Chapter 11 （No） Self-Preservation
(NO) SELF-PRESERVATION
Kalypso
Something sluiced through Kalypso’s body as the demon’s glare stripped her down to the bone. On any other day, it probably would have been fear, yet something within her rankled at the demon’s upturned nose.
An older warrior, she could tell just by the scars across his face and the breadth of his shoulders. Retired, surely, but a demon who took his oath to the guard beyond his service.
Next to her, Ozirax’s spine had gone stiff. “Sir.”
Some former superior, then. She’d not met the retiring captain yet. Or anyone, really, including those who worked behind desks at the barracks.
The red demon’s glare turned to Ozirax. “Son.”
Son?
Kalypso’s gut told her not to pull her eyes completely from the older male, so she twisted her chin just enough to get a better look at Ozirax.
Uncomfortable. Rigid. Distant.
None of the same cockiness she’d come to appreciate from the purple cactus. This wasn’t a male respecting his father. It ran deeper, more complicated.
Ozirax remained silent, waiting for the warrior to initiate… something. A conversation? The red demon didn’t look like the chatty type. Or one for introductions.
Only killing.
It was evident in the prominent muscle he shared with his son. Where Oz was lean and inked, a precision in form to suit his agility magic, his father was thick, solid, unrelenting. Down to his undisguised snarl.
“I heard of your encounter in the Dreadmoor,” the male said, dark eyes flashing to Kaly. “How… relieved I am to see your squad came out unscathed.”
From her periphery, Ozirax’s spikes twitched. Only minutely, and only the ones along his spine, hidden from his father’s sight. “Protocol states that discussion of scouting events—”
“Are classified until the Horn of the Guard releases an official statement. You think I don’t have ears inside Harrox’s office?”
Somehow, the purple demon next to her went stiffer.
“I’m connected enough to know your application still hasn’t been submitted.”
Kalypso managed to school her face before her brows pinched.
Their meeting with Harrox yesterday had all but solidified Ozirax’s promotion.
He’d spent the rest of the day locked in his room instead of hounding her about emotional connections.
She’d just assumed it was to fill out the application, since technically their bargain was complete.
He’d approved her seeing her sister, and she’d remained loyal in not dying or running off.
Today’s foiled plans notwithstanding.
But the more she thought about it, the more she noticed, just as he had done with her.
The times where he volunteered his spare time to train her, his efforts in finding a better printed book she could read, the hours he and Tonomoch had spent trying to educate her on an inter-squad sport that had more rules than were necessary.
She recognized the tactic because it was one of her own.
He was delaying, avoiding.
But… why?
“Merely trying to be thorough and professional,” Ozirax stated.
This time, Kalypso’s eyes flashed his way, scenting the lie. She caught the briefest of clenches in his jaw, but he remained perfectly stiff as he faced his father like one might stand waiting for orders.
“Thorough and professional?” his father grumbled, lowering his chin to glare despite being shorter than his son. “Is that what you would call embracing this human? They are a weakness, a distraction. I should have known you were just as pathetic—”
Kalypso snorted, the warrior snapping his fangs down as his glare pierced her.
It was an effort to squish the corners of her lips together, biting down on the insides until she couldn’t hold it back again. The laugh bubbled out of her, and she had to slap a hand over her mouth to hold it back.
“Is something… funny to you?” the red demon growled.
Kalypso didn’t quite trust herself not to laugh as the male’s head continued to lower, so she chanced a glance at Ozirax. Lines bracketed his twitching eye, portraying an emotion she’d seen once before in the Dreadmoor.
Fear.
For her.
She managed to pull her hand away, licking her lips as she addressed the former warrior.
“Yeah, actually. We have these animals in the human realm—rams—who live in the mountains and just lower their heads and head butt each other. You’ve got the same horns.
I just have this recurring image of you on all fours, smashing your head against a wall to try to assert dominance. ”
Oh, yes. That was rage swirling in the depths of the red demon’s eyes, and considering more of Ozirax’s spikes had flared, she was heading in the right direction.
Ozirax’s father snarled, fangs elongating. “You dare disrespect me? Do you have any idea who I am?”
Kaly shrugged. “No. Should I?”
He inhaled to speak.
“Hmm, don’t care.” His eyes bulged, but she only cocked her head. “You see, these rams? They also have incredibly thick skulls.”
