For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

The next page is here.

Mature Content

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Within Elina, a glaring light pierces the shaded sky as the truth of the Hellbinder’s revelation settles into her thoughts. An instant later, a storm rages. Mixed with a building scream of condemnation and the will to call down sorcerous spells and bury the man in pain, she feels the sudden urge to cower and fall to her knees as the terrifying significance of Ordiel’s identity settles within her. Questions so long kept in abeyance now rush back to the fore, with answers falling neatly into place as her limited knowledge of Pristus Ordiel’s dealings and past are laid out as if on offer at the banqueting table. Vanished from court for years, his family coffers nearly emptied by what folk assumed were frivolous attempts to maintain a hold on waning power, and the expenses mysteriously juxtaposed with anonymous gifts made to the dwindling branches at the edge of the aging Villios line. Both uncle Anjerome and her own mother had remained silent on the matter, and Elina believed the silence was all intended to minimize the damage Avora’s actions caused in hopes that the young woman would return home to them and embrace life anew. And now, as hatred and outrage boil within her, Elina can see the lines of fear and self-doubt etched deeply into the man’s features, the marks of one driven to absurd extremes of social propriety to erase a stain on his courtly lapel, and haunted by the prospect of his exposure.

And now, his secret revealed to her, Elina is sickened by the strength of her own willingness to see the man burn for his deed. The Scholar had already carried a burden of accusation for these past days of torture and discovery. She had hoped that in her captive journey to the Hall of Judgment she would  have the chance to demand an explanation of that court official whose actions seemed rife with betrayal of all Dernhem. Ordiel’s exposure now bites into that sense of outrage and leaves a second angry wound to fester. And behind it all the scholarly voice in her thoughts reminds her of her captive, humbled state, speechless and powerless before the man who had so changed the course of her sister’s life and her own.

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Elina was drawn using the reference material provided me by Feathered-pics . I've looked and waited for the perfect opportunity to use this one. Thanks a ton, Emily!

Enjoy!

Note: Web of Betrayal and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.