“Which are?” his father croaked.
I sighed. “The output of my power today will not have been missed by the demons in the area. Not all of them will mind their business, and if they sell the information to Carmine’s informants, then the demon king will send others to investigate. You must move from this place immediately until I can make arrangements at the hiding point.”
“We have nowhere to go,” said the red.
The yellow looked up. “You can have my hut. I won’t need it anymore, and it’s closer to the outer realms. Fewer neighbors.”
My heart sank, but my divination magic was undeniable. “Your mate and son will remain there until Tiers is done, and then I will move Owu to the hideout myself.”
“Owu and my mate,” the red said immediately.
I felt the full weight of what I was about to say. “If she and Owu disappear, then Carmine will order trackers to hunt them down. Simply because I have been involved. You and Owu, to the knowledge of everyone in the realm barring us, will die in a fewdays’ time. Your mate will go on working in her grief, and she will remain in the realm to continue the ruse.”
His gaze fell to his mate. “They will lose me, and then they will lose each other.”
Owu’s eyes filled with tears. “I’ll be alone?”
I gripped his shoulder. He wouldn’t be alone. And neither would my son. Because there was a reason that I was here and healing Owu, and that was because his destiny was tied with Adeuto’s. “You and your mother must part for a time, but you will spend far, far longer together in life. You believed your pain was endless, Owu, but that came to an end, and so will the distance from your mother. This is what keeps you safe, and what keepshersafe. You must do this to live.”
Owu sniffed, and tears rolled down his cheeks, but he nodded.
“I must go,” I said.
Hours had passed. Adeuto would be asleep by now. Though I was about to deliver his best friend in a week, and that was a great gift indeed.
The yellow looked up. “I’ll show them to my place. Can you still portal?”
The red stared at his wife and son, deep in a state of shock, but he managed to stammer, “Th-thank you, Mate-Intended. Thank you for saving my son. What you did was… impossible.”
He had the impossible task of convincing Owu’s mother to follow our plan.
But nothing came for free in this realm, certainly not magic like we’d poured out. “I must speak to Carmine about how to manage your parents. Will they continue to hound your mate after Tiers, even if Owu is believed gone too?”
He pressed his lips together. “Yes.”
I had a particular dislike for people, demon or otherwise, who misused their power. “I’ll handle them. Enjoy what time remains to you, demon. I’ll see you in Tiers.”
Regrettably.
I didn’t want to kill these demons. Ireallydidn’t.
But I would because of whoIprotected.
This realm was a ruthless fucking place.
26
I hobbled into the ballroom like a leprechaun who’d spent too much time on a pony.
Gratia’s brows shot up, lending a greater view of the dark circles beneath her crimson eyes. “What happened to you?”
Steth.Among others. “Training.” Carmine’s army wasn’t messing around anymore. They were out for blood, and though their ass-whopping was never personal, itwasfocused against maguskind.
Unlike my distraction during the last training, I really was depleted in power this morning after healing Owu. I traced a cut inside my lip with my tongue. Pretty sure that had ripped all the way through. Nearly healed.
The ballroom was filled with toys today, and Gratia had invited all the mothers in the fortress with young children.
“Morning,” I said to the nearest crimson.
