Awakening in a small, empty room with grey ceramic walls, I sighed. Why couldn’t I wake up anywhere nice for a change? I saw Sarinknell sitting beside me, and she glanced over as I shifted.

“I wasn’t sure you were going to wake up.” She was hunched over, her voice heavy with melancholy.

“I kind of wish I hadn’t, my whole body hurts.” I tried to inject a little levity but Sarinknell wasn’t having any of it. Was the demon actually feeling sorry for herself? Rather than trying to cheer her up, it might be better to skip right to the heart of things. That might be enough to get her thinking again. “What happened anyway?” I eyed the thick metal door that was the only exit. “I’m guessing we’ve been taken prisoner and thrown into a cell?”

She sighed, looking away. “That’s right. We’re Lord Sarinknell’s guests until he decides otherwise.”

“Why?” I couldn’t see much reason why he’d keep us alive, weren’t we clearly his enemies?

“He still hopes to marry me off. That was the main reasons I fled this place to begin with.”

I stammered, tripping over my words in my surprise. “And you’re just going to let that happen?” Elmidath Sarinknell? The girl who seemed willing to take on the world?

She sunk closer to the ground. “What choice do I have? It was that or die. There’s no way he’ll let me escape again.” She held up her wrist where a long strip of rune-covered cloth was tied around her arm, pulsing with a soft orange glow. “This will burn me to nothing in seconds if he desires it, or if I try to remove it.”

I felt like laughing out loud. Was that all? Hadn’t we been facing nearly certain death the whole time up to this point? “Seems simple enough, can’t we just cut off your hand?”

Sarinknell froze. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am. If anything, you’re the one who isn’t taking things seriously. After all we’ve been through, you’re trying to give up now?” Before I realised it, I was shouting, the anger building inside me threatening to take control. “You drag me out of my peaceful life into this insane world and bind me to your service. And then when things get too hard, you’re going to sit there and give up?” I grabbed her arm. “Get up.”

She tried to pull free and I tightened my grip. Eyes downcast, she got to her feet. “Fine. I’m up. What are we supposed to do now?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, this is your house. You must have some idea of how we could get free.”

“What’s the point? Even if we get out, he’ll just put us back here or do something worse.”

I slammed the wall beside her head, tearing my palm open on the rough surface. “Would you rather live the rest of your life doing your uncle’s bidding or try to win freedom for yourself? Even if it means we’ll probably die.”

She finally raised her head and looked me in the eye. It wasn’t much, but there was a hint of her usual fire. “If you’re so eager to die then let’s get out of here. I can’t stand to listening to you lecture me for another minute. What kind of servant are you, anyway?”

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“The kind that won’t let you waste your life.” Or mine. It was a relief seeing her act more like her usual self. Even if her heart wasn’t really in it.

My reply brought a slight smile to her lips. “Getting out of this room should be easy, all I have to do is use a little of my blood. The difficulty lies in what comes after that. There’s no way to escape without my uncle finding out, and then we’re both dead. We could cut my hand off but...” she swallowed. “I’d really rather not.”

“What’s the big deal? Won’t it just grow back?”

Sarinknell shook her head. “No, not without some powerful magic. Far beyond what I can do. Besides, there’s a good chance we’d end up triggering his magic anyway.”

I stood there tapping my foot, trying to think of another way. “What would happen if we killed your uncle? Would that thing still go off?” I gestured toward the cloth around her wrist.

“I don’t think so, but there’s no way we can get to him. We’d have to sneak through the entire manor without anyone noticing, including him. There’s no way they’ll be that lax after they just captured us.” She sighed. “Maybe the best option is to bide our time, see if they get careless.”

Waiting seemed like the coward’s way out, we’d just be giving him more time to prepare and marshal his forces. “What if we didn’t have to go to him? What if we could lure him down here somehow?”

Sarinknell scoffed. “Even if he was stupid or arrogant enough to fall for that twice in the same day, you saw what he’s like. He’d destroy us both before we could do anything.”

I clenched my teeth. “If he’s so powerful, how did you intend to kill him in the first place?”

“He’s grown far more powerful since the last time I saw him, a few weeks ago. The only explanation is that he’s ascended to the third circle.” Sarinknell hugged herself. “I figured it was only a matter of time but I didn’t think it would be so soon… I thought we could defeat him before he reached it.”

I scratched my head. “What are these circles you demons are always talking about?”

“It’s simple really, it’s a ranking system. With the first circle being the lowest and the sixth being the highest. The higher ranked you are, the more power you can draw forth.”

“Wait so, does having a higher rank mean you’re more powerful or does the rank itself grant you power?”

“The latter.”

“How do you increase your rank?”

“There’s a couple of ways. You can ascend to the first circle by right of birth, land or the sponsorship of another Demon Lord. To go beyond that requires more land, alliances with other Demon Lords or some mixture of the two.”

I had a bit of trouble wrapping my head around the system. At first, I’d thought it was just based on personal power, but it seemed more like the rank was based on influence which then granted the bearer power. I couldn’t think of anything similar back on Earth … then again, maybe that should have been obvious. Such a thing wasn’t possible without magic, an area Earth was sorely lacking in. “If we can’t beat your uncle head-on, is there another way to deal with him? Could we make some sort of deal with him for example?”

Sarinknell narrowed her eyes. “I won’t give up my birthright.”

I snorted, it was amazing she could still be so stubborn about that when she’d been ready to give up just before. “I never said you’d have to, just postpone taking back what’s rightfully yours until we’re in a more favourable position.”

Sarinknell tugged on the collar of her dress. “It’s not a bad idea. But what could we possibly offer my uncle? He’s already holding us prisoner.”

I closed my eyes, going over what I knew. It seemed like Lord Sarinknell’s forces had been considerably depleted in the last day or so, and the demons were nothing if not opportunistic. There was a chance he’d lose everything he’d built if he didn’t get additional manpower soon. Combine that with the deal Elmidath had made with the other Demon Lord… and I think we have enough to convince him.

We couldn’t expect him to trust us, but he didn’t seem like the type to let his feelings get in the way of personal gain. I explained my thoughts to Sarinknell who spent a few moments thinking it over, then nodded. She got up and pounded on the door until a guard came. “Find my uncle, tell him I wish to make him an offer.”