Chapter Twelve #2
Yakim smiled at Roque. Roque was sure that part of his best friend wanted to be here to protect Berith, but another part had to want to be with Lucifer.
Lucifer had wanted to be here, too, but it would’ve made them too much of a target.
Everyone knew that Lucifer would be Ramiel’s next stop after Berith.
Having him here would make it too easy for Ramiel.
Roque thought it was a small miracle that Lucifer had allowed Yakim to be here today. He was pretty sure that Yakim wouldn’t have taken no for an answer, but still. Lucifer was Hell’s ruler. He made the decisions. He had the final say in everything.
Or maybe not. Maybe in some circumstances, the person who had the last say was Yakim.
The floor suddenly shook under Roque’s feet. He reached for the throne, briefly thinking that the last thing they needed was an earthquake.
It wasn’t an earthquake, just like it hadn’t been earlier.
The sound that came with the shaking made it clear that it was another explosion.
The walls shook almost as hard as the floor, and people started screaming.
From the sound of it, this explosion hadn’t happened far from the throne room, which was a problem.
Mikal swore and ran to the throne room doors. Roque wanted to go with him, but his place was next to Berith, who’d straightened on his throne and was watching the doors.
“We never considered an explosion,” he murmured.
“He’s bold,” Roque commented. Maybe they should have known, but he didn’t think it would’ve made a difference.
They’d planned for Ramiel breaching the palace.
They just hadn’t expected it to be so noisy and destructive.
Roque had thought that Ramiel would want the palace to be intact so he could sit on the throne and gloat, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.
Roque glanced at the phone still in his hand. He had no idea where in the tunnels Dimri was, but there was a possibility that he’d been under the explosion, so he quickly texted him. He hoped for an answer, but it never came, and Roque couldn’t afford to waste time staring at his phone.
He slid his phone into his pocket and sucked in a breath. This was it. Whatever happened next would decide the fate of everyone in the palace, from Berith to Roque.
“They’re in the palace,” Mikal said as he strode back toward the throne. “Apparently, Ramiel’s with them.”
Berith got to his feet. He looked regal and calm.
Roque could tell that inside, he was anything but.
If he was anything like Roque, he was freaking out and begging gods neither of them was sure existed to protect the people he loved.
Since there was no way to know if anyone up there was listening, they’d have to take their people’s safety into their own hands.
It was what they’d trained for. It was something Berith had been expecting for years.
But that was over. Ramiel was here to take the throne.
Berith would need to show that he was strong enough and powerful enough to keep it.
“There!” someone yelled.
Roque and Mikal exchanged a glance. Ramiel really was here.
Berith squared his shoulders and gestured at the guards to open the doors that Mikal had closed just moments before. The guards glanced at each other, clearly nervous. Roque understood why. They’d be in Ramiel’s path when he walked in.
But they obeyed Berith’s order. They reached for the doors and opened them slowly, and the level of noise in the throne room rocketed. Roque could hear the sound of many people marching towards them. He reached for his sword, but a hand gesture from Berith stopped him.
“I’ll take care of it,” Berith said.
“That’s my job,” Roque pointed out.
Berith gave him a gentle smile. “It is, and you’ve done a great job until now. I’ll always be grateful for your presence and your friendship. This is my fight, though. Ramiel is here to defeat me, not you.”
“You know he won’t care about that if he wins.”
“I do. That’s why I won’t let him win.”
“Be careful.”
“I think the time to be careful has passed.”
The sound of marching was getting closer. Ramiel was coming.
“Whatever happens next, protecting you was an honor,” Roque told Berith.
Berith grinned. “You’re not done with that job yet, Roque. You still have many years of work ahead of you, so don’t start planning your retirement.”
Roques chuckled. “I don’t think Dimri would allow me to retire.”
“That’s good. A prince needs his bodyguards.”
Roque and Yakim glanced at each other. Roque was scared, but he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Well, you have them,” Yakim commented.
The footsteps were just outside the open doors now. Roque straightened his back and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his sword. Even though his prince had told him that he wouldn’t fight right now, he’d be ready when Berith needed him.
