Chapter 17

I yanked my hand from Butterfly's, and shoved her into the ice wall with a hard thud. She gasped as the wind was knocked from her lungs, but I didn't have time to worry about her mild discomfort. In one swift motion, I narrowly ducked Rai's charge, swung for his horns, then got a hold of the Minotaur and slammed him into the cold, frozen ground. I pinned him with a knee on his back, and a tight grip on the nape of his neck.

Rai didn't stall for a single moment. He shoved off the ground with a burst of power, likely aided by the magic of his living maze, and he threw me into the wall beside Butterfly. I didn't have time to react before he shoved his horns right through my stomach, so hard and forceful the points penetrated the cold stone surface behind me.

He secured his position in my gut, then slowly dragged my body up the wall, carving grooves into the rock surface, and leaving a red trail in my wake. The pain was enough to make me wretch, and I struggled to keep the contents of my stomach from filling my throat. I fisted his dark hair in an effort to prevent being thrown again, only to be slammed back into the ground with a hard crack.

Rai tore his horns from my flesh, spattering my blood on all three of us. I covered the gaping holes with my palms, front and back, to slow the blood loss. Channeling my natural heat, I seared the holes shut, and I held still for several seconds as I waited for my organs to patch themselves inside my gut. He'd managed to puncture my liver, my pancreas, and my stomach in one violent, sweeping thrust, and immortal or not, that was an excruciating hit to take. I drew a slow breath through my nose, held it until I was mostly healed, then I released the air in my lungs as I stood up straight. I narrowed my gaze at Jericho's perfect little pet.

"You're going the wrong way." The Minotaur spoke in an accusing tone as he stared me down with fiery red eyes. They glowed like fresh lava cutting through blackened rock, nearly hidden by the thick ebony hair that draped around his face.

My blood dripped down his drenched horns, pooling in his dark strands, and sliding down until it trickled onto his bare shoulders. The wet, scarlet streaks followed the tattoos that painted his triceps in a slow dribble.

While the pain was still subsiding, I found myself thinking how grateful I was that it was my life force painting his horns instead of Butterfly's.

Ridiculous .

With one more calming breath, I addressed Jericho's toy .

"No, I'm quite certain the Green Sector is this way." I cracked my neck then cracked my knuckles, before I tipped my head towards the corridor behind us. "I would think you would know your way through the Labyrinth by now, Rai." It was a bit early for Jericho to be unleashing his dog. That couldn't be a good thing.

"And I thought you would know how to follow orders by now." He practically hissed. His frustration was adorable. "Your job is to delay her until she runs out the Twilight Clock. Not get her swiftly and safely to the castle."

Butterfly stared at me with her lips agape, and that burned a sense of dread through my whole damn soul.

"Wait, is that true?" She looked between us, much too focused on baseless accusations than the fact that we were facing down Jericho's number one bitch. Butterfly looked up at the clock that was now at the fifty-five hour mark, then back at me. "Have you been…"

"I think Jericho's boots are getting dry. Don't you need to get back to licking them?" I intentionally interrupted her train of thought, while refusing to answer any questions in front of the dog. I didn't need Rai telling her anything else she didn't need to know.

Looking classically disinterested, he slid his index finger along his bloodied left horn, then inspected his reddened fingertips. He rolled my bodily fluids between his thumb and forefinger, until crimson filled the grooves of his fingerprints. The bulk of my blood was still dripping through his hair. "I've run out of polish. Would you mind sharing some more?" He tilted his head to the side in a taunt. "Or maybe she can help me out."

Butterfly tensed, and I could practically feel her fear through her body language. My own chest constricted at the sight, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

A lump that formed out of stress and irritation, I mean. Not because of her feelings, since I didn't care about those. I just knew, as tough as she was, she was way out of her element, and the burden of keeping this mortal alive was still on me.

But rather than step in front of her, I held my ground. I didn't want to give Rai any more false illusions that I was actively protecting her. Obviously I was here to sabotage her journey, but I was doing it at my own pace by my own judgment. I didn't need him or Jericho interfering with my plan.

"Last I checked, my orders have never been to kill the tribute. I was specifically instructed to keep her alive and give her to Jericho once she fails, conscious and all tied up in a bow. How I choose to execute that plan is none of your business." I snapped back. Her eyes glossed at my words, and that uncomfortable irritation in my chest squeezed tighter. "But just like always, you come barging in here like a bull in a fucking house of leaves and screw the whole thing up."

Though I was the one admonishing him, for some reason, Rai's gaze was fixated on Butterfly. I watched the way his slitted red eyes crawled down her body, stopping on the scars on her wrists.

Good. I hope he runs home to his dearest Master and tells him what I did.

Only one mark was necessary for the tracking spell. The rest, I still couldn't fully explain even to myself. But the meaning should have been very well understood, considering Pasiphae and her sire had shared the same pact. I was sure it would thrill Jericho to see his tribute bearing a mate mark with another devil before he'd even placed his own.

Rai snapped his gaze back to mine without a word. Then he… swallowed? There was a nervous gloss to his fake smirk that I couldn't help but notice. Which was especially strange considering how stoic the Minotaur had always been. If Jericho had managed to bestow any gift upon his protégé, it was in the form of beating the ever-living emotions out of him.

Yet here I was, after several thousand years, watching that mask slip for the first time.

I studied the red-eyed bull, and he nodded ever so subtly, like he was acknowledging my inquiry. Though I wasn't sure what question he thought I was asking. All I could say for sure was that something was very off about his reaction.

"I see." He muttered. Butterfly remained silent, but the scrunch to her brow said enough all its own.

