Sacrifice Read Online Free

Ye Guai said. “Cut short.”
    Stone strolled toward the demon, his hands clasped behind his back, a picture of ease. “You speak as if they owned their lives. As if you did not know exactly what they were bred to do.”
    Ye Guai’s giant muscles bulged, even the cords of his thick neck stood taut.
    “Look at me,” Stone commanded.
    The demon lifted his head, and Skybright swore she saw hatred there before the demon blinked his yellow eyes and his powerful jaw softened a fraction.
    “You have done a fine job providing the demons we have needed to rule the underworld as well as the mortal realm. Have the Immortals not rewarded you enough?” Stone demanded. “Are you dissatisfied with this honored role?”
    Ye Guai sank to one knee, his fist still held against his chest. “Apologies, Master Stone. I am but a humble servant to the gods.” His voice was docile, but his scent was not.
    Skybright almost leaned in, to catch a better trace of the demon’s true temperament, but Stone stepped forward, blocking her way. “As am I. We both serve the gods,” Stone said and touched the demon’s muscular shoulder. “All is well here, as I knew it would be. The demons are thriving. Come, rise.”
    Ye Guai stood, his hooves clacking against the ground. “Thank you, Master Stone.” His gaze flickered in her direction. “How can the lady visit the underworld? She is not dead. Is she one of us?”
    The observation was so unexpected that Skybright was unable to keep the shock from her face. What could this wolf demon know of her? She smoothed her expression but not before the demon leered. Stone’s hand shot out, his arm a blur of motion, and cuffed the demon on the side of his head hard enough that Ye Guai let out a hideous howl.
    “She is not like one of you,” Stone said, and she would have sworn that the temperature dropped around them. “We are done here. Do not forget your place.”
    When Stone wrapped an arm around her shoulder and conjured them from that seething abyss, the demon was still whimpering.
     
     

     
     
    Skybright was better prepared when Stone pulled her through the frigid lake this time. She remained still when he placed his mouth over hers once more, giving her the precious air that she needed, keeping calm by thinking of the morning rituals she used to perform with Zhen Ni: arranging her thick black hair into elaborate loops, threading jade and rubies into them. She had to stay calm, lest Stone judge that she was too panicked and felt obliged to make her literally forget where she was by kissing her again.
    To her dismay, her thoughts ran to Kai Sen, and she remembered how it felt when his arms were wound about her waist, the way his dark brown eyes seemed brighter whenever he leaned over to seek a kiss, as if the anticipation of it lit him from within.
    The hot sting of tears threatened beneath her closed lids, and Skybright willed her mind to be a blank void, blaming the tightness in her chest on the cold water that swirled against them.
    They emerged on the muddied banks of the tranquil lake, the same one they had been peering down upon before they leaped into its depths. She quickly untangled herself from Stone’s hold, and he released her without a word. Incredibly, she was dry down to the hair on her head. Stone had some foresight this time.
    “Thank you,” she muttered with reluctance.
    “I am better prepared now that I know what to expect when traveling with you. What was your impression of the underworld?”
    “I don’t believe that Ye Guai likes you.” she replied, not answering his question. She needed time to mull over what she had witnessed—mull over where she had been.
    “He does not need to like me,” Stone said. “He simply needs to obey.”
    “Like you obey?” she asked. “I had thought you were immortal—all powerful. Why must you listen to the gods?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Because I am not a god. My powers were granted by them, as was my