Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
~ Princess Blake ~
I breathe in the scent of apricots as I stride past rows of fruit trees. It feels like an age since I was last here, reminding Dante about clan law.
Soon after arriving at the house in the forest, Shade left for the castle, and we spent the next short while filling in Noah and Luna on what had happened with Ivar. When we had them up to speed, I created a portal that opened up in the Coilan clan garden.
Dante walks beside me, and the others follow as we enter through the back door of the Coilan clan house. Thankfully, like he said, the mansion is mostly quiet, and Dante leads us to one of the more private sitting rooms on the second floor.
I drop onto a settee near the window, and Prince Callan takes the position on my right. Mason sits on my left, and he lifts my legs onto his lap. Stretching out, I lean against my archangel, and Mason massages the pads of my feet. Tipping my head back, I close my eyes and let out a contented hum. I’d always heard that having fated mates was bliss, but honestly, I’d thought everyone must be exaggerating. Turns out, I was wrong. Normally, in this type of situation I’d be wound tight, busy strategizing my next move, but Mason’s fingers are pure magic. For just a moment, I let myself enjoy it. I focus on his touch, forgetting about all our problems.
“Feel good?” he murmurs.
“Never stop.”
Mason chuckles. “I wouldn’t if I had it my way, my mate.”
My lips quirk up, and I crack my eyes open just as Dante stops before us, holding drinks out to me and Prince Callan.
“Here. This’ll help too,” Dante says, and I reach up, taking the glass.
I don’t even bother asking what’s in it. I drink greedily, glad that he’s given me something that burns as it goes down. I’ve already finished it by the time Dante hands drinks to the others, and he grins, refilling my glass before pouring one for himself.
“So, it sounds like you’ve all had a productive day,” Luna says, sitting on the settee opposite me.
I take my feet from Mason, murmuring a thank you, and planting them on the floor.
“I’m not sure productive is the word I’d use,” Dante drawls, “but it was certainly enlightening.”
Noah drops down beside Luna and curls his arm across her shoulders. “So what do we do now? Just wait until my invitation comes?”
“How ’bout we get somethin’ to eat?” Nate suggests. “I’m fuckin’ starvin’.”
At that, Dante organizes us a ridiculous amount of food, and we discuss the witches and the realms while we eat. When everyone has had their fill, Dante sits at the grand piano in the far corner of the room. The conversation dies off as Dante’s fingers fly over the keys, music filling the room and filtering through the house. He plays a soulful melody that tugs at something inside me, bringing my emotions simmering to the surface. The tempo increases, and I approach the demon, standing to one side.
Dante’s fingers go from one end of the piano to the other, and when he plays the last note, I give him a soft smile. “I didn’t know you played.”
“It’s one of the things that’s helped to distract me,” he replies, his midnight blue gaze sliding to my face.
“Distract you?”
“Distract me while I was away from my mate,” he replies, his gaze so intense it makes me shiver. “I wrote that one for you, princess. As I did many others.”
My heart stutters. “You…wrote it for me?”
His lips curve up. “Was it not to your liking, my mate?”
Mate. Because they’re all mine now. The tattoos burn against my skin, and I smile, my chest feeling as though it might burst. Leaning down, I plant my lips on Dante’s, and he pulls me onto his lap, deepening the kiss.
Luna clears her throat. “As much as I’m glad that Dante can finally stop pining, the invitation could arrive at any moment.”
“We should be preparing,” Alaric agrees, and it’s the first time he’s spoken in a long while.
I pull my lips from Dante’s because they’re right.
“So what’s the plan for the dinner party?” Noah asks Dante. “I’m guessin’ you’re not going as me this time?”
I shake my head. “No, it’s too dangerous. If Ivar is poisoning the food, the last thing we need is Dante eating it as well. I say once we know where the dinner party is being held, we break in and pretend to be waitstaff.”
“Ivar won’t be happy that Noah hasn’t attended,” Dante says. “Luna and Noah, you might want to lay low for a while.”
“Without knowin’ the layout of Ivar’s house, it’ll be hard for us to slip in undetected,” Nate points out.
“The kitchens are usually on the ground floor,” Dante says. “If we can take the places of a few of the servers, all we have to do is follow the crowd and we’ll be led to where we need to go.”
Luna frowns. “But if you know where Ivar is going to be, why not take him out before the party?”
“We need the clan leaders if we’re going to survive a battle against the witches,” I reply. “Despite what Ivar believes, the clans won’t fight unless their leaders command it. But Ivar has swayed them to his cause. Even Gloria agreed to assassinate the king, and she was the one who seemed the most reluctant.”
Prince Callan’s expression is grim. “You think if we reveal Ivar’s plan to poison them, it will restore their support for the king?”
“And then they’ll be willin’ to fight for the king again in the war?” Nate says.
