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Another screa her line of vision Not because of her thigh--though yeah, that was beyond awful--but because of her chest Whenever she received an injury somewhere else, razors seemed to scrape at the burn there, as if Zacharel had just poured his water down her throat

"Well?" the demon asked

"Endured…worse"

"If only I was not forbidden to taste you" He closed the distance between the her senses "My master has Zacharel’s other fe a curling lock of dark hair "The pretty angel"

"He has what remains of her body, you mean"

"No She lives"

"You lie"

"Do I? Can you really take that chance?"

No No, she couldn’t A conscious effort was needed to keep the urgency out of her tone, to hold herself still "Just who is your master, huh, that he can do what even Zacharel could not, and bring someone back from the dead?"

"I am not to tell you I am to introduce you to hio Or not Mostly not But that doesn’t h lord who had stabbed her parents, the demon who had marked her, tainted her…ruined her How she’d dreao But would she allow this creature to leave this cloud alive? No Never She o, but she had her fists and she kne to use thehtstand "We will be bringing Zacharel’s brother with us, of course" He clapped, happy with the way things had turned out "I’m not sure which will hurt him most The death of his wo" He straightened, reached toward the urn "Let’s find out"

Though she felt as if she were ready to burst apart at the seams, Annabelle struck

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

ZACHAREL AND THANE HOVERED over the Deity’s teed de only when they reached the rivers winding around the structure Those rivers flowed to the edges of the cloud, cascading over the sides in breathtaking, star-fraht the currents and ardens to the alabaster steps, past the ivy-rich colu inside But the doors they couldn’t breach, no ed and kicked

For a ht he’d met Annabelle The demons had mindlessly attacked then, too, all in an effort to reach her But she was not inside, so…what could they possibly want this time?

"They’ve never attacked our Deity like this," Zacharel said His wings were heavier than usual, the snow continuing to fall "Why now? For what purpose?"

"I can only assu orders," Thane said

"Yes, but whose?"

"Not Burden’s, thathis strings maybe?"

"Maybe"

"Who else would sacrifice an entire horde on a suicide ain, for what purpose?"

"Only one way to find out"

Yes Interrogation

"I don’t like this" He traced his tongue over his teeth, observed his own cloud--a horrifying black stain in that expanse of deep blue--for a long, silent h Annabelle was inside, the demons did not attelances its way, even move toward it, but all would catch themselves and return to the desecration of the tehed "Let’s say the minions are here simply to distract us Let’s say another horde is soed in battle to act We still cannot walk away from this We have the Deity’s orders and we ainst his jaw "You’re right We do But that doesn’t mean the whole of my army is needed for this"

He pictured half of his troops and projected his voice into theirsuspicious, any type of demonic disturbance If they were surprised by the new method of communication, they hid it well This was easier, quicker, and he only wished he’d done it before now

He received one Yes, sir! after another