Tystoodinhisbathing chamber, looking at his face in the mirror.
He turned his head to the side, assessing theonatathat traced down the sides of his head onto his neck. He’d spent the last hour re-shaving the sides of his head and trimming his beard so his tattoos would be on complete display for the ceremony, as was tradition.
He was bare-chested still and took this time to examine his shoulders and arms, too, deciding where his newonatamight fit. He’d only had his Power for a little over a year—though he’d been accompanying other daemons on missions since he was nineteen, a privilege granted to him because of his upper-level parentage—but he already had more tattoos than many other upper-level daemons. Most people saw this as a sign of Cole’s favoritism, since he was frequently chosen for important missions, but Ty knew it for what it was—a way of controlling him.
Truth be told, he had conflicting feelings about his tattoos, as he did about so many things having to do with being a daemon. He loved the culture they represented, his people, and their lifestyle, but too often when he looked at them, he felt…shame.
Not every mission had been as disastrous as the one in Ternan—the one that had led to Petyr’s death, and was still hard to think about, even this many months later. But even when they didn’t result in death, hehadcaused chaos in hundreds of more subtle ways—ways that were not always his choice. And sometimes he wondered…
What would he choose when he finallywasgiven a choice? When they broke the bond and he was free to interpret Gaia’s will?
He didn’t know, but he knew that at least it would behischoice, and not just Iblis’s, or Cole’s.
Deeming his appearance acceptable, he grabbed his black dress tunic off the vanity and pulled it over his head. It was sleeveless and trimmed in gold, with a deep V at the neckline to show off as many of hisonataas possible. Looping his gold-adorned black leather belt around his waist, he exited the bathing chamber to check on Ena, who was busy getting ready in the bedroom.
He’d asked Trysh to make Ena a dress for the occasion, something that would help her fit in but also stand out—she wasn’t a wallflower, and Ty wanted her to command respect among the other daemons as much as he did, for her own safety.
But when he walked into the bedroom, he realized his expectations did not meet the incredible reality of what he saw.
Ena’s hair was mostly down—the dark-brown, wavy locks falling to the middle of her back, with just the sides pulled up into a twist with two golden hair pins laced into it, holding it in place. With her back to him, Ty’s eyes roamed down her dress. It, too, was black and sleeveless, like his tunic, but with a full-lengthflowing skirt and a top framed by a black leather corset, cinched so tight around Ena’s waist he could see every curve of her body. The shoulders of the dress were stiff and flared out, creating a powerful silhouette, and when Ena turned around to face him, he audibly swallowed.
The neckline plunged into a deep V across which the laces of the corset were tied. He could see the sides of her breasts where they squished together and all he could think about was running his tongue up between them.
“Ahem,” Ena said, clearing her throat pointedly, and Ty realized he’d been staring directly at her cleavage for longer than was strictly polite.
He might’ve felt embarrassed about it, but fucking Iblis, she was an absolute sight to behold in this dress.
He dragged his eyes from her chest up to her face, and didn’t regret that decision either. She’d darkened her eyes with crushed darkrock, as was tradition for the women duringonatacelebrations—Lara must’ve shown her how to do that, since it wasn’t a practice among witches—and it made their bright-blue color stand out even more than normal.
Looking down, he saw the ironimperaecollar where it contrasted starkly against the pale, milky skin of her neck. And he didn’t know if it was the dress, or just her, but he’d never seen someone wearing the collar look so…powerful.
“I’ll take your extended silence as a compliment,” Ena said, a wry smile raising the corner of her mouth.
“Please do,” Ty said, but he couldn’t bring himself to return the smile. Nothing about the way she looked made him want to smile—it made him want to rip her dress the fuck off and pound into her so hard until neither of them could think straight.
But he swallowed that feeling, and opted for something slightly more appropriate, given that they needed to head down to the ceremony soon.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been absolutely dumbstruck by you, and I’m sure it won’t be the last, viper,” he said, letting his eyes roam over her again. “The way you look…is pure fucking evil. How am I supposed to walk next to you all night and focus on anything else?”
Ena blushed. He loved it when she did that. It was his little prize for making her feel good.
“Good,” she said, a little shyly. “That’s what I was going for. You said I should command respect so people don’t fuck with me, so people know I’m powerful and…yours.”
“I have no doubt in my mind you’ll do just that. Are you ready?” he asked, extending his arm to her.
She nodded before looping hers through it, and together they walked into the passageway.
As they got closer to the Great Antre, his nerves hit, filling his stomach with a tight dread. Yes, Ena had seen other daemons in passing, and met some of the friendlier ones, but this would be the first time she’d be on display to the entire Underworld—and at Cole’s mercy. He was grateful that he’d been able to keep her off Cole’s radar the past couple of weeks, by running around constantly and tending to whatever Cole requested so he’d have no reason to doubt him, no reason to come sniffing around Ena.
But now he was nervous, because there was no way to know how Cole would act tonight. In all likelihood, he had some power move up his sleeve that Ty would never see coming. He just hoped, whatever it was, that it wouldn’t endanger Ena—he didn’t think he’d be able to keep his cool if it did.
He felt Ena’s arm stiffen slightly in his as they entered the Great Antre. The enormous cavern echoed with the voices of the Underworld as they talked and mingled and laughed. Low, chaotic drum music beat in the background, thrumming like a heartbeat through the stone walls.
Almost the entire Underworld was in attendance, dressed in their ceremonial best for the occasion. Ty spotted several friendly faces right away, including Myka, who he made a mental note to go talk to about the hay, but there were several unfriendly faces too. Those ones he cataloged closely, wanting to strategically avoid them and keep them from coming too close to Ena. Included in this category, unfortunately, were the many daemon women he had slept with over the last nine years.
Most of them were perfectly nice women, and he didn’t think they would harbor any ill will towards him or Ena necessarily—he’d never promised any of them a future, and if anything, he was sure he’d been so emotionally unavailable, most of them were glad to be done with him when the time came. But he didn’t want to rub Ena’s face in any of it. She knew that he hadn’t…abstained from sex the same way she had, but still, he couldn’t even imagine being faced with anyone that she had been in a relationship with. He’d absolutely lose his shit with jealousy, so just in case, he hoped to spare her any of those feelings.
Ty led Ena over to the food tables, and more specifically, towards the abundant barrels of woodwater placed on one end, and filled them both a cup.
