Chapter 32
Hushes erupted from those nearest the dining hall exit.
Tyran murmured, “Ah, good. Just in time.” He hadn’t touched any of the food laid out before him.
I glanced up, slowing in the chewing of my slice of dunkr.
Soldiers marched in, and when they stopped in the middle of the dining hall and parted to reveal their reason for interrupting breakfast, I froze.
Andie.
Blood streaked her face. Her hair fell about her face and shoulders in clumps. Her clothing was torn, and bruises and scratches dotted every patch of her exposed skin.
Fury rippled through me, and I forced myself to swallow the dunkr that now tasted like dust.
They’d made her look like an animal on purpose.
She was fucking exhausted.
Tyran rose. “Our guest has arrived. All the way from Earth. I give you, the Luther queen.”
Murmurs and gasps erupted.
Not that Luthers technically had a queen, but that term meant something to demons. She was the strongest female Luther, and mate to the strongest male Luther. We had a powerful hostage in our midst.
“She did not come of her own accord,” Tyran continued, and a few demons chuckled.
“My mother was returned to us last night after two days of torture in a magus trap. She carried a message with her from our enemy. An ultimatum that demanded my surrender as payment for the return of my demons held in their trap. A king does not surrender, and my queen understood this. She undertook to find me something to bargain with, striding into danger and risking her own life—something I would never have condoned. But this morning, a message was delivered to those who call themselves the supernatural alliance. They can return our people, or they can lose one of their queens… and the pup she carries.”
I sat in shock, having only enough presence of mind to conceal it from my face.
Lies.
All of it lies. I’d done none of that.
Andie’s grave look told me she knew as much. Tyran had left in the middle of the night to take her.
Yet one part was the truth. I could tell from her grave expression that Andie was pregnant.
Sasha would stop at nothing to get her back, and Tyran would use her to his ends. He didn’t care about her. He didn’t care about her pup either.
A fist-sized portal opened beside Tyran, and he peered through, then grinned and faced those in the dining hall. “The alliance have made their choice. Our army is returning as I speak.”
Roars exploded in the hall, and again I found myself the target of adoration. Some demons wept with it as they smiled my way. Jeers and snarls were aimed at Andie, who’d hung her head at the news. A huge advantage lost, and no doubt she blamed herself for it.
Little did she know that she’d saved a thousand demons from being sacrificed in the name of Tyran’s master race. Except… why had he ensured failure by taking her after his speech to me yesterday?
I glanced at him and found myself the object of his icy attention. He smirked over the rim of his goblet, which he lifted in my direction.
I loathed him. I feared him. I hated him with every wisp of smoke under my scales. I’m going to kill you.
For now? Tyran loved my confusion. He loved that I couldn’t guess his plan.
The soldiers removed Andie from the dining hall. Not to return to Sascha, and he would have already guessed as much. She’d be kept in this realm to control the supernatural alliance, but no doubt her mate hoped to keep her alive by returning our weapons squadron as a gesture of goodwill.
It was pointless to pretend I didn’t care. “Where will you keep her?”
“In the bunker,” Tyran answered.
Not like I couldn’t have discovered the answer myself. “Not the dungeon?”
As the words left my mouth, my stomach swooped. Shit. I’d fallen asleep waiting for Gratia to return and report, and then completely forgotten that she’d intended to visit the dungeons last night. Where was she? She hadn’t come to breakfast.
And Raes had returned.
Which meant Gratia could spill the beans at any second. She wouldn’t do so around others, so I still had time. If she was in the fortress, then she would have raced to the hangar the moment she’d heard of the army’s return.
I stood.
“Off to save the Luther?” Tyran drawled.
I smiled. “I’ll wait until your back is turned to do that. I’m going to the hangar.”
I left the dining hall, surprised when Tyran didn’t join me to greet his tortured army back. I entered the hangar and peered around the packed space. Many in the fortress had come to greet the weary soldiers, friends, or family members back to the realm.
Gratia was halfway to Raes when I arrived.
“Gratia,” I called sharply.
She stopped and waited for me to join her while practically trembling with the need to get to her mate.
I spoke in a low voice, “Can you give me a minute with him first?”
Her brows drew together. “How?”
I inhaled, then exhaled. “I need a moment to speak with your mate, Gratia. Alone.”
Gratia’s breath caught, but she swallowed twice, then gave up trying to speak and nodded instead.
I walked over to Raes, who stood with his back to a closed Vissimo gate.
“Raes,” I said. “I’m glad to see you back.”
