“The wounds aren’t healed. If they heal, it won’t be possible to reattach my wings. Until I find them, I must remain mutilated. Do you have any more questions, girl?”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

Bael glared at her, the yes left unsaid.

Ursula paused, considering what to say next. Which, in hindsight, she should probably had been doing all along. “What makes your wings so valuable?”

“They allow me to fly,” he snarled. He didn’t say obviously, but his tone clearly implied it.

She shook her head. “Abrax already has wings, and I saw him fly.”

“You saw him in his true form?” Bael interrupted, surprise flickering across his face. “And you survived?”

She wanted to shout obviously, but instead she shrugged like it was no big deal. Bael didn’t have to know that she’d almost bled to death in the library. “You didn’t answer my question about why he’d want the wings.”

He clenched his jaw. “They were a gift from Nyxobas himself. I will be condemned for eternity if I don’t find them.”

“How do you know he hasn’t given them to Nyxobas already?”

“Because if he had, I’d be withering in the shadow void, not trapped in a room with one of Emerazel’s dogs.”

“Why wouldn’t he have—”

“Do you always ask so many questions, little girl? I can’t give you these answers. Only Abrax knows. If you free me, I will take you to him.”

Ursula gazed into his pale eyes. If she could ignore the fact that he was terrifying, he had a certain sublime beauty, his grey eyes such a stark contrast with his golden skin—warm and cold coming together, like storm clouds tinged by a rising sun. He looked like a god himself—hell, he practically was one as far as she could tell.

She wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t murder her when she removed the chains, but what choice did she have? If she didn’t get to Abrax, both she and Zee would lose their souls. “I’ll release you. If you help me find Abrax without killing me, I’ll give you your soul back.” She had no idea how to give a soul back, but she wasn’t about to mention that now. Anyway, he was immortal, and he’d never need to know.

“If you fail on your promise to return my soul, your fate will be worse than Henry’s.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Now unchain me,” he roared.

She took a deep breath, eyeing the chains. The links were dull grey. Compared to the glowing wards that had guarded the bookcases and the door to Bael’s room, the chains appeared positively mundane.

“How do these chains hold you anyway? They don’t look magical.”

“Henry forged them with magic. You can’t see it,” said Bael with an audible sigh.

“So is there a lock somewhere?”