Amalia

I kept my attention diverted between the horsemen and the ruins where they’d taken Magnus. Having slightly recovered, Lust dragged herself into a seated position a few minutes ago and propped herself against the wall.

I couldn’t help but feel pleased she looked as bewildered as she did beaten. She’d never imagined someone might be able to resist her once she unleashed her power on them, but she’d never encountered someone like Magnus before.

He resisted her because of me.

Tears pricked my eyes, and my heart swelled. Not only was I terrified for him and worried about where they’d taken him, but I’d also fallen in love with my Chosen. I think I’d been in love with him since he handed me those flowers.

There had to be a way to get out of this and get to him, but I had no idea how—not while they were surrounding me. I was already healing. My ribs were only fractured instead of broken, and my internal bleeding had stopped. Soon, I would heal enough to make a move, but I needed a plan for when that time came.

Think, Amalia.

My head spun as the jinn who’d taken Magnus away returned to the pit. I will get us out of this. I will figure this out.

I didn’t know where he was in those ruins, but if the jinn had returned, then he was secured somehow. He was still alive, I would feel it if they’d killed him, but what had they done to him?

My parents stood beside me; my mother’s hand rested on my shoulder while my father surveyed everything with his arms crossed over his chest. Their disapproval thrummed against my skin as did their love for me. They’d followed Olgon, they’d picked this path, but they did not sign up for this.

But then, they probably hadn’t expected me to do the things I’d done either. No matter our different paths, they would try to protect Magnus as they understood the Chosen bond, and they wouldn’t risk losing me should the horsemen decide Magnus should die.

Olgon and Pride stood near Absenthees, occasionally glancing at me while they spoke. This close to the monolith, its power electrified my skin, but I could also feel its wrongness, just as so many things were wrong in the Abyss.

Behind Pride, his horse shifted, and its tail twitched in annoyance while it surveyed the crowd. Nalki moved to stand a few feet in front of us and to my left. Some of the jinn still blocked the pathways leading into the pit, others clustered into a small group, and the rest stood near the monolith. All of them were unusually subdued; their uneasiness drifted from them in waves reminding me of ripples spreading across a pond.

Thinking about water made my heart ache as I recalled my too brief time with Magnus beside the pool and the life we’d returned to that area of the Abyss. I glared at my uncle before studying the ruins again. There was still no sign of Magnus or anyone who may be up there watching over him.

They wouldn’t leave him alone, would they?

No, there is no way they would feel confident in doing that. Unless it was impossible to escape wherever he was located, or maybe Sloth could keep him unconscious for hours or days.

“We won’t let them hurt you,” my mother said for what felt like the hundredth time.

I believed she would try to keep them from doing so, but what were the three of us versus the jinn and three horsemen? Not much at all considering Sloth knocked Magnus out with a touch of his hand.

And I didn’t want anything to happen to my parents.

Olgon and Pride broke apart. The smirk on Pride’s face as he sauntered toward us caused my hand to fist with the urge to hit him. Walking beside Pride, my uncle’s face was expressionless, but I sensed his fury.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted my chin. There may not be much we could do against them, but I refused to cower before these pricks.

“Have you come to a decision?” I asked as I held Olgon’s gaze.

“We have,” Pride replied.

Knowing it would infuriate the most arrogant of the horsemen, I refused to acknowledge Pride. “And?” I asked Olgon.

Pride kept his face impassive, but a wave of annoyance washed off him. I bit back a smug smile. I’m an empath, asshole; you can’t hide your feelings from me.

“And,” Olgon said, “if Rislen revealed our heritage to you, that means you have spoken to her recently and returned to the Earth plane.”

A shiver of foreboding raced down my spine. I didn’t know where he was going with this, but I suspected it wouldn’t be good.

“So?” I inquired with more bravado than I felt.

“You are Magnus’s Chosen, we hold you both prisoner, and we also hold Corson’s Chosen. Magnus and Corson are friends of Kobal’s, but Astaroth tells us Corson is closer, and we want him too.”

“And you are going to return to Earth and bring us to Corson,” Pride said. “You must have met him if you encountered Magnus.”

“I haven’t,” I lied.

“Your eyes give you away, Amalia,” Olgon murmured. “Do not lie to us; it will be your Chosen who suffers the consequences of it.”

I almost spat at him that he was family, but I bit the words back. I was family too, and I brought an enemy into the Abyss. It didn’t matter to Olgon I did it to save lives. He was determined to destroy those lives.

“Even if Corson is close to the king, you have to know Kobal won’t risk everything to come here and try to save him,” I said.

“Of course he won’t,” Pride purred.

