He chuckled. “I do. Is it bad that I’m eager to play with whatever it is?”
I snorted and shook my head at him. “Let’s hope you still feel the same way when they do come out. For now, let me set a few traps of my own for if and when we get unpleasant visitors.”
Chapter 18
Eleni
My task completed, we set to begin lowering the women when my wards went off. Lyall immediately went into battle stance, his claws extruding, and an insane amount of magical energy swirling around him. Since embracing his divine light, he had grown exponentially more powerful. And it was incredibly sexy.
But I gestured for him to stand down.
“Whoever it is, they are not enemies,” I said reassuringly.
“Didn’t they notice your wards coming in?” Lyall asked in a less-than-impressed tone.
I gave him an indulgent smile. “They most certainly did but also recognized them as mine.”
He harrumphed and shifted his stance to something less intimidating but without fully dropping his guard.
To my shock, it was Father Paulus—although I should really call him Grand Master Paulus—and four other Templars who stepped down the staircase into the dungeon. I would haveexpected Prefect Ewan and his team to be the first to arrive considering it was his clerics who were held captive here.
His smile faltered as soon as he saw me. It hurt more than words could express, even though I understood his reaction to my new appearance. And yet, I had hoped he loved me enough that it wouldn’t distress him, just as it had left Lyall totally unfazed. Then the sadness in his eyes as he forced a broader smile back on his lips made a light go off in my mind. It suddenly dawned on me that it wasn’t disappointment, disgust, or distrust that prompted this reaction from him. He just realized that there would be no way for him to keep me within the Order.
For more than two decades, he had led an unrelenting campaign to convince the Church that I was an asset and not a threat. It was only over the last few years that they had finally seemed to accept it, although they never fully acceptedme. Now, that ship had sailed.
As if to further confirm the thoughts filling my mind, Sister Martha frowned and eyed me warily. But Brother Conrad hissed as soon as he spotted me, and whipped out his staff, ready to launch into battle.
“Demon!” he yelled.
“STOP!” Paulus snapped, raising his palm in an arresting gesture. “Eleni is not a threat. She’s an ally.”
“She has fallen to the darkness that had been festering in her from the start!” Conrad shouted with a mix of outrage and disbelief before pointing an angry finger at Lyall. “She consorts with other demons!”
“I said stand down, Conrad!” Paulus said in a menacing tone. “Do you forget that she’s the one who called us to rescue our Sisters?”
“It could be a trap!” Conrad countered.
I rolled my eyes and interjected to prevent Lyall from giving in to his obvious desire to go tear the idiot to shreds.
“A trap for what?” I asked, annoyed. “For your sorry ass? If I want it to set a trap for you and the Church, I wouldn’t have invited you here. Instead, I would have freed the women myself and sent them back to all of you as moles and assassins.”
“You confess?!” he exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes even harder, this time restraining my own urge to slap the stupid out of him.
“If you are so skittish, leave and let us complete our mission,” I said with exasperation.
He looked at the others for support. Finding none, he glared at me.
“You were always a danger,” he hissed before turning his attention towards Paulus. “We warned you she would turn bad, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“I didn’t turn bad,” I snapped. “I simply became what I was always meant to be.”
“An abomination!” Conrad spat.
“No. Something different. Something powerful. Something in control of their urges and abilities,” I replied calmly.
It stunned me how true those words suddenly sounded to my own ears despite the endless bouts of self-doubt I had gone through over the past couple of weeks since releasing my darkness.
