by Olivia Ash
She thought of all her princes again. If she was being honest with herself, she was enamored of all of them and for very different reasons.
Her decision was supposed to be simple. A matter of allegiance. But damn it all if she didn’t want each and every one of them. She still wasn’t sure they would agree to all of them staying, but she knew she couldn’t let any of them go. Especially Kaiser, now that she gave herself to him.
She touched her lips, remembering Kaiser’s kisses.
She didn’t regret this moment with Kaiser. Never in a million years.
The only regret she had was not killing Mara. She would pay for what she had done to her and Blair. She would kill the demoness once and for all. But she needed a plan. And that meant a decision regarding the princes needed to be made soon.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Steele
“Ten points to the awesome team, zero points to the not-awesome team,” Steele said, laughing as he got the ball to his side of the court again.
He had smashed all ten crystals on Damien’s side already. There were ten more multi-colored crystals to target, and he could finally destroy the orb, which was the main goal of the game. And as far as sports went, meracoan was definitely his favorite. Especially when he played against Damien, who always lost. Steele wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.
Damien bent forward, hands on his knees, panting. “I’m just letting you win, little brother. I hope you feel good about yourself.”
Steele’s smile faltered. “You’re kidding.”
Along the fortress wall beside the courtyard, Mordecai chuckled and addressed Damien. “Try winning, then.”
Damien shook his head. “This game is stupid.”
Steele pointed a finger at his elder brother. “You think it’s stupid and yet, you keep playing with me.”
“It’s because he’s competitive to a fault,” Kaiser said, leaning on the wall beside Mordecai.
Damien ignored Kaiser’s comment. Steele supposed he just didn’t want to admit it.
“I’m tired,” Damien said.
One side of Mordecai’s lips tilted upward. “Wuss.”
“Not of the game,” Damien said. “I’m tired of losing.”
Mordecai and Kaiser looked at each other and then at Damien. They spoke in unison, “Wuss.”
“Hey, you should join us,” Steele said, beckoning to Mordecai and Kaiser. “Maybe Damien can beat one of you.”
“Fat chance,” Mordecai said, but he walked to the court and began setting up Damien’s knocked down crystals.
“I haven’t played meracoan in a long time,” Kaiser said, also departing his post to go to Steele’s side of the court.
Steele was overjoyed, but he would never let that show on the outside. He missed this game, too. This was the first time he had played in years. But he didn’t want his brothers to know that.
“Mordecai can be your teammate,” he said to Damien. “Maybe then you’ll have a chance.”
Damien puckered his face but helped Mordecai fix the broken crystals by pressing the buttons on the brackets where they were supposed to be placed. Damien pressed a button and the bracket pulled back shattered pieces of crystal and recreated a solid one, forming an angular gem that sparkled with red, yellow, and green.
Steele and Kaiser watched as they fixed their side of the court, since nothing had gotten destroyed on Steele’s side.
“I bet ten gold bars he’s going to cheat again,” Kaiser said, jutting his chin in Mordecai’s direction.
Steele snickered. True, the last time they had played, and all the times they had played before that, Mordecai had cheated. Perhaps things had changed. Steele accepted the challenge, not really thinking he would win, but for the sake of opposition. “I bet you twenty.”
They shook on it and Kaiser threw the meracoan ball at Damien. “You get the first shot.”
Damien took the ball with a grim look in his eyes. “I accept your pity.”
Steele shook his head, smiling. It was like nothing had changed. He couldn’t even remember why they were supposed to hate each other. His thoughts drifted to Sadie, grateful to the demon queen for reuniting the four lost brothers.
The four of them got into position. Steele stood in front of the crystals to defend them and readied himself for Damien and Mordecai’s offense. He caught Mordecai looking at the orb behind him, and Steele immediately felt like he was going to lose the bet with Kaiser.
Steele blocked the view of the first crystal because if it got destroyed, any of the nine crystals behind it were fair game. If that happened, they could easily lose. Damien kicked the ball, approaching Steele and Kaiser’s court whilst continuing to transport the ball with his feet. Damien’s eyebrows tilted down in concentration, keeping track of the ball as he kicked it toward Steele’s court. Alongside Damien, Mordecai ran toward them, too, keeping an eye on the ball, the opponent, and the target at the same time.
Kaiser blocked Mordecai’s path.
But it was no use.
Mordecai shifted into shadow and disappeared. The ball Damien kicked disappeared, too. Damien groaned. “Not again.”
Steele felt a breeze pass by him as he saw mist dart behind Kaiser to the direction of the crystals. All at once, Steele and Kaiser’s twenty meracoan crystals exploded. Mordecai reappeared for a second only to shift into smoke again. The shadow that was Mordecai rushed to the meracoan orb and it exploded, bursting into a million pieces so catastrophically, Steele raised his arms to protect his face from getting hit by the miniscule shards. He noticed Kaiser summon a wall of smoke, and Steele was grateful for it.
