Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

A cheer went up from the crowd. Already, the logs of the pyre were beginning to catch, and the flames were lashing the edge of the platform where Malissa was standing. Sweat sprang from her pores, and the bitter scent of woodsmoke filled her lungs.

Not like this , she thought. Please not like this .

Instinctively, she tried to twist away from the growing heat, but there was nowhere to run. The flames had her surrounded, and the iron chains around her legs and throat kept her bound against the wooden pillar behind her.

The fire was dancing around her ankles now. In her state of shock, she couldn't feel any pain yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time.

Please, heavenly Creator save me!

As soon as that thought had crossed her mind, she recognized the absurdity of it. She was a witch. She had summoned a demon and mated with him. She was beyond the Creator's salvation.

She suddenly remembered what Beliath had said the night he had impregnated her…

He can't save you now, and neither can your puny little excuse for a husband. You are mine, wench, mine for the night, and the only name I want to hear passing your lips is my own. Do you understand?

Yes Malissa had answered. Yes, master .

The flames were up to her knees now. The hem of her roughspun smock was beginning to singe. When she inhaled, her lungs took in more smoke than air. At this rate, she would suffocate before the pain set it. She only wished that the same could be said for the baby inside her.

I'm so sorry, little one. I'm so sorry.

The air around her was so hot it rippled like water, distorting the faces of the watching crowd until they looked more like goblins than people. She could hear their shouts and jeers over the roar of the fire. Her heart filled with rage.

Avenge me, she thought. Avenge our child. Wherever you are, Beliath, whenever you are free again, avenge me.

Then she screamed it out loud.

"Avenge me!"

Her cry ripped through the castle courtyard with such ferocity, it sounded as if the fabric of creation itself was being torn asunder. The crowd fell silent, and down near the base of the pyre, King Wulfgang stumbled backward in terror.

Malissa's smock ignited, engulfing her in flames.

And at last, the pain began.

Only it wasn't the pain she'd been expecting. Not an overall searing of her flesh, but a localized agony that was focused on a few key places around her body—her shoulder blades, her forehead, the tips of her fingers and ears. And even more surprising, the source of the pain did not seem to be coming from outside her body. It seemed to be coming from within , as if her body itself were changing, shifting, growing.

The silence which had stolen over the crowd was now broken by cries of terror, and the entire courtyard erupted into a panic. Malissa could hear the king's voice shouting over the din.

"What's happening to her? What is she doing? Where the hell is Jaeger?"

"He's there!" someone shouted. "Up there on the castle wall!"

At that very instant, the smoke parted, offering Malissa a glimpse of the parapet, and sure enough, there stood Jaeger, robes flapping gently in the morning breeze. His head was bowed, his eyes closed, and in his hands he was clutching the same glowing red crystal Malissa had seen the night before at the darkstone ring.

He was chanting.