Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

P reparing to summon a demon is one thing. Finding the proper place. Gathering the needed materials. Reading and rereading the incantations until you know them by heart.

Actually hearing a demon speak , however, is an entirely different matter.

Faced with that unnatural voice, Malissa did the only thing that seemed natural.

She bolted.

Her legs churned as she took off in a full sprint into the night. More than once, she almost slipped on the dewy grass, but each time, she recovered and kept going, as fast as her bare feet would carry her.

Soon she was back in the darkness of the forest, where the ground was drier, though not any less precarious. Twigs clawed at her bare ankles. Leaves whipped at her face. More than once, she nearly charged headlong into the trunk of a tree, only to dodge it at the last moment.

Her heart was galloping inside her. She could feel it pounding high and hard in her chest. The air in her lungs felt hot as dragon's breath, and her thighs, unaccustomed to such sudden exertion, burned until it seemed as if her muscles would just melt away like wax beneath her.

But she didn't stop. She kept running as fast as she could. She ran until her heart felt like it would burst inside her. Until her lungs felt singed. Until her legs felt nonexistent.

She might have run all the way back to Drachenval like that, if the forest hadn't finally gotten the better of her.

It was a root that did her in.

The gnarl of wood was well concealed beneath several layers of shadow. It caught the big toe of her left foot, sending a jolt of pain leaping up her leg. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt herself tumbling forward. She managed to turn herself in midair and landed on her side, which was better at least than diving face-first into the ground. Her body skidded on a layer of dead leaves before finally coming to a halt.

Malissa hissed through clenched teeth. Her toe throbbed where she had struck it. She was dripping sweat. Dry leaves and dirt clung to her damp skin. Around her, the woods were dark and silent. She lay for a moment, catching her breath, then she pushed herself up, keeping her weight off her hurt foot.

She tried to regain her bearings. Above her, the foliage was too thick to see the stars, but like her night-eyes, Malissa had always had an uncanny sense of direction. After a moment, she was reasonably certain she was aimed toward Drachenval, and she prepared to start running again.

But she hesitated.

Did she really wish to return to the castle like this , naked and filthy with leaves and twigs tangled in her hair? The guards on the parapets might take her for a wild woman and shoot her on sight. The black gown had hidden her on the way out of the castle, but her fair skin would show up like a beacon in the moonlight.

And even if the guards didn't shoot her, even if she did manage to sneak back into the castle without anyone spotting her, even if she didn't have to answer any questions about her shocking appearance, there was still one other problem.

She'd left her things back there in the clearing.

The candles and tinder box could have belonged to anyone, but the gown was undeniably hers. There was no other woman for leagues around who could afford such finery.

If anyone should happen upon the darkstone ring and find that gown…

I'll say it was stolen.

And then what? The suspicion would immediately fall upon her handmaids, especially sweet Droanna, whose figure most resembled her own. Malissa cringed at the thought. She could never throw an innocent servant to the wolves like that.

No, she had to go back for the gown.

Tomorrow. I'll go back tomorrow, when the sun is out.

No one besides herself had visited that darkstone ring in months, maybe even years. The odds that some traveler should chance upon the ring and discover her belongings there were slim.

Still, she hesitated. Her feet were poised to run, but her body remained as unmoving as a statue.

What am I doing? she thought. What the hell am I doing?

Malissa had performed the ritual at the darkstone ring for a reason. She had intended to summon a demon, and it had worked. She had heard the creature's voice. She had felt its dark presence watching her as she had fled naked into the woods.

But the power of the darkstone ring must have contained the evil spirit. The fact that she was still alive was proof of that.

Everything had worked exactly as the grimoire said it would. Now all that remained was to speak with the entity she had summoned, to tell it what she wanted, to make her demands.

If she didn't do it tonight, she might never get another chance, and come year's end, she would be a dead woman, just like her predecessors.

She could do this.

She had to.

Drawing in a deep lungful of forest-scented air, Malissa summoned her courage and brushed away the dried leaves clinging to her skin and hair. Then she turned around and set off through the trees, moving in the direction of the darkstone ring, limping slightly from her stubbed toe and cursing softly under her breath.