4. Silas
Silas
When a demon comes calling, he has already counted what you’re worth. The trick is to be worth nothing he can name out loud.
Iexpected the anger. The fire. The heartbreak over Wickett’s betrayal.
I could’ve worked with any of those. Anger I could redirect.
Fear I could answer with a blade. But the sadness?
The heavy kind, the kind that sinks into bone and fucking stays there?
I couldn’t do a damn thing about that. It poured through the bond and just sat, in her chest and mine, making liars of us both while we pretended we were fine.
Feeling her break in slow motion while I stood in my own manor doing nothing was the worst kind of hopeless. And I fucking hated hopeless.
I watched her disappear into the book, hood up, Lore’s hand tight on her arm, and every instinct I had screamed to follow. Shift. Wrap around her. Put myself between her and whatever was coming. But I didn’t move.
I couldn’t. Not when Darius stood outside my door. Not when pulling her closer would only paint a bigger target on her back and sever the one thing I needed more than breath.
Through the bond, I felt everything. The sadness. Her fear. Confusion bleeding into anger. I gave myself a single second to remember the way her pulse kicked when our hands had brushed, before I’d jerked away like she’d burned me.
She had.
Not with fire. With the simple, devastating fact of her touch.
I forced myself toward the door. Reminded myself I couldn’t kill anyone today, no matter how satisfying it would be to tear through Darius and his guards and leave their bodies scattered across my threshold.
Not yet.
Darius stood on the other side of the door, and fourteen years hadn’t changed a damn thing about him.
Tall, lethal, exactly how a prince should present himself, like he’d been born knowing how to wear power and never questioned whether he deserved it.
Silver hair pulled back from a face too severe to be trusted.
Gray eyes that saw too much and revealed nothing stared back at me.
Behind him, purple and black uniforms stretched into the darkness.
Twenty guards, Pip had said. I counted twenty-three.
All of them watching me. Surely they’d been warned of my history.
One of them already had a rune in his hand but the second I made eye contact he tucked it away.
If he needed a rune to try to outpower me, he was already dead.
Good. Let them remember what happened the last time someone drew power at my door. The blood stains had taken weeks to come out and Dez had bitched the entire time.
I stepped outside instead of letting them in, pulling the door almost closed behind me, leaving it cracked just enough that a small sprite hiding under the couch could hear everything.
I’d never need that safety net, but she did.
And there were a handful of people I’d do just about anything for.
That eighteen-inch, blue-haired, doe-eyed little thief was one of them.
It’s why I’d gone back for her. Why I’d almost been too fucking late to save Syneca.
I leaned against the frame. Crossed my arms. Watched Darius’s eyes flick over the door I was blocking and do the math, what it'd cost to get through me, whether it was worth it. He decided it wasn’t. They always did.
Good. I smiled at him because I knew it'd piss him off. The air crackled with tension that came when two predators shared the same hunting ground and only one could walk away with their throat intact. Because if I cowered to Darius, he would jump. That’s what demons did.
They hunted weakness and in this moment, there could be none.
This was a game to him, but I was already three moves ahead, watching him play checkers on a chessboard I’d built. “Darius. It’s been a while.”
“Fourteen years. I assumed you’d finally committed to Ash Court. Yet here we are.” His smile sharpened. “Quite the return.”
I let the boredom play on my face. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
He tilted his head, stepping closer. “Sure you are. There’s been a disturbance. A pulse of power came from here. Strange that it would come the moment you returned to neutral ground.”
I scoffed. “Power flows through this city constantly. Demons hunting, bargaining, fucking.” I gestured vaguely. “Nothing new.”
He waited, eyes judging, searching more for what I wasn’t saying than what I was. “This is different. This power feels like something that was taken from me.”
There it was. The accusation. He wasn’t just fishing, he was baiting a trap.
My pulse didn’t change. My expression didn’t flicker.
“Interesting,” I said. “But I haven’t noticed anything unusual.”
“No?” He moved closer. “Your manor sits empty for over a decade. Then within days of your return, this power appears. Centered right here, actually. And we both know it’s not you.”
Through the bond, Syneca’s heart kicked.
Irritation spiking hard enough I tasted copper.
Dez wasn’t ready for her kind of storm if he was pushing boundaries.
But I couldn’t focus on that right now. I stepped forward, still calm.
Then put my hands behind my back and walked straight through Darius’s men like they were decorative.
The guards tensed. Hands moved to weapons they wouldn’t live long enough to draw.
I smiled. Just enough to show teeth. They parted.
Because fear was stronger than loyalty in Kiamond. It always had been.
“Walk with me,” I said, turning back to the prince.
As poised as he tried to be, Darius’s jaw still tightened. He didn’t like being led. Didn’t like that I’d just proven his guards were worthless. He said nothing though, falling into step beside me as I led him into the street, stopping at a specific spot.
“You’re a smart man, wouldn’t you say? Let’s stick with logic on this one. We were standing right here when Celeste was killed. Right here,” I said, pressing my boot against the cobblestones. “I can still smell the blood and power if I concentrate. Can’t you?”
His face went carefully blank. Because he could. We both could. The memory of that fated day would stay with the demons forever.
“Do you really think, if a Fury returned, she’d come back to the scene of her sister’s murder?”
Darius’s expression flickered.
“The Furies aren’t coming back to Kiamond,” I continued. “They locked the veil. They’re done with us. However—” I paused, let the word linger. “Rumor has it Evanoch has returned.”
Darius went still. “Evanoch?”
“He hasn’t been back to Kiamond in what?
Fifteen years? I hear he got stuck in that world, but now he’s back in the Underworld.
Found himself another charidryn. And you’ve been gone from Kiamond almost as long, haven’t you?