“Then why do you want Corson?” I asked Olgon.

“Because Corson knows things about the king no one else knows,” Olgon replied.

“He’d never tell you anything that could be used against his king.”

“Maybe not normally,” Pride said. It took all I had to keep my focus on Olgon. “But he’ll do anything for his Chosen, and he most certainly won’t be able to stand seeing her tormented in any way.”

Don’t react. Don’t react. Even if my eyes gave me away to Olgon, Pride wouldn’t know how to read my emotions yet.

“I’m not bringing you to Corson,” I stated.

“But you are,” Pride purred.

Behind his back, Lust rose to her feet. Swollen and bruised, her face resembled a half-smooshed tomato, but she was healing fast. Grasping her horse’s mane, she pulled herself onto its back and settled there. I hoped one day I’d get to watch her and her asshole beast meet with a horrific fate.

Lust’s head lulled forward before snapping up. She nudged the horse toward us and stopped beside Pride’s steed. Sloth remained near the monolith with his eyes closed; he appeared to have fallen asleep, but I suspected he was listening.

“She and that filthy demon will be cut apart piece by tiny piece, and they will watch it happen to each other!” Lust vowed. “Then, I will feed them to each other before starting the process all over again.”

I inwardly recoiled at the prospect of such a thing happening while Lust’s green eyes burned into mine. I didn’t know what possessed me, but I smiled at her. Drop dead, bitch.

I’d never known someone so beautiful could become so ugly, but her face twisted into a rage that blurred her features into something hideous and unrecognizable. For a second, Lust’s face mirrored her insides.

“I’m going to kill her,” Lust snarled.

Pride held up a hand, forestalling her when she went to dismount. “Not yet,” he said.

“Look at what that demon did to me!” she spat at him.

“You should have suspected the Chosen bond would make him capable of withstanding your power. Your hubris did that to you. Do not forget, you are Lust, not me.”

If Pride could feel the hatred Lust emitted when she pinned him with her stare, I suspected he would have killed her, or at least tried. However, after her brief lapse with me, she’d composed her face into a blank expression again. Outwardly, she showed no signs of loathing toward her fellow rider, but inwardly she seethed with it.

The horsemen are not as close as they seem.

“We need her alive to do as we bid, and if we kill the demon, she’ll be useless to us,” Pride continued.

Some of Lust’s hatred waned until it smoldered beneath the surface like a burning ember.

“Now, child,” Pride said to me.

This time when I refused to look at him, his hand shot out and he gripped my chin. His finger dug into my flesh, bruising it but not drawing any blood as he forced my head toward him. I tried to break free of his touch before he could poison me with his overly arrogant ways, but he was keeping his power confined, for now.

My mother shifted beside me, and her hand tightened on my shoulder. “This is my daughter,” she hissed from between her teeth. “Do not hurt her.”

Pride’s eyes flicked toward her; I tensed to defend her as I waited for him to attack. No one told Pride what to do. But he glanced dismissively away from her.

“I’m not playing games with you, child.” Pride’s fingers dug into my chin until my skin broke, blood trickled free, and his nail scraped my bone. A muscle twitched in my clenched jaw, but I didn’t make a sound. “I’ll tear those beautiful eyes from your head and personally hand them to your Chosen unless you do what I command.”

“She’s not to be hurt,” my father said and stepped toward him.

“Paupi, no!” I cried and threw out my hand to snatch his back before he could touch Pride.

The horseman may not be infecting me yet, he needed me for something, but he would have no qualms about taking down my father.

“You are going to take us to where Kobal’s followers are hiding,” Pride said.

“No, I’m not,” I replied.

“Yes, you are, because if you don’t, I’m going to take you to Corson’s Chosen and I’m going to make you watch as I cut off her hair. Then I’m going use her hair to tie a pretty blonde bow around the ears, lips, and nose I’ll also cut from her. I’m going to make sure you personally hand the package to Corson when you do agree to take us to him.”

My belly clenched at the possibility, and when Pride smirked, I knew my eyes had shifted colors to give away at least something of my emotions.

“You don’t like that,” he purred as he rubbed my chin. “And you don’t know his Chosen, do you?”

“We’ve… ah… we’ve never spoken,” I admitted.

“Yet the idea of her suffering in such a way upsets you, how sweet. You truly do have the loveliest eyes, child; I knew some fae before we were locked away. Exquisite creatures, spineless, but exquisite.” Lifting his head, he focused on something over my head. His expression became distant as if he were remembering something, and a smile curved his mouth. “One time, I tore the spine from a fae for fun; her screams were as enchanting as she was.”

