I was standing in front of her before I realized I’d moved.
“I hoped you’d get more sleep.”I told her.“I had planned on filling you in…”
Her scowl deepened.“I don’t need more sleep, Samael. I need a seat at the table. I kept this shit running while you were taking your little nap, and don’t you forget it.”
She stalked past me, striding toward the table with a nod at the demons gathered and waiting.
I caught Ag’s mouth twitch and barely suppressed my own smile. I’d never imagined that I would have a queen who would rule beside me, who would be more than just a sounding board to my problems and strategies.
Elation speared through me, until I thought my heart would burst with it. I barely resisted the urge to haul my little witch into my arms and carry her back to our rooms, where I would demonstrate my appreciation.
She glanced over her shoulder at me, and from the amusement in her eyes, she could feel the emotions roaring through me.
Danica took my seat, and, across the table, Lilith winked at her. I stepped behind my witchling and pressed a kiss to her hair, inhaling the sweet scent.
“I apologize.”
“Forgiven.”
I placed my hand briefly on her shoulder and then surveyed the room, addressing my people.
“It’s difficult for me to truly explain what it was like, knowing I was separated from you all. But even in my darkest moments, I knew I could trust each and every one of you. I knew you would pull together to do what you could for me, but most importantly, you would protect the woman who gave my life meaning.”
I felt Danica’s shoulder hunch beneath my hand, and I squeezed her lightly. “I’m in awe of the way this family guarded our territory and worked together to bring me back from the brink of death. Thank you all. Now, I would like to know what has happened in my absence.”
Some of it I knew, but the more my people talked, the more they seemed to relax, until the previous formality left the room.
“We’re now allied with the wolves,” Vas said, and a quick glance told me that not everyone was happy with that decision.
Danica tensed beneath my hand, and I noted the faces of those who didn’t agree with the choice.
“Having the wolves willing to fight with us is a good thing,” I said.
Bael nodded. “I’ve never known a wolf to back down from a fight,” he said, and several demons grinned, a few of them reluctantly.
“Not to mention the griffin,” Sitri mused, taking a sip of coffee. “Aren’t they meant to be good luck?”
Danica murmured something that sounded like ‘pain in my ass,’ and I suppressed a smile.
Bel waited until the table went silent once more, and then he reached beneath his seat and placed a grimoire on the table.
“Found it,” he said. “We now have eight of them.”
Danica had told me, of course, but I rounded the table and slapped him on the shoulder. “Good work. While we will plan our attack based on the assumption that we won’t have time to find the last of the black books–”
“Ahem.”
A delicate female cough sounded. I glanced at Lilith, but she was smirking at Danica, the look on her face telling me she found her exceptionally entertaining today. My little witch colored slightly as all eyes landed on her, and then she reached into her canvas bag and laid another book on the table.
“Turns out we have all nine of them,” she said.
The room exploded into sound. Bael jolted to his feet, his mouth dropped open, and he rounded the table, pulling Danica out of her seat. He dropped a kiss onto her forehead, and I tamped down the possessive instinct that told me to hurt him, choosing to focus on the joy that swept through the room.
“It was right under your noses,” Danica said, sending me a smug look. “Harriette had it the whole time.”
The seelie woman who’d placed the suppression spell. I wished I could bring her back to life just so I could kill her once more. From the agreement on my witchling’s face, she felt the same way.
“Just wait until you hear the rest of it,”she told me.“But for now, I need to go meet Kyla,”she said.
