Lyr bowed her head in appreciation. “And who else will join them?”
Again, her gaze fell on me, and I wiggled uncomfortably under her stare. It’s not that I didn’t want to volunteer, but it didn’t seem like the best idea given that King Chalir likely still believed my monsters and I were behind his son’s assassination.
“Don’t you even think ’bout it, sweetheart,” Asher warned from behind me, and I flashed him a grin even though I had no intention of putting my hand up. By now, more had volunteered including Ure, the wolf shifter who had spoken earlier, Borren, the alpha of the high house of Thorem, and another demon, Sophie, from a lower house.
By the time, Lyr’s gaze fell on me for a third time, I couldn’t have put my hand up even if I wanted to, because Locke’s arms were like a vice as he kept my ass on his lap, and my hands in front of me. “What are you doing?” I hissed back at him.
“They can do this without us,” he replied calmly. “If we show our faces to King Chalir, who’s to say he won’t attack at the first sight of us.”
It was the same thought I’d had, but I was starting to wonder if we might be wrong. “Orhe’ll be more likely to accept a peace treaty if we show we’re genuinely remorseful for what happened with Prince Azaren?“ I countered.
“I don’t know if you’ve forgotten this, lovely, but it wasn’t us who assassinated the prince,” Darian drawled.
I gave him a flat look. “Of course, not. And by being the ones proposing a peace treaty, he’ll see that we’re not trying to hide. If we were guilty, we’d never willingly walk into his camp.”
“While that’s an interesting thought, lovely,” Darian began.
“It’s a terrible idea,” Kade finished. “We’re not letting you near the fae king.”
I understood what they were getting at, I did, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized we had to do this. Lyr had obviously already come to the same conclusion, and why she didn’t share this with us was beyond me.
I hadn’t really tested my strength while I was in my human form, but all it took was a little effort and my right arm was free from Locke’s hold and shooting into the air. “We’ll go,” I blurted before Locke had even realized what had happened.
My vampire’s icy breath tickled my neck. “You’ve been holding out on us.”
I smiled smugly, enjoying the fact that I’d managed to surprise him.
“That settles it, then!” Lyr called out with a smile, not sparing my mates a glance as she clapped her hands together. “The volunteers will gather their things and leave immediately. May the devils spare you.”
My monsters armed themselves heavily, but I kept it light, only carrying a few knives, and a sword at my side. If we were in any real danger, I would likely shift, and anything I was wearing would only be discarded. But if all went well there’d be no reason to shift anyway. The trek to the fae camp was estimated to take us a couple hours to walk, and I filled up a pack of provisions including rations of food and water. Before I could lift the strap over my head, Asher plucked the bag from my fingers and gave me a wink. “I’d better take that.”
I grinned. “Probably a good idea.”
As he went to grab another ax, I tipped my head to where Borren was fastening his leather armor across his chest. “Are you going to be all right traveling with him?” From what Kade and the others had told me, as alpha of the House of Thorem, Borren was expected to keep the demons of his house in check. When Asher’s mom became unwell, Borren should have intervened, but he didn’t. When the alpha finally acted, he decided the only way to help her was by taking her life. In the time that followed, Asher ran from the house and was ostracized by the monsters. No one actually said Borren was responsible for how the monsters treated Asher, but even if he wasn’t, as alpha, he could have spoken up for Asher. I glared at the alpha and wondered what kind of monster found it so easy to turn their back on a child and his mother.
Asher smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It was a long time ago. Provided he stays out of my way, we’ll get along just fine.”
I almost wanted to protest, but if Asher had managed to forgive the alpha in some way, then I had to respect that. “He’d better stay out of my way too,” I commented, watching as Borren slid a sword into the scabbard at his side. The urge to roast the demon had smoke puffing from my nose, but I turned away, grabbing another knife and adding it to my collection instead.
By the time we were ready, we met up in the cell where an unconscious Warrick was chained to the floor beside King Adrien’s stone tomb. Borren, Kenric, Ure, and Kade carried the tomb, and Asher handed the pack to Darian before unchaining Warrick from the floor and hefting the vampire over his shoulder. We made our way out of one of the underground tunnels from the hideout, scanning the forest as we walked in the direction of the fae army camp. Everything was silent around us, and I shivered, still unnerved by the lack of animals in the forest. Warrick bobbed on Asher’s shoulder, and I only hoped King Chalir would make the vampire pay for what he’d done.
“Lift it higher,” Borren snapped at Ure who walked in front of him, the tomb balanced on his shoulder. The wolf shifter scowled, but he straightened his back so the tomb leveled again.
I was just wondering if I should offer to help when Jade sidled up beside me, her mace resting on her shoulder, the spiked ball swaying and the chain rattling. Her ginger hair was braided close to her head, and the thick muscles on her arms were almost as large as Kade’s. I could feel the eyes of my monsters on me.
“So a dragon shifter, huh?” Jade commented. “Must have been crazy for you when you first turned. I’m Jade, by the way.”
I stared, shocked by how casually she was speaking to me. “Uh, yeah it was,” I finally replied. “But everything’s been strange since I arrived here.”
She nodded like she understood what I meant.
“I’m Raine,” I said, not wanting to presume she knew who I was, even though I was sure the monsters had been gossiping about me.
Her lips curled. “Oh, I know who you are. Everyone does.”
“Right.” I shifted uncomfortably and went back to staring at the passing trees. Another beat of silence passed, and I’d thought that might be the end of our conversation, but then Jade started speaking again. “Still remember the day I turned. It was my sixth birthday and I’d been in the middle of changing clothes because ma had ordered me a new dress from the tailors. I was supposed to be getting ready for my big party, but I hated frills, so I’d been dragging my feet. I’d finally put it on, and that’s when the pain had started.”
She shrugged before continuing, “Of course, back then I didn’t understand it was because of the curse the queen had placed on us. I’d been convinced it was the dress somehow hurting me. When I finally managed to stand again, I’d turned to the mirror, and screamed my little heart out. I’d thought I was staring at a monster.” She chuckled and added, “Well, turned out I was right. I just didn’t realize at first that the monster was me.”
