Chapter 29
I woke and stared into the eyes of a monster.
“Sounded like you enjoyed that,” Tyran said. “Carmine hasn’t roared like that since I used to fuck you in the first couple of years. He didn’t want to like it back then, really, but he couldn’t deny the sensations of his body.”
I rasped, “That’s no way to speak to a queen you need to negotiate with.”
“There will be no negotiation.” He rolled out of bed, and I scanned his body. The burns were gone.
My laugh was short and humorless. “You were forced to retreat, and you’re a third of an army and three gates down. And you don’t want to negotiate with me. Solid plan.”
He didn’t turn. “You never killed your sister.”
My chest rose. Shit. “She’s dead.”
“The magic of a supernatural can’t outlive them. I sensed her magic in the trap at the Vissimo king’s territory. She’s alive.”
“That’s impossible. You saw her as well as me.”
“A trick, it seems. I commend you for outsmarting me. Those who have managed to do so are few, and none of them still live.”
I climbed off the bed. “I felt her die. We all did. You’re underestimating the role her divination affinity could be playing.”
Tyran glanced back, a mild expression on his face. “I think not. She is alive by your design, so there is no negotiation.”
I shook my head. “If she’s alive, then you have more need to discuss things with me than ever.”
“Incorrect, young demon. While my most powerful enemy was dead, there was less risk to entertain your wants. But freeing Carmine to go to Earth where he could simply ally with the sister of his mate would be foolish indeed. If Kyros were dead and only the Luther rulers now remained, then I might have freed your mate already.” He smirked.
“What a shame that you decided to betray me weeks ago. You should have trusted me.”
The word audacity came to mind.
“If only you’d given me a single reason to trust you,” I replied. “When you realize that you can’t win the war without me, you know what I want.”
Tyran’s smirk widened, and he left the bunker.
Dammit.
He was planning something, and I had a feeling that something involved jumping ship into another king. I had to figure out who Carmine’s replacement was.
I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. I need the fucking blue gems. Tsan might have moved them again after our conversation, and I couldn’t risk retrieving the two gems behind the painting. Tyran would expect that.
Which meant I’d needed to finger a qer again.
I really didn’t want to do that.
“Syera?”
I lowered my hands to find Gratia in the doorway.
“Raes… I can’t bear the not knowing. Soldiers are talking about the trap. They’re saying the demons caught within it are in agony. Is that true?”
Her voice hitched, and I nodded.
Tears slipped over her cheeks. “He’ll be in that pain as long as he’s in the trap?”
“He will. Unless he figures out the nature of the trap.”
“Which is?”
“To not feel all the things a demon naturally feels. If it’s any consolation, Raes is different from most demons. He may fare better.”
Better than Athira.
“He is different,” she sobbed. “We’ve been fighting. Because of what I’m trying to do to Mother. Why did I waste all that energy on hating her when I could have just loved him? She can’t touch him now that we’re mated. I should have let the rest go.”
I watched Gratia sob into her hands, and my small magus morals urged me to reassure her. My demon side urged me to do the opposite. I had no allies left that didn’t slither, scuttle, or stampede when they moved. I needed help.
I sighed. “There could be a way to save him, and your mother. But first I need to tell you something that I should’ve told you a long time ago.”
This could blow up in my face. But my options were limited to the point of nonexistence.
I checked Tyran’s location. Breakfast. He’d be starving after using so much energy to heal the burns.
Gratia sniffed. “What is it?”
“Raes knew what I’m about to tell you. That’s why he was trying to deter you from messing with your mother. I told him because it didn’t change your future. But if I tell you, then it does change your future.” I paced, then stopped before her. “I don’t think there’s another choice now.”
“To do what? What is it?” she asked, pale-faced.
“If I tell you, then it will delay your future by a century,” I said, closing my eyes and swaying. “But it will save Raes.”
“I don’t underst—”
I whirled. “You know I can sense the future, Gratia!”
Which was a lie. My divination affinity did like giving me details on mating bonds, though, and in Gratia’s case, I’d seen that she would bear children, twins first. Whether or not I could work that magic with others, I hadn’t yet tested.
She swallowed. “The twins?”
I nodded.
“A century later?” she whispered.
“To the day.” My demon side was purring, and my magus side had crossed her arms and looked away from my lies. “They will eventually come.”
“And if you tell me this, then Raes will be okay?” she asked.
“He has a chance this way,” I told her. “That’s all I can tell. Do you want to know?”
Her exhale shook. “If Raes dies, then there’s no pregnancy anyway. There’s no me without him either. Tell me.”
I gripped her shoulders and checked Tyran’s whereabouts again. “Everything you suspected about Athira and me is true, but Raes is also with us. One of the twins that you birth will be incredibly powerful. He will be incredibly powerful. Strong enough to present a challenge to the throne.”
Gratia covered her mouth. “No. How could such a powerful child come of our match?”
“He just does. That’s why Athira is working with me, to protect your future child.
