Page 12 of Suspicions on the Stage
Iggy blinks at me owlishly, speechless for once, and Slade chuckles. “I think you got him, Morgana.”
Shrugging as we round the corner, I squeeze his hand. “I’m old enough not to actually give a single fuck about it, but I don’t need the reminder. It’s tacky.”
“I didn’t mean?—”
“Shut. Up. All of you.”
I frown at Kaspar’s snarl, not understanding what crawled up his ass and died. “I will not. We’re having a conversation, you cranky gecko. Who do you think you are?”
“Look ahead. Li, you know who that is, don’t you?”
My head whips away from the dragon, scowling as I check out whatever threat he seems on edge about. There’s a group of males ahead walking in a very specific formation—two, three, three—and they definitely radiate power. Des pops out, hissing as she darts around for a moment, and I suddenly know that these are demons. “Demons?”
“Not just demons,” Kaspar says as we continue walking towards them. “The second most powerful caliphate in Hell.”
Liam sighs. “What the fuck are Prince Jasper and his crew doing at this event on Faerie land?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”
Our luck today is absolute shit and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Turns out,the caliphate—as Kaspar called them—aren’t a bad lot. They’re hot and clearly head-over-heels for the small guy they all seem to be circling. I like him; he reminds me of me at that age, which is pretty damn young, even for a human. It’s obvious the kid isn’t a human, but hasn't fully emerged yet, so it’s odd that he’s so tight with demons as rich and old as the Prince’s group. I suppose people could say the same about Lucas and Slade, as Iggy pointed out, so I don’t comment on it.
The Princes are finishing up some sort of diplomatic mumbo jumbo with their cards—which I don’t get the significance of because I’m not royal-born. I’m not surprised Kaspar and Jasper are watching one another like they expect some sort of betrayal. Magnus was always wary around others of his kind, but not concerned about most other species. I’m not sure why, except it seemed like he was certain they’d challenge his authority. This feels similar to that, but different; Liam isn’t concerned in the slightest, though, so I will not let our resident dickface color my opinion. That is, until two fucking explosions causeboth groups to drop into fighting position.
Not good. Not good at all.
Kaspar whirls around to look behind us at the source of the noise, and I blink as the black and white demon grabs my spunky friend, taking off with him slung over his shoulder while the kid struggles. Those guysdefinitelyhave it bad for the dude because not a single one of them protests the move; in fact, once he’s gone, they all snap into action like a well-oiled machine.
“Slash, follow the bodyguard to the royal tents. Anton and Xerxes, the field. Zav, stay close to Oriel,” the Prince growls as he gets bigger, sporting a dangerous looking tail to go with the spikes on his back.
It makes me wonder what kind of dragon the Prince is.
“Morgana, keep Slade close. Ignatius, do your thing,” Liam says as his hands wave in the air. He’s tracing runes and creating magic while he speaks, and I’m impressed. It’s hard to cast without spells or words, and he’s doing it while directing the rest of us. “Lucas, you may need to shift. Keep your eyes peeled.”
“I thought these little territories were truce grounds,” I say to Liam. The Fae Prince nods, his expression grim. “Then what moron would launch an attack here and now?”
He’s about to reply when a mighty roar echoes across the hills and we all spin to face the direction Kaspar and the big demon went. I blink when I see anenormousmountain orc stomping across the field towards the marketplace looking like a bee just stung it in the ass. “Holy fuck,” I mutter.
“How in the ten realms did one of those get here?” Liam shouts, but I think he’s being rhetorical. Obviously, none of us know and I’ve sure as shit never seen one in this realm, only in books.
Ignatius holds his hands up, chanting in Latin as the glow on his palms spreads to surround our family in a magical bubble. Once he stops, he pants a bit, looking at me in amazement. “Mountain orcs haveneverbeen on the human plane, Morgana. We learn about them in various stages of our education, as you probably did, but in the many millennia of treaties and cooperation between the supernaturals of the realms, there has never beenone on the same plane as humans. Orcs do not come to this world.”
“I mean, for obvious goddamn reasons,” Slade mutters as he looks at the thing stomping toward us in awe. “Those things could fight with a fucking T-Rex, Iggy.”
Liam shakes his head. “Pure blooded orcs are relegated to Faerie, the deity realms, and the stars because they are too violent and too large to co-exist in the rest of them. Someone brought this one through a powerful portal or gateway with one goal: destruction and death. Orcs can be peaceful and loving within their homes, but when they get confused and angry, they operate mostly in primal mode. Bringing one here involuntarily will have triggered their frenzy.”
“Frenzy? What’s—” Again, the pissed off giant cuts off an inquiry when it rips up trees, throwing them toward the now panicking crowd with another earth-shaking roar. Lucas winces and mutters to himself, “Oh.That’sfrenzy. Cool, cool, cool.”
The bazaar goes from an odd little Ren Faire-esque market to a writhing mass of supes shifting, changing, and gathering magic to defend themselves as they scatter through the main aisle. My gaze flicks to the demons we’d just met and I grin a little as I realize that most of them are also hybrids. Their Prince is now half-shifted to a dark, ominous looking dragon, while the others are super-sized versions of a crow, a peacock, and a cobra. Magic swirls around the colorful bird and smaller reptile, while the crow and the dragon take off into the sky.
Now it’s a party.
“I’m going up, Iggy!” I wink at the mage, letting my wings break free as I push off the ground and into the air. He nods,understanding that I need him to watch Slade, and I follow the demons as they head for the rampaging orc with intense focus.
Jasper shifts fully, his body turning into an enormous black dragon that looks ready to bite the head off of our foe as soon as he gets the chance. The crow gets even bigger as it peels off, heading for the tent instead, and I frown until I see the giant companion to my mate roaring into our airspace. Kaspar is trading places with the emo demon, joining their prince and me as we barrel towards the threat.
“What’s the weakest point in its hide?” I shout at the two very different-looking dragons on either side of me. The black one jerks its head, baring its neck in a specific way that Ithinkmeans I should aim for that point on the orc. Of course, dragon necks are long and muscled while orcs are huge and thick, which is going to make figuring that out a trick.
