Yes.
A gleaming golden shadow appeared in the room with Airie.
“My name is Allia,” the goddess said. “That is what my loved ones call me.”
This, then, was her mother.
Allia was as beautiful as Airie remembered from their first meeting, in the rain at Hunter’s cabin. The realization was bittersweet. Years had been lost between them, and Airie discovered she resented them.
“Is it true?” she asked. “Was I created by the goddesses to be used against demons?”
The goddess clutched her hands to the slender waist of her gown. She appeared to choose her words carefully.
“You need to understand the relationship that exists between them. Demons search the universe for the other half of their souls. Goddesses bring life to the universe, but also restrict demons’ movements within it. My sisters wanted to craft an amulet that would bind demons to us and give us more freedom from them, and I was part of that plan. But the moment your father first touched me I knew I was the one he searched for, and that we were meant to be together. You are the result of that.” A wistful smile lifted the corners of her lips. “No one planned your birth. You were created from love.” Her smile warmed. “And you are loved still.”
Airie wanted to believe her. She could not, however, forget Mamna’s ugly words. “If you are the other half of his soul, why did he accept a priestess’s lies?”
“Because the priestess did not lie to him,” the goddess said. “She simply did not tell him the whole truth.” Deep, beautiful blue eyes met Airie’s. “I was meant to betray him. In the end I couldn’t do it, but how was he to know that? Neither one of us trusted the other enough to be honest. We share the responsibility for the death of our love. And now you are caught between us. You were born to immortals, but inside of time. You are bound by its laws. So is your father through you, and through him, the demons.”
Airie’s stomach tightened. While she wanted to believe she had been born of love, that was not what her birth had meant to either of her parents. She represented betrayal and punishment. She had no place in the mortal world, and none among the immortals. It would have been better for everyone if she had never been born. “I would like to release you from me.”
Allia touched a finger to Airie’s cheek and her love flowed between them. “Our bond is different. I would not give it up.”
Airie was not certain how she felt about that connection. She had heard of the bond between a priestess and the goddess she served. Even Desire, who loved them, had agreed they made demanding mistresses.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
“Not from you, for you,” Allia gently corrected her. “I want you to be free. I want you to find the kind of love your parents should have treasured, but did not. I want both you and your father to find peace. I can help you.”
It was difficult for Airie to think of the Demon Lord as her father. She had seen him burn a priestess to death before her eyes, and the reminder that she had the capacity for the same sort of violence made her afraid—not for herself, but for others.
Not much wonder Hunter had been repulsed by her when they first met. He, more than anyone, knew what a demon could do.
Allia smoothed her palms over the folds in the front of her gown as if nervous. “A priestess once had enough faith to stand by me when everyone else abandoned me,” she said. “She loved you enough to ask me for your life, and I gave it to her, even though we both knew you are half demon. She reminded me you are also half goddess, and swore to me she felt nothing but goodness in you. She was right. For her sake, can you trust me with your life now? Can you be strong enough to do what must be done?”
No one had ever loved Airie as much as Desire. No one had possessed as much faith in the goddesses, either. To know she had asked her mistress for Airie’s life made Airie’s heart ache with love for her in return, because the request would not have been made lightly.
She could do this one last thing and give the goddess her trust, not for herself or the immortals who had created her, but to honor Desire’s memory and what she would have wanted. Desire would have wished to repay the goddess for the trust placed in her to raise a half demon in a mortal world.
Airie thought of Hunter, of where he might be, and her worry for him expanded. She might willingly put her faith in Allia, but he would not trust her life to anyone else. Not even a goddess.
She did not want him to be a part of this. If she were to do it, she had to do it now.
“I will trust you,” she said.
The goddess glimmered brighter, as if some long-lost hope had been restored to her. “The Demon Lord will send for you. When he does, permit me to face him on your behalf.”
The summons came a short while later.
Airie prayed for a fast resolution as she allowed her goddess mother to take her place.
…
His daughter entered the main cavern, her footsteps a faint brush of sound against the dirt floor in the otherwise heavy silence.
The demons gathered in the hall watched her walk the length of the large room. Several shifted away as she passed so as not to come in contact with the golden light enveloping her.
The amulet slipped, forgotten, from the Demon Lord’s fingers. If not for her dark hair and eyes, he would have thought it her mother drawing near. He could not tear his gaze away.
Before long, he knew with certainty, one of his followers would challenge him for the right to claim her. More demons would die. Was this, then, another facet of the trap the goddesses had planned for the demons? To have them kill each other in their desire to possess something so lovely?
She stopped in front of him. Her eyes did not hold flame, as they had last night. Instead, they were deep, vivid pools of blue. He had seen them often in his dreams, and now, seeing them in his daughter’s face, he could not speak.
“Why?” she asked him. The golden glow of her skin shone so brightly it burned like the sun, forcing those standing closest to her to abandon demon form and back even farther away. “Why did you turn your back on the one who offered you the other half of your soul?”
