Black Widow Demon (31 page)

He started to rise, but the assassin waved him back, so he reclaimed his seat. He swung one knee over the other with ill-contained impatience and regarded the toe of his boot, waiting for more unwelcome news.

“There’s no need for you to speak with anyone,” Armor said. “I’ll choose your companions for you. There’s one more small matter, however.” He steepled his fingers. “The woman stays here.”

“To create more trouble among the men than we had this morning?” Justice asked. “No. I don’t think that’s wise.”

Armor dropped his hands to rest on the desk’s gleaming surface. All of Siege’s books and mounds of papers had been removed sometime between midmorning and the dinner hour, leaving it stripped bare of any telltale indicators as to the new owner’s personality.

Suddenly uneasy, Justice wondered if this young nobody might prove even more dangerous than his aged mentor.

“You think it’s wiser to send a beautiful woman who may or may not be spawn into the mountains with five men? Particularly when two men have died in her presence already today?” The young assassin leader leaned forward, his thin lips pressed in a flat, implacable line that made Justice’s blood turn to ice in his veins. “No. She stays here.”

Justice was left with few options. To take Willow with him now meant he would have no other allies. So did he want her with him, or did he want four trained assassins?

Four trained assassins were no match for a spawn who could summon a demon. His choice was Willow.

“I promised her safety,” Justice said. “Therefore, she stays with me, and under my protection. If you won’t send the four assassins with us, I’ll understand. I hope the other Godseekers will too, when they hear of this.”

He nodded to the young assassin, rose, then left the library to prepare for the journey deeper into the mountains.

To the boundary.

…

He and Willow passed through the gates early the following morning, their departure unremarked upon. No one saw them off or wished them well.

Justice had saddled two hross, both his and Cage’s, but Willow rode with him because he did not trust her. The other animal, he loaded with provisions.

He had debated for hours as to what was best to do after his meeting with the temple’s new leader. Justice had no desire to face Raven and her assassin without adequate support, but he had accepted that direct confrontation with Siege’s handpicked successor would not go as he wished. Assassins took orders from their leader without question.

Their leader, on the other hand, took orders from Godseekers, and that meant from Justice.

The more he thought about the defiance he’d faced, the more resolved he became. He would have the young nobody replaced once his incompetence was established.

Justice had discovered which route the messenger sent to the other villages had taken and when he was expected to return. He would intercept him and the Godseekers, and convince them to travel to the boundary with him. There was a general uneasiness permeating the temple, and although not unusual considering their long-time leader—whose reputation was almost as fearsome as a demon’s—had been murdered, if questioned, he would use it to infer the young man’s inability to lead.

Justice and Willow met up with the two Godseekers and the assassin messenger in the early afternoon. The three men traveled on foot but maintained a steady pace as they navigated the secret mountain path that led to the temple. Strewn with crumbled rock falls and partially overgrown in places by mountain scrub, the path was rough. One needed to know the actual route in order to find it.

Justice recognized one of the Godseekers. The man had a bald head and a large belly, and his name, if Justice recalled it correctly, was Seeker. He maintained a zealous belief in his right to speak on behalf of the goddesses and as a seeker of signs of their return, hence his name. Although never a goddess’s favorite himself, Seeker staunchly supported their elevated position within the Godseeker ranks. Under ordinary circumstances Justice would unlikely have deigned to speak to him.

Today he nodded to him while tipping his hat in greeting to all three men. He thought Seeker in particular would welcome an opportunity to visit the boundary again, which would have been forbidden to him after initiation.

Seeker’s eyes, animated and curious, skated past Justice to Willow, seated on the hross behind him. The cape she wore concealed much of her face and draped around her legs so that she was protected from scrutiny.

She shifted in the saddle, repositioning her knees, her impatience with the discussion clearly commuted to Justice. He, too, was anxious to get moving. He had no idea what she might do once she regained her demon strength, but he doubted it would be good. All that kept her with him was the opportunity to kill without fear of retribution.

Once that fear was gone, so was she.

“We heard rumors there are spawn in the mountains,” Seeker said. “Female spawn.”

Justice rested his arms on his saddle’s pommel. “They aren’t rumors. Siege has been murdered by them, and I intend to find the ones responsible and hold them accountable.” He related the same story he’d told at the temple.

The assassin messenger, whose name was Gauntlet, said nothing at the end of the recitation, but Justice knew he was weighing all he heard, searching for the truth in it. He would be loyal to Siege and Siege’s young successor, and therefore bear watching.

“You would confront them alone, after being attacked by them?” Seeker asked. “Why weren’t assassins sent against them? This is what they’re trained for, isn’t it?”

“The new leader is young and uncertain of his role.” The hross sidestepped, forcing Justice to bring it under control. It did not like having a spawn on its back. “The temple is chaotic at the moment. He has his hands full and waits for guidance from you. In the meantime, the spawn and her companion escape. What choice do I have but to go after them?” Justice asked. “The spawn is my stepdaughter and my responsibility. I can’t let this go unanswered. Siege died for me.”

“How can you be certain you’re traveling in the right direction?”

“Siege seemed convinced they would head to the boundary. I know her and how bold she is, and I think he was right.”

The second Godseeker spoke. “And the woman with you?”

“Siege met with her and found no signs of demon in her. My stepdaughter, on the other hand, is undeniably demon. She can raise them and used one to burn the entire population of one village to death. I saw the devastation with my own eyes. She enslaves men and controls them, and has a former assassin by the name of Blade with her.”

The Godseekers traded looks of disbelief intermingled with caution. Good. They had heard of him, then.

“Blade left these mountains at least ten years ago. From what we heard, he became crippled after trying to cross through demon territory without protection,” Seeker said.

