“You’re in a mood every night. Make that every day and night. This mood is not the bad one.”
Carmine tilted his head. “Explain.”
I looked at him. “This version of you isn’t the bad one. This mood is just a normal stressed and worried and uncertain mood. But you can leave your icy alter ego at home any day.”
The demon king watched me without speaking.
I wrinkled my nose. “Thoughhedoesn’t stare so much.”
“Hedoes,” Carmine said gravely, then faced the dancers once more. They were wasting their pelvises on him tonight. He didn’t notice any of it.
The doors burst open as two armored crimsons strode in. Sota and Steth, who walked a few steps behind in recognition of her lower position.
Sota bent closer to Carmine. “Your Majesty, you asked to be alerted…”
Carmine nodded, then picked up my hand and pressed a kiss to the back. “Sleep well, enamai.”
He rose and strode off, followed by his soldiers.
I rubbed his kiss off my hand, pursing my lips after. Carmine was leaving for the demon gates. Or at least to command the demon gates. Steth—his mother’s favorite—was also occupied at the gates, and Carmine’s mother wasn’t in the fortress.
I’d spoken to Grandfather of this today, and my heart pounded at the swiftness with which fate had delivered me with an opportunity to see the dungeons.
I didn’t need the twinge in my gut to get me moving. The king had left, which meant leaving was fair game. Other demons were already departing for the night, probably ecstatic at the early end to festivities.
I slammed my goblet down and made for the same door Carmine just left through. Nothing amiss. The door led to our personal quarters.
The issue was making it to the dungeons without the servants seeing me—and obviously, the guards.
Though… the servant doors nearest our personal rooms wouldn’t be in use right now. Not while the servants were clearing up the ballroom.
There was nothing for it. No amount of waiting would make this gamble any better. Sure, the royals may go to sleep eventually, but Carmine would also return and hear me creeping out of bed and through the halls.
An orange scale hurried across the end of the hall toward the ballroom. When the coast was clear, I cracked open the nearest servant door and slipped inside.
I crept down, then pressed my ear to the stone at the bottom. I couldn’t hear anyone, but the instant my hands pressed against stone, a warning flared in my gut.
I stopped pushing.Footsteps.
I tried again, but my instincts flared again.
Nearly ten minutes later, a softer tendril finally worked through me. The go-ahead. I slipped outside and hurried to the nearest door.
My gut panged.
Oops,not that one.
I skirted down the hall, testing doors until one warmed under my touch. I slipped inside and drew the door closed after, clapping a hand over my mouth when voices sounded in the hall that I’d just left. Close call didn’t begin to describe that.
Calm, Syera.
But how could I be calm when I hadn’t even expected to get this far? Now I had to face the reality that I was actually going to the dungeons. If I was caught from here on out, there was no going back.
Could I go back anyway?
I braced myself with an inhale.Nope.
The descending stairs were dark—as demons preferred, including me. They were narrower and steeper than those I’d just traversed. I crept down.
