Chains of Frost: The Bellum Sisters 1 (34 page)

He kept his tongue safely secured
in his mouth as she did hers. He slanted his head and kissed her a little more
firmly and her knees stopped shaking. Thank God, progress.

Her arms lifted, wrapped around
his thick neck to hold him still. Her breaths came faster and she held him to
her forcefully, her instinct to take as much out of him as she could. She had
no other thought but of finally feeling whole.

Suddenly, his mouth was no longer
against hers. Chloe blinked in time to see Rayn in a crumbled, groaning heap at
the bottom of the staircase. His legs twitched and then he was struggling to
get up.

Chloe turned and her heart
squeezed tight.

“What the hell do you think
you’re doing?” asked the source of her pain.

She swallowed once and felt her
throat close to working order again but not quite healed all the way yet. “Why,
isn’t it Commander Tyrian en Kulev, leader of the Atal Warriors. You grace me
with your incredible presence.” She tried to bow but ended up stumbling
forward. He grabbed her to steady her then quickly withdrew his hands.

“You didn’t answer my question,”
he said icily.

Rayn finally stood and wobbled up
to them, favoring his right ankle. “She was dying. I kissed her. No tongue, I
swear.” Chloe sensed the violence in Tyrian coming to a boil. She took an
unsteady step toward him, putting Rayn behind her. Tyrian cocked a brow at her.

“Don’t hurt him for what he did.
He helped while you did nothing.”

Chloe felt herself falling
backward. She took a breath as air breezed around her, but then Tyrian caught
her before she hit the ground, picking her up in his arms.

“What have you done to yourself?”
he asked angrily. Chloe felt him moving but struggled to make sense of the
rooms now spinning around her. The kiss had helped, but she was three days
starving. She needed more.

“You did it. You threw me out.”
Her heart broke. God, it hurt to say it aloud. To put sound to the words that
cut so deep. A soft cushion met her back. She stared up into the ice blue eyes
that she’d grown to love.

“Besides,” she added bitterly,
“You told me to choose another warrior. I did your bidding.”

Tyrian stalked away from her with
a curse. “I know what I said, woman.” Finally, he came back to her and gave her
no time to think before his mouth was on hers.

Chloe twisted, turning her head away.
“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“I told you what I felt and you
threw me out like I’m nothing to you. Why would I want your kiss now? When it’s
angry and hard and uncaring?”

His eyes darkened. “The way I
kiss isn’t any different than it was before. Just let me help you.”

“Now you want to help? I swear
that if I could throw something at you right now I would. You’re a bastard
who’s pushing away something that could make you so happy.”
Don’t cry,
Chloe.

He growled, then was at her side,
her face in his hands. “I’m sorry, dammit. I’m sorry I can’t be who you need. I
wish things were different. I’m even sorrier I hurt you. It was the hardest
thing I’ve ever done. I—”

His eyes clouded over and he
looked so lost and confused that Chloe gave in once again, her arms wrapping
around him. He didn’t even struggle. His arms came around her, like it was the
most natural thing in the world, pulling her close.

“You are what I need,” she
whispered fiercely. “I just wish you’d realize it, Ty. I love you.”

“Chloe,” he said, his eyes wild,
breathing hard. His eyes traced over her face, and then his mouth was on hers,
tongue seeking.

The kiss was raw passion. His
taste flooded her senses. Chloe lost herself in it, in him. For timeless
moments, the world consisted of only them and this one kiss.

That is, until an explosion
ripped the room apart. Chloe screamed as ear-piercing wails ripped through the
air. Tyrian didn’t hesitate, but scooped her up and sprinted out of the room.
Stone exploded, falling down from the ceiling and raining on the ground around
them.

Chloe had only a moment to look
behind her to see screeching, flying demons storming into the castle.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chloe was handed off to Rayn.

“Sound the alert, we’re under
attack!” Those words took Chloe a few seconds to comprehend.

“What?” she said dumbly.

Tyrian turned to her, kissed her
hard and quick. “Get into your room, barricade the door, and do not leave. The
demon has finally come.”

Rayn started dragging her toward
the stairs and she fought against him. “Wait. How do you know that? Don’t
leave!”

The entire castle trembled,
rocking everyone on their feet as if it was being torn out from below.
Lily!
Chloe thought frantically.
I have to get to my sister.

A voice, eerily familiar in its
deep, rumbling roar growled from the outside the castle.

“Klooooooooooooweeeeeeee!”

All the blood left her face.

“Go now!” Tyrian roared. Doors
flung open and out poured dozens and dozens of armed Atal Warriors. They
stormed through the front door with fierce, battle-ready expressions.

Chloe went, half-dragged up the
stairs by Rayn. He shoved her into her room and went to shut the door. “Wait!
Get my sister and Lucinda,
please!
” she begged.

The warrior hesitated then
finally nodded. “Lock up and stay away from the walls. I’ll be right back.” The
door slammed shut and Chloe closed the lock with shaking fingers. She turned
around and wished her room had a window. The castle shook again and Chloe
wished she could see what was happening.
Don’t let him get hurt,
she
prayed silently.

A rapid knock sounded at the
door. Chloe flung it open and grabbed a frantic Lily and Lucinda.

“Stay here,” Rayn said and did
his disappearing act. Chloe shut the door and threw the lock.

“Oh my God, what’s happening?”
Lily asked, for once sounding scared.

“The demon’s here and I think he
brought his army.” Horrible sounds echoed through the castle. The clash of
metal and steel, the battle cries of warriors, the screech of demons. Chloe
went to her nightstand and grabbed the piece of paper with the spell on it and
the potion Lily’d made her.

The outside wall suddenly
shuddered.

“What was that?” Lucinda asked in
a high voice.

