Ex Inferis (Infernal Inheritance Book 0) by Nazri Noor

Author:Nazri Noor [Noor, Nazri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

7

Fresh air made damp with sweet, cool mist filled my chest as I breathed in the atmosphere of the water gardens, Mother’s favorite part of the Palace of Veils. The sun struck the pools and fountains beautifully here, the light fracturing into prisms and little rainbows, the chirping of unseen birds a welcome accompaniment to the soothing, ever-present trickle of water.

But ruling above it all in sight and in sound was the massive brass statue of Asmodeus, pouring a never-ending torrent of water from an urn. I’d seen it hundreds of times, but it never ceased to take my breath away, so lifelike it was in its beauty and menace. Mother’s statue took up so much of the gardens that the flow of water from her urn sounded very much like the rush of a waterfall.

“It’s like she’s always here,” I said.

Pierce nodded. “It’s like she’s always watching.”

We took in the sights from the balcony overlooking the gardens, him leaning his forearms against the balustrade, its marble cool despite the warmth of the sun. I had my hands flat across the railing, my body and my mind still, as relaxed as I could hope to be in this strange place. It was perpetually daylight in this part of the palace, because the sun, like many of the other features of the water gardens, was fueled by sorcery. The roar of the waterfall and the burbling trickles of the fountains were real enough, though, commissioned by Mother specifically to cover up all the screaming.

I never did find out where it came from, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to really know, but Dantaleon had once told me that the water gardens were constructed at that exact point outside the palace because they muffled the hideous noises emanating from Mother’s subterranean torture chambers. This was still one of the prime hells, after all. Even the demon princes wouldn’t scoff at progress. In Mother’s case, that meant a method of mechanizing and automating the punishments inflicted on all the souls secreted deep within her palace’s depths. It was part of how the princes maintained their infernal power. There was always something to be gleaned from torturing humans, whether on the surface or in hell, whether living or dead.

Once, when we were kids, Pierce and I were playing in the gardens. We discovered one precise spot where you could hear the screaming loudest if you stood there, when the wind blew just right. That was why we stuck to the balcony. We never played in the gardens again. I do remember seeing Mother sitting there sometimes, her eyes closed, her lips in a rapt smile. Just thinking of it gives me chills.

Again, Wallace was much cleverer than we’d assumed. In a way, the water gardens represented the exact midpoint of pain and pleasure that he was talking about, all these opulent fountains and cascading waterfalls drowning out the screams of tortured souls.

To my surprise, and to Pierce’s as well, Wallace had actually told the truth.

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