Page 20 of Stolen

But it didn’t matter now, because Given was here, in the ruins of Vai Seren, and now Midian had her mind.

“Varick?” she asked, shock in her voice. But her tone wasn’t quite right. She was surprised to see me, but she obviously wasn’t registering how bizarre it was for me to suddenly appear out of thin air.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her turn to Midian. “Is he all right?” Fear shaded her tone. “He’s not speaking, and he won’t look at me.”

My father flickered over Midian’s features. “He’s just being stubborn.”

“Stubborn?” Given sounded confused. She moved away from Midian’s side. “Maybe if I sit next to him—”

“NO.” Midian’s deep voice boomed off the walls, halting Given as surely as if he’d grabbed her. At the edge of my vision, her form trembled. I resisted the urge to look at her. She was fine for now. Nothing was hurting her. But Midian might if I let my guard down. If I tried to reach her—physically or mentally—he would retaliate, showing her devastating things I may or may not be able to see. I wasn’t going to let that happen, so I stared at him and pictured the obsidian walls of the Sanctum in my head.

I’d never been particularly religious. That was Laurent’s domain. But I’d prayed to the gods more over the past three days than I had in my entire life. If I made it out of Vai Seren alive, I was going to erect a fucking shrine at Lar Keiren. Maybe finance an expansion of the Sanctum. For now, the mental image of the big, ancient building was the only shield I had against the demons’ mind tricks. So far, it was working. But I was growing weaker.

“Forgive me,” Midian said smoothly. “It was rude of me to shout.” He went to Given, and I held my breath as he took her arm and escorted her to the far end of the table. They were close enough together that I could see more of her face without looking away from him.

My heart sank. Her expression was serene, Midian’s outburst clearly forgotten. She let him seat her, murmuring her thanks and smiling when he touched her shoulder.

My skin crawled. He sat at the table’s head with Given to his right. Now she was parallel to me and a dozen seats down, putting her almost completely out of my range of vision.

The demon king smiled at me. “I think perhaps the general is just hungry.” He turned to Given. “What about you, my dear? You must be famished after your journey.” On his last word, the Hall’s big double doors flew open. In my peripheral vision, several demons entered. The scent of roasted meat hit my nose.

My stomach groaned, and my mouth watered. Hunger gnawed at my insides until I wanted to weep. I’d eaten little over the past few days. At first, I’d vowed not to eat or drink at all. But once I decided it was too dangerous to sleep, I knew I couldn’t go without food. So I’d eaten handfuls of whatever the demons put in front of me, swiping at my plate as I kept my eyes on theirs. They’d laughed as I choked down raw animal meat crawling with maggots, the flesh still warm from the kill.

But this food was cooked, and I breathed a sigh of relief that Given wouldn’t be subjected to the same treatment. As the demons served us, I stared at Midian and listened to him feed her more lies. He spoke of showing her Vai Seren, promising he’d take her around the city so she could see what the elves had built.

She listened politely as he spoke. When he asked her questions, she responded with charm and wit. She had beautiful manners, which had never surprised me. She’d been born a princess. High-class social skills came with the title. But as I listened to her now, a bittersweet ache lodged in my chest. Midian had ensnared her mind, but he couldn’t control how she acted. He was a manipulator, not a puppet master.

Given behaved this way because she was this way. She was polite and attentive and so trusting I wanted to yell at her for thinking people were good when most were selfish and cruel.

And, really, she had every reason to agree with me. I’d studied Rolund of Sithistra. He was Nor Doru’s main enemy, and part of my job was knowing everything I could about the human king. I knew what he liked to eat for breakfast, and I knew which one of his wives he preferred over the other. I knew his favorite color and that he dropped his shoulder just before he swung his sword.

And I knew he’d started out as a decent enough brother, only to become a harsh and emotionally distant guardian when he ascended the throne. His mother certainly hadn’t shown Given any affection. Baylen of Sithistra had lost the will to live—and to parent his daughter—when Vessa of Lar Satha died. Given’s nurse and only source of affection passed away years ago. The princess had crossed the Rift alone, sold into blood servitude by her only living relative.

There was no reason at all why Given of Sithistra should be polite. Or kind. Or brave. But she was all of these things, particularly the last.

She’d come for me. I didn’t know how she’d managed it, but maybe I should have expected it. After all, the first thing she’d done when our eyes met across the Bleak Pass was lift her chin.

I stared at Midian as he continued to act like everything was fine and this was a normal dinner in an ordinary kingdom. In the farthest edge of my vision, Given lifted her fork to her mouth. She didn’t appear to notice that Midian didn’t eat, or that the grand table was coated in a thick layer of dust. She gave no sign she saw the fat vines that wrapped around the pillars and dangled from the crumbling ceiling high overhead. A human skeleton slumped in one of the chairs between us, remnants of dried tissue and sinew preventing it from tumbling apart. A treasure hunter, most likely, or maybe a Wesyfeddan who’d wandered too close to the edge of the Thicket. The bones didn’t scare me. Before Given arrived, I’d prepared myself to join them shortly.

But now that she was here, death was no longer an option. I had to stay alive so I could get her out—and then maybe put her over my knee and spank her ass until she swore never to make me this terrified again.

A demon emerged from under the table near my knee. He unfolded his long body and trailed a fingertip up my arm as he rose to his full height. When I first arrived, the demons had tried to make me lose focus. I’d lock gazes with one just to have another step into my line of sight. I’d slipped up a few times, dropping my guard as I tried to adjust. Staring contests worked well when there was only one demon about. But eye contact was less effective with a swarm. The trick was to figure out which demon was the most powerful and never look away from it. In a weird way, it was easier when Midian was in the room, because I didn’t have to think about it. I knew exactly where to look.

But that didn’t stop his minions from messing with me.

“Another elven-born,” the demon at my side murmured. He moved behind me and sank down, resting his chin on my shoulder as he watched—or pretended to watch—Given and Midian talking. “She looks like the elves, doesn’t she?”

I stayed still, my attention on the demon king.

“Except for the ears.” The demon sighed. “Human ears. Boring, don’t you think? Then again, you probably weren’t interested in her ears.”

In my head, the Sanctum’s walls glittered in the muted sun of the Deepnight. The demon was going to turn to sex. They always did.

The smell of dust and decay filled my nostrils. The demon moved a hand to my inner thigh. “I bet you’re still not interested in her ears, are you, General?”

Nausea burned my throat. I continued to stare at Midian, even though the demon king wasn’t looking at me.

“No,” the demon on my shoulder said in Laurent’s voice. When I tensed, Laurent’s low chuckle caressed my ear. I knew what was coming, but that didn’t lessen the impact as he repeated what Laurent said to me after I escorted Given from the Rift. “You want to fuck Given of Sithistra, and it makes you furious.”

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