you were born to be and cut the head off the serpent.”
Chapter 16
I couldn’t move an inch, a heavy weight pressing me into my bed as if a truck was parked on my chest. I wasn’t even sure if I was dreaming or awake, only that my paralysis terrified me like cold hell.
I fought off the load on my chest with all I had, and then the air returned to my lungs along with the stench of sulfur, smoke, and foul magic.
I bolted up, tore Legend Heavy from under my pillow, and trained it on the invading shadowy figure. An archdemon came into focus as he leaned against my closed door, watching me broodingly.
His potent Hell power stifled the air, intending to suck out my life, but it could no longer suffocate me. I’d met the former archangel and even battled him when I tore open the Veil. His icy hellfire had slammed into me, but instead of incinerating me, it’d fizzled out on my skin like cold mist. Now in my room, his power still failed to keep me paralyzed.
“Be gone, demon!” I snarled.
I kept my aim steady, though I wouldn’t waste a bullet on him. No human weaponry would stand against such a powerful demon.
“You broke my power again, Inferno Princessca.” He grinned as he uttered old demonic words that I understood perfectly, which made me cringe and chilled me to the bone.
I’d been unnerved when I realized I could understand the Fae tongue. And now the demon tongue as well? What did that say about me? My heart pounded in my ears, and I didn’t dare dig deeper.
Dark secrets were better left unknown.
“I mean you no harm, Princess Ileana,” he said. “I just came to warn you.”
This time, he wore a handsome human male appearance instead of his seven-foot-tall, horned demon form. He thought I’d relate to him better by adopting this new look, but I recognized him just the same by his power signature.
“How did you know me?” I hissed in a low voice.
“I was among the few who believed you survived and were smuggled out of the Dawn Court, Princess,” he said in a sarcastic tone which was utterly unnecessary, but then he was a high-ranking demon who couldn’t help being evil and arrogant. “I knew the Night King had been searching for you desperately, and I’ve been paying attention. The mages hid you well.”
Every little hair on my neck stood on edge at his words. I shot to my feet, my elephant gun still trained on him, while I secretly conjured up my magic. He’d cut through my vine shield at the Veil, but my shadow fire that had burned a demonca might damage him and drive him away.
“Where are my parents?” I demanded. “Tell me and I’ll allow you to get out of here alive.”
The archdemon chuckled. “You aren’t that powerful, Princess Ileana. At least not yet. And I’m eons older than you, nearly as old as your biological father. Even after your Turning, which will be a spectacular event, I’m sure, you’ll still have a long way to go.”
He was baiting me. This demon knew my bloodline, and he wanted me to ask him questions to which probably only he had answers, like who my birth father was. And then I’d be in his debt. The Fae might be a trickster race, but it was said demons were much worse.
Making a pact with a demon is never wise.
So I wasn’t going to ask about my biological father and fall into this archdemon’s trap. In fact, in the depths of my soul, I was terrified of knowing the final dark secret. If I knew, then the Fae kings would know it, too. And if I had any demon blood in me, then I was one of the darkfae they’d been hunting and killing without remorse. They wouldn’t call me mate then. They’d call me an abomination and turn on me like the Winter King had done, and then no one would take care of my siblings after they offed me.
“Where are my mage parents?” I demanded again harshly, feeling icy sand scratching and burning my throat.
The demon cocked his head. “I can help you find them, Princess. After all, I came here to make an alliance with you. I won’t sell you out. I won’t allow anyone to drag you to the realm of Hell and test your true bloodline. Instead, I’ll protect the truth of your lineage if you’ll allow me to