This voice, too, he had heard in his dreams.
“Allia?” He whispered the name, hardly daring to believe it was true. He could see her now, in the faint shadow of gold surrounding their daughter.
Her face tightened, reminding him too much of how stricken she had looked the last time he saw her. He had been cruel to her, his words harsh in the backlash of her betrayal, although he could no longer recall all he had flung at her.
“Don’t call me that,” she said. “You have no right.”
He’d once had every right to use her given name—the one only her sisters had known. Had he truly thrown that right away?
No. His gaze sharpened. Allia had fled the mortal world with her sisters a long time ago. The blame for the bitterness of their final parting was not his. This girl before him now was a spawn, preying on the weaknesses of her demon father, and yet another trick of the goddesses. He should strike her down and be done with their games.
But he could not do it. What if Allia truly spoke to him through her?
He could not stop himself from pursuing the possibility, any more than he could squelch the swell of hope it raised that she had returned to him.
If so, she would have to earn his forgiveness.
“You plotted against me,” he said.
Her chin lifted. “Until the first moment I set eyes on you, that night by the pool in the desert, and I knew we were meant for each other. After that, I was yours.”
He had always known their first meeting was not by chance—just as he had known she was his, in spite of the circumstances. But to admit that would mean to accept guilt, and he was not to blame for this. The goddesses were. That meant Allia was, too.
“Our daughter is another part of your plot.”
“Never,” she said. “I swear to you, no one anticipated her.” The golden light around her gr
ew brighter still. “I gave up everything for her at the time of her birth. She now owns the soul you refused to accept. I am hers to command.”
It took two breaths of time for him to understand what she was saying to him. Even then, he was unprepared for the desperate sense of loss and the bone-chilling despair that accompanied the knowledge.
A part of him had assumed he would one day find Allia again. He had nursed thoughts of revenge, and of how he would make her pay for her betrayal. Those thoughts had all involved her belonging to him.
She would never be his again.
He closed his eyes against the pain. She had been so beautiful and gentle. He had not wanted her dead.
And now, he had no idea what to do with their daughter. If she was what kept the demons trapped in this mortal world, then by rights he should kill her.
Her death would release Allia as well. He sat back in his throne with one leg extended. “If what you say is true, then I could free you,” he said.
“What will my freedom change for you and me?” Allia asked. “I do not want it. Not at her expense. You and I are responsible for the death of any love between us. We alone own that. She is the true innocent in all of this. But you can set her free if you choose. She was born inside of time, but immortality can be hers if she wants it.”
He should have known the bond to the mortal world would work both ways. His daughter’s death would free him. His would free her. And yet, either way, they would remain connected to each other forever.
“You hate me so much?” he asked the golden goddess who stood with their daughter against him.
Allia’s eyes gentled, and for the first time since the burning of the mountain, he thought perhaps she had loved him a little.
“I would see you at peace,” she said.
Bitterness burned at his throat like hot bile. What was peace to him now, when he could have had so much more than that?
He hated the priestess who had lied to him. He hated the goddesses who had used Allia against him. He hated, too, the daughter responsible for the death of the one woman he had been meant to love and protect for eternity. Because of her, Allia was lost to him forever.
And a tiny part of him hated Allia as well. She should have told him of the plot from the very beginning. If she had, things would have turned out very differently for them. This was as much her fault as anyone’s.
He gripped the arms of his throne, his thoughts conflicted. If his daughter wanted a place among the immortals, she had to fight for the right to claim it. If she did not earn it, then she would die.
And he would own her death.
He did not know what that might mean for him, or to the others he commanded. Was this yet another part of the goddesses’ plot against demons? Was the risk worth it to him?
Knowing Allia was finally free might give him a very small measure of that peace she claimed to want for him. Owning their daughter’s death seemed a small enough price for him to pay.
“If she wants immortality,” the Demon Lord said, the challenge ringing clearly throughout the cavern so that all in attendance could hear, “she will fight me for it.”
…
Hunter stayed still for as long as he could and listened to the talk around him, anxious to find out what would happen to Airie.
The cavern was high-ceiled and relatively narrow, tapering to a single entrance through which faint light could be seen, so it must be day, although he could not begin to guess at the time. Torches provided the room with smoky light, illuminating striated walls of red sandstone.
He peered through the bars of the cage, making no sudden movements, careful not to draw unwanted attention. No matter what else might happen, he would find a way to kill any demon to touch her.
He watched her walk, golden and beautiful, through the crowd of demons and straight to the Demon Lord’s throne. All eyes remained on her, including Hunter’s.
Not once did she glance at him.
He wanted to rip apart the bars of the cage and rush to protect her. Blood pulsed at his temples. He had never in his life wanted to kill demons more.
He promised himself he would have the opportunity soon enough.
