Chapter 23
Gabe
Leaving Mari behind was difficult, but I motioned at Luc. “See her to her friends, but do not leave them alone, Luc.”
“You have my word. I won’t let them out of my sight.” Luc offered Mari his arm and she took it, leaning on him.
She would be safe with her Doves…hell, after what I’d witnessed tonight, even with her injury, she could probably take the killer down singlehandedly if he showed up at her door.
The wailing cry of a woman drew me to the murder scene more than the crowd of onlookers.
“Get everyone clear of here!” I bellowed, my voice scattering those who were pressing close.
The guards pushed everyone back in time for Rufus to arrive. He snapped his hands up and his cloak flew from his back, extending and growing until there was a divider between Priscilla and those looking for a cheap thrill.
Her father was on his knees, holding her hand. I despised the man, but no matter of that, this was his daughter. Still, we needed to look for clues to who had killed her, and her father should not have to see us move her limp body looking for clues.
Because whoever had done this was getting beyond bold.
I kept my voice low, even. “Lord Burnock, I need you to put her hand down.”
“You did this!” He spun, his piggish eyes bright with tears, red rimmed, snot running down his face.
Rufus stepped between us, holding up a hand. “The king most certainly did not. You and your daughter made a calculated effort at gaining a throne through deception, and while the king would be within his rights to kill her, he was with his guards, celebrating his win over Lord Virinius.”
My eyebrows climbed. To say I was surprised that Rufus would defend me was an understatement.
“YOU!” Lord Burnock leapt at Rufus, one hand on his blade, which took both of us by surprise.
Before he could land a blow, Rufus flicked his fingers and the sniveling was cut short with the crack of his neck as it was twisted by invisible hands.
His body fell, away from Priscilla, hitting the ground with a heavy thump.
“Rufus—”
“I apologize, Your Majesty. I did not think he would grieve so heavily over her, more than once he stated that he disliked her as much as he disliked her mother.” Rufus flicked his fingers several times as if trying to rid himself of water, or mud.
His face was pale to the point of looking greenish-yellow, and he wobbled where he stood.
There was no way around it. Death magic like that took a heavy toll, which was why it was seldom used except in extreme circumstances.
“Do not apologize for defending yourself, or your king, Rufus.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “But next time, let me run a sword through them, rather than waste your energy.”
“Of course.” He bowed to me. “I think I will go rest, if you do not mind?”
“Go, I will deal with this.”
I turned away from him and refocused on Priscilla’s body. Her throat was cut like the others, but that was it…no belly wound that I could see, and her hands when I turned them over didn’t show any defense wounds, or blood under the fingernails.
Her body was still warm…
I turned and looked to the guards, as an idea formed. Stupid that I hadn’t thought of it immediately.
“Someone get me Kevin.”
If I could get my hell-hound on the scent, maybe we could corner this monster—
“Sire, we have a witness!”
I looked over my shoulder to see two guards bringing forward a very young male, his leather vest and half-healed burn splotches across his hands marking him as an apprentice to one of the blacksmiths.
He went to one knee, bowing his head. “Your majesty, I saw…I saw him.”
Finally, a fucking break.
“Speak! Quickly, as the trail goes cold even as we stand here.”
The youth’s throat bobbed up and down several times before the words spilled out.
“I only saw him fleeing the scene, so I did not see his face, but he was of average height, and wore simple clothing, like what you’d see on any tradesman.
A long dark brown cloak…it had deeper red marks on the bottom of it… I think…”
“Blood.” I reached for Kevin as the massive hell-hound bounded toward me, grabbing him around the ruff of his neck, holding him steady. “Go on.”
Another big swallow. “I…he wasn’t a demon, Your Majesty. I’m sure of it.”
I could almost see Maverick’s face, that fucking piece of shit, sneering at me, killing someone he thought would matter to me—
“I…I think it was a human male.”
The words were like an unexpected slap to the face. “What did you just say?”
He threw his hands over his head as if I were going to hit him. “I’m sorry, sire!”
“Are you certain it wasn’t a werewolf?”
It seemed impossible…
“I’m so sorry, but I’m pretty sure it was a man, Your Highness. Please…” It took me a moment to realize he was still cowering, and I took a step back.
“You are not being punished. Berk, take him and get him something to eat, and a bag of coin for being brave enough to speak of this.”
Berk, one of my guards, helped the kid to his feet. “Well done, boyo. Maybe you come see us about joining the guard at some point.”
I crouched by Kevin and gave his head a scratch. “Friend, I need you to scent after the one who did this, can you find him?”
Kevin licked my face, swiping his tongue from my jaw to my hairline. But he was all business as he scented around Priscilla’s body, and a moment later, he was off and running.
“Move!” I yelled to my men as I leapt after Kevin, launching myself into the air so I could watch from above.