Justice had not heard that particular story, but he knew it could not be accurate. “The man with her limps but is no cripple.”

“This could be a different man.”

“Big. Long black hair. Narrow face. Dark eyes. Looks like he could kill his own grandmother in her sleep, then eat a full breakfast.”

The second Godseeker smiled, revealing slightly crooked teeth. “That description could match half the men from here to the Borderlands.”

Justice pinned him with an unfriendly stare. “He also carried an unusual number of knives concealed in his clothing. You couldn’t see them, but you could tell by the way he moved and how he held his hands, if you knew what to look for.”

“If it’s true, and that’s who he is, then it’s foolish for you to go on with no one to protect you,” Seeker interrupted. “The priority right now is to stop this spawn and the rebel assassin with her, regardless of who he is, from murdering more innocent people.” He turned to his companions and addressed the assassin. “Gauntlet, you and I will go with Justice. Crevice can go on to the temple alone and lend guidance to Siege’s replacement. Once the situation has been brought under control, have Armor send reinforcements.”

Gauntlet made no protest, but took the second hross’s lead and helped Seeker mount.

While Justice had wanted all three men with him, two were enough for now. He would soon have his numbers.

And Armor would learn who was truly in charge.

Raven was not yet used to the sounds of her new home—the sighs and groans it made as the building settled, and the scratching of the mice that had been dislodged from their nests during cleaning. It kept her on edge and alert. When she did finally drift off to sleep, it was with Blade’s arm around her to ward off any ventures into the demon boundary without him.

So, when her father summoned her, she faced a dilemma. She did not want Blade to know of it, let alone come with her. He had become distant with her of late, and he didn’t understand this connection she had to her demon father. It was not something she wanted, but it existed and she couldn’t ignore it. Her father was far stronger than she.

She eased from beneath Blade’s arm and out of bed. Clad only in one of his shirts and a thick pair of woolen stockings, she allowed her father to draw her into the demon boundary.

At once its heat embraced her. Flutters of warm air curled around her bare legs and tugged at the hem of the shirt she wore. She faced her father at the side of the molten lake, with lightning ripping the sky, as she had the first time he’d approached her. This was his place in the boundary and he had again chosen mortal form to speak with her here.

“A female spawn summons demons into your world,” he said. “She follows you. Do you want to know why?”

Not enough to be indebted to him for an answer, so she evaded his question. “Why do you care if she does?”

“Perhaps you don’t want to know why she follows you, then,” he said, his eyes cold. “But do you want to know with whom she travels?”

Justice
. It could be no one else or her father would not care. Raven’s heart gave a small flutter. Did the Godseeker hate her so much that he would use a half demon who possessed demon morals—that is to say, none at all—to hunt her down? Or was his contempt so high that he thought he could control any woman?

She forced herself to concentrate on where she was and who she was with—and what he wanted from her, because her father’s pupils had dilated in reaction to her tiny spike of alarm. On the outside, in mortal form, he seemed so beautiful that it was too easy to overlook what he was. Inside him, however, there dwelled a vast chasm of darkness.

He did not want to help her. He felt no attachment to her and no love for her. He had never loved her mother either. Not in the way a mortal longed to be loved, and that was why her mother had turned from him. In the end, his demon allure had not been enough to hold her.

Understanding crashed through Raven with the force of the thunder that shook the earth beneath her. An ability to love another, deeply and without expectation, was one more reason the immortals envied a mortal existence. To love another selflessly was an ability they did not possess. He did not want Justice so he could save Raven or avenge her mother. It was as Blade had tried to tell her and she had known. Her demon father thought only of his own gain, and she did not know for certain what that might be.

When she killed Justice she would do so by mortal means and for her own purpose, without help from any demon. Because that was what would carry her over that precipice into darkness and make her the demon her father wished her to be. Her mortality—and humanity—would be swallowed by that same blackness he had inside him and never reemerge.

“I won’t kill for you,” she said. “And I’ll never hand you a mortal.”

He smiled at her with such radiance, and yet so much emptiness, that it chilled her. “I think you will. I’ll give you this much for free,” he said. “Someday soon you’ll need me. You’ll have no choice but to summon me because the Godseekers are sending assassins after you, and you, little demon, don’t want to die.” His smile faded and became cruel. “You don’t want the mortal who wears my amulet to die either. My price, in exchange, will be either your life or the Godseeker’s. The choice of payment is yours.” He tapped a finger to her cheek, and it was all she could do not to shudder. “Remember me in your prayers.”

Then she was back in the main room of her new house, with Blade asleep in the bed in one corner.

No. She did not want him to die.

For a long time, she watched him as he slept. Her desire for him never failed to astonish her, striking sharp and hot and at the oddest of moments. But it was not a sexual desire that filled her with this longing for him that could not seem to be sated or set aside. Nor was it a response to him by her demon.

She loved him. That was an entirely mortal emotion, and although more quiet in nature, also far stronger and deeper than anything her father had felt for her mother. She could not imagine life without Blade, but she did not want to be the cause of his unhappiness any more than his death.

And he was not happy here.

Despite her feelings, all her love and desire, she was not enough for him. He wanted more, but she did not know what it was, only that it was something she could not give him.

Raven got back into bed and slid beneath his arm. His cheek pressed into her hair, his breathing steady. A chunk of firewood popped in the hearth, and the firelight cast a faint, cheerful light across the semi-dark room. Icy pellets of snow tapped at the black windows.

She had a solid roof over her head, food to eat, and the bed beneath her was a luxury she had almost forgotten. And yet she could not help but feel that disaster lurked in every shadowy corner. She did not see how she could ever be free of her father. And she was afraid that at some point he would get whatever it was that he wanted, because for Blade, she would give him everything.