Chapter 28
I dragged Carmine into the hangar and collapsed inside with him. Gratia raced over and helped to pull him upright again.
“I’ll take him to the bunker,” she hissed, already opening a portal. “Where’s Raes?”
She couldn’t feel his torture from Earth. Good, or she would have rushed to his aid already. “He’s in the mansion. He wasn’t in the gates with us. He’s okay.”
Gratia swallowed, but then locked into her sisterly duties and hauled Carmine to safety through her portal.
I strode through the hangar, my mouth drying at the burned and injured demons filling the space. Most of the two battalions had come through, but I couldn’t see a single one unscathed.
My eyes were forced back to the three Vissimo gates.
Destroyed.
Blown up. Nothing more than piles of stone and dust. A pulse of my magic met with the hard edge of this realm. The gates were destroyed for good.
Tempest had figured out a way to collapse them, and she’d nearly destroyed my mate and me in the process. Or he’d nearly destroyed himself by curling around my body to protect me from the explosion.
But a nearly dead demon was nearly guaranteed to live.
“Tend to the wounded,” I called, injecting smoke into my voice. “General, set fifty of your most able to guard the hangar tonight in case there is further attack on the gates. Alert me immediately if our enemy attempts an attack.”
None of them knew of my betrayal, and I was their queen. No one questioned my authority.
Most of the soldiers could limp out of the hangar, but some were carried.
Gu hobbled over. “My queen, what was that?”
“A magus attack,” I answered, striding for the door.
I had to assess Carmine’s injury, and if he was as injured as he’d appeared to be, then I had to make the most of whatever time that earned me to find the blue gems hidden by Tsan.
Athira was out of the game for now. Or should I grab the two blue gems behind the painting?
Hmm, no, Tyran would check on them when he woke.
Plus, I needed the main stash or there was no chance of healing Carmine.
Gu stammered, “B-but the magus are at odds.”
“Clearly not as much as we’d thought.”
“But how did they destroy the gates? The passages exist between our realm and their world, and they’re formed of demon power. How did their magic affect them?”
Easy. They’d overwhelmed our demon power, and they’d targeted the entry and exit points of the three gates. But I wasn’t about to fill Gu in on those details. Or how my sister had managed to overwhelm the magic in the gates with the antidote to everything demon—pure happiness.
Genius. Absolutely brilliant.
Tyran would shit himself when he came to.
“Await further command,” I told Gu, and then portaled to the bunker.
I shoved the door open and strode to Carmine’s side.
“What happened?” Gratia blurted.
Nice for her to ask that question for a change.
I should be as cryptic as she’d been when I woke after the joining ritual.
“Magus attack. They destroyed the gates while we were in them. Carmine took the brunt of the hit. The battalions were in the other tunnels, so Carmine absorbed the full attack in our gate. Has he said anything?”
“He’s out,” she whispered.
I could feel our bond. He was injured, but alive. For a demon, that meant life. “I need to handle the fallout of this,” I told her. “I’d like you to guard him. Alone.”
Gratia squeezed her eyes shut, then took my hand. “Syera, you have no reason to reassure me after how I’ve treated you. But Raes. How is he?”
“He’s alive, but in pain. Trapped with your mother in a magus trap on Earth. He’ll be in the trap for several days, and after that, I can’t say what the other supernaturals have planned for him.”
Gratia’s knees shook, and she gripped the stone platform where Carmine was lying to stay standing. “Raes,” she sobbed into her hand.
“And your mother,” I said coldly. “Now remain here and send word to the council room if there is any change.”
I had to go now. I could already feel a slight strengthening in Carmine.
I portaled to the council room, so at least my scent would be in the room, and then I wasted no time portaling to Tsan’s house.
He was inside.
I couldn’t tell whether that was brilliant or stupid, but with the blue gems hidden, I supposed he had the ultimate ace up his sleeve. If Carmine came for him, he could use them to bargain. If we came for him, he could do the same.
“Tsan,” I called, knocking on the door.
The door opened, and then I was looking into the eyes of my first and only ex-friend.
“What do you want?” he said, yellow eyes sparking.
“I don’t have much time,” I said under my breath.
“I wanted to come here and say that I fucked up. I used you because my mate’s life was on the line, and I was unsure if you would keep helping me if you knew that I’d changed the plan.
