“I bribed the warrior they originally assigned to the night watch and took his place.” Her giggle was infectious, and Lunara couldn’t help but smile. “They were too distracted to notice that it was me sitting there instead of Dendir. We donotlook alike, so I’m not sure whether I should be offended. Anyway, it was almost too easy to convince him. He’d be in so much trouble if anyone ever found out, but it won’t be me who tattles because it got me close to Bal. Been here every night since.”
Another turn, and they left the glass hall behind. If she’d thought that one was grand, it was nothing in comparison to what Lunara assumed was the main part of the castle.
The beams had been intricately carved into snakelike creatures with fins and fangs, their gigantic mouths holdingstone fish that glowed like lanterns. Tiles shone in the floor as well, the mosaic of green and blue and ivory seeming to flow beneath her feet. It reminded her of the lakes and rivers back home, the way they reflected the endless pinpricks of light in the night sky above.
At the end, two Demon warriors stood either side of a set of doors. She tried to ignore the flush of disappointment that neither of them was the male from before. The one who’d moved so deftly to save her from herself. Whose face was the stuff of fantasy.
More fool her for even entertaining a notion so ridiculous as flirtation when she was supposed to be getting herself home as quickly as possible.
Then again, it had been a dreadfully long time since she’d felt another move against her in any way, other than while healing. A tryst in the dark with a handsome Demon she could leave behind was far less of a risk than finding intimacy with one of her own people, regardless of how fleeting she insist it be.
Oh yes, she could very easily stare into those nameless hazel eyes as he?—
The warriors threw the panels wide, snapping Lunara from her reverie and revealing a huge, open room beyond.
Shite, maybe thisisa dream.
All Lunara could do was blink as her mind emptied of all thought.
If someone had told her she’d be standing in the Demon King’s great hall one day, she’d have laughed in their face. Not that she talked to anyone, but still—waltzing casually across the flagstones, their steps echoing in the cavernous space, Lunara was struck with the reality of her circumstances.
She’dactuallyleft the Evesong behind and entered another realm.
Shitting Stars.
Apparently, she’d said at least some of that out loud because Nyri squealed, “You’ve never left Nachthelliae before?”
Lunara wanted to crawl into a hole at the shock in her tone. “Um…” She cleared her throat. “No, I hadn’t.”
Nyri’s grin was just shy of wicked. “Oh, everyone is going to be so jealous I got to show you around first.”
She detached herself from Lunara and spun to face her. “Behold, the center of all Demondom!” Nyri announced, sweeping her arm in a wide arc. “Where many an ale is drink, drank, drunk, secrets are whispered but gathered by yours truly anyway, and all of the Montrealm’s grievances are heard and solved, petty as they sometimes are.”
She skipped over and drew Lunara along the windows—much like the ones in the corridor, but bigger.“If you look outside, you’ll see that here we have a tree, and another tree. And oh, look, more trees! That’s the portal you came through,” she said as they passed it, power thrumming from within its rippling surface, “and there you’ll find Bal’s bloodstains still on the floor.” She leaned in. “We thought he’d get a kick out of seeing them before they were really washed away. Give him something to brag about, because it was a lot.”
She made a sharp turn and faced Lunara towards the opposite side of the room, her voice a theatrical hush. “And there on its dais, raised aloft for all to see and honor—the legendary Dominion of Demons, hewn from the primordial red balstrae by our ancient ancestors and enchanted by an unknown person of no small power.”
Lunara’s eyes skimmed down the far wall with a golden sunstar depicted across its vast surface, until they landed on the two thrones perched in front. The smaller one to the side was made of stone, with curving armrests and clawed feet. Beautiful and simple, a seat that any monarch would be proud of.
Unfortunately, Lunara knew down to her bones that it was the one front and center that Nyri was speaking of—a carved, wooden monstrosity that was, quite frankly, terrifying. Its back rose into two sharpened points like mountain peaks, vines and branches depicted across every visible surface, and exuding such terrible, foreboding power that it sent a shiver down Lunara’s spine.
Nyri laughed. “If I liked you less, I’d dare you to sit in it. But I do like you, so definitely don’t do that. You willnotlive through it.”
Lunara was in a daze by the time Nyri led her to a solitary table in the center of the room, surrounded by carved chairs blessedly absent of any sort of magic as far as she could tell. The Demon pulled one out and forced Lunara to sit, backing away with her hands out.
“You stay put,” she said. “I have to go gather everyone up from wherever they’re hiding. It’s not sleep-late, but itisquite a while after dinner. They’ve sat here every evening waiting to see if you’d come out and be hungry. It’s all about the feasting with us Demons. Though, if His Highness Magnus is to be believed, we don’t do it as well as the Wolflords do. I told him to prove it. He laughed. I still haven’t been to Thodelebor.
“Speaking of which, you must be starving. The others said you didn’t touch anything they brought in. Lyriat insisted his array would be the one you finally accepted, even though Hedda tried to tell him that raw meat wasnotthe same thing as a blood gift. Thank the Sisters for Thaddeus opening up his arm. Seems it finally brought you back to us. Is that what it was? The smell of blood? I’ve never really met a Nachthellian before, so I have no idea how it works. You do eat food, right?”
Lunara tried to sort through the barrage of information and questions, she really did, but there was no holding in the hysterical bark of laughter.
Nyriadne was a force of energy and spirit. It hadn’t been ten minutes since she’d been crying over her brother’s sleeping form. Yet, here she was, babbling on and on, and?—
Wait.
“Did you just say the king brought me food?” Lunara asked—a wheezing squeak that did nothing to flatter her.
Nyri’s eyes widened. “Oh, I knew it. You don’t eat. I tried to remind him that none of the other Sorcerit that come ever stay for dinner, but he just?—”
