My wife.
The words rolled around in my mind feeling more and more like they belonged the longer they stayed. And I couldn’t help the pleasure I felt from watching Thayden fume.
“You fucking bastard, Elariya was supposed to marry me today.” He pointed to himself and seethed. “Me. Not you. But you chose today on purpose didn’t you?”
Of course I did. Crashing his wedding and stealing his bride is exactly the kind of thing a devil like me would do. But I didn’t need to admit that to him. He knew.
Had I truly wanted to be an asshole I could have had him at our wedding. I could have had him deliver our rings, witness the marriage, or serve our drinks.
But my ceremony wasn’t about that. It was about her—Elariya.
I wanted her to have something beautiful. A wedding with those we loved watching us take our eternal vows. It was something good to remember about me. Aboutus.
I walked over to the table and lowered into the chair behind. “I didn’t come here to talk about weddings. The matter is done and dusted. Elariya no longer belongs to you.”
He balled his hands into fists at his sides. “I don’t know how you did it. How you survived. But I’ll find a way to fix this.”
I smiled and the temperature dropped several degrees. The flames flickered atop the candles as if struggling against an unseen wind.
“I hope you do find that way Thayden Fairstrom. It means I get to kill you quicker. Until then, lets really talk.”
I knew I’d probably get nothing from him, but this was my first attempt to see who he’d been working with.
Aside from my Bloodsworn, Kaem was the only member of the wedding party that remained here. He was to stay as a scout. To watch Thayden and see what he could find out from this side.
Kaem had already done a substantial amount of work from the magical realm. He would have pursued his usual methods of getting past the Veil, but this was better. If questions were asked about how he got into the mortal realm the wedding posed as the perfect excuse.
“What do you want to talk about?” Thayden challenged, his voice still stern.
“You can’t be serious.” I smirked, shaking my head at him. “You think I’m going to let what you did to me slide?”
His jaw set, but he lifted his chin in open defiance. “I was rescuing Elariya from the enemy whokidnappedher. What I did was necessary to get her back.”
I cocked my head and tapped my temple with the tip of my index finger. “See now that’s where we both know you have a problem. Or you wouldn’t be here.”
“Do not speak to me in riddles.” He hissed.
“Oh but these are no riddles,Sir Thayden.” I straightened and put my feet up on the table, crossed at the ankle. Mud flaked off my heavy boots, an insult to whomever was going to take their place here after me. “You see, the way I figure it is this: you have no idea how I met my wife, so your actions are based on assumptions.”
The best thing about this little meeting was that I didn’t need to incriminate myself to get answers. Whereas he didn’t have such a luxury.
“Now, now. I checked and there’s no record of you getting the correct permission to cross the Veil. That means you passed through illegally. And your Prince Mealor doesn’t know.” There I said it. And as soon as I had Pyrion shadows circled past the window and my dragon perched on the parapet of the roof across from us.
Thayden glanced at her,numb. Deep fear washed over his face and he glanced back at me nervously.
“What proof do you have? It’s your word against mine.” The quiver in his voice made him sound like a teenaged boy.
“And hers. There’s my dragon’s word. And it wasn’t just her who saw you.”
Hedion landed opposite Pyrion and roared.
“They are twins. Last of the Ocha. There are no other dragons like them. They are known for being most hardy and no magic can sway them to lie. Their testimony is enough to sentence a man’s soul to the darkest and deepest of hells.” I ran a lazy fingerover my lip. “They’re very useful in situations like these, where I need to expose fucktards like you.” I chuckled offkey, sounding like a lunatic. “Imagine if the prince found out what his newestLord commanderhad gotten up to. Imagine if he found out that you tried to kill me. We could have another Veil council right now if I willed it,Sir Thayden. And we both know what the penalty would be.”
A tremor raced through him. No longer could he act like I had no effect on him.
“What do you want?” His voice cracked on the last syllable.
“I know you worked with Scabbards from the Borderlands.” Kaem had tracked them down. Some of them were still in the magical realm. None had possessed the level of power Thayden used to take me down. “But you must have gotten assistance from someone else. No ordinary man could have given you the magic to get close to me? Close enough to kill me.”
