Magic Undying (Dragon's Gift: The Seeker #1)(12)

I chucked the freeze bomb at him. When it exploded at his feet, he froze again, dead solid.

“You gonna run for it?” Cass asked.

“No.” I shook my head, hardly able to breathe. “He knows my name. My real name.”

Startled gazes met mine.

“Are you freaking for real?” Cass asked.

“You’re sure?” Nix asked. “He could just be confused.”

“Yeah. It feels right.” My chest felt shivery at the knowledge. My head felt shell-shocked. “Bellator is my real last name.”

I’d never known my true last name before. When Cass and Nix and I had woken in that field ten years ago, we’d known nothing. Not even our names. We’d named ourselves for the constellations above. Cassiopeia, Phoenix, and Delphinus. Since Delphinus would have been ridiculous, I’d modified it to Delphine. We’d picked our last names at random. I’d been going by Del Hally for the last ten years, having no idea what my true name was.

But this guy knew it. He knew it. How?

“Do you think he knows more?” Cass asked.

She’d recently learned a bit about her past, but Nix and I were still totally in the dark about our lives before we’d woken at fifteen with no memories. Information was worth more than all the gold in my trove.

“I don’t know,” I said. “But I want to find out.”

“You’re not thinking of going with him!” Nix’s face was pale. “You have to find the Ubilaz demon.”

“I know. We don’t have time for this. But I do want to know more. I have to know more. Maybe I can grill him later or something. Trade him for information.”

“We don’t even know what he wants,” Cass said.

“Yeah, I may have jumped the gun by chucking the freeze bomb so soon,” I said. “I just freaked.”

“Understandably.” Wistfulness tinged Nix’s voice. “He knows your real name.”

I nodded, desperate to hear more from him. “Can you unfreeze him, Cass?”

“Yeah, but that’s the last of the freeze bombs.”

I nodded and she dug into her pocket, then chucked a small blue vial at him.

He unfroze, shaking his head as his vision cleared. His power swelled on the air, knocking me back several feet. Nix and Cass as well.

“You need to stop freezing me.” His voice vibrated with command, but it was his power that had me nervous.

It’d pushed me backward. That was nuts. Since we hadn’t chained him this time, he shouldn’t have been able to tell we’d frozen him. It was a very subtle potion. But he’d sensed it.

I shivered. “What are you?”

“The Warden.”

“I know that. But what kind of supernatural?”

“Were-demon. What are you?”

Half demon, half Shifter? “They don’t exist.”

“Apparently they do.” He stretched out long arms, displaying himself. I tried not to stare too hard at the muscles that were so obvious beneath his dark shirt and jeans.

He was really a demon? But they were evil. Maybe I hadn’t felt it in him, but if he was right about what he was, that made him even more dangerous than I’d thought.

“And it’s time for you to return.” His gaze darkened again, and his voice deepened. “Come, Delphine Bellator.”

His voice tugged at me, but I shook it off. “No. You’re trying to compel me, but it won’t work.”

A scowl creased his brow. “No, it doesn’t seem to be effective on you. And it always works. The dead are compelled to obey me.”

“I’m not dead, so I’m not your minion.”

“No.” His gaze moved over me, appreciative but fortunately not sleazy. “You are not.”

“And I’m not going back to that Underworld with you.”

“I can make you.”

Cass gestured between the three of us again. “Package deal, remember?”

No way was I letting this dude drag me back to hell, no matter how hot and not-sleazy he was. That combination was a rare one, but not rare enough to go to hell for it.

“That’d be a fight,” he said.

“I imagine it would.” He lifted the blade in his hand, gazing admiringly at my beloved sword. “Any woman who dies with this in her hand isn’t to be underestimated.”

“You’ve got that right.” I sensed he could fight us and probably win, but he didn’t want to. He seemed the sort to only use violence when absolutely necessary.

I liked that. And I liked him. I shouldn’t, but I did.

“Since I’d prefer not to fight you and your friends, how about a threat? You’re the only supernatural to ever escape an Underworld. That should be impossible.”

“What about demons?” And I wasn’t just thinking about the Ubilaz demon. Other kinds showed up on Earth all the time, usually as mercenaries for some jerk who had bad intentions.

“You’re not a demon. And they don’t escape on their own. A wizard or mage must assist them. And only weaker demons can escape that way. But you…. A non-demon supernatural who shouldn’t be able to escape under any circumstance. You escaped without any help. How is that?”

“Nothing special. I just wasn’t supposed to be there. It’s fate.”