My mind was filled with the image of Bia when she attacked me. She was so angry and wild, and that was under Paymon’s compelment. I didn’t ever want to see her when she was free from his control.
“She might have got me if Odin hadn’t attacked her. I was lucky he was with me.”
Paymon turned to look at Odin who had made his way behind me onto the sofa.
“He is a very intelligent bird,” he said. “Now, are you going to let me look at what she’s done to your hand?”
I lifted a single eyebrow. “Seriously? That’s all you have to say? I could have been killed.”
“But you weren’t.”
“And that’s it?” I searched his face for any understanding of how dangerous it had been to have a creature like that in the kitchen.
He frowned. He obviously didn’t see her as a danger. “What do you want me to say? If you want an apology, you’ll be waiting a long time. You shouldn’t have gone snooping around the first opportunity you got. I know I never told you not to, but honestly, what did you expect to find?”
I pulled my legs underneath me. “I was curious, and you should have warned me.”
“If I’d known you were going to go into the kitchen then I would have.”
I folded my arms across my chest and huffed.
Paymon headed to the door. “I shall fetch some boiled water to clean your hand. I’ll not be long. Do you think you can stay where you are until I return?”
I didn’t turn to face him as I nodded my response.
“Stupid demon,” I said as Odin hopped next to me on the sofa. He repeated what he had done the other day and leaned against my leg, croaking quietly in his throat. “And thank you,” I said as I rubbed his feathered beard. “You saved me from her. I probably wouldn’t be here if you’d not attacked her.”
Paymon’s booming voice carried from the hall and into the room. “And you will behave around Athena. No more attacks, you will treat her with respect!”
I sprung from the sofa when the white creature fell into the room. As she attempted to stand, Paymon kicked her in the back and she stumbled forward again.
“Athena is my wife,” he shouted, “and you will never harm her again. Understand?” He placed a bowl of water on the sideboard, but never took his eyes off Bia.
She slowly crawled to her feet, watching Paymon as if fearing another attack. Her shoulders were hunched, and for the first time, I noticed just how tiny she was. She only reached the height of Paymon’s thigh. When she turned to face me, her large, dark eyes widened.
“Welcome,” she said, the word soft, soothing, and nothing like I expected after hearing her spits and snarls earlier. “My Master tells me you are to be trusted, you are his chosen one.” Her pale grey lips moved as she spoke, showing a top and bottom row of many tiny pointed teeth. Beyond the teeth was another black void. She had no discernible features that enabled me to recognise her as a female. Her chest was flat, and she wore a simple black cloth around her waist. Paymon pushed her in the back with his foot again, and she stumbled nearer to me.
“I promise not to attack you again,” she said as Paymon rounded on her.
I cringed and leaned backward.
She shuddered before hunching her shoulders even further forward and dipping her head to the side. “My Master’s last chosen one was evil.”
With no warning at all, Paymon kicked her again, but with much more force than earlier. She fell to the floor but urgently attempted to scramble to her feet. Before she could stand, Paymon grabbed one of her skeletal legs.
“Watch your mouth. You’re nothing but vermin!” he snarled, lifting her from the ground.
“Master, please, I was only fearing another chosen one like your last. She hated me, please, release me, pleeeeease!”
Her wail was long and loud, and when it finished, she tried desperately to escape from Paymon. He sneered, shaking her as she hung upside down.
“Paymon,” I implored. “Please let her go.”
“She needs to be reminded of who is in control around here.” He shook her again, and her arms flailed in the air. “Do I need to remind you?” he roared at her.
“Master, please!”
He grabbed one of her swinging arms and released her leg.
As he stared at her, a slow smirk spread from one side of his mouth to the other.
“I should have left you under-land, thrown you to the proper vampires, let them feast on your rancid blood.”
He laughed, but the sound made me shiver, and I took a step toward the door, ready to flee the room.
He clicked his fingers, a usually harmless gesture. Harmless from anyone but Paymon, a fire demon.
The scream that erupted from Bia reminded me of a child crying. A cold sweat erupted all over my skin, and my mouth dropped open.
“No!” I shrieked as I saw the cause for her scream. The hand holding her was engulfed in flames. Fire didn’t bother Paymon, but it obviously bothered Bia. She wriggled frantically and continued to scream. Her flesh was burning where Paymon held her, the putrid stench quickly filling the room.
“Paymon!” I shouted, crossing the room in fast strides. “Stop it! Stop it, right now!”
“She needs to be taught a lesson!”
“Not like this. If you keep torturing her, I’ll go to the Ascension Ceremony and willingly go to the Master. Leave her alone!”
My words must have hit a nerve, perhaps the bursts of kindness I had witnessed from him suddenly rose to the surface, because the flames extinguished, and he released her. She dropped to the floor and scurried to my feet.
“You’ll not be so disloyal again, will you?” he snarled at her.
Her bony fingers wrapped around my ankles. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she whispered.
Paymon sighed before glaring at me. Black eyes, yet again, focused on me.
“Why did you ask me to stop? She attacked you earlier—she would have killed you if she had the chance. You just saved her miserable life.”
