Page 138 of Scourged
“Send us your might, great Priam! Bless us with the power to vanquish your enemies and emerge as the victors, forever protected by your grace.”
Shawth dragged his dagger across the final priestess’s throat.
The moment the priestess’s blood washed over the dark stone, Anniliese screamed.
She wasn’t the only one. The pressure cracked through the gardens, a whirlwind of smoke and shadow and orange-gold light. It licked and grabbed her skin, too-greedy hands desperate for more to take, take, take. Possession and control, hunger and want.
Above them, the mass of shadows split open and nightmares poured forth.
Creatures made of cracked, scaled skin and taloned feet. Creatures with maws filled with massive yellow teeth, forked tongues tasting the air, yellow poison dripping from their jaws. Leathery wings and spindly limbs, bat-like ears and glowing red eyes.
Anniliese knew them. Their depictions had been drilled into her since her schooling, plucked straight from the histories of the First War.
Mudae.
“Demons!” someone yelled.
“Monsters!” shrieked another.
Shawth lifted a hand to the crowds in the risers, even as the devils of history continued to pour forth from the sky.
“History has been a lie! These are not the demons of Enfara, but the warriors of Priam!” A beast landed beside Shawth in the blood-soaked grass, its lips pulling back into a terrifying snarl.
Shawth smiled.
“They are here to protect you. And to bring us our victory.”
The crowd quieted, voices snuffing out in terror. Shawth faced themudaebeside him.
“Bring me what I need to break her. Bringthemto me. As your master promised.”
With a bone-chilling shriek, the demon spread its wings and launched skyward, its brethren close behind.
Anniliese could do nothing but watch them go. Everything in her was so cold, so twisted. Fear made its home in her chest, freezing her from the inside out.
Her hands wrenched hard at her choker, a desperate impulse against the thrum of the demons’ wings.
The delicate jewelry snapped, the black stone falling to the grass.
She didn’t look to see where it landed.
Chapter 49
The soft rap of a knuckle on glass pulled Mariah’s attention away from the Attlehon Mountains. She twisted in her chair, grinning.
Quentin and Matheo waltzed through her balcony doors carrying two bottles of wine each, shit-eating grins spread across their faces. Mariah lifted her glass of crisp white wine, nodding for them to join her. She turned back to the long stone table where she sat, the one piece of furniture on her balcony that she’d hardly ever used. She’d chosen a seat directly in the center—not at the head—and smiled into her glass as she took another sip.
“Mariah, you’ll never believe it; Matheo and I found the good wine down in the storerooms. The kind they only bring out for the balls and parties.” Quentin rushed to her side, settling into the chair on her right, Matheo sitting beside him. Behind them, more figures moved through her living room, their voices drifting outside.
She eyed the bottles. “Found it, or stole it?”
“Psh.” Quentin waved a hand. “Semantics. As if anyone is going to miss them.”
“You would be surprised by how much the kitchen staff notices, Quentin.” Delaynie sat down across the table, lovely as ever in a flowing lilac gown. “I am sure they will send you a bill for those bottles shortly.”
Ciana, laden beneath an overloaded platter of fruit and cheese, snorted as she set her offerings on the table, seating herself beside Delaynie. Behind her came Sebastian, carrying a similar tray, and he placed it next to the first before sitting on Ciana’s other side, just across from Mariah.
Mariah took another sip from her wine as Quentin leaned forward in his seat, a wicked grin on his face, something sparking in his bottle green eyes. “Is that so, little wolf? And are you going to help me pay for them?”