Ve'Rah Daa (The Ephemeral: Book 3)

Chapter 41

The canine, wise enough to flee, darted into the ruins with angry wisps of darkness on her heels, and my veins thrummed with anxiety as she vanished from sight.

Great. There goes our arbitrator.

I craned my neck to peer through the Pan's curtain of long, oily hair, but I couldn't find Lucy anywhere. Perhaps she'd fallen victim to our incorporeal visitors, or maybe she'd wandered deep into the palace, disinterested in her brothers' fate.

Either way, Will and I were all alone here in the pit of Godric's contingency, and it was high time I intervened in family matters.

I calmed my heart, thinking back to what Will taught me that day in the Gritz. We'd practiced this exact scenario after Miss Crazy Eyes staked me in the palms like a disturbed taxidermist.

Pelvic floor, elbows down, arm wrap—

I jerked my hips upward, throwing Two-Ton off balance, and as soon as her hands lifted from my flesh to catch her own body weight, I rolled sideways to plant my bare palm against the floor.

Or attempted to, at least.

But a second pair of hands seized my wrists—longer and slimmer than the first—and when they tightened around my limbs, I knew there was no escaping them.

I glared at the soldier beyond my brow, and my heart quivered at the familiar face scowling down at me.

Koji.

My comrade bore two milky white eyes, and with his sharpened canines and body piercings, he looked more sinister than any Pan on the battlefield.

Gritz. Jo's gonna be devastated.

His nostrils flared, as if I reeked of something addictive, something too redolent to ignore. Meanwhile, Two-Ton leaned back, distributing her weight to the lower half of my body and driving fresh, warm blood out of my thigh.

It was damn near impossible to contain my groan of pain, but I refused to gift my enemies even a granule of satisfaction.

Regulas hummed to himself, assessing my self-discipline, and then he redirected his attention to his brother.

No...

No, no, no...

Will blanched, quickly realizing this wasn't the king's finishing blow, but a beating. And far too slowly, he started crawling away.

All I could do was watch as Regulas brought the poker down on the same leg—this time from the opposite angle.

Will screamed when the bar made contact. He screamed.

I'd never heard him make that sound, not as an adult, and it struck me like a whip. "Stop it!"

A third blow snapped the bloody arm holding him upright, and hot tears flooded my eyes as the prince collapsed.

"Enough!" I sobbed, straining against the stone-faced demons pinning me down. "Leave him alone. Please, Regulas!"

The king paused to look at me, then observed his crippled sibling once more. Grudgingly, he lowered the poker, but the grin on his face told me his vendetta wasn't over.

"You're right. Asa's too willing to accept my punishment. He knows he deserves it." He pivoted to face me, and his thought process was as transparent as the window shards that littered the floor.

I swallowed as he sauntered toward me. He sought reactivity, and he knew hurting me would torment Will like nothing else.

"Ray—" Will pleaded, fighting for consciousness. He tried to rise, but his broken ligaments wouldn't take any weight, and his panicked eyes flicked to the man's retreating spine. "Don't..."