Because a prince needed his bodyguards.
* * * *
DIMRI FELT THE SECOND explosion all the way down in the tunnels. The palace shook above him and his team, causing cracks to appear in the walls and dust to drop over their heads. They all reached for the walls, trying to keep themselves on their feet.
It only lasted a few seconds, but they were a few seconds too many. As soon as it was over, Dimri ran.
He could hear that his team was right behind him, but he didn’t turn to check. He needed to get to the throne room because the explosion could only mean one thing.
Ramiel was here.
If Dimri had to guess, the demon was on his way to the throne room so he could take it over as he waited for his people to bring Berith to him.
He didn’t expect Berith to be there, waiting for him, and that might give them a few minutes, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Berith was in danger, which meant that Roque was, too, and that thought made Dimri want to scream.
They’d expected something like this to happen, but it still made him feel like his heart was about to explode. He needed to be there. He needed to ensure that both Berith and Roque made it out alive. If they didn’t, Dimri would be next to them, and he’d go down with them.
He emerged from the tunnels and almost ran face-first into a guard running down the hallway. He grabbed the guard, clutching their arms to keep them in place. “What’s going on?”
The guard had a deep cut on their forehead that was bleeding copiously, but they didn’t seem to care. “Ramiel’s here,” they said. “In the throne room. The prince will fight him.”
Dimri wasn’t surprised. In fact, he’d expected Berith to want to fight Ramiel if he ever had the opportunity. Berith’s people needed him to show everyone in Hell that he was stronger and more powerful than Ramiel.
That didn’t mean Dimri had to like it.
“Incoming,” someone called out from behind him.
Dimri swore. He wanted to go to the throne room, dammit. He didn’t want to be here, dealing with the tunnels and whatever came out of them.
“You should go to the throne room,” Thale said.
It was tempting to say yes. Instead, Dimri shook his head. “No. We have a plan, and we need to follow it. We’re in charge of protecting the palace and the prince from the demons coming up through the tunnels. We can’t allow them to get in and attack the prince while he’s busy dealing with Ramiel.”
“You’re sure? Because we can stay here and do that while you go to the throne room.”
Dimri desperately wanted to say yes, and Thale had to know it. It was probably why he was offering. But no matter how much Dimri wanted to turn around and run, he couldn’t.
He let go of the guard he was still clutching and turned back toward the entrance of the tunnels.
“We have work to do,” he declared, looking at his team.
“I know that all of you are worried about the prince and your families. I am, too, and if there was any alternative, I’d already be running toward the throne room.
This is our job, though. It is our duty to stay behind and ensure that no one comes in through the tunnels. ”
One by one, the members of Dimri’s team nodded and walked back into the tunnels. Thale was the last one to do so. After he disappeared from sight, Dimri took a second to get himself together. The guard he’d grabbed earlier was turning around the corner, and Dimri watched them disappear from sight.
There was no time to waste. Even though Dimri’s heart was out there in the throne room with Roque, his mind and his arms needed to be here to defend the palace.
He could only pray that Roque and Berith would be all right.
He wouldn’t know until the fight was over, which meant that the sooner that happened, the sooner he could go find them.
Ramiel expected reinforcements to come through the tunnels.
Dimri would make sure they didn’t.
* * * *
EVERY MUSCLE IN ROQUE’S body still screamed at him to go find Dimri and make sure he was alive. His spymaster was smart and good at getting out of impossible situations, but explosions didn’t care how smart someone was. If tons of stone had come down on Dimri and his team, they were gone.
“He’s fine,” Berith said quietly without looking away from the open throne room doors. “Dimri’s survived worse than a tunnel collapse. He’ll find a way to join us here.”
Roque nodded, forcing himself to remain at his post beside the throne. Berith was right. This was what they’d all agreed on. Dimri would handle the tunnels and the threats coming through them, and Roque would protect the prince from Ramiel.
He just had to trust that Dimri would keep his promise to come back.
“You weren’t supposed to be here,” a voice said.