Ozirax sucked in a sharp breath, either at her obvious insult to a male who looked ready to shatter her with a head butt or that she stepped closer to the threat.
“Do you want to know why Oz hasn’t submitted that application?
Because he’s busy cleaning up the mess that is your guard.
They should be the ones begging him to be their captain, not making him go through this farce of an application process.
He’s the first one in the training ring and the last to leave.
He scrubs down armor and triple checks weapons so that no one is injured while scouting.
He goes across the entire fucking city to buy Tonomoch fancy quills that write the exact same as the cheap ones because it makes the guy happy.
He knows the route and schedule of every squad, tutors some of the younger demons, trains more of them, and somehow manages to do all of this while putting up with this shit. ”
Ozirax’s father was still snarling, but as his eyes lifted over her shoulder, she snapped her fingers in his face.
“Eyes. On. Me. I’m not done.”
The thrill of power and rage flowed through her as the bastard’s gaze sparked with shocked fury. Because Kaly had failed as a child to stand up and fight against a parent’s abuse, but she could protect someone now who deserved it.
Her finger remained raised, threatening even without a claw point.
“That’s right. If anything is a distraction, it’s you constantly coming in with these veiled threats to the greatest warrior Heck has to protect it.
So you can fuck all the way off with this high and mighty shit and get the fuck out of my face.
I might not have spikes or fire or those stupid fucking horns, but you will regret crossing me. ”
“How dare you insult me,” the red demon snapped, creeping closer.
“How dare you speak to your son like that.”
There was a heat at her back, a solid presence that wasn’t stopping her, but standing with her. Alongside her. Supporting her.
There was absolutely no fear as Kalypso shoved a finger against the red demon’s chest. “I don’t give a fuck who you are, buddy. You insult my squadron leader again, and I will ensure that whatever your reputation is now becomes permanently tarnished by me feeding your cock to a kestrel.”
That, however, seemed to be the end of it. Not because she wanted it to be over, but because a hand curled around her wrist and tugged her away from the red demon, who remained stuck in place, staring at the space they vacated.
Ozirax didn’t run, but his pace was more hurried than a walk as they distanced themselves from his father.
Kaly’s body shook with the adrenaline and anger, but his hold on her was somehow a tether.
His spikes were flaring rhythmically, muscles tensing and flexing the ink on his skin.
She followed each one with her breath, centering herself on the familiarity of him dragging her away from yet another fight.
He was silent, and maybe she’d completely fucked up, but why did it matter anymore?
She had nothing without her sister, and Oz could always dismiss what she’d said and repair whatever fucked up relationship he had with his father.
For all she knew, he was dragging her back this way to kill her, pummel her on the sparring mat, throw her into the filthiest corner of the armory, and force her to clean the most disgusting of the laundry until her hands bled.
Silence fell as he shoved them through the common room’s doors, and almost all movement halted. All except a burnt-orange blur in the distance, but Xagrud’s quick escape wasn’t flawless enough for her to catch it.
Broken horn.
She hadn’t done that. Rand had extracted her before she’d gotten a better swing in, so the only reason Xagrud could be fleeing was—
More voices quieted as they entered their squadron’s living space, and when Ozirax still didn’t stop, there was a muttered, “Ah, shit,” and a scramble over furniture to escape.
Kalypso found her back thrown against the door, just as it had been the last time she’d been hauled into his room, and once again a purple demon was encroaching in her space.
“What the fuck is a kestrel?”
She blinked, the random question scrambling her thoughts. “I don’t know. It’s like… a small carnivorous bird.”
Ozirax’s jaw clenched, and she wasn’t sure what he was hiding—a snarl or a laugh. “Why must you piss off every damn demon you cross?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Zalvokan is going to retaliate.”
“Well, your father is an asshole.”
“Why?”
Kaly cocked a brow. “Why is he an asshole? Well, he—”
“Why did you stand up for me?”
At his side, Ozirax’s hand flexed, claws elongated just as his forearm spikes flared. But in his eyes, that was pain, agony, confusion. Things she understood all too well. And as much as she hated to admit it, the demon in front of her was looking more and more familiar to her. Inside and out.
Kalypso swallowed, then countered, “Why did you break Xagrud’s horn?”
Dangerous.