Chapter Seven
Ty
Leaving Ena alone as she prepared to bathe in his bath was definitely one of the hardest things he’d done in a while, and that included fighting off a dozen bandits and getting stabbed in the gut a few weeks ago.
Trying to shake her from his mind, he moved quickly through the passageways of the Underworld, heading for the stables on the mid-level where Myka maintained their horses.
But it was almost impossible to do, so he gave in and let himself imagine that he was watching Ena undress, and appreciating the way the water would hit right at the level of her breasts when she sank into the water, hiding them just a little bit, but if the water were clear enough he could still see her nipples through it.
Iblis, the thought made his mouth salivate as he walked. Maybe he should go back and…
No, fuck. He really shouldn’t go back. There’d be time for all that later—hopefully. He really needed to go talk to Cole—the sooner the better.
Pushing out the dirty thoughts, he entered the stables to find Myka brushing down a large chestnut horse with a black mane.
The chamber was spacious, containing a decent-sized training pen and a row of individual stalls for the other five horses they kept here.
A specialized aqueduct ran along the perimeter to carry away the horse waste that Myka swept into it, and another ran through their stalls to provide them with fresh water.
Ty knew that if he peeked inside the stalls, he would see that each one was also filled with straw that had seen significantly better days.
Ty didn’t blame Myka for that, though. He knew the daemon loved the horses he cared for like they were his own children, but getting a regular supply of straw and horse feed had always been difficult in the Underworld.
“Myka,” Ty greeted, giving the quiet, middle-aged man a broad smile as he approached.
“Ty!” Myka responded gleefully, turning to look at him. “I’d heard you were back.”
“News travels fast,” Ty said as he reached out to shake the man’s dirty hand.
“It always does around here,” Myka said, his gray-blue eyes shining as he smiled. “It’s good to have you back. Did you have a successful mission?”
“Yes,” Ty said, slipping into the lie as easy as breathing. “Iblis will be pleased.”
He felt a twinge of shame for lying to Myka about everything he had planned with the amulet.
He was one of the daemons who Ty knew, in all likelihood, would be supportive.
The man struggled to care for the horses underground year-round, and being welcomed back into the villages above would appeal to him greatly.
But he couldn’t risk word spreading to Cole, so for now, his plans had to remain secret.
“Ahh, I don’t know why I even asked!” Myka said jovially, waving Ty off. “You always do well. Your father would be so proud.”
The mention of his dad left a sinking feeling in Ty’s stomach. It wasn’t every day that someone mentioned him, and the feeling almost took him by surprise.
“Thank you,” he said quickly, trying to brush it off. “How goes everything with the horses?”
“Well enough,” Myka said, though his smile fell a bit. “I do wish we had more hay. You know how tough it gets for the horses to forage aboveground this time of year.”
“I hear that,” Ty said. “I’ll talk to Cole about sending a group out on a mission soon to bring some back, and see what we can do.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Myka replied gratefully.
The man was well-suited to caring for horses, due to his Power of lenio, which allowed him to soothe both people and animals, but it was not highly valued by Cole for missions in service of Iblis, hence Myka’s status as a mid-level daemon.
He knew that left Myka in a tough position when it came to advocating for himself and the horses under his care, so Ty often tried to step in when he could.
“Unfortunately, I’ve got three new arrivals for you,” Ty explained, feeling a bit bad for dumping the new horses on him so suddenly. “They’re waiting at the entrance. I hope it won’t be too much trouble.”
“No trouble, no trouble,” Myka said, putting down the horse brush and closing the stall he was in. “I’ll go fetch them right away. Spooked, were they?”
“Yes, exactly,” Ty said. “Two of them we acquired while out on the mission.”
“Ah, I see, poor dears. Won’t be a problem,” Myka said, walking back towards the main passageway with Ty. “Glad to have you home!” he added as he turned right to head towards the main stairwell that led up to the entrance.
Ty smiled at him warmly before heading the opposite direction, preparing himself to speak with his uncle. It was always a process to do so, but it was necessary to arrive calm and focused so the man couldn’t take advantage of any unchecked emotions.
Ty cleared his mind as much as possible of all thoughts of Ena.
It wasn’t exactly easy, because pretty much every thirty fucking seconds he was imagining what she was doing by herself in the bath, but he knew it was critical if he was going to convince Cole with his story—especially if his uncle Zak was there too.
He’d have to stick as closely to the truth as humanly possible and let nothing show.
Making his way upward, he once again entered the Great Antre.
Ty’s footsteps echoed around the vast cavern as he approached where Cole sat on his throne at the head of his table. The king was alone now, praise Iblis, and reading the divination rune stones scattered in front of him across the tabletop. He didn’t look up at Ty’s approach.
“Uncle,” Ty announced, stopping at the far end of the table. “I wonder if now is a good time to debrief you on the mission.”
Cole looked up reluctantly, his eyes assessing.
Ty hated that he insisted on having meetings in the Great Antre and not in his private chambers, the way his dad used to.
But Cole loved the spectacle of it all. The Great Antre was the most central chamber in all the Underworld, connecting all the other levels and passageways in some way.
Cole’s presence in the center of it all sent a message and kept everyone on their toes.
“Nephew,” he began, a predatory smile on his face. “I’m glad you could finally spare the time to speak with me. I’m sure you have many things demanding your attention now that you’ve returned. Not to mention all the new…distractions.”
“I came as soon as I was able,” Ty said, squashing his anger at the outright ridiculous insinuation that he’d taken too long to return. It had barely been an hour since they’d last spoke. But this was what Cole did, especially to him, knowing he was prone to rage.
Like Steig said, Cole didn’t just spread disease with his hands, he loved to throw people’s mental state off with his words too—finding those subtle weak spots in someone’s mind that he could make fester.
