“Mine,” she mumbled.

Costin picked her up and held her close to his chest. “Always,” he whispered in her ear, as he carried her to their room.

Chapter 21

“In my long life there have been none who I would say had been a worthy opponent, someone who was worth the effort it took to kill. Not until now. Finally, a worthy opponent has come forward. He is the strongest of his kind, of pure heart and soul. Yes, he is a worthy opponent, and it was almost a shame that I had to kill him…almost.” ~ Desdemona

“I’ve been waiting, Warlock King,” Desdemona walked leisurely through the trees, and though she might have sounded irritated, she looked as if she were taking a relaxing stroll through the forest.

Cypher stepped into the small clearing and met the witch’s gaze.

“I have a question before we do this,” he told her.

“If you must,” she said tiredly, as if he were a child who had hounded her all day for a morsel of attention.

“What is it you hope to accomplish?” Cypher tilted his head and scratched his chin. “You’re going to let out a hoard of demons whose only desire is destroy everything in their path, to what end?”

When Cypher had dropped Lilly off at her room last night, he had gone back to his own room and studied the Nushtonia with Perizada. She had known the language, though she was very hesitant to speak it out loud. When she finally decided to say the words, she said them out of order so that she didn’t inadvertently invoke some unknown spell. Through their study, Cypher had learned that Mona was misinformed on her knowledge of the underworld. She believed that if she released the demons that she would be able to control them, but like any lies construed by evil, shreds of truth were woven within a web of deceit. The only control that she would have would be one request of the demon who wrote the Nushtonia and that was all. Desdemona did not realize that she was going to unleash not only her enemy’s destruction, but her own as well.

“I don’t need to justify myself to you,” Mona told him, smoothly. “You are but a tool to be used in my plan. You do what I ask and then you may leave.”

“You really think that it is going to be that easy? Is anything ever that easy Mona?”

“Are you attempting an intervention? Is that what this is?” Mona motioned with her finger between them. “Let me save you the trouble King, there is no saving me.”

Cypher laughed. “Oh, believe me, I am well aware of just how un-savable you are, but you don’t have to take us all to hell with you.”

“Too late.”

Cypher watched as she closed her eyes and waved her hands in front of a group of trees. The wind picked up and the sky grew darker as black clouds rolled in. A shimmer in the air between the trees formed and Cypher could feel the evil trapped behind the veil.

“You’ve been hidingit?” He asked her.

“I didn’t want just any old idiot coming across it and I didn’t want the demons using another to write a book on how to open it.”

Cypher’s brow rose. “You know about the book that was written?” He didn’t name the book for fear that she would realize that he had it, and because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself from those beyond the veil in front of him.

Mona laughed, dryly. “You do remember who you are talking to, right?”

Cypher glared at her, but held his tongue. He and Peri had decided that he needed to appear as cooperative as possible for as long as possible.

“Enough chit chat,” she motioned for him to move closer. “I’m assuming that since you are here then you know what you are doing?”

Cypher moved towards the veil and pulled a knife from his leg sheath.
“You know what they say about assuming right?” He asked her as he ran the knife across his arm.

Desdemona rolled her eyes. “We all know that I’m an ass Cypher, that’s not news to anyone.”

Cypher cut another slash across his arm, and another.

“You aren’t going to bleed out before you’ve opened it right?”

“Do you want me to do this or not?” Cypher growled.

“Touchy, touchy,” Mona muttered, as she leaned back against a tree. She watched as Cypher slashed his other arm the same number of times as the first. Rivers of blood snaked down his arms dripping to the ground around his feet. Mona watched in fascination as the blood, almost as if it had a life of its own, began to join and flow as one towards the shimmering covering of the veil.

Cypher closed his eyes and began to murmur the words that Peri had taught him. His mind was drawn back to the look on Peri’s face as she explained the requirement of the magic. She explained that dark magic could never be accomplished without paying some form of price and it was usually a life or blood. Peri’s face has taken on an ashen hue as she read the words of the book. She had looked up at him and he could see the answer to his unasked question.

“It will take your blood,” she told him.

“Come now Peri, we are both too old to skirt around the truth,” he had teased.

Peri’s eyes had shimmered with unshed tears.

“It will take all of your blood,” she finally told him.

Cypher nodded. He knew that a life was the requirement to open the veil. He had hoped that there would be a loop hole.

“You’ve only just found her,” Peri had whispered to him. “She has finally, after so long, found the one who can fill the void in her only to lose him.” She had looked up at him and Cypher had felt his heart breaking as he watched one as ancient as Perizada hurt for Lilly, who she had claimed as one of her own.