28. Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Isoria
Dell was near the dessert table, shoveling large forkfuls of pie into his mouth without any grace. He devoured it like he was trying to stab and consume something that was still alive and trying to escape his plate.
He offered me a wide smile that showed off his canines before he licked his teeth.
“Dell,” Lily said crisply, nodding in his direction as she led me down the table in pursuit of whatever form of chocolate she’d decided she was craving.
“Lily, I’m disappointed the general could not make it tonight. I was curious to hear his insight on—”
Lily paused, frowning. “Dell, I’m not sure what the fascination with Brighthollow has been lately, but I assure you, nothing momentous has occurred since the last time it was discussed.”
“But your engagement—”
Stiffening at my side, Lily’s eyes grew distant, her expression tightening.
Engagement? I cast a sidelong glance at her, but she didn’t meet my eyes.
Granted, I didn’t know Lily very well, and yet I’d expected I would have heard about something like that by now.
Especially considering the fact that I’d started to envision her and Owen as a couple, even if the two of them hadn’t seemed to fully embrace the idea themselves.
“I don’t wish to discuss that tonight. Please.”
And with that, Lily led me away at last, though I didn’t miss the lingering looks Dell sent my way, nor the pointed way he continued to stab at his pie as he watched me.
My stomach curdled. Archer didn’t think anyone would dare threaten me outright since I was his betrothed, yet I wasn’t sure.
If Dell ever had irrefutable proof of what I was, I had a feeling his fear and reverence for the royal family would not hold him back from harming me.
Lily had just finished filling a plate with an assortment of chocolate-covered berries and nuts when commotion drew our attention to the far side of the room.
“Oh, not again,” she muttered under her breath as my blood iced over.
“Your Majesty, I believe we’ve caught the escaped death-lover,” a guard shouted.
The male was all arrogance and eagerness as he and another royal guard dragged a chained female between them.
Her mop of curls was damp with sweat and strewn with dirt and leaves, as if she’d been tackled in the ground before they’d caught her.
Her rich brown eyes were downcast and tearful, but when she raised them, there was a shred of defiance in her gaze.
Grey strode over from his post at one of the walls, his eyes scanning over the prisoner. “No, that’s not Scarlet Tideglow.”
“Test her anyway; she’s suspicious!” the guard demanded, puffing out his chest. “I know a fire demon when I see one.”
“Clay, you don’t—” Grey began, like he was reprimanding an unruly child, but Archer stepped forward, cutting him off.
“No need for theatrics or pain,” the prince said smoothly.
I held my breath as he spoke to the prisoner, capturing her in his magic’s thrall. “Tell me honestly, are you a phoenix shifter?”
The female’s eyes turned soft, her lips turning upward in a disgustingly lovelorn smile. “No, I’m not a phoenix shifter, Your Highness.” She watched him eagerly, as if she lived and breathed only to please him.
My stomach twisted, and I looked away.
“There you have it. But there’s no need to fear anyway,” Archer went on, speaking loudly enough for his voice to carry throughout the party, “because the fire demons are no match for us. We will overcome.”
Lily joined the audience in applauding. Some lifted their fists, punching the air. Others took up a chant. “We will overcome!” Then it transformed. “Kill the fire demons. Kill the fire demons. Kill the fire demons!”
It rattled in my chest, in my bones, in my soul. Lily took up the cry, so caught in the moment she didn’t notice the way I stood behind her, my mouth pressed into a thin line, refusing to join in. No one noticed me anyway.
Or so I thought at first, until I felt eyes on me. I lifted my gaze to find Dell staring me down.
Solea’s fire, I thought, twisting on my heel and weaving my way through the crowd. Let them talk. Let them wonder. Archer could say I had a tendency to overindulge like he did and had to leave early again. I had to get away.
Dell was terrifying enough, but far worse was the way I’d started to imagine that Lily was a friend. That fighting alongside her, Owen, Cliff, and Archer had bonded us in some way. That they liked me, and maybe I liked them.
Archer was easy to hate—I’d seen how he hunted and killed my kind. But Lily was warm and open and kind, Cliff was like a doting father to his jaguars, and even surly Owen was at least loyal and dedicated to protecting his people.
But this was a stark reminder that, if they knew who I truly was, they would hate me. Kill me, if the blood bond I had with Archer didn’t prevent it.
A common enemy and a common goal to protect Emberglade didn’t mean anything, not really.
I couldn’t forget I was living among my enemies.