The second twin too. She’ll die trying to save her brother unless we put plans in motion now.
Your mother isn’t trying to kill Carmine, but she won’t allow him to kill your son, either, just like she never allowed her mate to harm Carmine.
But if we do nothing, both of your children will die. ”
I could see as clear as day that after each ritual my demon power had increased, and my ability to betray and lie to others when needed had grown too. I’d feel bad later. Maybe.
Gratia’s children wouldn’t die. That was the main thing, right?
This was for her own good.
“Carmine wouldn’t kill my son,” she said.
Ah, but that was a tale as old as time in this realm. The king killed any threat to the throne, be it his son or another of great power. We just hadn’t known Tyran was the driving force behind that.
“He won’t have a choice. You know he won’t,” I said. “But there’s another who would have a choice to grant mercy if he became king.”
Gratia’s eyes rounded. “You plan to usurp my brother.” She blinked. “And yourself. You’re the queen.”
I grabbed her hands in mine. “Gratia, did you never wonder if there was a reason that I ran three years ago? I fell pregnant, and I had a son.”
She stared.
I smiled. “His name is Adeuto. He’s three, or just over, and he’s the most wonderful soul in all the worlds.”
“A son? The boy who ran out into battle wasn’t your sister’s child?”
“Is that what Carmine told everyone?” I suppose Tyran hadn’t wanted anyone to believe that he’d left a challenger to the throne alive.
She frowned. “That’s what everyone was saying. My brother must still believe the boy belongs to your sister, or he would have killed the threat. I have a nephew?”
“You do, and he will be very, very strong. If he survives. My son is also part magus, and so the force that overcomes kings and makes them kill their challengers does not affect him. When he is crowned king, your children will be safe.”
Gratia pulled her hands free. “How can you be sure?”
“In the same way I could tell who your mate was and what children you’d have. My divination affinity. Adeuto will be different from any king that has been.”
“What will happen to Carmine?”
“We must remove him from the throne, but I will not allow any harm to come to my mate, and Adeuto will not feel any need to eliminate him, as previous kings would have. Adeuto’s power will far exceed Carmine’s. Once he is on the throne, all of your troubles will end.”
“I can’t fathom such power.” She walked past me to sit on the bed. “This is… unexpected.”
“For Athira and Raes too. But if you aren’t sure about me, then you can be sure that Athira would never harm Carmine. Or you, Gratia. We’ve had to say and do things so that Carmine doesn’t suspect an alliance between the three of us. She doesn’t hate Raes.”
“She doesn’t?” Her voice hitched.
I was a terrible, terrible person. “They talk about… dagger. All the time. I really regret that you had to get involved, though. Raes will be devastated. He wanted to do this for you.”
Her voice shook. “He didn’t plan to get trapped. What do we need to do?”
Uh… good question. I’d test her loyalty first. “Not now. Carmine expects me at breakfast. I’ll come to you soon.”
“How soon?” she pressed. “Every moment we delay is a moment Raes and Mother are in agony.”
Oh, she cared about Athira now?
“As soon as I can. Don’t doubt Raes’s strength, sister. He’s going to be okay.”
Tempest knew he was important to me. She’d save Athira too.
And I may just have created an ally in this fortress again.
I left Gratia in the bunker and only released my pent-up breath when I was halfway to the dining hall.
Fuck. Tyran knew my sister was alive. He’d called off negotiations, but now he knew she was alive; that ruled out the surprise attack.
Yet again, my plan was out the window, and I had no idea what the next hour would bring, let alone whether everyone I loved and I would be alive in a week.
I entered the hall and conversation halted.
Applause erupted, and reds and crimsons surged upward from their seat to clap and cheer. What… on… Earth?
I kept my expression smooth and nodded to a few demons here and there on the way to sit beside Tyran. I pitched my voice low. “What did I do?”
He picked up my hand and kissed the back. “My queen, so humble. You single-handedly held the Vissimo king off trapping the rest of the army in the same manner as our weapons squadron, and then you escaped, saving me in the process.”
He’d walked into the gates himself, and hundreds of demons must have seen that.
“Sure,” I said.
Tyran stood and raised his goblet. “To our violent and unyielding queen.”
I blinked at the roar of approval. For me.
That he was encouraging, instead of taking me down.
Instead of raising that goblet, he could have spoken of how I’d intercepted his attack against the Vissimo queen, then refused to use my power unless he met my demands.
A few words from him and the entire realm and almost every demon within it would hate me.
He was building me up, and I could feel the rope around my neck.
He was going to let me hang. I was going to be an example, or a martyr.
He planned to remove me in the way that most benefited him, and my quiet, unexplained death clearly didn’t benefit him.
The loss of a “great queen” who’d thrown herself into battle to save demonkind just might.
Fuck. What direction would he shove me in?
I lifted my goblet to the adoring onlookers. “Thank you, my king.”
He smiled.
Smiled.
And that was how I knew he was going to kill me.