Chapter Eleven
Treycore stepped across the threshold and entered a wide corridor.
He’d followed Eilee’s directions to Vera’s, making his way through a series of portals that led him to the slums of Renovere, where Vera dwelled.
Ruby-red flames illuminated lanterns mounted along the black-stoned walls.
Treycore’s bare feet swished across the stone floor.
He’d been to this place many times before, when Vera would teleport him for nights of passion. But it had been so long since he’d been this close to her, since he’d longed for her touch. Now, the place he’d once associated with bliss, represented disgust.
As he passed hallways in the corridor, he readied his sword.
He wasn’t sure what trap Vera had devised, not only for him, but perhaps any intruder. When he reached the end of the corridor, he came upon two fallen guards standing on either side of a doorway. He recognized them from his time with Vera, so neither had to request his name or purpose. One left, presumably to inform Vera of his presence.
He wasn’t sure it was wise to be so forward about his entry, but considering the Leader had offered Vera such limited security, he wasn’t concerned about taking them out if he needed to. When the guard returned, he urged Treycore to follow him and took him to the main dining hall.
Orange flames danced in the lanterns mounted around the room. A rectangular table that appeared to have sat nearly fifty, stretched across the room, beside a doorway, which Treycore recalled was an entry into the main hallway of her dwelling. On the far wall, a black staircase spiraled up to the second story.
When he was with her, her lair was filled with vibrant colors, full of life, like the homes of Heaven… so different from its present dark appearance.
The guard returned to his post while Treycore paced the room.
He’d recalled the many dinners he and Vera had shared at that very table—that enormous table—too enormous for the pleasure of only two. He recalled when they would forgo eating for the sake of a violent tussle on the tabletop. So many memories in this place. So many sensations he couldn’t understand why he’d had. Like his feelings for the villainous fallen who he’d come to free his love from.
“What took you so long?” a voice echoed around the room.
Vera rounded the spiral stairwell.
A strapless charcoal gray dress clung to her trim figure and pushed up what little bust she had to make it appear more bulbous, more like Eilee’s. Just beneath her chest, two V-shaped slits in the fabric expanded from the inner curves of her breasts and wrapped around her sides, exposing flesh. Her black hair draped over a silver scarf, both concealing emaciated arms. Though her calculated outfit had caught Treycore’s attention for a moment, his gaze was naturally drawn to her lizard eyes. She gazed at him like he was a fly, and she was stalking him from the bushes, preparing to snatch him—as she had once done.
Since Vera’s gift enabled her to appear before him instantly, he knew her entrance was little more than a production designed to keep him in suspense.
She reached the bottom of the stairwell, the click of her heels echoing across the room. Her pink lips curled as she smirked as one does when they’ve gotten away with some horrible crime. And though she had on many occasions, Treycore figured there were so many now that there was no reason for her to appear so gleeful about it. However, he feared that look may have meant she had enacted some horrible punishment on the one he’d come for.
If she did anything to him, she’s dead.
He hoped the look on his face conveyed the fury he felt toward her and how quickly he planned on destroying her so he could get his Kid back.
Vera approached fearlessly, seemingly not concerned about the sword he held.
“What are you going to do, Trey? Kill me?”
He ground his teeth. He knew his quickest movement could not easily defeat her, but if it was a fight she wanted, then he would do what was necessary to destroy her.
She sauntered past him. “I almost hoped you wouldn’t come. It would have assured me I’d been mistaken in my initial assumption about your feelings for the little thing.”
How dare she call him a thing!
When she reached the table, she rested her hand on the edge and glanced over her shoulder.
“But when am I wrong, Trey?”
“What have you done to him, bitch?”
He wasn’t in the mood for games. He’d had plenty of that during their time together. He just wanted her to surrender Kid and get out of there.
She grinned. “Name-calling? I guess a higherling blessed with limited intelligence such as yours is forced to reduce himself to primitive language. If you’re going to insult me, please do so in the language of old.”
