20

A R Y A

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I didn't believe him for a second that he hadn't kidnapped Xenos and Devon. Or worse. "Then you stop all the murders first!"

The rogues, who were standing behind Daemon like a massed army, bared their teeth and growled wildly at me. Daemon raised his hand and gestured for them to calm down. they obeyed. "I have nothing to do with it."

"Liar!" Reah's spear trembled in her hand. "You killed them to suck all their blood just to get stronger, you sick blackblood."

Daemon froze. "Blood was drawn from the bodies?"

"“Aee”." I didn't believe his innocent expression. "And now finally give it to me"

He rolled his eyes. "For the thousandth time, I don't have your beloved prince."

How long had it been since the scream sounded? How much could he hurt him already? Was it an injury?

“I would never leave you. I would always be there for you I'm always there for you. No matter when, no matter where, call me and I'll come. “

My chest was burning so badly I thought I would burn. He couldn't be hurt. How could I stupid goose think I could ever leave him? I saw his sea blue eyes in front of me. The way he looked at me with that tender smile on his face, even though he never smiled. And yet he had looked at me like that. He had seen “me”. He always has. “By Gaia's will, feyen, “he must not have perished. Not since I had only now discovered what my heart had long understood.

“Always there for you, Arya. Always.”

I stretched my eyes to my chin and opened myself to the freezing cold and the darkness snaking up inside me. A warrior should never hesitate too long. I had calculated everything meticulously. You couldn't get the shot better after a long wait. Daemon had taken something that was important to me. He would burn in hell for that.

Reah was still calling my name as the string released and quickly nocked a new arrow to arm me for the fight against the rogue. I grinned murderously. Let the little wolves come - no one took anything from me without getting away with it.

Daemon burned the deadly arrow with his fiery breath, and it crumbled to the ground in ashes. "Don't," he said calmly, just as his wolves were about to lunge in my direction. Then he looked at me. "More annoying than I thought." He folded his arms across his chest and lifted his chin invitingly. "Tell me more about these murders, Gi."

What a sadistic dog. “You want me to tell you what you have done yourself! What kind of sadistic dog are you?”

Silver steel gleamed in the moonlight, and I was already preparing to dodge the flying blade as he cut his own hand. Dark red blood dripped from his skin onto the moss-covered rock.

“See for yourself, I'm not a black blood. So I can't take the blood of others to strengthen myself."

"But if it isn't you..." Reah's words trailed off and my mind went blank, too. I had seen the deep claw tears on the victims with my own eyes. Had tracked several wolves in the mud. It “must” have been him.

"Daemon is right."

I spun around and froze. Another golden portal floated in the air, from which Xenos stepped out, carrying an unconscious Devon in his arms.

My eyes widened as I looked at his naked body in front of me. I only looked at him until I was sure that he wasn't injured and then quickly averted my gaze from him. My knees nearly gave out just from the relief that he was unharmed, but I pulled myself together and instead of running to him, pulling him to me and assuring myself that he was okay, I held my arrow aimed at Daemon while Reah lunged at him instead.

"Oh god, what happened? Is he okay?' Out of the corner of my eye I saw her lean over Devon and put her hand on the self-patched, blood-soaked bandage around his head.

"He needs help as soon as possible."

Reah nodded, understanding his wordless command. "Give him to me, I'll teleport him home."

"Thank you." With that he handed her Devon and Reah strode through the portal. "Are you hurt?" he whispered to me as he walked over to stand next to me.

"No," I ground out, trying to juggle all the emotions and not look at his shamelessly displayed glory. As before, my eyes and my arrow were fixed on Daemon.

"Good." Kurz closed his hand around my neck and gave me a quick kiss on the top of the head as he turned to the hellhound. "I got a letter."

"I'm happy for you." Daemon still stood in front of his pack, arms crossed, eyeing us. "It would be nice if you put some clothes on."

Xenos growled. "People have disappeared all over Semeera and Anifeira."

Daemon held out his hand, and when a pair of pants appeared out of nowhere, he closed them to Xenos. "When?"

"Last night and tonight." Xenos quickly caught the pants and slipped them on. “You're not blackblood, so it's not in your best interest to confiscate the blood of others. And if it wasn't you who did the murders, then it can only be someone else. Your mother.'

My fingers twitched around my eyes as my thoughts rattled through my head. "Echinda?"

"How exactly does their blood oath work?"

"You're smart, I have to give you that." His sinister grin was back. “Once her blood enters her victim's circulation, he becomes irrevocably bound to her. He'll do whatever she wants."

"How can one break the bond?"

Daemon's eyes twinkled. “Do I look like an encyclopedia? Think for yourself.”

Xenos was undeterred. “You were able to free yourself from her oath. So there must be a way."

Dark was still a bit too bright to describe Daemon at this moment. "I died."

Father would call my heart foolish to have anything like pity for someone who was a monster. I looked Daemon straight into his amber eyes. 'She won't rest, will she? She'll want all the individual souls."

He shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say, my mother is a gloomy brute."

I took a step toward him, still aiming my arrow—I couldn't get out of my skin. “Help us stop them from stealing from more of our people and punish them justly for their crimes. “Zeris atek Zeris”.”

"I've fought my mother's battle once before, and I won't seek it again." With a snap from him, a portal appeared in front of me and Xenos. "Now get out of here, or my flames will burn you to the bone."

Regardless of whether Daemon had anything to do with the murders, the two of me and Xenos could never survive a battle against the demigod and a whole rogue pack gone berserk. It would be wiser to follow his words. I, both Xenos and Reah knew the place where he was hiding, we could always teleport back to him - as long as he stayed in this place, of course.

Although I couldn't understand how Xenos could be so sure that Daemon had nothing to do with all this, since it was clearly wolves who had been killing the people, I said nothing. Xeno's mind was cracked. So if he thought Daemon wasn't behind this, he had good reasons for it. So I said nothing, lowering my bow and blindly following Xenos through the portal. Because this wolf had earned my trust. And Gaia help me, I did far more than trust him.

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