Dealing with court business? It’s easy to misinterpret a distant pulse of power when you’re out of practice. ”
He stared at me. Processing.
“You think what I felt was—”
“I think the princes are all returning to Kiamond and of all the demons, Darius, I’m not the one you need to worry about.
You and I both know that. You felt something, jumped to conclusions about Fury magic because that’s the last time anyone felt power like that. ” I shrugged. “Understandable mistake.”
Darius was quiet for a long moment. Then his eyes narrowed, searching the air like he could taste the magic if he concentrated hard enough.
Finally, he exhaled.
“I can’t feel it anymore,” he admitted. “Whatever it was.”
Victory tasted a lot like defeat in the grand scheme of things. I’d won this round. But Darius wasn’t stupid, and he’d be back the second he convinced himself I was lying.
Which meant I was running out of time.
“Because it wasn’t here. Just echoes of something else entirely.”
He looked at me, clearly trying to decide if he could have been mistaken. Because there hadn’t been a day in his life he trusted me. Few did. But he stepped closer, lowering his voice as if any of this had been a private conversation. “If I find out you’ve brought something dangerous into my city—”
“Your city?” I gave him a pointed look. A reminder that Kiamond belonged to no one. That he had no more claim here than his brothers, and no jurisdiction over me.
His smile turned sharp as a blade. “Semantics, Silas. You know what I mean.”
I held his gaze. Unbothered. “Of course. If I notice anything unusual, you’ll be the first to know.”
He took a step back, his smile widening as if he’d won something. “That’s all I’m asking for. It’s only fair, after all. Since we both know you’ll report everything to Ramiel.”
I lifted a shoulder. “Perhaps.”
Holding back his retort, he gestured to his men. I waited until they were completely gone. Until I couldn’t sense them anywhere in the district. Until the bond told me Syneca had stopped moving entirely, safe, hidden, heartbeat steady.
Only then did I walk back into my manor and close the door.
Locked it. Warded it. Made sure nothing was getting through without me knowing.
“Pip.”
Wings fluttered immediately. She shot out from under the couch, hovering at eye level. Her face was pinched with worry.
“Was it Syn?” The words tumbled out fast. “They can feel her power? Is that why they came?”
“No. It wasn’t her they felt,” I said carefully. “Not directly.”
“But they could feel her.” Pip’s voice pitched higher. “If she uses her magic, they’ll know she’s here.”
“If she can learn to control it, no.” I moved to the window, hands braced on the sill. “The magic she has is powerful. Every demon with enough power will sense it the second she lets it burn.”
“So what happens when they come?” Pip flew closer. “When the princes figure out she’s here?”
I didn’t answer right away. Because when the princes came hunting—and they would—I’d have to do something I really didn’t want to do.
Something that would change everything.
“I’ll handle it,” I said finally.
“Okay. How?”
“However I have to.” I turned to face her. “But it won’t come to that if I can keep her safe. Keep her hidden. Teach her to put that magic behind a wall before it broadcasts across the entire Underworld. She’s used to burying it. She needs to dig it up and control it.”
Pip studied me with those too-large eyes. “You’ll make sure she’s okay? Even if it’s difficult?”
“Remember, we talked about speaking to demons with questions like that, Pip. That’s an open bargain, even if you can’t see it. But yes,” I said. “Even if it’s difficult.”
She inched closer, scratching her long ear. “I know exactly how I worded my question. You just swore to me you’d protect her. Your words are binding.”
“Only if you offer something in return.”
She took a deep breath.
I held out a hand. “Don’t. I’ve already sworn with my life to keep Syneca safe. Don’t say anything that could get you trapped in the Underworld.”
Pip nodded once, satisfied. “I still wish you’d have let me bring my sword.”
I lifted a shoulder. “I’ll have one made for you.”
She put her hands on her hips and flew close to my face, iridescent wings fluttering behind her. “It better have a jewel. For a counter weight.”
The corner of my mouth twitched before I could stop it. I turned away, imagining Pip squaring off with any prince stupid enough to get near her witch. Somewhere out in the city, Syneca was hiding. Hating me. Which was safe for now.
That would always have to be enough.
It was better if she stayed angry. Better if she kept her distance.
I stopped in the hallway, reaching for our connection.
Still pissed, but safe.
I felt the pull. Not just her presence, but her location. Crystal clear in a way it never was in Fuerlis, where the veil muted everything. In Kiamond, my power worked the way it was meant to. I could track her to an exact point.
Every muscle locked.
No.
He wouldn’t have.
I reached further, following the thread of connection between us, mapping the streets, the turns, the—“Are you fucking kidding me.”
Pip’s wings stopped mid-flutter. She darted out of the study after me. “What’s wrong?”
I knew exactly where Dez had taken her. And going there myself would only draw more attention. More questions. The kind we couldn’t afford right now.
But I could send a message.
“Pip.” I turned to face her. “I need you to find a grimmie.”
Her eyes grew impossibly larger. “Pook?”
“He’ll do.” I moved to my desk, pulling out parchment, and wrote four words. I sealed it with a touch of power that would burn anyone who tried to open it but Dez. “Have the grimmie deliver this. Fast.”
She took the message, cradling it like it might explode. “What does it say?”
“Nothing he doesn’t already know. But apparently he needs a reminder about where not to take her.”
Pip darted toward the window, then paused. “Is she in danger?”
“Not the kind you’re thinking of.” I turned back to the window, tracking that pull. That infuriating, clear connection to exactly where she was. “Just the kind that’s going to make this infinitely more complicated.”
She disappeared into the night.
And I stood there, hands braced on the sill, staring in the direction of a place Dez knew damn well I couldn’t follow.
That clever bastard.