Kat pushes back from the table, nodding at the Keeper as she picks up her bag. Dottie scrambles over to ride on her shoulder, and before she goes, she murmurs to the big demon, “Thank you. I appreciate… everything. It helped a lot.”
“Anytime, lass,” he says as he leans back in his chair and watches us. “Those boys better keep you pristine or I’ll be quite vexed.”
His companion makes a loud sound of agreement, shooting ice across the room in warning.
“Okay, okay,” I say as I wave my hand. “We get it. Don’t let anything happen to her. That’s why I’m here anyway, you old coots.”
Zav and Kat walk out first, leaving me to follow as the Kitsuné opens the shiny portal for us to duck through. I know Jasper’s biggest reservation wasn’t actually about keeping KK safe; he wants Zav’s most guarded power not to be witnessed by accident. The guy almost never uses it, and that’s always been a strategic asset for our caliphate. We all have things like that, but since Zavida is the smallest in stature out of our entire group—until Kat—the prince is much less willing to reveal his gifts.
“Who did you see, Oriel?”
I blink in surprise as we exit in front of Canto IV, and Kat speaks to me. “Um… well, I’m pretty sure it was your friend with the pink hair. You know, the one mated to the demon twins and the other guys?”
“Rogue?” she says, her brow furrowing. “I wonder why she didn’t let us know she was coming. And why are you acting like they’re enemies?”
“KK, we haven’t fully vetted them yet. Yes, we agreed we think they’re on our side, but…” Zav shrugs as he opens the doors to the dorm. “We can’t risk being mistaken and losing you. I don’t think any of us would survive that, even with the current… issues.”
Kat sniffs, walking into the building ahead of me as she mutters, “Don’t be so sure about that.”
If sheand Jasper don’t get their shit together soon, it will ruin my favorite holiday of the year, and that’s going to piss me off.
Four
DAMON
“Where are we going now?” Rogue asks as Ang and I lead them out of the stadium. If her gender didn’t make her stick out here, her colorful attire would, so we definitely need to get out of the open space if we want to continue flying under the radar.
Angelo jerks his chin at the library. “The library. I want to slip into the older stacks and see if we can find some more taboo texts about the other realms. Damon practicallylivedin that place when we were here, so I bet he has good ideas on where we should search.”
I grin, nodding at him. “I do. The main floor and the first three floors are pretty common stuff, but there are older texts on the two highest levels, plus if we can break the spells on the basement stairs, the underground levels were always ‘staff-only’. As much as I cozied up to the librarians, I could never get access to them.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you ask me to help?” Angelo grumbles. “I might have been able to figure it out.”
“Nope,” I say confidently as I fall into step with Archie and his baby bundle. “You couldn’t have, bro. Those levels have spells, hexes, and curses withblendedmagic on them. It would take multiple types of supes to get in. Trust me, I scoped it out.”
Rogue frowns at me as we take the steps to the entrance. “What makes you think we can do it now?”
“Because you’re half and half, Sparkles. You’ve got some of what we need and training in other types. I’m hoping that adding you in will give us the keys to the kingdom.”
“Only if it will not fry her,” Archie says firmly. “Otherwise, we find another way, D. We can’t risk hurting her when we’re already down two men.”
“Duh.” I give him a reproving look. “I wouldn’t risk Rogue for anything, dude. You know that.”
He grunts in response, his hand raising to pet baby Javi’s head. “I guess this missing Reb and reborn birdman thing is affecting me more than I let on. Sorry, D.”
Angelo rolls his eyes as he yanks the big door open. “Okay, if we’re done being sappy, we should get ready to be alotmore stealthy. Arch, keep the little monster quiet while we do this.”
“He’s got a mind of his own, Ang. I’ll do what I can.”
Our girl smiles before she moves closer to Archie, leaning down to whisper to the ugly-ass bird. It squirms a bit, but once she’s done, she straightens and winks at us. “I think he understood. Hopefully, that helped.”
If we’re lucky, she’s as good a bird whisperer as she thinks she is. If not? Who knows what might happen.
We quietly madeour way to the stairs and moved upward first. I thought it would be a better plan to gather whatever info we could find from the non-restricted areas before we attempted to break into something, and the others agreed. So we’ve been sitting at the tables for an hour on a floor that’s clearly being renovated, sifting through books and taking notes.
This is my idea of a good time, but as I look up, I realize that it definitely isnotfor the other members of my family. Archie has the bird sling on the table so Javier can curl up in it while he’s working, but right now, he’s leaning back in his chair precariously. The huge, leonine stretch he’s doing is revealing delicious-looking abs and hip dips, which distract me for a moment. I must be gaping because I hear a soft giggle from Rogue, who I turn to look at with red cheeks.
“While I think the library would be a sticky dream for you, little D,thisone probably isn’t a good plan. At least, it’s not if we want to continue being shadowy.” Her smirk is knowing, and I dip my chin as I pretend to look at my old, dusty tome about the realm mythology.
