Chapter 33 #2
I blinked at her voice in my mind. And even considering the situation, I was aware of the honor she’d bestowed on me. As far as I knew, this bond with her would now always exist, and through her—the pack. She’d gifted me an honor that I could never repay.
Can you hear me? I asked her. Aloud, I said, “I know that betrayal depends on perspective. I know that what you consider a betrayal, Sascha may not.”
I can hear you, she thought back. How bad is my predicament? She murmured for Tyran to hear, “Sascha and I are unified in putting pack first.”
I released her hands and paced the room.
Tyran may grow suspicious if we kept staring into one another’s eyes.
It’s not great. But the coven put a curse on the returned soldiers.
I believe it will trigger in the coming hours.
There may be a chance to escape. “Then let’s put pack first,” I said.
“The pack does not have enough cubs that they can easily lose one.”
“Now that our pack can leave the valley to find our mates, we will have plenty of cubs in no time. You will not sway me through threatening my life, nor my cub’s life.” A curse? I didn’t know. He’ll expect you to make a move.
Yes, I thought back. But much has happened since I could last speak freely with the alliance.
Tyran has become aware of my duplicity. He knows Tempest is alive.
He is plotting something, but I have not figured out just what.
I cleared my throat. “Then tell me how you might be swayed, Andie. I have a son. I wish to help you, but the king will not let you leave without something valuable in return. What can you offer us?”
The alliance has been working on ways to draw him out alongside you, she thought back. That’s where we were able to subdue him. That’s where your grandmother and mother can become your warriors. “I offer the demon king nothing, and I expect nothing in return.
He won’t risk going there again, and Carmine can’t be healed out of the realm. His healing requires the assistance of creatures only found here. “Then you care nothing for Sascha’s life.”
Her gaze flickered. “Sascha will understand.”
“He will feel everything you feel. If we open the gates, how quickly will he race to your side? But we don’t need him to race here. If you die, I can guess what would befall him. Would you throw away his life as easily as you throw away your own?”
The king has interrogated me, her voice rang in my mind. I cannot see any sign of humanity within him. What is it that you hope to heal?
Carmine and I can share dreams, I thought her way.
He is trapped within, as all kings in the last five thousand years have been.
You cannot see him because he has been a slave in his body for over two decades.
He is tired, Andie, so tired of what Tyran does using his hands.
He wants an end, whether that is his healing and freedom, or his death sealed with Tyran’s.
She couldn’t miss the emotion of my silent message.
I said for Tyran’s benefit, “Perhaps we should leave you to think on that.”
We should be able to speak from a short distance away now. Like the bond with Axel, it was based on the thinnest slice of trust only, so the connection wouldn’t survive a great distance like those bonds between pack.
“Wait,” she said, hanging her head.
Tyran was an unmoving, all-seeing presence behind me. “What?”
If the fight must come here, then let us facilitate that, she told me silently.
To Tyran, she said, “The alliance is going to lure you out of the realm. They are going to use Adeuto against Syera to force her to kill you for good. Vissimo and Luthers are working together now. We’re not filling the magus in on all of our plan—their connection to Syera is too close.
It’s clouding their judgment. Adeuto will be taken from the coven on the night before we plan to lure you out. ”
Tyran stepped forward. “And how will you lure me?”
“With your son, of course,” she said. “And the other demon boy, Owu. Syera has told us that the urge to kill your challengers is one you cannot deny.”
He hummed. “So it has always been. I will consider this information, Luther queen. Syera, more water for our guest.”
“What will you offer in return for what I have told you?” Andie said from between clenched teeth. A snarl rumbled from her.
Tyran smirked. “Water, Luther queen. That is what you get. But there is something I will give you if you grant me a boon.” Before she could ask what, he added, “I will allow you to speak with your mate.”
Andie lifted her head. “For what price?”
“Shift. Here. And now.”
Her eyes didn’t leave him. Why does he want that?
He’s feeling out your weaknesses. Don’t do it.
I’d already learned that the pack bond could be accessed through the pain of their shift. Their pain granted us entry that would otherwise be impossible.
“Why do you want me to shift?” she asked, eyes narrowed. If I don’t shift, he’ll know I’m hiding something. I can shift quickly.
If I felt it, he will, I said.
“Curiosity,” said the demon king. “A demon can do many things, and yet, though we created your race, I have wondered which demon quality allowed your race to change form. Is it that a demon changes form at sixteen? In terms of smoke and scale. Or is it that we often change our form to suit the most powerful in the room? What would a demon be capable of if they, too, could change shape to a creature of immense power and intelligence?”
Andie shook her head. “You can stay curious.”
Tyran’s face dropped into icy lines. “Not for long, I imagine. How long before a Luther must shift?”
Dang it. There was a reason he’d targeted Andie, after all. I was the one to tell him that he should consider how to access the pack bond. He’d returned to that thought and was probing. Do you need to shift eventually?
Denying the shift doesn’t end well, she replied in my head. But we are creatures of the moon. I cannot be sure if I’ll experience the same urge to shift here. She said to Tyran, “A Luther will do whatever she wants to do, and her wolf will agree.”
I bet you will if he opens the gates on the next full moon. When is that? I thought at her.
It was four days away when I left Earth.
So three days away now. We’ve got to get you out of here tonight. He can’t learn how to tap into the pack bond.
“We shall see,” Tyran said. “Syera, let’s leave our guest to her well-earned water. We will pay her another visit tomorrow.”
Hopefully she wouldn’t be here. Be ready.
She rattled her chains. Not sure how ready I can be. Have you got a plan?
The question touched on my growing insecurity. Whatever plans I had are dead and gone. It’ll mean a fight. You up to that?
I’ll do what I must. Don’t worry about that.
She didn’t know it yet, but Andie was already becoming a mother, and the world should be afraid of the strength she was about to unlock in the process.
I followed Tyran from the bunker. I’m not, I pushed the words in her direction. We’re going to get you back to Sascha.
And what about you, Syera? What happens if he catches you helping me?
“You’re deep in thought,” Tyran murmured to me as we reached the bottom of the stairs. “What could be on a queen’s mind tonight?”
I replied without emotion. “Bet you wish you knew.”
“Oh, but I do, my queen. I do.”
He gestured me ahead of him, and I kept my breaths even despite my hammering heart. What about me? Then I’ll do the only thing I can do—the only thing I’ve been doing for weeks. React.
Not like I had a better plan, or any plan at all.
And if I did have a plan, it would just turn to shit anyway.