The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,85

time, as with Celestine, he knew deep in his bones what he had to do. But with Sofia, the realization came with a burst of bittersweet joy—he hadn’t forgotten how to love. He loved her.

He loved her. Even more than he was afraid of losing her, of someday having to let go.

The truth of it filled him, and so many things that had been locked inside himself broke open. A rush of light consumed him, and for a single moment that seemed to hang, suspended, all the universe was the song he had been created singing. Phenex’s wings snapped out to his sides, and there was a brief, searing pain that he had to close his eyes against. And within, Phenex could feel something new, something shimmering and sweet and endless that pulsed with the love he had found. A gift, even now, for a creature who would never again be quite an angel…but who had proven himself worthy of something more.

From the depths of Phenex sang something new. His soul.

With it came a power unlike any he’d ever known.

Phenex opened his eyes to find Belial staring at him, his face contorted with fury.

“No!” he shrieked.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. Belial drew his sword from between his own wings, but Phenex was already ahead of him, his own fire sword raking a line of black blood across Belial’s chest. The demon screamed in pain and anger, and their swords connected on the next pass, again and again. Always, Phenex tried to keep an eye on Sofia, knowing time here was short. Her struggles seemed to be getting weaker.

The next time Belial’s sword passed by in a rush of air, Phenex sliced out with his hand, thinking of Sofia’s clever move, and caught the demon full force in the throat. Belial’s eyes widened, and he gagged. It left enough opening for Phenex to make one more slash of the fire sword, neatly detaching Belial’s head from his body. Even before they hit the floor, both head and body were in flames.

The demon’s final scream echoed, filling the room before expanding through the walls, a warning that Phenex knew the Council members and their hordes would hear.

Traitor.

He had to get out of here.

The cage was unlocked, at least, and Phenex gathered Sofia quickly into his arms. At first, he thought he had managed to catch her before the worst of it.

“It’s over. It’s done, Sofia. We can go home. I’m here. Can you hear me, baby? It’s going to be okay.”

But it wasn’t. His stomach rolled when her head fell back. Only the whites of Sofia’s eyes were visible, and the blood was running down her cheeks like tears. Her body was limp. She was nearly out of time.

“No!” Phenex cried in the terrible silence. “No, no, no, hang on…you have to hang on.”

He was back in the courtyard in a few quick flashes of movement, back to the departure point Belial had set up. Phenex muttered the words he remembered to open the temporary rift, and even as shouts and screams began to echo through the skies, warning of his presence, he was springing up, rocketing into blackness that was suffocating. Somewhere beyond were the remains of Amphora, a battle that might still rage on…

And he found he cared for nothing but the life that was ebbing away right here in his arms.

As the darkness lightened, he did something he had sworn he would never again do. He used an ability that ought to have vanished from disuse, but that was still as keen as the edge of his blade. With all the light that still burned inside him, he cried out for help.

Please. Save her. Help me save her. There has to be a way.

And in the silence that followed, he heard Uriel’s voice.

There is. But there’s always a price.

Phenex understood without having to be told. Whatever happened, whatever he did, he would have to be willing to accept that he could lose Sofia. What would she want? What could she bear? He had so little time left.

“Tell me,” he whispered as the world around him lightened.

And Uriel responded with a choice.

Chapter Twenty-Two

She woke to the sound of pounding surf and keening gulls.

Sofia’s eyes snapped open in the dark. She shouldn’t be here. She’d already done this part, and it had ended badly. Phenex had walked out, and then Belial—

She lost her train of thought as she realized that there was a wing draped over her.