Page 3 of Oath-Maker

“Enter,” Lucius called. I hated how weak his voice was. Even now I could see how much my healing hadn’t worked. How far the light sickness infection was spreading despite me counteracting it. Despite our power as mates. Even that potentiality couldn’t stop a demon from falling to a celestial’s radiant light once it was in their blood.

The doors to Lucius’s quarters swung open and Commander Garnet came through. He’d been in the courtroom not a few days ago when I’d been sentenced to death, and yesterday he’d been the first one to grant me the leeway to act in Lucius’s stead. I wasn’t sure if this tall and gallant demon—all dark, curly hair and innocent, brown eyes—was entirely trustworthy, but I figured Lucius wouldn’t have allowed him to rise to the rank of Commander if not. Lorena—Lucius’s ex and my apparently mortal enemy—was still in custody somewhere in the castle for killing paladins during the bridge incident, so Commander Garnet had just gotten a big promotion.

“There’s been another tear in the Veil,” Commander Garnet reported. He had one brown-skinned hand on his sword and the other still on the door, as if he were afraid to let go of either. I understood. I needed an anchor right now. The only one I had was currently dying from light sickness beside me.

“Yes.” I stood and gestured to the open balcony doors. “We had a visitor.”

Garnet’s jaw locked hard. “A visitor?”

“The Guardian,” I clarified as I made my way toward him. “It’s not your fault, nor is it the fault of the other guards. I believe he has a way to teleport or otherwise move undetected.” I wasn’t sure teleportation was actually something celestials—even the Fallen, evil celestials like Merek—could do. But it’d certainly explain how Merek had gotten inside the palace. “He’s… someone I knew very well. Opening that portal is as much a risk as a strategy.”

Although with Lucius in his current state, there’d be no closing that portal. I could not do it alone. Which meant we needed to move fast with enacting whatever our plan was going to be.

“I’ll send a contingent to guard the tear,” Garnet said. “They’ll be there within the hour.”

“Good,” I said. “And a cure?”

Garnet paused for a moment before shaking his head. His gaze dipped to his armored boots. “We’ve had no progress there.”

“Even with the paladins assisting?” I asked. Jessa, my best friend, was working on it. So was Ian and a few trusted others.

Ian. Gods, he was not going to be happy about Merek being the Guardian. After all the allegiances that’d been broken and left behind by all involved, I wasn’t sure how badly Ian would lash out. He’d taken Merek’s supposed death as poorly as I had. We’d all trained together, had all come up in the Paladins Order together. And then Merek had died. I’d become the Angel of Death’s mate. And everything any of us had known about celestials, the Order, and myself had been turned on its head.

I wasn’t a half-demon as I’d been led to believe for my entire life, thanks to the red “demonic” markings on my body. They ran up my arms and down my legs, marking me not as a half-demon, but as a half-Fallen. I’d just not known it at the time. It didn’t help that I also remembered seeing what I’dthoughtwas a demon as a baby, a monstrous visage with a feminine face, her head covered in eyes. But Basara, too, hadn’t been what she’d made herself out to be to me.

I was half-Fallen celestial. The Light might not even be a true celestial, but a Fallen as well. Which meant everything we’d known about the Order, everything about the oaths Ian, Merek, Jessa, and I had taken, was false.

“I wish I had better news,” Garnet said while I’d gotten lost in my thoughts. “But we won’t stop searching for a cure for our king’s light sickness.”

Lucius made a noise of disagreement and grabbed my wrist. “Stop searching. Ayla knows what I want her to do. “You’ve managed things well until now, but please—”

I took Lucius’s hand in mine as he spoke and ignored any reaction Garnet might have had to my mate’s words. “I willnotstop fighting for a cure for you.”

“But Alastia—”

I leveled him with a glare. A few days ago, his dark stare might have scared me. No longer. “Alastia needsyou. Not me, not Commander Garnet. Your people needyou. So let me defend them while I fight for you.”

Lucius’s eyes lifted past mine to Commander Garnet. “Gather the court. We are to be handfasted and Ayla crowned in a coronation as soon as possible.”

I pulled on his arm. “Lucius.”

“No,” he said in a tone caught between biting and pleading. “We need to act. Now. We don’t need to do anything more than be bound together in the eyes of the court, with you taken as my queen-consort. But I need to ensure the line of rule, and you’re next in it by my word.”

I held a hand to his cheek. His skin was cool and clammy from light sickness. “And I need to ensure you survive this.”

Lucius’s eyes darkened. “You are many things, Ayla, including a merciful healer. But you cannot heal this light sickness.”

Fury burned deep in my chest, but I swallowed it down. Ire wouldn’t cure Lucius. A continued argument wouldn’t solve any of our many problems. “If it would convince you to rest, I will have them organize a handfasting and coronation. But youmustrest, Lucius.”

The darkness didn’t leave Lucius’s expression. I knew he was in pain and desperate to make his city safe. To makemesafe. But through all of it, he knew as well as I that if a cure wasn’t found, Lucius would not be around much longer. He wouldn’t see his city to safety regardless of any measures we took today.

It was a heavy weight, but I tried to take it from him as I leaned in and pressed my lips to his forehead. “Rest, Lucius. Commander Garnet,” I said as I looked to him. The Commander nodded. “He will see to those preparations, Lucius. I’m going to give you another round of healing. We will reconvene afterward.”

“As you wish,” Commander Garnet said as he snapped his heels together and then retreated from the room.

When Garnet was finally out of sight and we were alone once more, Lucius lay back on the bed with a heavy, pained groan. The sound squeezed my heart. I leaned over him and summoned healing magic to my fingertips. The magic was now tinged slightly black like my wings—a result of accepting Lucius as my mate and my new potentiality magic because of that mate bond.

“You’re angry with me,” Lucius said, his voice nearly a whisper as he rested a hand over one of mine.

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