And he was smiling in satisfaction. No doubt he’d mistaken the soul’s dying moans for my capitulation. I didn’t move, didn’t react in any way, trying to make it seem like the life within me was gone and that his conjured soul was now in residence—or, at the very least, in control.
After several minutes, he made a quick, chopping motion with one hand and said something I didn’t quite catch, and the weight abruptly lifted from my shoulders. Excitement stirred, mine and Amaya’s, but we didn’t move. The endgame was close, but the candles still stood between us and ultimate victory.
“Rise, dear Risa,” he said, making an up motion with his hand.
Slowly, stiffly, I obeyed. My legs were decidedly unsteady, and I wasn’t sure whether it was due to the sudden release from the weight or the fact that Azriel was still drawing on my strength.
Either way, unsteadiness wasn’t something I needed, given that when we moved, we’d have to do so fast. I took several slow, deep breaths and flexed fingers itching with the need to feel steel and blood on them.
His expression was a mix of satisfaction and amusement. “I can see you in there, Risa. The hate”—he paused and tsked—“no one so young should feel such an emotion so deeply. It is not good for the soul.”
Eat him, Amaya muttered. Good for my soul.
Just consume him slowly, I bit back. The bastard deserves pain. Lots of pain.
Then blow apart not, she said. Can’t eat bits.
Oh, I wouldn’t be blowing him apart. He didn’t deserve to die that quickly.
Now think like demon. Better.
I snorted internally and continued to meet Mike’s gaze. After a moment, he walked to the left, moving around the circle until he was out of my immediate sight. My shoulder blades itched with awareness as he paused behind me, but I didn’t dare move in any way. He grunted, then walked on, until he reappeared on my right side.
“Right,” he said, stopping where he’d started. “This is how it works. You will find the key, Risa; the soul will monitor and control your actions, stopping anything that might be detrimental to the search. The minute you discover it, you will be brought back here.”
I remained mute, though it was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.
He smiled and continued. “Of course, I cannot afford to have the search take forever, so please do remember that the cage will continue to drain your reaper until you return with the key.” He half shrugged. “I believe he has, oh, maybe three or four hours before the situation becomes critical.”
Amaya screamed in fury, the sound so loud inside my head it felt like she was physically stabbing my brain. My eyes watered and a tear began to roll down my cheek.
“Now, now,” Mike murmured, “it won’t be that bad. Not if you hurry.”
Bastard, I silently intoned. Bastard, bastard, bastard!
“The exit lies to your right.” He made another motion with his hand. Light flared across the shadows to my right, revealing an archway roughly cut into the cavern’s stone wall. “It will take you to an old munitions tunnel that was missed when this estate was being changed from a military base, and into the industrial estate itself. You will immediately begin the search for the key and will not stop until you find it. Is that clear? Nod if that is clear.”
I nodded. His satisfied smile grew. God, I so wanted to smash it away . . .
“Then let’s get this show under way.”
Yes, let’s, Amaya all but purred. Sword ready.
Even as she spoke, energy stirred, a heat that pressed against my skin, eager to get out. She was back in her sword and ready to go, and it took every ounce of will I had not to move, to remain where I was, still and silent. Mike raised both hands and began to chant. One by one, the candles in the circle that contained me went out, until there was absolutely nothing standing between me and him.
Now, I said, and leapt forward.
The sword materialized from my body and leapt into my hand. Mike’s eyes went wide, but he had no time and no chance to react. Amaya flamed, fierce and bright, quickly encasing him in a cage through which no magic could get in or out. And best of all, my hand was in his chest, my fingers around his heart.
Just as I’d promised.
I stopped, my face so close to his that I could feel the foul rasp of his breath against my cheeks. Sweat was beginning to bead his forehead, but there was fury in his eyes and incantations on his lips. I waited and watched as the realization dawned that my cage had rendered him as helpless as I’d been only moments before. The incantation became swearing. But he didn’t plead for his life, and there was hard light in his pale eyes.
“Kill me,” he spat, “and you kill the reaper.”
“Actually, no,” I replied evenly. “You see, that sword you had me throw away was his, not mine, and a reaper’s sword is designed to protect its master against all manner of evil. Including, I’m afraid, the sort of magic you’ve conjured with that cage.”
“My life force is all that holds this place together.” The slightest hint of desperation had begun to creep into his gaze. “Destroy me, and the whole cavern will fall in on you.”