Chapter 7 #2
Then again, it had been a dreadfully long time since she’d felt another move against her in any way, other than while healing.
A tryst in the dark with a handsome Demon she could leave behind was far less of a risk than finding intimacy with one of her own people, regardless of how fleeting she insist it be.
Oh yes, she could very easily stare into those nameless hazel eyes as he—
The warriors threw the panels wide, snapping Lunara from her reverie and revealing a huge, open room beyond.
Shite, maybe this is a dream.
All Lunara could do was blink as her mind emptied of all thought.
If someone had told her she’d be standing in the Demon King’s great hall one day, she’d have laughed in their face. Not that she talked to anyone, but still—waltzing casually across the flagstones, their steps echoing in the cavernous space, Lunara was struck with the reality of her circumstances.
She’d actually left the Evesong behind and entered another realm.
Shitting Stars.
Apparently, she’d said at least some of that out loud because Nyri squealed, “You’ve never left Nachthelliae before?”
Lunara wanted to crawl into a hole at the shock in her tone. “Um…” She cleared her throat. “No, I hadn’t.”
Nyri’s grin was just shy of wicked. “Oh, everyone is going to be so jealous I got to show you around first.”
She detached herself from Lunara and spun to face her.
“Behold, the center of all Demondom!” Nyri announced, sweeping her arm in a wide arc.
“Where many an ale is drink, drank, drunk, secrets are whispered but gathered by yours truly anyway, and all of the Montrealm’s grievances are heard and solved, petty as they sometimes are. ”
She skipped over and drew Lunara along the windows—much like the ones in the corridor, but bigger.
“If you look outside, you’ll see that here we have a tree, and another tree.
And oh, look, more trees! That’s the portal you came through,” she said as they passed it, power thrumming from within its rippling surface, “and there you’ll find Bal’s bloodstains still on the floor.
” She leaned in. “We thought he’d get a kick out of seeing them before they were really washed away.
Give him something to brag about, because it was a lot. ”
She made a sharp turn and faced Lunara towards the opposite side of the room, her voice a theatrical hush.
“And there on its dais, raised aloft for all to see and honor—the legendary Dominion of Demons, hewn from the primordial red balstrae by our ancient ancestors and enchanted by an unknown person of no small power.”
Lunara’s eyes skimmed down the far wall with a golden sunstar depicted across its vast surface, until they landed on the two thrones perched in front.
The smaller one to the side was made of stone, with curving armrests and clawed feet.
Beautiful and simple, a seat that any monarch would be proud of.
Unfortunately, Lunara knew down to her bones that it was the one front and center that Nyri was speaking of—a carved, wooden monstrosity that was, quite frankly, terrifying.
Its back rose into two sharpened points like mountain peaks, vines and branches depicted across every visible surface, and exuding such terrible, foreboding power that it sent a shiver down Lunara’s spine.
Nyri laughed. “If I liked you less, I’d dare you to sit in it. But I do like you, so definitely don’t do that. You will not live through it.”
Lunara was in a daze by the time Nyri led her to a solitary table in the center of the room, surrounded by carved chairs blessedly absent of any sort of magic as far as she could tell. The Demon pulled one out and forced Lunara to sit, backing away with her hands out.
“You stay put,” she said. “I have to go gather everyone up from wherever they’re hiding.
It’s not sleep-late, but it is quite a while after dinner.
They’ve sat here every evening waiting to see if you’d come out and be hungry.
It’s all about the feasting with us Demons.
Though, if His Highness Magnus is to be believed, we don’t do it as well as the Wolflords do.
I told him to prove it. He laughed. I still haven’t been to Thodelebor.
“Speaking of which, you must be starving. The others said you didn’t touch anything they brought in.
Lyriat insisted his array would be the one you finally accepted, even though Hedda tried to tell him that raw meat was not the same thing as a blood gift.
Thank the Sisters for Thaddeus opening up his arm.
Seems it finally brought you back to us.
Is that what it was? The smell of blood?
I’ve never really met a Nachthellian before, so I have no idea how it works. You do eat food, right?”
Lunara tried to sort through the barrage of information and questions, she really did, but there was no holding in the hysterical bark of laughter.
Nyriadne was a force of energy and spirit. It hadn’t been ten minutes since she’d been crying over her brother’s sleeping form. Yet, here she was, babbling on and on, and—
Wait.
“Did you just say the king brought me food?” Lunara asked—a wheezing squeak that did nothing to flatter her.