I blow out a breath. “Yes.”
Prince Callan crosses his arms. “If we prove to the clan leaders that Ivar was following the witches’ order to assassinate them, it would also renew their hatred for the witches,” he adds. “And alliances won’t be so murky.”
“But what if the witches don’t make an appearance?” Mason asks. “How do we prove that Ivar is behind everything we say?”
I pace the room, deep in thought. “Scarlett,” I say after a long moment.
Nate tilts his head. “Who’s Scarlett?”
“Scarlett is a she-demon I helped out recently. She has the power to extract the truth,” I explain.
Alaric’s eyes darken, his fists tightening. “So do I.”
“Confessions brought about by torture aren’t always true,” I point out. “Scarlett can use magic to force someone to speak the truth. They have no choice but to answer her questions. If we have her, and Ivar confesses, the other clan leaders will have no choice but to believe us.”
“And do you think this…Scarlett, is up to the task?” Dante asks.
I think about the broken female who had been locked away by her family. Scarlett had been hidden away for years, and only recently escaped that toxic environment and found her mates.
“I hope so,” I say. “But first, Ivar saw us at the club, and he also saw some of you at the warehouse. We need new disguises. Luna, do you think you can manage that?”
“Not me,” Dante says. “I’ll stay invisible.”
The she-demon lifts to her feet. “Not a problem. Who wants to go first?”
Prince Callan steps forward. “I can.”
“We want to be able to blend into the background,” I tell Luna, and she nods, walking over to my archangel. It doesn’t take long for her to work her magic on Prince Callan, Mason, Alaric, and Nate, and they have different faces yet again.
While she was busy at work, Noah slipped from the room, and just as Luna finishes with Nate, the demon bursts in, red-faced. “I have it,” Noah says, holding up a piece of black card with cursive gold lettering. “The Fallon Blade clan must have a secret house in the north. Ivar has invited me to attend a party. It starts in a few hours.”
“Okay, then,” Nate says, flexing his muscles. “So, we have a location.”
“Your highness, shall I work on your disguise?” Luna asks me tentatively.
“Not yet,” I reply, walking over and studying the invitation in Noah’s hand. “The witches might be helping to guard the house. We need more information if we’re going to simply walk in there. Just…” I lick my lips, “give me a moment.”
Taking a deep breath, I think of my crows. The memory of the doves turning to ash still makes my chest tighten, but war is on the horizon, and I assure myself that it’s not like I’m sending my crows into battle.
Closing my eyes, I break through the illusion magic still on me, and I reach out with my mind. For a second, I’m overwhelmed when I feel them all—the birds around Seral. Their minds all join to mine, ready to hear me. Focusing, I think of the northern end of the city, and it doesn’t take me long to find the crow I’m after. Emorie. The connection strengthens at my command, and a thread of warmth goes through me as Emorie welcomes me. The other birds don’t speak to me like Shade does, but she lets me in, and soon I’m seeing the world through her eyes.
She’s perched on a slated black roof, and she peers over the city, watching as demons mill about in the streets, walking under the night sky. “I need you to scout out a building,” I tell her. “War is coming to this land, and there’s someone important in this house.” I send her the location of the party, and Emorie’s only response is to stretch her wings and launch into the sky.
She soars over the tops of the houses, until she finds the one we’re after.
“That’s it,” I tell her. “Don’t fly too low. We don’t want them to see you.” Following my request, she circles high above, not dropping lower.
“It’s a mansion,” I say aloud to the others. “I have a crow flying overhead.”
Everyone keeps silent, hanging on to my every word.
“It’s three stories high, and there’s some distance between the perimeter walls and the house. There’s no garden we could use for cover, but there’s a shed at the back that doesn’t appear to be patrolled. I can create a portal to take us there. After that, Dante can you make us invisible until we enter the house? I count at least twenty Fallon Blade members acting as security.”
“Easy done,” Dante replies.
Emorie continues to circle the house, but without getting lower there’s not much more she can show me. “Thank you. That’s all I needed,” I whisper to her, and I pull back, weakening the connection.
My eyes fly open, and I find the others staring at me intently. “Once we enter the house, we’ll want to find the kitchen quickly and replace a few of the servers before we’re detected.
“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Nate says. “What are we waitin’ for?”
I pause, peering at Luna. “I need to do one more thing first before you can give me another disguise.” Reaching out with my mind, I find the other connection I’m after. “Shade, how’d it go at the castle?”
“The package has been delivered, cap’n,” Shade chirps back, and I’m relieved to hear my friend’s voice. “Should I meet you all at the Coilan clan house?”
“Actually, I was hoping you could do something else for me. Do you remember Scarlett?”
“How could I forget?” Shade replies. “That she-demon left quite the impression.”
“Do you think you can go to her? It’s time for me to call in that favor she owes me.”