“She didn’t deserve to be set alight,” I said, glancing at the sniffling creature at my feet.
“And did you seriously think I believed your little tantrum about going to the Master?” He crossed the room toward the fireplace before shooting several orange flames into the grate.
“It made you stop,” I said as Bia released my ankles and straightened.
He spun around. “Athena, I wouldn’t allow you to go to the Master. We are married, or did you forget that? You belong here with me. You won’t be going anywhere.”
Bia took a few steps away from me before smiling, a strange gesture considering what had just happened.
After a small bow in my direction, she turned to Paymon, her smile turning into a grimace. “May I return to the kitchen?”
“I will punish you again if you don’t behave. Understand?”
She nodded.
“And I won’t only set fire to you next time, I’ll throw you out of the house.”
She stilled, her hands wringing together as he spoke to her.
Paymon raised his brow as if waiting for her to react.
“Will you call me when food is required by your chosen one?” she said, dipping her head.
“Yes. But get out of my sight.” He pointed to the doorway. “I don’t want to see you again today.”
Bia bowed deeply at Paymon and then left the room. I grimaced as I caught sight of the arm that he had burnt. Her pale skin was blistered and black, a marked contrast to the whiteness of the rest of her body.
I turned to Paymon, still angry with him. “You didn’t tell me she cooked my meals.”
“You didn’t think I prepared your breakfast this morning, did you?” He sank into his usual chair and leaned back.
My silence confirmed my answer. I had thought that he had cooked my breakfast. The gesture had reassured me that he cared.
“Bia keeps things tidy around here,” he said, leaning forward and placing his hands together. He looked li
ke he was praying, which was kind of ironic. “She will change the sheets on your bed, wash your clothes, cook for you—”
“Put rose petals in my bath water,” I added as sarcastically as I could manage.
“No, she didn’t do that. I did. It seems you still doubt my intentions. You need to try harder to trust me.”
I sat on the sofa, not interested in his pleas for my trust. Trust had to be earned, and he wasn’t doing a great job of it.
“The light, on the rosebush?” It had puzzled me from the moment I saw it. “Why can’t I see it from the stairs?”
“You can, but only when I part the darkness. It takes a lot of my energy to part the sky over the fields, to keep enchantments in place to protect the village. I tend to light the rosebush every other day. Although now you are here, I should be able to keep it constantly lit.”
“Because I feed you with my emotions.”
Paymon nodded.
“Why did you threaten to throw Bia out of the house?” I asked, twiddling with the cuff on my sleeve. “That’s not a threat. You’d give her freedom.”
Paymon rubbed his forehead. “Freedom, yes, but you have to understand that every infernal is obsessed with owning their own house. They love cleanliness and order. Everything has a place, everything is clean, tidy, sorted. She hates my desk.” He grinned at the untidy arrangement of papers on top of it. “She would also be branded. It is the worst thing I could do to her.”
“Worse than death?” I turned my hand, seeing my own branding—the one that tied me to Paymon in marriage.
Paymon caught my action and closed his eyes momentarily, as if realising the truth of what he said. Once he opened them, he raised his own hand and showed me his identical mark.
“Sometimes a branding is worn with pride and love.” He rose from his chair, collected the bowl of water that he’d brought in earlier, and came to sit next to me on the sofa. “But to brand an infernal is a sign of ownership, and no infernal wants to be owned.”
A heavy silence hung between us. He obviously viewed the marriage branding completely differently than I did.
“Do all demons have infernals?”
“No, not all of us. Many escaped when we came above land.”
He swiftly grabbed my hand and removed my makeshift bandage. He tutted when he saw the deep nail marks that Bia had left me with.
“So where are they now?”
“There have been many sightings of them in the abandoned cities. Another reason why we encouraged the humans to move to the safety of a village.”
Heated fingers brushed against my hand as he dabbed the blood with the cloth that had been soaking in the bowl of water. Its warmth instantly soothed the sharp stings that had existed since Bia’s attack.
“I located this house and set about finding my villagers,” he continued. “I offered them protection from the wild creatures many of them had seen. The city is no place for anyone these days. The homes where the humans lived serve no purpose now. Nothing works in them, and the people have no resources to fix or create replacements. Disease killed many, but so did the infernals. Your grandmother made a good decision when she moved here with you.”
“Her decision certainly worked out well for you.” I controlled my sarcasm as best I could, but I was sure Paymon noticed.
He didn’t shift his gaze from my hand as he answered. “Yes, yes it did.”
His fingers continued to generate an incredible amount of heat, soothing the sting as he worked systematically around my hand, inspecting it from all angles.
“Would you care to read to me when I have cleaned your hand? If not for me then perhaps for Odin. He likes to listen to stories, and I’m sure he’ll be very keen to hear you read.”
I turned to Odin. He was perched on the back of the sofa overseeing Paymon’s ministrations. “How can I refuse?”
“Somehow, I think you could, very easily.”
The atmosphere changed, and for a split second I relaxed. But as Paymon finished cleaning my hand, the tense atmosphere returned.