Nyri’s eyes widened. “Oh, I knew it. You don’t eat. I tried to remind him that none of the other Sorcerit that come ever stay for dinner, but he just—”
“I eat!” Lunara said, waving her hands. “We all eat, I swear. I just… The Demon King Lyriat himself actually carried a tray into my room?”
“Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he?”
Lunara propped her head in her hands and spoke to the tabletop. “Where I come from, those in charge do not serve lowly healers.”
“Well, where I come from—which is here, obviously—it doesn’t matter whether you’re the king or the cook. Bringing food to the person healing your cousin is the least you can do.”
She did not just say cousin.
“You and Baldrir are—”
“The most favored and exalted of Lyriat’s extended family members.
” She sketched another curtsy, her eyes alight.
“Well, aside from Hedda and Faldir—also cousins, other side, but there’s only the four of us.
Brand and the other Sons sort of are, but that’s complicated.
How else do you think I got Dendir to agree to letting me take his place so fast?
It wasn’t the gold and my batting eyelashes, that’s for sure. ”
Sweet baby Sisters in a cradle.
It’s a good thing you didn’t let him die, then.
No shite.
“Forgive me, Nyri, but I really am exhausted.”And needed to get out of here. “If you could just point me towards whichever appropriate individual is the closest, I can—”
It was already no surprise at all that Nyri didn’t let Lunara finish her sentence. “Curse my blabbering mouth,” she muttered, backing away. “I’ll go fetch them and find some food. Not raw meat. Unless you are into that sort of thing?”
Lunara tried and failed to stifle a yawn. “Many Sorcerit do actually enjoy raw meat between gifts, to take the edge off. I’m indifferent, though not opposed. I’ll eat pretty much anything, but I don’t suppose you have strawberries in Straelon?”
“Strawberries it is! You just relax.”
Nyri was off like a streak of lightning, through the doors before Lunara could blink.
What a heavy blink it was. She’d thought she was tired before coming face-to-face with the single most enthusiastic person she’d ever met in her life. Now, she was eyeing the table and wondering whether she had enough power left to turn it into a mattress.
Of course, the thought of a bed brought that gorgeous Demon to mind again. Maybe she could use him as a pillow.
Don’t be an eejit. Tell them Baldrir is fine, ask for a room, and get out of here as fast as you can.
When her lids drooped again, she started to lose hope.
“Snap out of it, Lunara.” Maybe talking to herself out loud would work better. “You cannot fall asleep here. They’ll cast you into one of the chasms for offensively poor manners, and then where would you be?”
“I suppose we’ll know for sure soon enough, one way or another,” the Voice chimed in.
Lunara swallowed a blooming panic as she felt the color leach from her cheeks. Never, in all her life, had the Voice spoken to her twice in the same day.
“Not the same day, silly. It’s been three and a half days, remember? At least, I think that’s when we are.” A giggle bounced through her mind. “Although, now it’s been twice. Thrice. But who’s counting, anyway?”
No, no, no. This is not happening.
“It really is,” the Voice whispered.
“It’s fine, Lunara. You’re fine.” She pressed her hands to the side of her head and squeezed. “It’s just a voice. A real voice, belonging to a real person who likes to laugh at you. Not madness. Please, not madness.”
Some Sorcerit lost it when they didn’t get enough blood. Others, from too much. And she absolutely refused to dwell on the ones who went mad for entirely different reasons.
“It’s really not. Madness, that is. Trust me, I would know.”
The words hit Lunara in the center of her chest and she latched on to the speck of hope the Voice offered, even as her heart constricted at its heavy, melancholy tone.
Until it giggle again, and all she wanted to do was scream.
“Screaming won’t help. I know, I’ve tried.”
Lunara felt its sigh as if it were her own and that maybe unsettled her more than anything.
“Please. I’m begging you to go away.”
When minutes passed with no breathy laughter or lilting mockery, no haunting, nonsensical drivel, Lunara relaxed back into her chair and searched for a distraction—anything to erase the lingering echoes of that cursed intruder.
But, just as she’d pulled the long hook from her hair and thought to draw some of the moonlight outside to herself, a crushing thunderclap reverberated through her skull with such might that Lunara was sure she’d die beneath the weight of it.
It was like there were hundreds of the Voice inside her when it spoke again, a bludgeoning chorus of hammers and ruin.
“This is the moment they planned for. It’s time.
But still, there’s a split—a moth-shaped divide.
Tell me, Sorcerit, will your answer be right?
Or will you consign us to doom-colored night? ”
It’s too much. Too much!
Lunara bit back a scream, black spots crowding her vision. Blinded by pain, the last thing she knew was her face hitting the table, no such thing as talking herself out of the slip into unconsciousness.