“Thanks to you,” he answered, looking over my shoulder to where Gratia hovered by the entrance. “You took the Luther queen hostage.”
I grunted. “Are you injured?”
He was pale. “Not physically. It was… I would have rather been stabbed one hundred times. We’ll all need food and water, but we should be okay.”
He’d fared better than most. Some were being carried from the hangar, unconscious.
I scanned the large hall until spotting a familiar demon. “Darthy!”
She leaped and whirled. “M-my queen?”
“Please tell the servants to prepare a meal for one thousand hungry and thirsty soldiers. They will eat in the dining hall. Those of them who are conscious.”
Darthy curtsied. “Yes, my queen. Immediately.”
Those surrounding me had quietened to listen to my command, and now they exchanged knowing looks with their fellow soldiers. The queen had saved them. The queen was caring for them.
Why did I feel as if I was walking straight into Tyran’s trap by being here? Why did I feel as if he’d purposefully remained behind so I could accumulate more glory?
My magus magic wasn’t as strong of a force in me after so many rituals, but what remained was twisted in knots, and pulsing in warning. I tuned into the magic, pushing back what I could of my demon power to access my secondary nature. I inhaled and relaxed into my divination affinity.
Then stared around me.
Oh.
Shit.
“…grateful to you,” Raes said.
I gawked at him. “Huh?”
He cast a look at Gratia again. “I was just saying that the entire weapons squadron will be eternally grateful to you.”
I nodded. “Good. I mean, yes. I—”
I peered back at the better part of one thousand soldiers still in the hangar. More specifically, I peered at the layer of curse settled over each and every one of them.
The alliance hadn’t sent back a gift to placate the king. They’d sent an attack.
“Is everything okay?” Gratia asked. She’d stayed away as long as possible.
Pull yourself together. “Gratia, come with me. The servants will require more direction. We need to organize a… ceremony, uh, celebration for our returned army. Don’t you think?”
“It can’t wait?” she whispered after a beat.
I cleared my throat. “The celebration can wait, but the king will expect a report from Raes immediately… if you can manage that before eating?”
He bowed. “I can manage.”
Gratia stepped forward, and I grabbed her arm. “Let’s go.”
She blinked at me, then turned doe eyes on her mate. “I-I’ll see you soon?”
Raes was frowning at my hold on his mate, though he had the good sense not to say anything. “Yes. Soon, mate. Very soon.”
Tears stung Gratia’s eyes as we left the hangar. I had to get Raes alone to make sure he didn’t blow this operation out of the water.
But first…
I led the way into a servant’s stairwell, then released my trusty ghosts. My magus warning system may be harder to detect in the midst of the new demon power filling me, but the volume of magus magic hadn’t lessened. It was just… drowned some.
“The butyker ate the crown,” Gratia wasted no time saying.
I’d been about to explain why I’d dragged her away from Raes, but I snapped my mouth shut. A butyker eating a crown wasn’t the strangest thing I’d heard in my life, but definitely up there. “Okay, start at the beginning.”
“I portaled to the dungeon, like you said. I pushed my power deep underground, and I noticed a trail of white magic, so I walked into the cell where it was concentrated and kept whispering your name through my power.”
I scanned her face. “The creature came?” Hge.
She nodded, crimson eyes rounded. “I felt it circling under the stones of the dungeon. It spoke to me in images. Sent me a picture of a crown. I said that you wanted to destroy it, and the butyker showed an image of me stealing the crown. So I did.”
She... “You did what?”
“I stole Carmine’s crown.” She blanched. “Was I not meant to? The butyker burst through the stones, and I tossed the crown into its mouth. The serpent swallowed, then disappeared again. It’s gone.”
I touched Gratia’s hand, then pulsed my demon power through her. She yelped and jerked away.
No sign of white magic in her. I sagged. “You destroyed his crown? Just like that.”
“You told me to!”
“You did good, Gratia. I’m surprised.”
She tilted her head. “That I did what you asked?”
I was surprised that a plan had been executed without blowing up. “Thank you. You’ve done something huge.”
With bizarre ease. I wasn’t sure whether to trust in that, which might speak for how my plans usually turned out. But the butyker had swallowed the crown and disappeared. He wouldn’t have swallowed the crown unless he was going to destroy it, right?
Was the butyker dead now?
“You said this would lead to Raes’s return, and it has.” Gratia wrapped her arms around me in a fierce hug.
After grunting, I returned the gesture. “Don’t thank me yet. Raes is still in danger.”
She froze in my arms. “What do you mean?”