I remembered his visit to the village. “How were Hannah and Julie?”
“Not as frightened as they were when I arrived,” he said, reaching for the book I’d brought into the room earlier.
“Is compelling them the only way to help them?” I shifted on the sofa, uneasy with the enthusiasm Paymon showed about his compelment.
Paymon narrowed his gaze. “I’ve noticed you don’t like being compelled. You even asked me not to do it during the marriage ceremony. It would have helped, you know.”
I shook my head. “I want to feel my own thoughts, control myself. Not have you or anyone else control me.”
“Well, it’s a very useful way to alleviate someone’s fears, which is why I compelled Hannah and Julie. Unfortunately, it will leave them as soon as the carriage arrives at the ceremony tonight.”
Having never seen what happened at the ceremony, I was more than willing to miss this one as well. How would I react to seeing my friends dragged away?
“I will be with you, Athena. You’ll come to no harm. There’ll be no need to be afraid. Now,” he patted the book in his hands, “I would like to sit in my usual chair whilst you read to me.”
He handed me the book then moved to the single chair. Shifting his legs to the side, he pointed at the floor.
“You can sit there,” he instructed.
I followed the line of his arm and then glanced at Paymon. “On the floor?”
“Yes, Athena. At my feet.”
WITH HEAVY, SHUFFLING FOOTSTEPS, I wandered to the window that overlooked the distant village. Through the thin veil of darkness, it shone like a beckoning light, offering a welcoming and friendly arrival. I sighed—it didn’t offer either of those to me now, and I doubted that it ever would.
I stared out of the window for a long time, not really seeing the village, just gazing, unfocused, with my hands clasped tightly together. What would happen tonight? What caused the noises I was so used to hearing but never witnessed?
It was only when Paymon knocked on my door that I moved.
“Time to go,” he said as he stepped into the room. “We don’t keep the Master waiting.”
I was unwilling to rush to a ceremony that I’d feared for years. The fact that I wasn’t to be taken away didn’t do anything to slow my racing heart or calm my fluttering nerves.
Paymon followed me along the corridor and down the stairs. He didn’t speak to me, probably well aware of my heightened emotions. He insisted I wore his cloak over my dress for warmth as we prepared to leave the house. He wore a thinner looking one, reassuring me that he didn’t need the cloak for warmth—he was already running at a temperature far above what was necessary to withstand the cold.
Odin flew above us as we walked to the village. He joined a few other ravens as they swooped and glided across the sky.
“Does he have a family?” I squinted into the dark, trying to follow his movements.
“Probably. But his real family is here, isn’t it? You and me. He views himself as one of us, not a bird.”
As we neared the edge of the village, Paymon’s stride became unsteady.
“Why are you limping?” I asked. His eyes informed me he was full, therefore strong.
Paymon scowled before replying, “What would the villagers say if I seemed to have been miraculously cured of my limp? I can’t have them sensing the importance of your presence to me. It would show a weakness, and that’s something I will never let them see.”
He viewed the village with narrowed eyes before pulling the hood of his cape over his head.
“You never did tell me what caused you to limp.”
“No, I don’t believe I did.”
“Will you tell me?”
He turned his head to face me. “Not tonight. There will be more than enough happening to keep that curious mind of yours occupied.”
We stopped walking when we reached the centre of the village. There was no one around,
not even at the fire, which was usually overseen by the older men. It was only just alight, the embers coughing out their last remnant of heat and struggling to glow.
I swallowed nervously as the people drifted from their homes into the central area of the village. Faces I’d known all my life stared back at me, fear etched into their darkened, dirty features. My heart was screaming, telling me to insist they understood that I was still the same person they had always known, that I’d never change. But as I glanced at my luxurious dress and shoes, I saw what they did. I was married to the village demon, dressed in clothes they could only ever dream of. I was clean, my face free of smudges of ash and dirt. I’d already changed. I wasn’t one of them anymore.
“Don’t let them worry you,” Paymon said, bending to whisper the words in my ear. “Their emotions run higher than normal tonight. They fear everything about this ceremony.”
As if to wake them from their trance, Paymon clicked his fingers. He blew the resulting flame into the dying fire, and it roared to life, burning brightly and lighting the open area in its warming glow.
The villagers were silent. Usually they chatted, joked and laughed, but not even Paymon’s trick of relighting the fire stirred them to speak.
“When does it all start?” I whispered, not wanting to break the silence that surrounded us.
Paymon lifted his gaze to the sky. “They are almost here.”
He took a few steps forward, nearer to the fire, and began to chant in his language. Everyone in the village froze, like pillars of stone, and I cautiously wiggled my fingers before taking a step closer to Paymon. Whatever he had done to the villagers hadn’t affected me.
I took the opportunity to look through the extended family I’d always been welcomed into, searching out an all too familiar set of eyes. They were the ones I’d fallen in love with, the ones I’d given myself to. Thomas’s eyes. But I couldn’t see him.
Iniquity (The Ascent Book 1) Page 12