But for now, he forced his mind to separate rational thought from emotion. He would be of no help to her if he could not pay attention and form a plan. She was alive and unafraid, and although that calmed him somewhat, he knew that she was far from safe even if she did not.
A small sound beside his cage, a slight shuffling, caught Hunter’s attention. He dared not turn his head, but from between the slats of his prison floor, he saw the top of a child’s head.
Scratch.
The boy had crossed miles of desert and walked through a den of demons, avoiding all observation. Even now, no one seemed to pay the boy the slightest attention.
The child was not mortal.
Acceptance slid through Hunter with an ease that he did not question. He found he could no longer summon the hatred he had once felt for all demon offspring. Whatever Scratch was, he loved Airie as much as she loved him. There was no threat in the boy, only the same innocent kindness Airie possessed, and that was all that mattered to Hunter. He had come to love them both.
Scratch stood on his toes and slid an object into the cage, pushing it under Hunter’s hip and out of sight. Familiar warmth spread through him. His amulet.
A spark of relief ignited. If he put up enough of a fight, he could force them to kill him rather than have them tear him apart and eat him alive. He did not want either Airie or Scratch to witness that.
Hide, Hunter mouthed to the child.
Scratch disappeared from his line of vision and Hunter again tried to hear what was happening with Airie.
Immortality can be hers if she wants it.
He had missed important information. What did that mean? What else had been said?
If she wants immortality, she will fight me for it.
No.
Hunter surged to his feet, hurling his whole weight at the bars of the cage, again and again, the rage pounding against the inside of his skull matching his frantic efforts to free himself.
Chapter Nineteen
Airie had drawn on a lifetime of faith by granting the goddess permission to speak through her, but as fire sputtered in the sconces anchored high on the soot-streaked cavern walls, doubt squeezed her heart.
The sight of Hunter in a suspended cage in the demon-filled hall, and the whispers of those demons and their plans for him, meant that Hunter’s life was also at stake now, and suddenly, Airie was no longer willing to rely solely on the faith she’d been raised with.
She resolved that he would not suffer because of her. A goddess had claimed her as her daughter. Airie had demon blood in her, too. Surely she possessed some of their strengths.
Release me, she urged the goddess, so I can accept the challenge.
Her request, however, went unanswered.
The Demon Lord came around to the front of the platform and stood not five feet from her, staring at her face as if searching for something familiar in it.
Again, the goddess addressed him through Airie. “I demand the right to fight for my daughter’s freedom.”
His eyes shuttered. “You cannot.”
“I can if someone will fight on our behalf.” She looked to Hunter, wild now inside the swinging cage, his chest heaving with an enormous anger that threatened to burst loose at any second. “The Demon Slayer wears protection that was once mine. He is my chosen. If he wishes, he can fight for Airie and me.”
Inside, Airie screamed for him to refuse. This was not his battle.
She, however, was trapped as effectively as he was, and every bit as angry—because she had agreed to this, although naively. She had trusted the goddess with her life, but hers was not the one most precious to her. She had not thought to safeguard Hunter’s and would never forgive the goddess for this betrayal.
Hunter’s knuckles gleamed stark white against the bars of his cage as he t
ried to bend them with his bare hands. “I do wish it. I want to fight.”
“Very well,” the Demon Lord said to the goddess. Cunning entered his expression. “But remember, Allia, this is your proposal. If he wins, he will not be the one to own my death.”
He turned to his throne as if in search of something.
At the same time, Hunter stooped to retrieve an object from the floor of the cage. It dangled from a gold chain snarled around his fingers, and flushed a dull red in the firelight when he straightened.
“Looking for this?” he asked, holding the amulet up for the Demon Lord to see before fastening it around his neck.
“How…” the Demon Lord recovered from his surprise. “So be it, then. Slayer!” he roared, his demon voice shaking the cavern. The cage swayed on its chains as the gathered demons roared in anticipation. “Fight me!”
And Airie, helpless through her own ill-conceived actions, could do nothing but watch.
…
The cage dropped to the stone platform, and Hunter exploded from inside, ready to fight anyone who approached too near to Airie.
As he leaped to the ground to stand between her and the press of demons, thrusting her behind him, the rumble in the cavern rose to a level that shook the earth beneath his feet.
He did not fully understand what had just transpired between Airie and the Demon Lord. The conversation he’d overheard had been confusing at best. All he knew beyond any doubt was that Airie had been threatened, that she was in danger, and that he was going to kill the demon responsible for it.
Yet he despaired of Airie getting to safety when it was finished. He calculated at least a hundred demons present, which meant most, if not all, of their numbers, so the odds were hardly in his favor. His weapons had been confiscated.
A memory of the poor young woman he had buried from the ill-fated wagon train filtered into his thoughts. Grimly, he acknowledged the reality of their situation and its inevitable outcome, and that a dark decision had to be made. Even if he won this challenge as planned, he could not protect Airie from the remaining demons.
Demon's Daughter (Demon Outlaws) Page 27
