Chapter 2

The demon energy was still crawling through my meridians. My fingertips traced the rim of the cup, slow and idle, my eyes as blank as ever.

Patrick watched me for a moment, and the wariness in his gaze eased just slightly.

Then he turned and left with Selene, leaving a single maid behind to keep watch in the hall.

I lifted a hand to rub my temple and said softly,

"It's stuffy in here. I'd like to go out and get some air. Fetch me an outer robe, would you."

The maid bowed in answer, but her feet didn't move an inch.

"Careful! She has no intention of leaving. She's still watching your every move!"

"Patrick has sound-listening arrays laid all over this immortal mountain. Any unusual move you make will reach his ears at once!"

I forced down the urge to rise and stay where I was, sitting on the couch, pretending to fumble at the things around me.

Months ago, when I first sensed my brother's heart drifting, I had already planted a tracing-shadow spell on him.

Whenever he touched demon energy, purple demon marks would linger over his body, visible to no one but me.

Moments later, the light-screen erupted again.

"Sickening. Tyler's already slipped into the estate. He's already met Selene in secret."

I held my breath and let it come clean and slow, and I could just make out the broken pieces of their conversation.

Selene's voice was smooth and sweet.

"On our wedding day I humiliated your sister in front of everyone. Do you really not hate me for it, not even a little?"

Tyler's tone was flat.

"Gods and demons share one world to begin with. There's no need to draw such clean lines between old grudges."

Selene gave a soft laugh, testing him.

"And if I killed her now?"

"I know you have no choice in this."

"I can clear the path for you. I'll let you end her with your own hands, and finish this tangle once and for all."

Not long after, Tyler pushed open the door and walked straight into the inner hall.

"Don't be afraid, Ruthie. Too long shut up in that courtyard is bad for you. Let me take you out to clear your head."

His voice was gentle, exactly as it always had been. I laid my hand carefully on the wrist he held out and let him lead me, step by step, toward the rear mountain.

The whole way he was endlessly patient, steering me clear of loose stones and thorns, never letting a single thing seem out of place. But I watched the purple marks coiling around him, and I did not lower my guard for a moment.

When we reached the sealed mountain gate where the Ancestor slept, and no one else was near, the gentleness dropped from Tyler's face completely.

"Ruthie, look how vast this world is. Gods and demons were always meant to live together, and the demon race is struggling now at every turn. Doesn't that shame you?"

I lifted my head and stared at him, playing lost and helpless.

"Brother, I can't see. Have you forgotten? That day, Selene—"

Before I could finish, Tyler's hand shot up and a loud slap landed hard across my face.

"You were too greedy. You had to have the Golden Saint all to yourself. The Golden Saint saves all the world, and Sel is part of that world too. What right do you have to want the bright moon hanging high above, shining down on you alone?"

The blow threw me off balance, and I stumbled and fell hard onto the rough stone ground. Warm blood welled up at once and dripped down between my fingers.

Tyler acted as if he couldn't see the wound at all. He gripped my throat, cold.

"Sel is the finest woman in this world. I want you to swear, right now, to forgive her, and never to stand against her. Break this oath and let the heavens' lightning strike you, let these mountains crush you, with no release through all your lives to come."

The blood in my palm kept seeping into the ground, and deep in the sealed sanctum something began to tremble. I bit through the pain.

"The Ancestor lies sleeping here. How dare you force me to swear an oath in this place—"

Tyler looked down at me, wretched on the ground, and a thin, cold smile curved his mouth.

"So what if the Ancestor doted on you? A century ago he burned through his own source to seal the demon race, and he's been sunk in sleep ever since. His power might as well be gone. I want you to swear it in the Ancestor's name."

The light-screen scrolled wildly.

"Whatever you do, don't give in! Once you make a Heavenly Dao oath, any attempt to strike back will be turned against you by the Heavenly Dao!"

"The tracing-shadow spell Ruthie planted before is getting brighter and brighter. The more Tyler contacts the demon race, the clearer the mark becomes!"

The grip on my throat pressed harder, and the darkness swam up before my eyes, but I still clenched my teeth and would not yield.

Seeing that I wouldn't cooperate, Tyler's expression turned crueler, and he raised his foot to grind it down on the bleeding back of my hand.

In that instant, the tremor beneath the ground suddenly surged, and the runes that had been dull and lightless drank in my blood and, bit by bit, began to glow with golden light.

Tyler didn't react at all, as if he'd noticed nothing.

The maid came running in a panic, and a flicker of unease crossed Tyler's eyes. He turned and left.

I lay on the loose stones, curling my fingers through the pain, and inside I was perfectly clear.

So what if the Ancestor never woke. I couldn't gamble on fate, but I had laid my own way out long ago.

The demon marks on Tyler, and every single thing he had done to me today, had all been sealed and recorded by the tracing-shadow spell.

When it all came to light one day, I would drag him to the execution ground and see him torn to pieces.