“We have to go back home. It’s the only place we’ll be safe.”
“Shewon’t be safe. They’ll kill her on sight,” Ryker argued.
“They won’t. Not if they truly want to defeat Lilitha.”
“What does Kaleah have to do with that? She’s just one girl.”
The woman scoffed. “You saw what she did back there. Without the flaming sword, she’s the next best weapon to defeat the demon empress.”
“So what, you want me to offer her up as their prisoner? I won’t do that.”
“You don’t have a choice. It’s either that, or let her be hunted down like an animal and possessed by a demon.”
Ryker growled, drawing a lull in the conversation. Consciousness slowly pushing the fog from my mind, I pried my eyes open to slits. At first, I could make nothing out, the darkness impenetrable, but as my eyes adjusted to the dim glow of star light peppering the sky, the interior of a shallow wooden boat rose up around me. A few feet away, his back turned to me, sat Ryker’s familiar silhouette. His arms pulled and pushed with the movement of the oars he held. I couldn’t see the woman, but judging by her voice, she was positioned somewhere behind me.
“Do you love her?” the woman broke the silence, and I held my breath.
“How I feel has nothing to do with—”
“No?” she challenged. “Then why did you bring her through the portal with us, huh?”
“Just because I care about her doesn’t mean I love her.”
Pain like a knife lodged in my heart. Of course he didn’t love me. How could he? I cradled my scarred hand to my chest, pain flooding through my side from that single movement. Besides knowing me for less than a month, Ryker was a nephilim, born to kill demons and I, being demon-born, was bonded to him for eternity. I was lucky he didn’t still hate me.
“That kiss back there was far more convincing than your words are now,” the woman teased, and a blush burned my cheeks just remembering it.
“I was trying to save her life!” Ryker snapped. “Besides, after tonight, I doubt she’ll ever forgive me.” His bitter voice fell. “Because I failed to eliminate the demon empress, she’ll never see her sister again.”
“She can’t blame you—”
“I blame me,” Ryker snarled, making me flinch. “An innocent young woman is now a puppet to a monster who’s leeching her life away. She’ll never see the light of another day or even get to meet her child now…” His voice trailed off, leaving me hollow inside.
Curling up in the bottom of the boat, pain throbbed through me with every beat of my heart. I let the horror of what had happened to my sister sink in and blinked back the tears burning my eyes. Glaring up at the waning moon that had taken my sister from me, my resolve hardened. No matter what lay ahead for me, or how long it took, I would not abandon my sister.
I promise, Cassie, Iwillsave you.Even if I have to end a demon’s reign.