My son’s life was in the balance too. I wanted to tell you many times.
But it always felt too risky. And… I’ve never had to navigate a friendship before.
I knew it was wrong from the start to treat you that way, and I still did it.
That makes me an asshole, and you didn’t deserve that. ”
Tsan stared, and I saw confusion in his gaze.
This was an apology aka a foreign notion to a demon. I should have shown up here and made him apologize to me for allowing me to betray him.
“You’re only saying this because you want the gems,” he said.
I shook my head. “I already know where they are.”
Tsan blanched. “How? Where are they? You’re lying.”
Tsan had only forced himself to live this long to avenge his mate’s murder. Everything he did was in her name. The uniformly spaced stones. The sobbing and creaking gate.
“They’re buried at her grave.”
His jaw dropped. “How did you guess?”
“A qer told me. And that was a horrific fucking experience that I plan to never repeat.” I shivered, then met his gaze again. “Tsan, you only ever helped me, and you helped me to avenge someone you love.”
His throat worked. “Did you use me from the start?”
“No,” I whispered. “Not from the start. After escaping to Earth, I learned about a Wrath Curse on Carmine’s line.
The curse is that when the crown is placed on each new king’s head, the power of Ronj enters them in the form of Tyran.
He controls them by enslaving each king in their own body, forcing them to commit horrible acts while aware but unable to do anything about it.
I didn’t want to absolve Carmine of anything, believe me.
I just wanted to be done with the nightmare of him and the danger he presented to my son.
Then I saw him fighting back, and I remembered all the times he’d done so in the past. Tyran wanted him to kill Adeuto, and Carmine was trying to resist. Blood was pouring from his eyes and ears, and he still couldn’t win, Tsan.
Tyran’s hold is too strong. So I returned here and went through the next ritual.
That’s when my plan to kill Carmine changed, and that was when I started to lie to you.
I don’t want to kill Carmine, Tsan. I want a future with him.
My mate, who I spent over three years wondering how he could possibly have been my match.
I am his mate because only I can save him.
I want to heal Carmine of the Ronj’s magic, without killing him.
But—” I steeled myself with an inhale. “—if that proves impossible, then Carmine has asked me to kill both of them to remove Tyran from the realm for good.”
There was a brief pause. “Carmine asked you to kill him?”
I nodded. “He wants me to live on with our son. He has been trapped in his body for two decades. He wants Tyran gone, and if that means him, too, then he’s at peace with that—even if I’m not.”
Tsan pressed his lips together. “I’ve seen you healed, and I’m guessing that Carmine has more white magic than any amount you’ve ever had. Would he survive that?”
My voice turned hoarse. “I don’t think so.
Not unless I’m missing something. But that’s my problem.
I wanted to come here and explain, for whatever the explanation is worth.
You are my friend, or were, and I hate that I treated you like that.
The situation with Carmine has made me choose to do a lot of things I never expected to do, but I wasn’t forced to betray you.
I just chose to because the truth felt so risky. That was a coward’s choice.”
Tsan sighed and crossed his arms. “You came here even though you knew where the gems were?”
I nodded.
He said, “You came here before retrieving the gems. Even though your time is short.”
“Carmine is injured. My sister destroyed three gates, but Carmine and I occupied one of them by ourselves. He took the entire brunt of the attack on our gate. He’ll wake soon, so I should go.”
Tsan held up a hand. “You know, my mate’s death changed me, Syera.
What was important before her death suddenly wasn’t.
I couldn’t be bothered watching my back around anyone but my own scale color anymore, and with you—as powerful as you are—I never felt like I had to.
We were in partnership with a common enemy. That feeling, whatever it was—”
“Trust. Loyalty,” I interjected.
“Whatever. Whatever they were, they felt good. They helped me stand up again. Working with you was more than just revenge for Sra. I did it because you were my friend.”
Sra. He’d never spoken her name.
I bowed my head. “If I could go back and make a different choice, then I would.”
“Perhaps that wouldn’t have been wise,” he said quietly.
“Even a friend can’t hope to compete with a son.
A real friend wouldn’t ask or expect to.
You didn’t lie to me for money or power or position.
You did it to protect your child. You’ve known me for a matter of months, and while I wish that you’d told me the truth, my anger about that stems from potentially helping Sra’s killer to find freedom.
