“Responsibilities?” Ena asked quietly, looking curiously between himself and Turner.
Turner shook his head at her. Now was not the time to discuss it.
Ty bent down to put his mouth next to her ear. “I’ll explain later,” he whispered, and she nodded in understanding. “Come on,” he said, tipping back the rest of the woodwater in his glass. It burned on the way down, but helped to relieve the tight ball of anxiety in his stomach. “We should go get the check-in with Cole over with.”
He held out his arm once more for Ena to join him, and she took it without hesitation. If she was nervous, she didn’t show it, and Iblis take him, it was impressive.
They weaved in and out of daemons clustered in groups around the Great Antre, making their way to the far end, wherethe king’s throne was situated on a raised dais, overlooking the group. He felt his uncle Cole’s eyes on them the entire time.
Ty paused at the base of the dais, waiting for Cole to invite them up the brief stone staircase in front of him, which he did.
“Ty,” he said, his voice somehow suspicious before Ty had even said a thing. “Thank you for taking the time to come see me.”
Ty resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The man spoke as if he had taken his sweet time in coming here, rather than coming immediately after being summoned. He always pulled that shit, and it was getting old.
“Well?” he said, clearly waiting for Ty to begin. “I’m very curious to hear about the progress on your mission. Have you found anything useful?”
Ty cleared his throat, giving himself a second to get his ever-present rage under control. “We have, something very useful indeed.”
“Please, do go on,” Cole said, his eyes lighting up at the prospect. He was clearly curious, but Ty didn’t miss the way his uncle Zak hovered at the base of the dais, listening to everything he said. He had to be very careful about his word choice.
“My witch-slave has discovered evidence that Wiccan and daemonic magic have been combined in the past, which bodes well for our mission.”
“I see…” said Cole. “That is heartening news. And what, pray tell, is this evidence you speak of?”
“It’s—”
Cole cut him off with a small tutting sound. “I think I’d prefer to hear it from her, actually.” He gestured at Ena where she stood obediently at Ty’s side.
Ty’s whole body tightened at the fact that Cole’s attention was on her—the most sacred thing in his life—but he swallowed the fear down, and trusted her. They’d warned her about Zak andhow she would have to speak around him if called upon; she could handle this.
Ena bowed her head slightly in deference, as she’d no doubt seen others do, before raising her eyes to Cole. “Of course, King,” she began, her voice coming out steady. She seemed wary, but impressively calm.
Ty moved imperceptibly closer to her anyway, trying to say with his body that he was here for her, to protect her.
“When I was going through a book on Imbuing runes,” she continued, “I recognized the binding rune. Witches have utilized a similar symbol before, albeit slightly modified. So we take this to mean that some forms of magic can potentially be shared between the two races, and that bodes well for using the binding rune in combination with my Gift.”
Ena finished, waiting for Cole to respond to this revelation. The silence seemed to stretch for far too long as he pondered it.
“Interesting,” he finally spoke, relieving them of their tension. “That’s not as definitive an answer as I would have hoped for, but I guess it’s a start. What’s your next step?”
“We’ve discussed experimenting with different runes in combination with the witch’s version of the binding rune, to see if any of them work with myvisanis,” Ena replied without skipping a beat. She’d cleverly lied by saying that they’d “discussed” doing it, not that they would do it, so as not to alert Zak. Ty would’ve been surprised, but honestly, he was just proud, and endlessly impressed by her.
“Good…good,” Cole mused. “This is exciting work from you and your witch-slave, Ty. You are serving Iblis well. Both of you.” Cole’s eyes flicked to Ena again before roaming down her dress. “I daresay she fits in well in the Underworld, Ty. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Trap. This was a trap. Ty knew it instantly.
If he said yes, it could be interpreted as a sign that Ty wanted her to stay, and held her in higher esteem than he should, giving Cole all the more reason to banish her, or have her killed. If he said no, he’d be disagreeing with the king in public, something which would also not bode well for their relations.
Fuck the conniving fucking bastard.
Ty shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “She certainly is good at fitting things in.” Ty raised one corner of his mouth in a sly smile, but inwardly, he tried not to wince at the crass words that rolled off his tongue.
A feline smile spread across Cole’s face as he let out a dark chuckle. “Good answer, my boy,” he said, sounding entertained. “Now, go fetch Steig and Turner so they can take their positions on the dais with you. It’s time for the ceremony.”
Ty nodded his head in deference before leading Ena back down the stairs into the gathering.
“Did…did that go okay?” Ena asked in a hushed tone as they walked.