Lily swallowed hard. “Get ready
to run, ladies.” Lily threw the lock on the door, waiting like a marathoner for
her queue.

Chloe stomach clenched painfully.
This was what she’d been waiting for. Part of her had known it was coming. It
had just been a matter of time.

The wall shuddered again and a
blood-curling screech sounded from the other side of it. Whatever it was, it
was trying to break through the wall. And it was working.

Dust and stone debris spewed into
the air and the stone cracked. Pieces of rock fell to the ground until finally
one single stone fell and moonlight spilled in through the hole. She actually
hoped it was her demon. She wanted to say the spell, throw the potion on it,
and be done with it. Before anyone got hurt.

Sharp taloned fingers swung
through the wall, scratching against the stone.

“We need to get out of here,
now.” Chloe said. She couldn’t risk Lily and Lucinda if this wasn’t her demon
trying to break in. She’d meant for her voice to be firm, but it came out as a
stunned whisper as suddenly the entire wall crashed in, piles of stone and
dusty debris filling the air.

Oh, shit. A dozen flying
idummi
demons soared into the room.

“Out, now!” Chloe screamed and
they all bolted for the door. Chloe made it last, had just gripped the doorframe
and taken a step toward it when bony fingers gripped her arm.

“Lily!” Lily turned back to her,
fear drenching her features. She ran back, her arm outstretched. But then Chloe
was snapped backward, flying in the air in the arms of a demon.

Chloe screamed from the top of
her lungs, wind whipping sharply at her face, as she soared through the
freezing night air and over the battle that raged below. Her hands opened as
they swooped down like a diving bird and Chloe watched, in slow realization, as
the potion and spell slipped from her fingers and fell into the crowd of
fighters below.

And that’s exactly what it was.
Hundreds of winged, bony demons swinging metal back and forth against warriors.
Her eyes searched frantically for Tyrian but she didn’t see him. Her eyes shot
forward as the demon holding her slowed.

Her heart raced as she was slowly
carried toward the ground and closer to the gray, rotten demon waiting for her
behind his army. The stench of it immediately filled her nostrils and left her
gasping as her eyes watered at the retched smell.

Chloe was dropped roughly to the
snowy ground. She stood quickly and ran, but a group of demons grabbed her and
sent her twirling back toward the demon. Her feet sunk into the deep snow,
slowing her movements, wetting her jeans to her legs like cold hands.

The freezing cold bit at her and
some part of her mind screamed at her to put a coat on, but she screamed back
at it to wait a minute. There’s a demon in front of me!

The demon took one, very long
step toward her, placing it directly in front of her.

“What do you want?” she
whispered. She heard the screams of men and demons dying behind her and she
couldn’t stop the trembling that started in her body. People were dying because
of her. She never wanted any of this. How she wished she could go back in time
and never do that stupid spell.

The demon’s huge mouth opened,
baring its hundreds of pointed teeth, then it spoke. “
Uganaray k’thunu
trime.
”

Chloe had no idea what that
meant. But apparently what he said wasn’t meant for her because demons grabbed her
wrists, threw her to the ground then two more were at her ankles, holding her
fighting body down.

Chloe’s heart galloped in her
chest, her breaths coming in pants. “What do you want?” The demon held out its
long, fleshy arm and another demon came up to it and placed a ridiculously long
sword in its hand. Chloe couldn’t help it—she screamed.

The scream was horrendous and
piercing even to her own ears and the demons holding her lost their grip to
cover their ears. Chloe didn’t hesitate. She got up and ran.

The snow slowed her immensely,
but she ran wildly, blindly. She couldn’t go back toward the castle because the
demon’s army was there, so she went off to the side and toward a forest of pine
trees.

She nearly made it to the trees
before she was tackled from behind. Her body slammed into the snow, which struck
her stomach hard, knocking the wind out of her. Gasping, she was turned around.
Quickly, she curled into the fetal position trying to get the intense pain in
her stomach to go away.

As the demon lumbered toward her,
idummi
demons grabbed her by her ankles and dragged her through the snow
back toward it. The demon spoke more in that harsh, unrecognizable language,
rounding on her with that sharp, glinting blade.

The demon wasted no time. It
raised the blade high with its long arm. Suddenly, it cried out as a dozen
arrows landed in its arm. Chloe and the demons turned to see the Atal Warriors
beating down the demons, getting closer and closer to them. Yes! She just
needed to hold out for a couple more minutes.

As the demon’s arm fell limply to
its side, its good hand picked up the blade. Chloe could feel the hatred and
menace oozing out from the demon. Its red glowing eyes stared at her with a
hungry passion that spoke of power.

It didn’t lift its arm this time
but pulled its elbow back and thrust the blade toward her. Chloe screamed and
turned her body to the side. She stared, wide eyed as the blade dug two feet
deep into the snow where her stomach had just been.

The demon snarled something and
then
idummi  
demons came at her, trying to
grab her arms and feet. She kicked and caught one in the mouth. It snarled at
her but another grabbed her other leg. Soon she was trapped, held down like an
ancient offering.

But then she heard a wonderful
sound. Tyrian was calling her name. Chloe lifted her head, her eyes darting
everywhere before finally seeing him fighting his way toward her. He fought
with vigor and skill that far surpassed even the warriors he fought next to. He
swung his double-bladed axe, ducked sword blows, and dropped demons in his
wake.

The demon didn’t wait for him. It
pulled the big blade out of the ground and hacked it at her. Chloe froze.

Adrenaline surged through her,
making time slow. The sword came down and she twisted as it neared. The hold on
her body was tight and she could scarcely move. The first touched of the blade on
her skin was burning hot. Chloe heard herself screaming, but didn’t recall
actually making the sound.