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Somewhere to my right, a second guard frowned. “Tarek.”
Tarek blinked. I touched his wrist with my free hand. His eyes lost focus and went glassy. Well, fuck, I guess I did eat motor skills. This was . . . useful. “Could you take me to him?” I whispered.
Tarek’s throat bobbed. His aura leaned into mine so hard I felt it bend.
The second guard stepped forward. “Orders were to keep her in the lobby.”
Panic shot through me. My mouth moved and a word vomit fell out before my brain could catch up. “You don’t have to listen to that.”
Both guards went still. The second guard’s brow furrowed, and he repeated. “I don’t have to listen to that.” He sounded like he was in a trance.
Was that compulsion? I had fucking compulsion? Okay, freak out later. Find Lux now. I smiled at him, looking as small and innocent as I could. Mandi was going to be unbearable about this if we lived.
Tarek cleared his throat. “I’ll take her down. Scarn said if she came, we bring her.”
The second guard blinked slowly. “He did?”
“Yeah.” Tarek’s brows pinched, confused by his own lie. “He did.”
I lowered my face so neither of them saw my expression. Because my expression was mostly holy shit with lipstick. I was quietly freaking out about my newest top-demon, boss-bitch ability. The gate opened, and I stepped through, shaking for real, because this shit was, in fact, terrifying.
We got through the first checkpoint easily enough, but the woman at the second desk decided she wanted it to be difficult.
“Clearance?”
Tarek paused.
My entire plan, built on vibes, feminine distress, and powers I had absolutely no control over, hit a tablet with an access list and died. Fantastic.
The woman’s eyes moved over me, cool and flat. “No visitors to holding without command approval.”
“I have command approval,” Tarek said.
Behind the woman, I saw Kalon near a line of northern fighters waiting at a temporary intake station. He had both hands on the counter, leaning heavily forward while a southern officer spoke to him, but his eyes shifted once toward me.
Once. That was all. Just a quick little glance and back to the task at hand. He turned his body, blocked the officer’s view of me, and knocked a stack of training badges off the counter with his elbow. Plastic cards scattered across the marble and the officer cursed.
Mandi’s voice rose from the service hall at the same time, loud and offended. “I’m sorry, do you want me to tell Lord Evarin his arrangement got delayed because the southern command was so incompetent they couldn’t accept a flower arrangement?”
The woman’s head snapped toward the service doors. Mandi stood there holding a massive arrangement and wearing the expression of a woman who didn’t have time for this. Sam stood beside her, face tight, hands around a second bouquet that smoked faintly at the edges.
The woman frowned. “Lord Evarin sent flowers?”
Mandi laughed. “Of course he did. Everyone’s sending flowers. You think old clan lords survive regime change by staying loyal to past disastrous and incompetent leaders?”
A few guards shifted. Rumor moved through the lobby like perfume. Even I tried to take a step in her direction, my fists balling. She was good. Maybe too good.
“Lord Evarin sent a tribute. We also have flowers from house Vanderhell, Belzatrus, and Scalehorn. Old clan lords are watching.” Mandi smiled. “They’ll be waiting to see what Lord Scarn’s first move is.”
Southern command expected gifts, and no one wanted to be the idiot who declined them.
The tablet lady cursed and turned away from me. “Someone handle them.”
Kalon bent to pick up a badge and flicked it under the security desk with two fingers. The officer crouched to find it. Kalon’s eyes met mine across the lobby.
Go.
Tarek touched my elbow. “This way.”
