Chapter 37
TAUREN
She’s gone. Why is she fucking gone? I tear the sheets off my bed, tossing the pillows across the room.
I’ve checked the bathroom, the dining area, even outside my tower in case she decided to go for a walk.
The guards say they saw nothing. No one’s been in or out of my chambers since I carried my wife up to bed ten minutes ago.
I drag a hand through my hair, sucking in a deep breath. It’s then that I pause. All the colour drains from my face.
It smells of soul in here. Human soul.
“Dahlia!” Power explodes from my hands, turning my bed into splinters. Storming out of my bedchamber, I grab the nearest guard by his collar. “Search the entire castle. I want every fucking demon checked for the scent of soul, and bring Kennix here,” I spit. “Go!”
The demon scurries off while I throw the door to my chambers back open and march inside.
Eyes watering, I tear through the rooms. “Please come out, sweetheart,” I panic. “If you’re hiding, I won’t punish you. I just want to know that you’re safe.”
The soul scent is faint, so it’s unlikely whoever broke in here ate my wife’s soul. It’s more likely they ate someone else’s and then came for her.
I reach my bedchamber, throwing open the doors to the wardrobe.
Souls are filling. They won’t eat hers so soon after eating someone else’s. I have time to find her.
I flip over my desk. I have time. “Where are you, little monster?”
A knock echoes through my chambers. “Enter!” I bark at the sound.
Bootsteps thunk against my floor until a black-haired demon enters my bedroom. “You called, sire?” Kennix stops, sniffs. “Why does it smell of soul in—”
“Dahlia’s been taken.” I rush over to him.
“Taken?” His eyes widen.
I pause, anger burning up my throat. The last time I spoke to Kennix he was upset about Maeve and furious I was so focused on Dahlia. If anyone was going to hurt my wife, it’d be him.
“Where the fuck is she?” I slam him against the wall, gripping him by his shirt. “If you’ve hurt her I swear on my life, Kennix, I will fucking kill you.”
He paws at my fists helplessly. “Tauren, please! I haven’t done anything.”
“Don’t lie!” I roar. “Tell me where she is!”
“Talk to Thobas. I’ve been with him all night, I swear,” he sputters. “If anyone’s stolen her, it’ll be Elheart. You took his daughter and his bride!”
I drop his shirt, and he falls to his knees.
“Elheart,” I growl. How could I forget? He’d warned me in his first letter after I captured Dahlia. But he wouldn’t have the nerve to come here himself. He’d have paid someone to do it.
A demon, perhaps. With his soul.
Shit.
“I’m going to his palace.” I flex my arms, but Kennix grabs me before I can leave.
“You can’t, sire. Please. We have to make a plan first.”
“I’m not going to just sit through a fucking meeting while Elheart has my wife.” I shove him off me.
“We can’t just barge into his palace. The salt wall—”
“Will be fucking rubble by sunrise.” I should’ve taken it down years ago. Salt may stop demons, but it can’t stop cannons. “Tell the guards to prepare the artillery. I’ll destroy the whole palace if I have to.”
“Tauren, wait.” He grabs me again, hard enough to make me stop. “At least get changed first. Ready your daggers. Give me half an hour to prepare the soldiers, and we’ll leave together.”
My brow lowers. “You’ll come with me?”
“Of course I will.” He fixes his shirt. “You’re not the only demon who hates Elheart, remember? If you’re going to bring down that fucker’s palace, I want to be there to watch it burn.”
Heart pounding, I nod. “Prepare the soldiers. I’ll meet you in the stables as soon as I’m ready.” But then an awful thought hits me. “Check on her sisters, first. And Tamryn. If Dahlia is gone, he’s likely taken the others too.”
“I’ll check now, then ready the soldiers.” Jaw tense, he moves towards the door, but before he leaves he turns to me. “We’ll get her back, Tauren. Your wife.” He grips the doorframe.
“Maeve too,” I tell him softly. “If she’s there, we’ll bring her home.”
Something in Kennix’s gaze cracks, but he pulls himself together enough to nod and hurry out of my bedchamber.
The second he’s gone, I whip off the clothes I was wearing at the party and throw on a fighting tunic and breeches. I fumble with my belts, strapping as many daggers as I can find into their sheaths.
I’m just grabbing my cloak when a noise makes me pause.
Like a coin rolling along the floor.
I turn, searching for the source of the sound. Something on the floor glints in the candlelight, and I pad over to it, confused.
Lowering myself to a squat, I pick it up. It’s a thin silver ring set with a tiny purple stone. Amethyst, maybe?
I don’t hear who threw it until she’s right behind me.
Cold metal presses into my neck, and a hand grips my hair, tilting my head back.
“Drop the ring,” she hisses in a shaky voice.
I almost laugh. Whoever she is, I can smell she’s a human. Judging by her tone, a terrified one. It would be so easy to compel her to drop her weapon, but I’m curious to see where this goes.
I let the ring clatter to the ground.
“Now tell me,” she breathes, steadying her voice. Long red hair flashes in the corner of my vision. “Where the fuck is my little sister?”