Prologue
Aghen
Ididn’t bother knocking before entering my Arch’s office. Kai was seated at his desk, frowning, a pen hovering over the small characters of a printed document.
“Bad day?” I asked, letting myself fall on the armchair facing him.
“We could say that,” he grumbled, dropping both the pencil and document on his desk before falling back in his chair, rubbing his hands on his face. “That Succubus is like a bar of soap.”
I arched a brow. Was it about Ania again? Or whatever name she was going with these days?
“Do tell.”
“It’s the fourth time I’m putting a request to get her in my tie group only for it to be denied in less than a couple of days. How long is the damn waiting list?”
Shit. “Is she being transferred again?” I asked, trying to keep my tone as casual as physically possible.
Kai rolled his eyes before settling them on me. “Not transferred. She requested an emergency leave of absence. Turns out her last Arch has abused his powers with her and took some liberties that even the Princes didn’t approve of. Fucking Klaus. I hope he’ll be sanctioned.”
A leave of absence? I had no idea demons could request time off…Where would she go?
My stomach tightened in anticipation. Maybe it would be the right opportunity to find her…Obviously, waiting for Kai to finally get her here wasn’t getting anywhere.
“What did Klaus do?”
Kai groaned, grabbing the pencil again to tap it on his desk anxiously. “The report I stole wasn’t clear,” he said. “But members of his tied group reported that she was kept locked up with no access to the outside and that only Klaus was allowed to…visit her.”
My hands turned to fists on my lap. Ania…What have you done? The thought of my sister being a sex demon had haunted me for centuries now. But the idea of her being abused by other Immortals? It was worse. She never should have given her soul and the shard away. She should have—
“She was picked up by Lucifer agents and brought to Hell for a meeting,” Kai continued, pulling me from my thoughts. “That’s when I put in my request. But she asked for time off, so she’ll be untied and mostly free for the next decade.”
Which meant I couldn’t track her to her next Arch and that I would have to find her by some other means. Not that my previous attempts were successful, but at least I had somewhere to look for, even though Dimitri always ended up in my way and prevented me from reaching her.
Being untied? Finding her would be hard.
“Will you be asking to recruit her when her time off ends?”
Kai nodded. “I will. I got her new name, and will be following her case closely.”
Hope fluttered in my stomach. With her name, I would at least have something to start on. “What’s her new name?”
My friend looked at me with narrowed eyes. “Why do you ask?”
I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “I’m invested in your quest now. You’ve been talking about her ever since I’ve known you, and I like the idea of being in the same tie as another original,” I lied.
Kai didn’t fall for it, though. But he indulged me anyway. “Lily Stonefield,” he said, gaze unwavering. “One day, whether in this century or the next, I’ll get her. That Succubus has been abused enough, don’t you think?”
She had. But she was also responsible for my mate being held captive for so long he had forgotten what the sun felt like.
Or maybe I was, in a way. No matter who was to blame, she was the only one who could free him from Dimitri’s clutches. We could find a way. Find a Witch or a Warlock to dissolve the Maiden’s mark. All we had to do was try.
“Yes,” I answered. “Being held captive and abused isn’t a life.”
And I was tired of feeling my heart bleeding, even though I didn’t want the mate bond in the first place. Amyntas deserved to fly. To be free. Even if I had to use Ania to force Dimitri’s hand