Page 30 of Oath-Maker

I kept my mind focused on that goal as Commander Lumen led me down the corridor and through a series of maze-like hallways. I didn’t bother trying to study them because I had much more important items to consider. Such as: How did I get all of this information back to Lucius?

I had no doubt Lucius would not wait forever to send an army just to retrieve me, no matter what his political advisors or court had to say. Once he was fully rested, he might even storm Lightport himself. But if I could warn him of the dangers, of how many celestials might truly be in the Guardian’s army, maybe I could get Lucius to wait while I uncovered the Guardian’s weaknesses.

I still didn’t know how to stop Merek, but there had to be a way to weaken him at least. Or lessen his army?

“Excuse me?” a small voice asked, breaking my thoughts.

Commander Lumen pushed a small human woman out of the way. Her long, blonde hair had been braided tightly against her head. She kept returning her brown gaze to the ground.

I frowned at the woman, but I didn’t dare speak in case Commander Asshole decided that was enough to… What had he said? Guarantee the Guardian no longer found any value in keeping me alive?

I had a certain sinking feeling that meant pain of some sort.

“Commander,” the woman said, this time much more confident. “The Guardian—”

Lumen spun on his heel so fast, I nearly slammed into him. I was happy I hadn’t. For both our sakes. “The Guardian awaits us at the top of the tower. Remove yourself from my path.”

“The Guardian,” she continued as she pulled a letter from within her robes that seemed entirely too big for her. “He would like me to bring this traitor to him and you are to report to the barracks. It seems a demon may have gotten close to the city line.”

Lumen tore the wax-sealed letter from her grasp and inspected it as closely as he did her. “On whose authority did you obtain this…?”

“Isabel,” she provided for him with a shallow curtsy. “I work in the archives. I was collecting information for the Guardian at his behest regarding a prophecy when he—”

Lumen lifted a hand, silencing Isabel. “I can read.” And hewasreading. Whatever the contents of the letter, it set his scowl permanently into his skin. “Border issues are for soldiers.”

“Leadership is doing the things you’d ask of those below you,” I offered, ready for the snap of his glare to settle on me. I tried not to smile again. It was proving difficult. I just loved watching anything get under this asshole’s skin. “No offense, but I think I’d rather have her accompany me to my torture instead of you, big guy. The Guardian ordered it and all.”

The commander’s eyes narrowed. He crumpled up the letter in his hands but stepped aside. There was no hiding the anger rippling off of him in waves, but he did begin to move away—though not before imposing his large body before Isabel.

“Ensure she makes it to the top of the tower,” Lumen said.

Isabel curtsied again with a carefully neutral expression on her face. “Of course. If she is to be our queen or savior against the demons, I will put my life before hers as I do before the Guardian and the Light.”

That seemed to mollify the commander for now. He grunted, “Good,” before continuing on his way to the barracks.

I released a breath once he was out of view. “He’s sure fun, isn’t he?”

Isabel ushered me along. “Commander Lumen is good at his job.” But she said it a bit too quickly, too practiced.

I studied her as we walked. “Do youreallythink that?”

We walked a bit farther down the hall as she ignored the question. Only once a few minutes had passed, with several climbed floors up the Order’s tower, did Isabel even speak again. I let her have the silence. Something wasn’t adding up about her—the practiced words, the neutral expression, the letter. Maybe Isabel was simply a quiet person.

But as we neared the top of the tower, Isabel suddenly pulled me into a small alcove tucked away at the end of a dead-end hallway.

“If she is to be our queen.”

Merek had never said anything about me becoming hisqueen.

A smirk broke on my lips before Isabel could speak to explain this turn. “I knew you didn’t like the commander.”

“No one does,” she said with a finger pressed to her lips. She wore black, sparkly nail polish. “Keep your voice down. We don’t have much time. This is as private as I can manage.”

Well,thatcertainly caught my attention. I straightened and locked away my sarcasm for now. “I’m listening.”

“I’m a paladin,” Isabel admitted, talking low but fast. If they really were expecting me at the top of the tower, we didn’t have much time at all. “I was a trainee when Merek ‘died,’ so you and I have not interacted much. But they brought me into service here at the tower when Merek—the Guardian—took over.”

That explained why she didn’t look familiar. Before I’d led the Order, I’d been in the field a lot. And after Merek had “died,” I’d spent more time babysitting the border than training paladins.

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