Page 66 of Infernal Secrets

Zeke scratched the back of his head. “Save you from what?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Well, it’s clearly untrue,” Ash said, crossing his arms.

At my look, he said, “The delemora.”

“And I’m supposed to understand the meaning of that because?”

“They used their power to drive it away,” Cyn said, upper lip curling. “If the council finds out—”

“The council won’t find out because you won’t tell them,” Ash said, narrowing his eyes. “I wasn’t going to let the delemora feed on her.”

I turned to Ash with wide eyes. “Feed?”

“Delemora feed on negative emotions. Grief would sustain them for a long time.”

A tremor of fear passed through me, and I drifted closer to Ash. He slid his arm around my shoulder. “I’m not going to let it hurt you.” He looked up at Ezra. “Oath be damned.”

Cyn threw up his hands, looking between them. “What is wrong with you two? I don’t have to say anything. Cornaith would’ve felt the power you both used.”

It surprised me to learn Ezra helped drive the infernal away. If he thought he needed me to get home, saving me made sense. But it didn’t explain Ash’s conviction to protect me, going against some oath.

I looked up at Ash. “What oath are you talking about?”

“When we became teenagers, we joined the council’s soldiers tasked with defending Elyrdin and Earth from lesser infernals and beasts who disturb the balance in Niemna or threaten Elyrdin’s prosperity. In doing so, our magic unlocks, and we make an oath to the council that we only use our powers to serve Elyrdin.” Ash glanced at Cyn. “To use our powers to save a human without council approval directly violates that oath.”

I looked down, whispering, “Then why?”

He squeezed my shoulder, drawing me closer to him, but he didn’t answer my question.

Zeke huffed. “I don’t see the problem. If the delemora killed her, the others might have hurt more humans. That would upset the stability between our worlds. We just bypassed the order process to come to Earth.” He spread his hands, then dropped them to his legs with a smack. “Besides, I don’t even know if the council knows lesser infernals are pouring into Earth like this.”

“I thought the same thing,” Cyn said. “We’d already be here to stop them if they knew.”

“Why?”

Cyn looked at me. “Because it’s our job to stop them before they do irreversible damage to humanity’s future.”

I had so many questions.

Why did they protect Earth as well as their realm? What reason did they have for even giving Earth a second thought if they lived elsewhere? And how could a few infernals impact humanity’s future?

Before I could ask any of the questions running through my mind, I shivered, and Ash ran his hand down my arm.

“We need to get out of here,” he said. “You’re cold.”

I frowned. “How do you know that?”

“You’re shivering and your sleeves are thin.”

I hadn’t wanted to wear long sleeves, but I didn’t want to hear Patricia lecture me about my arm tattoo. I’d worried about flashing my thigh tattoo when I sat, but the knee-length dress was the longest I owned.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the lengthening shadows made the graveyard seem unsafe. For late August, it shouldn’t feel this cold, even without the sun. I wondered if it had to do with the infernals’ influence.

“You guys clean up well,” I said around a yawn as Ash led me toward the car, my gaze moving from one man to the next.

“Ezra said we needed to be respectful,” Cyn said with an eye roll. “Not that he’s put out. He always dresses like that.”