Demon Marked

many possible ways. But I can’t ask anything complicated of a halfling and expect it to be done right. So let’s keep it simple: Break his neck. Then come back here and lie down again, so that we can finish this ritual.”
    Without hesitation, Ash stepped forward. Over the sick beating of his heart, he held her gaze, tried to let her know that this decision was right. Anything to keep her from the frozen field. Anything to bring her a few steps away from Madelyn, where maybe, maybe, he could think of some way to give her time, to help her escape.
    “Just make sure you kiss me first,” he said.
    A sad little smile curved her lips, the first real expression he’d seen. She paused, midstep. “Madelyn, when I’m breaking his neck, should I twist to the left or to the right?”
    “What does it matter? To the left.”
    “My left or his left?”
    “His. You idiot.”
    “I am just trying to be precise as I carry out your orders,” Ash said, and this time her eyes narrowed slightly, in the same way she had when they’d trained together and she was considering her next strike. “There are several vertebrae in the neck. Which one should I aim to snap? I’ve never killed a man in this way before.”
    “I don’t care. The third.”
    “Oh.” Ash’s smile turned slightly apologetic. “I’m sorry, Nicholas. I have to ask you to face away from me before I can break your neck, because I first have to feel along your spine and count your vertebrae. I must find the location of the third, you see. I cannot disobey her.”
    What was she doing? Simply delaying?
    “Are you delaying, halfling?” Madelyn’s voice filled with threat.
    “Obeying,” Ash corrected. The crimson glow of her eyes faded, and through the dusk, her gaze sought Nicholas’s. “I know that as long as I am in the process of carrying out your orders, I am obeying—and that in this sort of bond, it is not the completion of the task that matters. All that matters is that I am acting to fulfill it. So even if one of us dies before I finish, I am not reneging on our bargain.”
    No, not simply delaying. Trying to tell him—
    “Are you trying to tell Nicholas to kill you?” Madelyn’s laugh rang out over the field again. “Answer me truthfully.”
    “I’m not,” Ash said. “I know he would not, even though it would stop the ritual.”
    He wouldn’t have hurt her for any reason. She had to know that. What did she need from him, then?
    “Are you telling him to kill me ? Answer me truthfully.”
    “No such words have passed my lips. That would be disobeying. I only obey, as I walk to him now with the intention of finding his third vertebrae.” Her gaze fell to the grenade in his hand, lifting to meet his eyes again. “I would never disobey.”
    Oh, Ash. He realized now that she wanted him to throw it toward Madelyn as soon as she reached him, and hope that the distance—and a small, ruined wall—would be enough to shield them both. A desperate, last-ditch attempt . . . that didn’t have a chance. Madelyn was too quick. She could be halfway across the field before the toss he aimed landed at her feet.
    When the explosion failed to destroy Madelyn, Ash would refuse to kill him, and she would be lost to the frozen field. Only the miracle of the Guardians’ arrival might stop any of it.
    Nicholas wouldn’t count on a miracle to save her.
    “Stop,” he said. His throat had thickened, his lungs filled with burning lead. He pushed the grenade into his pocket, held up his empty hands. “Stop, Ash. I’ll come to you. I’ll let you kill me of my free will.”
    “What?” Horror filled Ash’s face. “Nicholas, no.”
    “I can’t bear knowing what will happen if you do this.” Hoarse truth. He stepped over the low wall. “I just want to kiss you. Just let me kiss you, one last time. It won’t break the Rules. It won’t bring the Guardians to kill you. Madelyn, please .”
    “No, Nicholas. You have to—”
    “Be quiet, halfling.” Madelyn regarded him through narrowed eyes. “In exchange for a kiss, you’d let her kill you?”
    “I’d let her kill me for less than that, but if I’m to die, I want the kiss.”
    “Why not ask to fuck her in the mud like a pig? I’d let you. I remember a time when it would have been fitting.”
    “I remember when I had a mother worthy of the name.”
    “Ah, yes.” Something in Madelyn’s eyes shifted. Nicholas recognized that look. He wouldn’t know if it was a lie or truth, but it