The Heartstone Saga by Archibald Bradford (short novels in english .TXT) 📕

touched the feather with trembling fingers, and then clenched her jaw tight before speaking once more.

“Indeed, she will not.”

Chapter 41:Tainted Pair

Hiding within a kitchen in one of the many abandoned farming communities to the east of Garland, Evadne was seething with rage and pain after her confrontation with Volka.

Calm down pet.

“Calm down?” She hissed incredulously; “Did you not see what just happened?!”

I did, which is why I know that right now we need to be calm.

“You told me you had made me the strongest!” Evadne wailed.

And you are. With this one notable exception that I didn’t foresee. The angel has embraced the mantle of Dominar. Which means I cannot touch her anymore. But it isn’t anything we can’t adapt to.

Remembering the glorious strength and unyielding prowess of the Valkyrie, Evadne’s eyes widened incredulously.

“How are we supposed to adapt to that?! Especially if she has the Gigas with her, not to mention Xalanth!”

Suddenly her body seized up and her features became blank when the demon’s forbearance ran out again.

After being forced to hide from Volka, its grip on Evadne had weakened significantly, so it was necessary to reassert dominance once more.

We adapt. Your missing fingers aside, the Dragon is no match for you. And neither is the giant so long as you see her coming.

With the demon’s hold on her, Evadne had to speak through her teeth.

“But what about the angel?”

She will be too busy. Nothing has changed. Nothing. We struck a decisive blow today. Now we prepare for the next.

“And what would that be?”

She felt cold all over when the demon’s irritation against her softened to the point that she could move again.

Originally we were going to spread as many Tenebrae out as possible, a never-ending plague that could only have one conclusion, but with a Dominar in play we need to change that plan.

Evadne’s eyes widened at the thought, and a moment later a cold smile spread across her face.

“Rather than sowing chaos all over, we give them one large target, draw her out and overwhelm her with numbers?”

Precisely. And not just her. We’ll use the remaining Ogres to even out the odds a bit. Assuming your human pet hasn’t lost his nerve.

“He’s fine.”

He’s squeamish. With so many dead he’s having serious doubts, doubts that have been building for a while now, something you well know.

“What do you suggest I do about it?”

You? No, not you. I will handle it.

The thought of what the demon intended fluttered through Evadne’s mind, and she opened her mouth to object, but couldn’t.

Her will was not her own, and her body was not her own.

The demon could do with it what it willed, that was the deal they made after Yana nearly killed her.

Having recovered its composure after their escape from Garland, it took stock of its prized possession.

We’ll need to patch you up before anything though.

The worst of Evadne’s injuries were her severed fingers, blackened stubs now from the higher-angel’s wrath.

Her brow creased in concentration and black armour formed tight around her hand; the fingers of the new gauntlet might not be able to bend but they were strong.

Rigid, straight, and ending in deadly points.

“It will have to do.” She muttered aloud.

With the demon’s control reasserted, the unproductive emotions that Volka had drawn out in its slave had been squashed and Evadne was able to focus on her task again.

Though Nameless and Milly’s continued survival was regrettable, as was the entire encounter with the angel, she was ultimately pleased with the result of the raid: trading one clan of Ogres for the countless dead and dying, not to mention the lives of the Aegis’s precious council, was a fair deal in her mind.

And the fear that the people of Garland must be feeling!

Shortly thereafter Jonathan found her humming an ancient lullaby to herself as she used her remaining fingers to paint Yana’s face with a fresh coat of her black blood.

The Amazon stood perfectly still and accepted the mockery of her battle-paint without any complaint, her spear still red with the councils’ blood and her mind trapped forever in the day that the Chimera’s nightmare began.

“I know you’re there.” Evadne called out suddenly, making her bond-mate flinch.

Once it had been pointed out to her by her demonic patron, she could sense his wavering feelings: ever since he had witnessed her surrendering herself utterly to the entity that now more or less governed her every move he had begun to truly doubt their purpose for the first time in decades.

And she needed him still.

With hesitant steps he came into the room.

The demon that dwelled now behind Evadne’s eyes retained the Chimera’s consciousness, but her submission had been absolute and so her body was only hers to control when it allowed it. As such it shooed Yana away and shed her blackened armour, save the gauntlet hiding her ruined hand.

With a few deliberate movements she pulled off her shirt and shorts to reveal her pale nakedness to the nervous human, her snake tail hissing in sibilant promise.

As Jonathan’s eyes took in her exposed form, the demon further schooled Evadne’s features into what was necessary, and then knelt before him.

“I have been unfair to you Jonathan. And for that I am sorry. You are tired. For once... for once let me tend to you.”

As a being of manipulation and malice, it knew exactly the words the confused Empath needed to hear to stay focused on his task.

Jonathan Pym never stood a chance.

The sight of the Chimera on her knees before him, submitting to him, was a fantasy he had clung to his entire life, and it drove out everything else.

His hands shook as he struggled to free his cock from his pants,