Where his finger dug into my skin, a spreading sickness seeped into my system. I could feel his rot seeping into me, and it took all I had not to knock his hand away, but he’d make me pay if I did.

“Now,” Pride said, and his attention returned to me, “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do to your Chosen. First, I’ll cut off his cock, and while he’s still screaming from that”—he seized my hand before I saw him move and lifted it before me, gripping my index finger—“I’m going to cut off his fingers, but not all at once. Oh no, I’m going take them apart knuckle by knuckle before starting on his toes and doing the same. Then, I’m going to slice him from groin to gullet and dissect him one piece at a time until—”

“Stop,” I moaned.

He leaned so close to me that our noses nearly touched, and the neon lavender of his eyes deepened to a purple, the same color as the calamut leaves. The sexual arousal emanating from him caused my sick, tainted feeling to grow. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of looking away, but I couldn’t hold his gaze anymore.

His breath tickled my nose and lips when he spoke again. “Everyone thinks Death is the worst horseman, but they’re wrong. It’s me. And do you know why it’s me?”

I shook my head no, and his finger scratched against my chin bone. I barely registered pain, but I cringed at the sound it made.

“Speak up, child. I can’t hear you,” Pride purred

“No,” I whispered.

“No, what?”

“No, I don’t know why you are the worst of the horsemen,” I said.

Releasing my chin, he rose to his full height again. “Then, let me educate you!” he cried with a zeal bordering on insanity. “The humans dubbed me the deadliest of the sins, but as you know, the dimwitted humans separated the sins from the horsemen when we are all one in the same. I suspect this is because, as mortals, humans believe nothing can be worse than death. We both know that’s wrong though, don’t we?”

“Yes,” I said when he paused long enough that I realized he expected an answer from me.

“Ah, yes, so the humans fear death the most,” he sighed. “But my fellow rider, Death, simply kills you, but there is no fun in that. The fun is in the play. I am the horseman who takes great pride in making suffering an exquisite, eternal thing. I am the horseman many humans called the boogeyman and hid under their beds from; I am the one demons cower from.

“I am the horseman no one can avoid. Not everyone falls victim to gluttony or sloth. Not everyone gives in to their lusts and greed. Not everyone goes to war or experiences famine; there are even those rare beings who never know envy. Many know rage, but there are some who never experience true wrath. And, if immortals play their cards right, they may never experience death. I mean, look at how old some of the angels are. Look at how old we are.”

I had no idea how old the horsemen were; I wasn’t sure anyone knew. They’d been sealed away after the jinn, but that was only because the horsemen had probably been harder to trap.

“But everyone, and I do mean everyone, experiences at least one second of pride in their lives. Children take pride in things before they can name the emotion they’re experiencing. All the other horsemen can be avoided, but no one avoids me.”

He was so smug he didn’t realize his arrogance would be his ultimate demise. If that time ever came.

“And I am far more twisted than my fellow riders,” he said.

I couldn’t help but glance at Lust when I felt the smallest trickle of apprehension from her. She’s afraid of him.

I gulped before meeting Pride’s beautiful eyes again.

“You’re going to take us to the others now,” he said to me.

I opened my mouth to say no, but the word froze in my throat. I’d rather die than give into these creatures, and I could say no if this were as simple as my death. I would sacrifice myself to help stop the spread of the horsemen’s evil, but what Pride intended to do to the three of us was a fate far worse than death.

And what will he do once you give into him? He’s not going to let you walk away; he’s not going to free Magnus or Wren. And with Corson in his hands, what could he learn about the king?

“No,” I croaked.

The simple word was the toughest one I’d ever spoken, but once it left my mouth, I knew it was right.

There was a moment in which it didn’t seem as if he heard my response, and then fury emanated from him.

“I was hoping you would say that; more fun for me,” he lied.

I didn’t get a chance to reply as he turned, grabbed my mother’s head, and tore it from her shoulders before anyone could react. I recoiled when her hot blood sprayed over my face and clothes. A scream rose and lodged in my throat when her body toppled in front of me. Pride released her head, which thumped on the rocks before rolling to settle near my mother’s shoulders.

The scream burst free of me as I collapsed to my knees. “No!”

Pride’s hand landed on my shoulder. Bearing down on me, he dug my knees painfully into the rocks as he pinned me in place.

Through tear-filled eyes, I turned my bleary gaze to my father as strange, choked sounds tore from him. Collapsing beside me, he gathered my mother’s body into his arms and sobbed while he rocked back and forth.

“Vya,” he whimpered in a voice I didn’t recognize.

I did this to him; to her. I did this!

No, he did this!

Lifting my head, I glowered at Pride as my heart shredded into a thousand pieces.