Cole gave him a knowing smile. “So tell me…how were you able to serve Iblis on this mission?”
Ty lowered his head in deference before beginning his practiced response. “Steig was successful in using his Power in several different villages along the Western Road, according to Iblis’s will, and I was able to use my furor in a small village in the area as well.”
“All that took so long?” Cole asked pointedly, his eyebrows raising.
“We ran into some bandits on the way and lost a horse. And, of course, we ran into some issues with the witch.”
“Ahh, yes,” Cole began, looking far too eager to discuss the topic. “I’m dying to hear how you came to acquire our new witch-slave. It’s a very exciting development… We haven’t had one in decades, not since your mother, if I recall.”
“My mother was never a witch-slave,” Ty responded shortly, feeling tension creep in. He needed to keep calm, though—he couldn’t take the bait.
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that,” Cole said deliberately, his eyes lighting with devious glee.
Ty willed his body to relax before clearing his throat to explain.
“On our way west, we stopped at the Auster Coven during their Samhain celebration. The plan was for Steig to use his cupido on the mortals visiting there, but we were discovered when the witch caught Turner using his Power. We worried that killing her outright, so close to the rest of her Coven, would garner too much suspicion, so we took her instead, and Turner burned down her house as a cover.”
Ty paused, waiting to see if he bought this bastardized version of the truth. But Cole simply steepled his fingers in front of him, resting his elbows on the table, so Ty continued.
“The farther we got from the Coven, the more it became apparent that the witch was willing to cooperate with us in exchange for her life, so instead of killing her, we decided to bring her with us to add to our cover while we completed the mission, and ultimately, brought her back here.”
“So you spared her life?” Cole asked, as if this wasn’t obvious.
“Spared isn’t the word I would use,” Ty said, letting an edge enter his voice. “We simply… found a better use for her.”
“Hmm,” Cole said, contemplating. “And how exactly will she be used?”
Here came the tricky part. He needed an excuse for the research Ena would be doing about the amulet and breaking the bond to Iblis. Something that made the books she’d need seem less suspicious, but still, he hated to reveal what he had to.
“She’s extremely knowledgeable about the Covens and witch magic.
She can provide information on how best to destabilize them.
And,” Ty continued hesitantly, as if this were truly a secret he’d been keeping.
“I have a theory. I think there may be some way to Imbue her Gift into an object using daemonic runes. Some way to combine witch and daemon magic, so the object will work on witches. And then use it to impact the Covens.”
Cole’s eyes lit up. Ty knew the vengeful fuck would love this idea.
“And what exactly is her Gift?” Cole asked, intrigued.
Ty paused. This was the part he’d been waiting for. There was no way Cole wouldn’t go for it after this.
“Visanis,” he said, raising one eyebrow in invitation.
Cole threw his head back and laughed with dark glee. “Visanis, you say?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear. “My, my, this is an interesting development. Visanis is a rare Power, even among daemons… What do you think of this, Zak?”
Fuck.
Ty whirled behind him to see his uncle Zak emerging from a nearby alcove. The bastard must’ve been waiting there the whole time, listening to their conversation. He hoped he’d been careful enough with his words to avoid any outright lying.
“Sounds like an interesting theory, Ty,” Zak said as he approached them.
He was a bit smaller than Cole, and a couple years younger, but he was just as shrewd.
He may not have had the outright power that Cole had in the Underworld, but he was undoubtedly Cole’s right-hand man, always there to jump when his big brother told him to.
Although he hadn’t always been that way.
In fact, Ty remembered a time when he and his uncle Zak had been fairly close—before his dad died.
Zak’s deep-brown eyes studied Ty as he moved to stand next to Cole’s throne.
“I will commune with Iblis and see what the rune stones can tell us of his will in this regard,” Cole said. “In the meantime, follow this theory of yours. I’ll expect an update in time for your onata celebration.”
Ty nodded. The onata celebration… That reminded him.
“Thank you, Uncle,” he said, bowing his head slightly in deference. “I wonder, will you be sending a group out on a mission to trade for supplies for the celebration?”
“Yes,” he said. “To trade and fulfill other services to Iblis, of course. Why?”
Ty was no stranger to the kind of “trade” that was encouraged on missions—where supplies were acquired as much through theft as the actual exchange of goods.
Cole was always going on about how Iblis wanted them to take what they were owed from witches and mortals by using their Powers.
They were encouraged to do this, even though the forge usually produced more than enough metal goods to trade in good faith for whatever daemons needed.
But meeting the needs of the Underworld was never Cole’s priority—it was serving Iblis and fulfilling his many vendettas, so Ty had learned to frame any request with this in mind.
“I’ve heard from Myka that the horses could use more hay to make it through the winter. And I know how vital the horses are to being able to complete missions for Iblis, so I wondered if you’d want them to get some on their way,” Ty finished pointedly.
Ty hated his uncle for many things, and his hyperfocus on serving Iblis was definitely one of them, because it wasn’t a goal Ty shared. But still, sometimes he wasn’t sure if that intense focus made him a horrible King of the Underworld, or a great one.
“Fine, yes. I’ll make sure they bring a large enough cart with them,” Cole said dismissively.
Taking that tone as his cue to leave, Ty nodded in appreciation and turned to walk out.
“Oh, but Ty,” Cole said, stopping him as he left with a warning tone. “I’m worried this is becoming somewhat of a pattern, and I would caution you to not let it become a habit.”
“Let what become a habit?” Ty asked, knowing he was walking right into whatever trap Cole had laid for him with that comment.
“This…softness for witches,” Cole replied, spitting out the word “witches.” “I know your mother was one, but you’re a daemon, Ty, through and through. Don’t forget that.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Ty said truthfully. “I never will.”