The wrath curse… I don’t know what to think.
And if it’s true, then I feel for you, Syera, because that’s a terrible thing to happen.
But Sra died at your mate’s hands. I’m unsure if I can get past that, whether he was in control or not. I can’t help you anymore.”
A lump rose up my throat. “I understand. Thank you for all you’ve done until now. I wish you well—”
I blinked at the shift within me, then cursed. “He’s up. Fuck. I’ve got to return to the fortress. I don’t know if he’s checked where I am yet. You may want to hole up somewhere else for a few days.”
“You didn’t get the gems,” he said after a beat.
“Not your problem. Goodbye, Tsan.” I portaled back to the council chamber, sincerely hoping that Tyran hadn’t checked our GPS.
I paced there for a time, then portaled to the bunker.
Carmine burst from the room, still displaying burns on most of his body. “Syera!”
He staggered forward, and I caught him around the waist. “I’m okay. You shielded me. You need to be in bed.”
Gratia appeared in the doorway behind him. “Exactly what I said.” Her eyes cut to me. “He’s delirious.”
I supported Carmine back into the room, and then through a smaller doorway to the bedroom. “Gratia, please have a servant bring me warm water and a cloth.”
She left the room.
“I feared—” Carmine choked, then gripped my wrist.
I set my other hand on his. “I’m safe, mate. It’s you I feared for. Where is he?”
He didn’t need me to specify who I meant.
Carmine closed his eyes. “Inside. The attack hit him harder than me. But he’s gaining strength.”
I kissed his forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you, enamai,” he whispered. “Promise me that you’ll take care. Everything he says is a trick. He won’t honor his deals with—”
Carmine’s eyes rolled back, and when he blinked them again, a chill had entered the crimson-ringed grays. Tyran smiled up at me. “That’s enough of that.”
I leaned back as Gratia entered the room and set the basin of water on the bedside table.
“I’ve changed my mind,” I told her. “There’s no need for water.”
Tyran closed his eyes. “No, there’s no need to wash this body.”
Gratia’s gaze flickered between us.
But he was right. This wasn’t his body; it was the body of my mate. And my mate was within. I picked up the cloth and soaked it in water, then twisted out the excess.
Ignoring Tyran’s dark chuckle, I set to washing Carmine’s arm, careful not to brush over any burns. I moved to his chest after, and then his torso and face. The burns faded away as I worked, and Carmine was nearly healed by the time I finished washing him.
He’d settled into sleep. Even Tyran couldn’t deny exhaustion.
“I’ll stay here with him while you guard outside,” I told Gratia. “Councilor Gu and our lieutenants are instructed to inform me of any attack. You can allow them access.”
Gratia curtsied and left.
I climbed over Tyran to lie down next to him, atop the blankets. Then I closed my eyes and walked along the bond between my mate and me.
Sleep didn’t come easily after the adrenaline of the night and the stressful day prior to it. But eventually I woke in our dream room.
Carmine’s fingers swept down my side and over my hip. He lifted a leg as he had so many times in this exact dream, long before we’d known they were real.
I bit back a cry as he pressed inside, and then I arched back to demand his kiss. His mouth crushed down over mine, and I swallowed his groan.
He set a slow, deep rhythm, and I pressed back against his every pulse forward. Every time could be the last time, and that made every dream with my mate bittersweet.
A tear trickled from my eye, and Carmine brushed it away, breaking our kiss to do so but not the rocking of our bodies.
He shifted positions, so I was on my back with him between my thighs. He caught both of my legs and held them against his chest.
Carmine set a faster pace, and my toes curled where my feet were either side of his head. I grabbed handfuls of the sheets either side of me, and then my hair when that didn’t provide enough of an anchor for the deep ache building within me.
Mate, he whispered in my mind.
Carmine angled his hips down, and I propped up on my elbows, my eyes widening as they set on his gaze. He was angry.
Angry at our situation, and Tyran. Angry at being powerless to help me. Angry that I might get hurt.
There was no point in denying any of that anger. I felt it, but neither of us felt it toward one another.
Carmine slammed into me, and I covered my mouth with both hands.
Carmine, I silently pleaded with him.
Without warning, he gripped my ankles and pressed my legs wide before burying himself deep within me.
I screamed—in my mind and out loud, and his roar was no different.