He raised an eyebrow, expression still mocking. “It is always good to have ambitions, even if you will never see them come to fruition.”
He made a flicking motion with his hand, and the candles surrounding me shivered and danced. Magic settled around me, thick and cloak heavy. My knees buckled briefly under its weight, but I locked them tight and remained upright.
His gaze narrowed slightly. “Release the sword, Risa.”
My grip on Valdis tightened. I actually did want to release her, because until I did, she couldn’t make her way toward Azriel. But I also couldn’t seem too eager.
“Go fuck yourself, Mike.”
He made another motion with his hand. “Release the sword. Now.”
The weight of the magic increased. This time, I allowed my knees to buckle. They hit the cavern’s stone floor hard, and pain slithered through me—something I was more aware of than truly felt.
“Sorry, but my previous response still applies,” I said through gritted teeth.
“This stubbornness obviously comes from your father. Your mother was certainly far more pliable.”
My mother had trusted him—and for that alone I would kill him. But I held the words back and kept my spine straight against the continuing force of magic.
He made another motion with his hand. “Release it.”
I made a show of fighting the order—although it wasn’t all show. The magic was so damn heavy it felt like a ton of bricks was settling around my shoulders. My muscles were screaming and sweat poured down my face and bowing spine.
Enough was enough.
I flung Valdis toward Azriel as hard as I could. She landed on the stone halfway between me and him and slid several feet closer.
“Well done,” Mike said, his voice losing its edge of command. “Although if you have any hopes of the reaper being able to reach your weapon, I can assure you that will not be the case. His cage is, I’m afraid, rather more than it seems.”
I licked my lips, my body still quivering under the weight of the magic. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning, it has been specifically designed with dark angels in mind. The steel contains him, and the mist drains him.” His smile was edged with satisfaction. “He will die, slowly but surely, unless you do precisely what I ask.”
Which explained the bouts of dizziness I’d been getting. It wasn’t the lack of food; it was Azriel drawing on my strength. I glanced at him, suddenly worried. We might not be able to communicate, but he obviously sensed my concern and minutely shook his head. He was okay for the moment. Relief flooded me.
I took a deep, quivery breath and returned my attention to our sorceress. “Trouble is, he’s going to die even if I do what you want. Or do you honestly expect me to believe you’re going to leave either of us alive once you have the final key?”
“Oh, I have no intention of killing you, my dear. I did, after all, promise your mother to look after you, and I do actually prefer to keep my promises if it’s at all possible. It’s bad karma to do otherwise.”
I snorted softly. “I think you’re well past the point of worrying about karma.”
“That is more than possible, given once I have the final key in my possession, the kingdom of hell is mine to fully control. Karma will be of little concern once that happens.”
“If you think karma and the fates will idly sit back and watch you destroy two worlds,” Azriel said, his voice as flat as his expression, and all the more scary because of it. Or it would be to the sane, and I had a suspicion Lauren or Mike or whatever the hell his/her real name was had passed that point long ago. “Then you have very little understanding of the forces you seek to control.”
Mike glanced at him. “Given the lack of intervention by either party so far, I think I’m justified in believing they no longer care what happens in my world or yours.”
“And in that, you’d also be wrong,” I said, drawing his attention back to me. The last thing we needed right now was him noticing that Valdis had slid several feet closer to the cage that bound Azriel. “But that is beside the point. If you don’t intend to kill us, what do you intend? Because we both know that only death will put an end to our attempts to stop you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, death is your outcome; have no doubt of that. But it will not come from my hand—not directly. Rather, the magic of this place will restrain and drain you both, until there is nothing left of either of you but memories and regret.”
I suspected it wouldn’t take us all that long to reach that point—not if the cold cruelty in his eyes was anything to go by. God, why hadn’t I seen what this man truly was before now?
Why hadn’t Mom?
It was a question I was never going to get an answer to. Mom had moved on and, in many ways, that was precisely what I had to do. There was no point in dwelling on what-ifs; all that mattered now was stopping this bastard.
“But we have not reached that point yet,” he continued. “We have a key to find first.”