The vantage point gave me a better look ahead as well, something I hoped would reveal the killer. If the boy was right and the killer didn’t have wings himself, he couldn’t have gotten more than a few miles. Priscilla’s body had still been warm.
Kevin worked methodically, pausing only here and there to backtrack through an alley, or to circle around a building before taking off.
It was like the killer’s scent led nowhere…or everywhere.
In and out, all around. One hour ticked by and then another, before the hell-hound sat down in the middle of the market, tipped his head back and howled in defeat.
I dropped to the ground next to him with a heavy sigh and rested a hand on his neck. “It’s okay, friend, I know you tried. He’s been all over town, huh?”
Kevin growled low and angry, gave a deep huff and shook his head. While I could not read his mind, it was close.
He was just as pissed as I was.
I’d seen it as the minutes ticked by that this wasn’t going to go the way I’d hoped. “Even with a fresh trail, he managed to throw us.”
There was only one way to confuse a hell-hound and this was it. To crisscross your path, over and over. They didn’t do well differentiating between a newer scent and an older one. Incredible noses, they could find a scent three years old…but it didn’t smell different than one that was an hour gone.
Fuck.
With Kevin at my side, I made my way back to the castle, not bothering to hide the anger rippling through me. The Fallen expected their king to be a miserable prick, and in that moment, I fit their expectations as I strode back to the castle.
Human, how the fuck could a human male take down Priscilla?
The Doves…as sad as it was, I understood a human male being able to do that, it wasn’t uncommon in the human world any more than it was here.
I let my connection to Algrin open, reaching for the general’s mind.
“Sire?” He paused, at the top of the tunnel that rose to Sixthell.
“Any sightings of that wolf?”
“None, Sire.” He paused. “Why?”
I liked that he asked me the question, that he wasn’t so fearful of his king that he wouldn’t ask even a simple question. “Another death. Priscilla was killed just outside the gates. A witness puts a human running from the scene with old blood on his cloak.”
Algrin startled. “That’s impossible. Isn’t it?”
I wasn’t so sure anymore, not after seeing Mari fight, but given that all the humans in Seventhell had been wrangled up and sent to the upper levels…
“I’ve still got my money on Maverick. He was human before he convinced the wolves to turn him, from what I can gather. If that’s true, he can shift at will and likely wouldn’t have the scent of a natural born wolf. To my mind, he’s still our best suspect.”
“Understood. And what do you wish me to do with Vin’s men?”
Fuck me, the last thing I wanted to deal with was more politics. I needed to find the Key and get my ass the fuck out of here.
And what then? What if the Fallen have a king that won’t work with the other territories? You can’t abdicate until everything is done and even then…how do you leave all these souls under the rule of another Malach?
I didn’t like that voice in my head, didn’t like what it was saying. “Where are they?”
“Barracks.”
I changed my trajectory and headed to the barracks instead of the castle, and being honest with myself, I just wanted to be near Marinnia.
Not that I could tell her that, fuck I couldn’t even keep her near me while I was king, not really.
She’d nearly died, and I wasn’t even truly fucking her, no matter how much I wanted to.
I could only imagine the danger she would face if we were together for real.
The barracks were a solid section to the southern edge of the castle grounds, cut deep into the stone walls, the training yard was the size of several human football fields. Vin’s army was bunched all against the far side, stripped of their weapons, standing at attention.
Where they would have stood for hours more if I’d let it go.
Double fuck.
Kevin leapt at a bug flying across his face, lunging the wrong direction with his cross-eyes.
As I approached the army, their general stepped up.
He was young, not much older than me. There was a chance we’d even been schooled together for the years I’d spent here as a youngling.
I stared at him, seeing the blood red hair shorn short, and the deep amber eyes, and his name hit me.
I did know him, and though he’d been a prankster then, he looked deadly serious now.
“Your Majesty.”
“At ease, Cact, I remember you.”
He startled, his eyes widening. “I wasn’t sure…”
I smiled. “You liked to steal pies from the kitchens and chuck them at the girls who caught your fancy. Not the best move, but for a ten-year-old, definitely an attention getter.”
The soldiers behind him fought to keep their chuckles under wraps.
Cact’s lips twitched and then he sobered. “What will you do to me and my men?”
“Well, I could kill you all.”
Silence so deep a bug could have farted and we’d have heard it. As it was, Kevin sneezed and shook his head.
“But that is a complete waste of soldiers who followed their leader, showing loyalty to that which they swore their lives.” I looked them over.
“I would have that same loyalty to me, to the throne. Lord Vin and his wife made a poor choice. If you give me the chance, I will show you that I can make better ones.” I paused, hoping my instincts were right here.
If the time came…when the time came to stand against Lilis, we’d need as many fighters as I could get.
“Pledge loyalty to me, become Oathsworn, and we will move forward together. Stronger as a people, stronger to protect all Fallen, not just one or two. What say you?”