every ounce of his strength to keep himself from tearing her to pieces. Slowly, he began to push himself up.
Ursula remembered his broken body. “Don’t move.”
She looked at his legs—the ripped flesh and shattered bones now completely healed over. His hips looked aligned. She might have turned him into a cannibal with a personal fixation on her blood, but at least she’d healed him.
She looked again, and fear prickled through her. Bael’s legs were no longer bound with rope. Before she could scoot out of range, Bael grabbed her by the waist, his fingers gripping her tightly. He pulled her to his muscled chest, pure steel, and his blood-red eyes bored into her.
Her blood raced through her veins. She was acutely aware of every inch of skin that touched him, her breasts pressed against his chest.
She was also aware that he could rip her throat out at any moment, but she couldn’t seem to focus on anything except his powerful body under hers, his fingers on her waist. His breath warmed her neck, his mouth dangerously close to her throat. Without entirely realizing what she was doing, she arched her neck in a silent invitation. She intuited that she had to let him take control right now, to give in to what he wanted.
His teeth skimmed her throat. “You healed me,” he growled. “With your blood.”
She felt her hips pressing against him. “There wasn’t any other way.”
“I told you to get help.”
The first time he had drunk from her, he’d become bestial and demonic. This time he seemed more in control. Maybe Xarthra’s blood is still helping him.
Ursula touched his cheek. “I saw you. In the battle of Mount Acidale. We’ve met before.”
Bael’s voice purred against her throat. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw your memory, after my mother attacked the queen. I was there. Abrax tried to attack me, but you parried. I tried to kill you. You let me live. So consider us even.”
Bael’s breath was hot on her cheek, and his sandalwood scent curled around her like a dangerous caress. Ursula’s skin heated. His eyes had faded to a pale gray again, now full of qu
estions. His skin felt smooth against hers, and the entirety of her world narrowed to every point of contact between them—the tops of her breasts skimming against his chest, his fingers possessive on her waist. She wanted them to move lower, to explore her body.
As if reading her thoughts, Bael pressed his mouth to hers in a searing kiss. She parted her lips, her tongue brushing against his. Her skin heated, chest flushing, and molten heat pooled in her core. She hooked her leg around him, silently demanding more from him. She felt as if her breasts were swelling, her body readying itself for him.
For just a moment, he pulled away from the kiss. “I love you, Ursula,” he said. His voice was perfectly even, like this statement was nothing more than a comment on the weather outside. But as she looked into his gray eyes, she knew this couldn’t be further from the truth. With this statement, he was telling her his devotion was complete. With these simple words, he was telling her he would follow her to the ends of the earth, that he would protect her in any way she desired, that he would die for her if he had to.
She held his gaze. “I love you too.”
Bael pulled her close again, enveloping her in his arms. His dark, powerful magic whispered over her skin, and his chest swelled with each breath.
Ursula laced her fingers through his thick hair, and warmth surged within her. She wanted him to tear off the last scraps of fabric between them, to press his mouth to her breasts. She unhooked her bra, letting her nipples brush against his body, and she felt his muscles stiffen as he tried to restrain himself.
He pressed his mouth to her neck, teeth skimming her throat, until his warm tongue replaced it, swirling over her skin. As Bael’s hands slid upward along the curve of her ribs, she let out an involuntary moan. Her breasts brushed against him as they kissed, her nipples hardening. Gently, he pushed her onto her back. Of course he wanted to be in control here. He ran his hand down her body until it reached her panties, and she lifted her hips as he pulled them off.
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