Fucking hell. I couldn't wait to have to explain this whole thing away.

Without another word, Rai extended his left arm in front of him, palm downturned, spiked leather bracelet snug on his wrist, streaks of my blood spider-webbing down his forearm, and his painted red nails on display. He didn't look at Butterfly again. He kept our eyes squarely locked as he tensed his fingers.

"Don't." I slid my foot back a few inches, ready to run.

"Don't what?" He lifted his chin, and I calculated every movement I was about to perform.

"I've got it handled." I insisted again. I didn't need this shit right now.

"I know." He said blandly, a fraction of a second before he closed his hand into a tight fist.

The icicles on the wall started breaking from their eaves and shattering on the icy floor. Then they re-angled, their sharp points directed purposefully at me and Butterfly.

"Stop." I made one last attempt to get through to him, but I knew he wouldn't listen. Every muscle in my body was tense and ready.

Stern and emotionless, Rai flipped his palm up right, then thrust two fingers straight up into the air. Monotone, arrogant, and looking down his nose at me, he uttered one small and vicious phrase.

"Run, Dream Weaver."

In a hasty and desperate swoop, with no time to explain, I grabbed Butterfly by her wrist and started bolting for the Green Sector entrance. Rai wouldn't give chase. He didn't need to when he had his connection to the maze to attack us. But I still had to outrun the barrage of daggers if I wanted any chance of keeping her alive. I could take being skewered a thousand times, but she certainly couldn't.

Icicles shot from the walls of the Labyrinth with piercing speed and force, and the sharp points shattered as they slammed into opposite walls. The corridor became a cacophony of violence, ice shattering on stone, then ricocheting shards that scattered across the frozen ground.

Butterfly ran and stumbled over the slick surface behind me, giving the sharp death trap time to catch up to us. I just kept running. I yanked her along forcefully, nearly dislocating her shoulder in the process. She could barely keep footing at this pace, and she was stumbling and sliding through the twists and turns of the Blue Sector.

After a particularly sharp turn, she tripped under my blistering pace, and I lost my grip for only a second. Just long enough to send her sliding into the chaos.

Fuck fuck fuck—

An ice dagger honed in on her and blasted through the air. The sharp icicle struck her calf and pierced clean through her muscle and bone. Instantly the frozen blade was doused in red, while my lingering body heat melted the shard inside her. Ice turned to water, creating a wide open wound.

She didn't scream even as she started to hemorrhage from the hole in her leg. The woman was tougher than nails and hell itself. Adrenaline must have completely taken over, as she wasted no time scooting back and trying to get back on her feet to outrun the next barrage.

I'll admit I was impressed she'd managed to stand at all, let alone run on that leg.

I skidded back over to her, taking three icicles through my side in the process, while catching two more before they could connect with her head. The ice melted as it touched my skin, and I shielded her with my body as I got a grip on her again.

Rai controlled every inch of the maze. It was connected to his soul, and so long as he wanted to watch her squirm, he wouldn't let up. Still, this was too far. His chance of killing her was way too high. Either he was disobeying Jericho for the first time ever, or he was actually counting on me to save her.

What a wild thought to think there could be any unspoken trust between us.

"Thank you." She somehow managed to shout as I got her up and ahead of the barrage again. Though it was futile to expect her to keep pace, even more so now that she was injured, and I knew that all too well.

Not the least of which because I'd made a wrong turn in trying to save her. We hit a dead end, and we shared a mortified glance at the realization we had to run back into the fray.

Fuck you, Rai.

With a shake of my head and without further hesitation, I yanked her against me, eliciting a soft yelp, then I hoisted her up into my arms, princess style. Turning on my heel, I grabbed her injured leg long enough to burn the wound closed, while she clung to my shoulders without protest.

"Do you trust me?" I asked as I squeezed her tightly against my chest. The ice blades were speeding towards us. There was only one way to go.

She stared over her shoulder in wide-eyed horror. "No! Fuck no I don't! What are you doing?" Her voice was frantic and shaking, yet she still tucked in more tightly against me, closing her eyes and squeezing me with growing desperation. She could have fought me and tried to run the other way, but instead, she nuzzled against my chest and held perfectly still in a small expression of faith.

That shouldn't have made me grin as much as it did.

"Good, because you shouldn't." I responded by giving her a reassuring squeeze, then I concentrated my heat into the surface of my skin, to assure anything that got through would melt before it could penetrate. I bounded forward, keeping my grip on Butterfly despite the slick sweat that poured down her exposed skin under the influence of my body heat. The icicles turned to steam in my atmosphere, while the frozen floor started to slush and crack under my heels. I shielded us both as I skidded around the last corner and made the final charge.

Blue turned teal turned green as I rammed through the door, head down and horns first. The wood gave instantly under my strength, and we crashed into the thick vegetation of the next segment of the Labyrinth. I couldn't keep my footing, but I still managed to rotate onto my back before landing in the spongy grass of the Green Sector, assuring I didn't crush Butterfly under my weight.

Once the symphony of ice ceased, and it was clear we were somewhere marginally safer, Butterfly climbed off of me and dusted herself off. It took all of four seconds before her hands were on her hips and she was pursing her lips and glaring at me.

Cute as she was when she was angry, I was far more focused on assessing her injury now that we had a moment of calm. Though I cauterized the wound, it would still need to be bandaged and disinfected.

At least… it would have...

Only, that once gaping, bloody hole on her leg was completely gone. There was no trace of my burn, and no proof that it had ever happened at all. If not for the blood that still stained her skin, I might have questioned if I'd imagined the whole thing.

What the fuck does that mean?