I released a breath, relieved.
All hell might break loose in the coming days, but for tonight at least, there was hope. A sliver of it anyway, like a ray of sun breaking through an ominous, stormy sky. The clouds could slam back together and swallow that sunbeam any moment, so it was important to enjoy the sight while it lasted.
A temporary ceasefire.
The rest of us grabbed a goblet and sat in front of the lit hearth: Onyx in a high-back armchair, Maddox in the one beside him, and Briar and Callum on a sort of chaise lounge. My cinnamon roll placed me on his lap, and I smiled. That smile widened as Briar grabbed my legs and draped them over his, so I was half sitting on both of them.
Lake dropped down on the floor in front of me and tipped his head back. Knowing what he wanted, I slid my fingers through his silver hair.
With the logs crackling in the fire and their scents around me, I could almost pretend we were back at the cottage and sitting in the reading parlor together like we did so many nights.
“You’re not sitting on my lap, thief,” Maddox told Rowan. “You can have the rug or nothing at all.”
Rowan rolled his eyes and slouched against the wall, kicking one foot up behind him in his signature pose. That, too, reminded me of home. He liked propping against things instead of sitting like the rest of us.
“Those markings on your chest are quite peculiar.” Briar adjusted his glasses and peered closer at Onyx. “I’ve heard of powerful mana wielders having such marks, but I’ve yet tosee any like yours. To my understanding, they’re always black. Never red.”
“Is that so?” Onyx reclined more in his chair and tipped his head back against the cushion, a sly grin on his lips. “How peculiar indeed.”
The demon lord clearly wasn’t willing to reveal the truth. A mystery to be solved at a later time.
“Why did you allow us here?” Callum asked. “Ever since I was a young boy, I heard stories of knights trying to find your realm. All of them either became lost or were eaten by demons. Yet, you welcomed us. Tension between our kinds aside, that, alone, is enough to raise suspicion.”
“You’re only here because of a bargain I struck with him.” Onyx motioned to me. “And he’s here because of… curiosity, I suppose. He fascinates me.”
Fate was the evil culprit of that fascination. It drew us together like magnets. Nervous, I took a drink, needing something to do with my mouth other than go on another ramble.
“Evan fascinates you?” Maddox stared at the goblet in his hand, brow tapered. He hadn’t yet taken a drink. Not uncommon for him. He rarely drank even back home. “Because of his royal bloodline?”
“No,” Onyx answered. “He piqued my interest the first day I met him. You were there as well.”
“In the dark wood,” Maddox said with a curt nod. “When your demons attacked us.”
“Yes.” The coldness in Onyx’s voice was a complete one-eighty from the one he’d used with me earlier in private. “Although, I should clarify I didn’t order the attack. The demons acted of their own free will. I did, however, order them to stand down instead of letting them tear the flesh off your bones.”
“Why not let them?” Callum asked. “We’re your enemy.”
“True.” Onyx smoothed his thumb along the rim of his goblet, gaze shifting to the burning logs. “Yet, Evan surprised me: jumping in front of a ravenous demon in order to save the one he loves. Even the bravest of souls would’ve hesitated. But not him.”
Maddox glanced at me. An agonized pang hit his eyes before fleeing.
That day in the dark wood when I’d leapt forward and wrapped my arms around him, placing myself between him and the demon, I hadn’t thought of what would happen to me at all. I’d only wanted to protect him. And I’d do it again. And again. As many times as it took to save him. My men meant more to me than anything else in the entire universe.
“His selflessness caused you to spare us?” Briar asked.
“Precisely.” Lord Onyx watched me. “Here was this tiny bird with the courage of a lion. I suppose I didn’t wish to see that little bird lose his wings so soon, when he’d barely had a chance to fly.”
“I’m not graceful enough to be a bird,” I said, tearing my gaze from his. “Unless it was a chicken that just waddled everywhere and ate corn or whatever.”
Rowan breathed out a raspy laugh.
Callum kissed the shell of my ear.
“Allow me to express my gratitude for your actions that day in the dark wood,” Briar told Onyx, bowing his head. “And for your actions the other night when you allowed Evan and Lake here. If not for you, I fear what may have become of them.”
I combed my fingers through Lake’s hair, sternum squeezing as I recalled his blood-soaked tunic and the deep scars that now covered his back. A laceration spell had nearly killed him.
Onyx nodded to him, seemingly pleased. “At least one of you is respectable.”
