Chapter Three #2
“I care not how powerful you are,” Maddox said in a low tone that gave me shivers. “Harm one hair on his head and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
“Cease with the threats. If I wished him harm, I would never have allowed you into my realm.” Lord Onyx offered him a goblet. “Now drink with me. Humans and demons may be at odds, but surely, we can be civil for tonight.”
I got the impression it was a test. Onyx didn’t care so much about drinking with them as he did about seeing if they’d be willing to sit and have that drink. It was a show of good faith.
Maddox eyed the goblet before striding forward and accepting it.
I released a breath, relieved.
All hell might break loose in the coming days, but for tonight at least, there was hope. A sliver of it anyway, like a ray of sun breaking through an ominous, stormy sky. The clouds could slam back together and swallow that sunbeam any moment, so it was important to enjoy the sight while it lasted.
A temporary ceasefire.
The rest of us grabbed a goblet and sat in front of the lit hearth: Onyx in a high-back armchair, Maddox in the one beside him, and Briar and Callum on a sort of chaise lounge.
My cinnamon roll placed me on his lap, and I smiled.
That smile widened as Briar grabbed my legs and draped them over his, so I was half sitting on both of them.
Lake dropped down on the floor in front of me and tipped his head back. Knowing what he wanted, I slid my fingers through his silver hair.
With the logs crackling in the fire and their scents around me, I could almost pretend we were back at the cottage and sitting in the reading parlor together like we did so many nights.
“You’re not sitting on my lap, thief,” Maddox told Rowan. “You can have the rug or nothing at all.”
Rowan rolled his eyes and slouched against the wall, kicking one foot up behind him in his signature pose. That, too, reminded me of home. He liked propping against things instead of sitting like the rest of us.
“Those markings on your chest are quite peculiar.” Briar adjusted his glasses and peered closer at Onyx. “I’ve heard of powerful mana wielders having such marks, but I’ve yet to see any like yours. To my understanding, they’re always black. Never red.”
“Is that so?” Onyx reclined more in his chair and tipped his head back against the cushion, a sly grin on his lips. “How peculiar indeed.”
The demon lord clearly wasn’t willing to reveal the truth. A mystery to be solved at a later time.
“Why did you allow us here?” Callum asked. “Ever since I was a young boy, I heard stories of knights trying to find your realm. All of them either became lost or were eaten by demons. Yet, you welcomed us. Tension between our kinds aside, that, alone, is enough to raise suspicion.”
“You’re only here because of a bargain I struck with him.” Onyx motioned to me. “And he’s here because of… curiosity, I suppose. He fascinates me.”
Fate was the evil culprit of that fascination. It drew us together like magnets. Nervous, I took a drink, needing something to do with my mouth other than go on another ramble.
“Evan fascinates you?” Maddox stared at the goblet in his hand, brow tapered. He hadn’t yet taken a drink. Not uncommon for him. He rarely drank even back home. “Because of his royal bloodline?”
“No,” Onyx answered. “He piqued my interest the first day I met him. You were there as well.”
“In the dark wood,” Maddox said with a curt nod. “When your demons attacked us.”
“Yes.” The coldness in Onyx’s voice was a complete one-eighty from the one he’d used with me earlier in private.
“Although, I should clarify I didn’t order the attack.
The demons acted of their own free will.
I did, however, order them to stand down instead of letting them tear the flesh off your bones. ”
“Why not let them?” Callum asked. “We’re your enemy.”
“True.” Onyx smoothed his thumb along the rim of his goblet, gaze shifting to the burning logs. “Yet, Evan surprised me: jumping in front of a ravenous demon in order to save the one he loves. Even the bravest of souls would’ve hesitated. But not him.”
Maddox glanced at me. An agonized pang hit his eyes before fleeing.
That day in the dark wood when I’d leapt forward and wrapped my arms around him, placing myself between him and the demon, I hadn’t thought of what would happen to me at all.
I’d only wanted to protect him. And I’d do it again.
And again. As many times as it took to save him.
My men meant more to me than anything else in the entire universe.
“His selflessness caused you to spare us?” Briar asked.
“Precisely.” Lord Onyx watched me. “Here was this tiny bird with the courage of a lion. I suppose I didn’t wish to see that little bird lose his wings so soon, when he’d barely had a chance to fly.”
“I’m not graceful enough to be a bird,” I said, tearing my gaze from his. “Unless it was a chicken that just waddled everywhere and ate corn or whatever.”
