“An army of Mavens to confuse the Entity’s visions of the battle. What a clever goddess we have.”
“She’s flawlessly vicious,” I agree.
“As long as you don’t fuck up making the heart and getting it into Amadeus’s chest, I think this might actually work,” Baelfire grins.
Everett studies Maven’s face as she gazes out at nothing, recalling something from Paradise. “Her plan is great, except it separates some of us from her during the beginning of the battle.”
“Amadeus would expect her to remain close to her quintet members,” I point out. “She’s right to pair us up with changelings until enough chaos has been sewn to further throw off his tactics.”
“And only one of us is actually with her, because only one of us can fuck around in Limbo undetected,” Baelfire grumbles, glaring at Crypt. “Lucky fucking bastard.”
The incubus surprises us all by slumping to the bed and grimacing in pain as his markings light up more. “How lucky can a dying man be?”
We’re all quiet at that.
Finally, Maven blinks and looks around, disoriented to find herself in Everett’s arms.
“Anything about that blood oath you made?” Everett asks, voice tight with tension.
“No. That was just a memory of the time I showed up naked to ruin one of Arati’s fancy formal dinners so she would be pissed off enough to kick me out of Paradise,” she sighs, as frustrated as the rest of us about her unknown oath.
“You what?” Baelfire coughs.
“It’s fine. She got over it eventually,” our keeper mutters, getting out of Everett’s arms to make her way toward the bathroom. She smirks at us over one bare shoulder. “Get dressed. I don’t want Eisha drooling over what’s mine any more than she has in the past.”
Everett scowls at our keeper’s use of the demon’s name before the bathroom door closes behind her. The rest of us get ready quickly. Fifteen minutes later, our quintet makes its way through Everbound Castle toward the eastern exit. No matter how useful they are, there’s no way in hell we’re about to give the demons access inside the protective wards.
I almost walk right through the blue-haired ghost when she pops up from the ground. Stepping around the dead tribute, I notice even more ghosts have accumulated to haunt this castle as they await whatever my blood blossom has in mind for them.
Remember,Maven reminds us through the bond as we approach the arched doorway.We want to try diplomacy with the changelings before resorting to anything extreme. They’re unfeeling creatures that will swap loyalties in an instant if weoffer something they really want. Mortal money, safety, shit like that.
We nod, and Baelfire pushes open the big eastern door, leaving us all blinking at…a pile of dead changelings.
“There she is!” Eisha booms, gesturing happily at the pile of dead creatures as the demons around her applaud. “We come bearing gifts!”
“So much for diplomacy,” Everett scoffs quietly, stepping slightly in front of Maven as if to keep her out of these infernal beings’ sight.
As always, being in the presence of demons is unpleasant. There are almost a dozen here with Eisha and that simpering demon boyfriend of hers—the one Crypt is glowering at like he still wants to rip the demon’s horns off. The other demons have apparently foregone the effort to blend in with humans since the Upheaval, and now their horns, tails, pointed teeth, and inky black eyes are on full display as they stare at Maven with fascination.
The one good thing about their presence is that it has driven back all of the other campers on this side of Everbound Castle. Only a few of them linger nearby, watching this interaction.
One of the male demons standing near Eisha lifts his chin. His nostrils flare before his eyes widen. “Oh,fuck me.Who knew a bloody demigoddess would smell so damned delicious? Wanna lick her all over and take a bite right outta that pretty, holy hide,” he groans.
Maven’s composure remains intact, but anger and disgust send magic surging to my blackened fingertips.
Before I can punish the demon for speaking that way about my keeper, Everett lifts his hand and impales the demon on a massive spike of ice jutting from the ground. The other demons shriek and leap away, looking far less worried about their writhing, dying comrade than they are about their own safety.
“Mind your forked tongues when speaking to or about my keeper, or you’ll get worse,” he warns, glaring at the infernal gathering.
Eisha’s boyfriend—Melchom, I believe—takes a good look at the elemental and bursts into laughter. “Well, peg me with a pitchfork and call me a kebab! Looks like all those rumors about the scarred pretty boy are true. I heard you froze a bunch of deserters from the waist down on the front lines so your troops could hear what cowards sound like when they’re getting devoured by shadow fiends. I bet the screaming was fucking fantastic—almost makes me wish I was there to see those cowardly fuckers humiliated before their upper halves were gobbled up.
Maven glances curiously at Everett, as do I and the rest of my quintet, because that punishment is surprisingly impressive. He continues to glower at the demons but responds to our stares through the bond.
They weren’t just deserters. They were legacies who sat back and watched dozens of humans in their troop get slaughtered in a surge at the front lines. When I asked how they all survived when the humans didn’t, they made jokes about how weak humans are in comparison to ‘our kind.’ I had enough shit to handle without adding politically prejudiced assholes to the mix, so I made an example out of them.
Good,Maven nods.
Eisha scoffs and looks at Melchom, unaware of my quintet’s telepathic communication. “I kinda wish you were there, too—you could’ve joined the wimps and only the half of you I like would be preserved in ice.”
