Page 35 of The Magic of Eternity
Balor entered, followed by five other demons—three males and two females. Introductions were made quickly. All of them claimed their devotion to Bram in the Carlisle monarchy. Their excitement about seeing the new queen taking her rightful place. Their fealty to protect our family, including our unborn children.
“I do think it would be best,” Balor began, “if we were to relocate to the servants’ wing. There’s less of a chance of Asrael’s cronies messing with us if we’re in that wing. The issue is just getting there.”
I looked over at my brothers as we had a silent conversation. I agreed with Balor though. Right now, we were sitting ducks—I was concerned that we’d be found out if we stayed here. Cam crossed his arms across his chest, thinking everything over, and eventually gave a small nod.
I turned back to Balor. “What do we need to do to get there?”
“I can escort you. If we move as too large of a group, we’re more likely to garner attention.”
Between Fischer and myself, we’d be able to sense if people were approaching, and Fischer could use his affinity to direct them the other way. The only issue with this would be, of course, if somebody had a strong enough shield in place to block his persuasion.
“I feel it is a risk we’ll have to take. Not only is it safer for us there, but it has an entry that leads directly out to the courtyard. We won’t find a better option for tomorrow morning,” Balor explained, confident in his plan.
“Well then...” Cam scratched his rippling torso and widened his stance, his large chest flexing, as if he was just struggling to keep the beast within him on lockdown. I knew the feeling; Bagheera had not stopped his relentless pacing. He was desperate for the kill, couldn’t wait to feel the collapse of our enemy’s throats beneath the force of his jaws. “Lead the way, Balor. Let’s do this.”
The four ofus stuck close together as we made our way through the castle halls. Cam, Fish, and I refused to split up, and Balor had sent the other five demons to make their way on their own. We moved in silence. Whether that was because we didn’t want to chance anybody overhearing our conversation, or because each of us was lost to our own thoughts, I couldn’t say.
Napoleon was riding on my shoulder, his tiny body vibrating with excitement. Who would’ve thought that this tiny mouse, with an insane ego and a serious obsession with murder, would be the one who’d helped save us? I was convinced that he must have been a man in another life.
As we crept through the stone hallways, my thoughts turned to Sprout. How big would her belly be by now? I thought back to that day in the kitchen, before we left to come here and everything went off track. In a matter of hours, her stomach had gone from slightly swollen to obviously pregnant, and it had been a whole month since then. I had no doubt that she would take my breath away when I finally got to lay eyes on her.
I pushed my love toward her through our mate bond. I couldn’t speak with her right now, but I needed her to know, to never doubt my devotion and my total obsession for her. My body needed to feel hers. No barriers between us. Just skin on skin, our magic thrumming. I smiled and pressed a fist against my chest as the love I had sent out to her returned to me tenfold. My beautiful mate was thinking about me too, assuring me that her feelings were the same. Our love was infinite.
Balor and Fischer were leading us when suddenly Fish’s arm snapped out to pause our progress, raising a fist the signal for us to halt. I craned my neck to listen closely, focusing on hearing whatever it was he was sensing. Murmuring conversation. Soft footsteps. Whoever was approaching was not very close, and eventually, the conversation started moving away.
After a few more seconds, Fish dropped his fist and gave a curt nod, and we were on the move once again. We dodged several more demons in our journey to the servants’ wing. Thank gods that we had Fischer with us, with his mind control affinity. I was able to hear them approaching thanks to my shifter hearing, but without Fish’s skills, we would’ve needed to find places to hide and this whole thing would have taken much longer than it needed to.
After about twenty minutes of carefully calculated walking, we reached the servants’ wing, and Balor turned around with a grin on his face. We’d made it. My eyes took in the large archway and massive double wooden doors that blocked our view of the other side.
“This is it. This is where everybody in service of the castle resides. And I would say with confidence that ninety-eight percent of the demons that you will see behind this door will pledge their allegiance to the true king and queen, and the queen’s mates. Let me make some introductions, and we can continue formulating a plan. Time is running out—the sun will soon rise.” Balor extended his hand, wrapping it around the massive metal door handle.
Suddenly, the doors blew open with a force that had to have been magical. We all took several swift steps back. My stomach sank when I saw who was behind that blast.
“Laurie,” Fischer growled, and she had the audacity to grin at him.
“Hello, Fischer. Still alive, I see.” Long vines coiled around her arms like living snakes, and I saw my brother stiffen beside me as he watched those vines, the very things that had once taken him from this earth.
“Don’t let her get inside your head,” I barked. Grabbing Fischer by the nape of his neck, I attempted to shake him out of whatever memory he was currently lost in.
“Get out of here, Laurie.” Cam’s voice was low and steady. In fact, it was so steady that a chill raced down my spine, for this was when our boss was most deadly.
“Fischer and I have a bond now, boys.” More of those damn vines circled around her body, swirling up and down her legs. “Don’t you remember? I killed him. That created a bond between us, one that will never be broken.”
Fischer snarled at her words, his entire body shaking. “The only bond I have, bitch, is the one between myself and your daughter and these men right here. I cannotwaitto see you dead.”
Laurie threw her head back in laughter. The sound was pure evil. “Fischer, Fischer, Fischer,” she mocked. “I’m immune to your powers. How do you think I got so close without you knowing? There’s nothing you can do to me.”
“If that’s the case,” I growled, “then there’s nothing you can do to us now, either.” Her eyes widened slightly, betraying the fact that this was news to her. I smirked. “That’s right. We have our powers, the same as you. So tell me—who do you think would win hand-to-hand? Because let me assure you, it would take me three steps to reach you, one second to grab your neck, and one millisecond to snap it.” From the corner of my eye, I could see electricity popping from Cam’s hands. I knew how badly he wanted to fry this bitch. I did too.
Laurie’s eyes went from me to Cam to Fischer, and even over our shoulder, likely taking in Balor behind us. Without warning, she opened her mouth and let out a truly horrific, ear-piercing scream. We couldn’t even reach out and grab her because the instinct to cover our ears was just too strong.Is she part banshee?I had no doubt that anybody within an even remotely close radius would have heard it. Thankfully, it didn’t last long.
In fact, it cut off quite abruptly. Worried that we were busted, I lifted my eyes and dropped my hands. Laurie was sprawled out on the floor, facedown with a small pool of blood spilling out around her face. The large door that she’d been standing in front of now had five masked males standing in the archway.
“Who the fuck are you?” Cam demanded, stepping forward closer to these... What they were—demons? Mages?
“Fuck are we? Who the fuck areyou?” the male in the middle asked, also stepping forward. His mask was all black, with blue-green stitching resembling a crude mouth and crosses for eyes. All five of them wore masks, each mask completely different.
“Holy shit,’ Balor said in awe behind us. “You’re here.”