Rowan breathed out a raspy laugh.
Callum kissed the shell of my ear.
“Allow me to express my gratitude for your actions that day in the dark wood,” Briar told Onyx, bowing his head. “And for your actions the other night when you allowed Evan and Lake here. If not for you, I fear what may have become of them.”
I combed my fingers through Lake’s hair, sternum squeezing as I recalled his blood-soaked tunic and the deep scars that now covered his back. A laceration spell had nearly killed him.
Onyx nodded to him, seemingly pleased. “At least one of you is respectable.”
Maddox couldn’t be swayed, however. “I can’t help but wonder what debt is now owed for that kindness.”
“A debt?” Onyx asked, goblet mid-way to his mouth. “Can the reason not simply be because I wished to help?”
“No,” Maddox said without hesitation. “You wouldn’t have bothered unless there was something to be gained. Neither then or now.”
Onyx set his goblet aside and straightened his posture. A veil fell over his face. “You are not in my debt any more than I am in yours.”
Maddox’s gaze hardened. “Then you’ll have no objections if we pack up and leave at first light.”
“If you wish to leave, be my guest. My end of the bargain has been fulfilled. What you choose to do now is no concern of mine. However…” Onyx shifted forward in his chair. Firelight danced across one side of his face, leaving the other half cast in shadow. “Evan must remain here.”
“Pardon?” Briar asked.
I froze on Callum’s lap. Definitely the first I was hearing of that little condition.
“Are you saying he’s your prisoner?” Maddox snarled.
“I wouldn’t say he’s a prisoner.” Lord Onyx stood from his chair, causing every person in the room apart from me and Lake to tense. “He’s more of an honored guest who is simply… forbidden to leave.”
I laughed. It happened sometimes when I was nervous. Easier to deal with stressful situations with humor rather than running for the hills screaming at the top of my lungs.
“You do know the definition for prisoner, right?” I asked. “The ‘forbidden to leave’ part kinda gives it away.”
“Ah. I suppose it’s a matter of perceptive.” Onyx neared a shelf and glided his hand across the book spines. “You’re safe in my realm. Much safer than what awaits you beyond the barrier.”
“Why do you care what happens to Evan?” Rowan asked, pocketing his flask. “You might’ve known his father, but he’s a stranger to you.”
“I have my reasons.” Onyx stepped over to the cherrywood desk and sat on the edge of it. His yukata-style robe fell open even further, revealing more of the red markings on his chest. They looked like flames. “None of which I’ll be divulging this evening.”
A light knock came at the door before it opened.
“Pardon the interruption,” Fane said, head bowed. “Dinner is ready to be served.”
Onyx nodded to him before regarding Maddox. “You must be weary from your travels and quite famished. Allow Fane to escort you to the dining hall.”
“Have it brought to our room.” Maddox rose from his chair with the fires of hell burning in his eyes. He strode over and gently took me from Callum, holding me against his chest in the way I loved. That gentle hold on me contradicted his body shaking rage.
Without another word or glance in Onyx’s direction, he carried me from the parlor.
I did glance back though.
Onyx offered me a smile. But his eyes? They radiated something far more dangerous.
***
“I know not what I fear more,” Quincy said in a harsh whisper. “That black-horned demon with the surly attitude or the captain.”
“The captain,” Duke and Baden said in unison, then frowned and elbowed each other like they were children.
Maddox stormed back and forth in the room, glaring out the window. He reminded me of a caged bear. A bear who was counting down the seconds until he could break free and hunt down the one who wronged him. I could practically see him tearing apart Onyx in his mind.
“That vein in his temple really will burst someday,” Rowan said from his perch on the windowsill.
One leg was up near the glass, and the other hung down, resting against the cushioned bench.
He picked at the chicken wing leftover from the dinner Fane brought earlier.
“I call dibs on his sword collection if he keels over.”
“Ro.” I gave him a look.
He put his hands up. “Be nice, I know.”
“Watch yourself, thief,” Maddox grumbled. “I am in no mood for your insolent tongue.”
“Are you ever?”
Maddox whipped around to him. “You must be delighted.”
“I often am. Mostly at other people’s misfortunes.” Rowan dropped the plucked-clean wing back on his plate. “But do tell us, Captain, what I’m so delighted about now.”
“Being here.” Maddox’s low tone matched the lethal blaze in his eyes. “When you captured Evan last year, it was to bring him to the Shadow Realm. To get in the demon lord’s good graces. And now here you are, right where you wish to be.”