Kaiser let go of his casting of the smoke wall, and the shattered pieces that were embedded in it dropped to the ground.
“You owe me ten gold bars,” Kaiser said beside him.
Steele turned around to find Damien gaping. In front of them, Mordecai appeared with the ball in his hands, smirking.
“Predictable,” Steele said and laughed. He grabbed the ball from Mordecai’s hands.
“You have to forgive me,” Mordecai said. “I haven’t done that in a long time.”
He looked at the obliterated orb with an expression that seemed like longing. Steele found himself sighing.
Mordecai faced them but only stared at the ground. “I missed it.”
None of them spoke for a minute.
Damien cleared his throat. “I have to go.”
Steele scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, you probably have more meetings to go to or something.”
Mordecai looked at Steele. “Farewell, brothers.” He shifted back to shadow and disappeared.
“Good game,” Kaiser said, patting Steele on the back and walked to the direction of the fortress.
“I should get changed,” Damien said, not meeting his eyes. And he flew, leaving Steele alone in the courtyard.
“Good game,” he said to himself, tossing the ball in the air with his knee. He tossed the ball a few more times and walked back to his room with the meracoan ball pinned between his arm and his side.
He sighed, wishing they would play a few more games at least. But he smiled, thinking he would never forget this momentary reunion. He remembered all those times they had played in the past, fondly recalling how Damien kept losing, Mordecai kept cheating, and Steele kept losing to bets with Kaiser.
Chapter Thirty
Sadie
Hobson appeared. He held a square, wooden box in his arms as he entered her bedroom. Its dimensions appeared about twelve inches long. “You have a package, Sadie. I found it at the front gate, and it’s addressed to you. I already checked for wards and spells. It’s clean.”
Eyebrows pinched together, Sadie took the box from Hobson. Her butler kept his distance, silently standing in the doorway.
She sat on her bed, placing the box on her lap. She unwrapped the package warily, wondering what the hell it was. She opened the lid to find flaming hair strands surrounding a small pile of daggers with the outline of
a flame carved in their pommels.
“No,” she said, her entire body tensing.
She knew what this meant. The ifrits she had sent after Mara were dead.
She remembered Kiana, the first ifrit she had met, how she demonstrated her ability, how eager the ifrit had been to be dispatched on a mission. Sadie’s ears burned.
Underneath the weapons, the corner of a piece of paper peeked out. She slowly removed it, finding a written note.
Her hands shook as she began to read it. She took a steadying breath to compose herself.
It wasn’t even a fair fight.
I could have killed them as soon as they attacked, you know. But I didn’t.
Sadie gripped the paper. She already knew who wrote this.
Mara.
She continued reading.
I kept them in a cell for days until they starved, extracting information from them. But they wouldn’t talk, the wretches. Said they were loyal to the demon queen. To you. A human.
I told them they’d be fearsome and revered warriors if they surrendered to me, but they just spat at my face.
Can you believe it? They spat. At my face. The audacity. I bound them in chains, hungry, weak, and alone. And still, they had the nerve.
My dear Sadie, you should know that they died the most horrible death there is. I made them suffer. I cut their fingers off, one by one. I flayed their skin, inch by inch. Oh, the screams they made were music to my ears.
And soon, it will be your turn, Sadie. Before I yank my amulet from your chest, I will make sure you scream even louder than they did. You will beg for your life. And even then, I will just laugh.
She stood, crumpling the piece of paper and throwing it in the package. She closed the lid. She couldn’t stomach seeing the hair strands and weapons. Their deaths were her fault.
Her nails dug into the package. She clenched her teeth and fire erupted from her hands, consuming the box. The bright orange flames she casted grew hotter, turning into a white-blue color. The package combusted. The flames of the ifrit hair joined the fire in her palm, and the iron daggers melted from the sheer heat. Melted metal that had used to be daggers dripped to the floor.
She seethed, letting smoke seep in her room from the walls. The room shook, the paintings and adornments along the walls crashed to the floor. The glass from some of the framed decorations shattered. She had sent perfectly trustworthy ifrits to their deaths. Sadie’s breathing grew heavy. She couldn’t stand having blood on her hands. She sat on the edge of her bed.
She took in deep breaths, calming herself. She dropped her hands to her sides, letting the flames die down.
She looked at Hobson and whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Hobson nodded, and he held such sadness in his eyes. Sadie also felt guilty for her outburst.
“I’ll fix the mess I made,” Sadie said. “But can you please help me meet with the families? And please call the men and tell them to meet me at my study.”
Hobson smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course.”
When Hobson left her chambers, she stood to rehang the fallen paintings and wall decorations. She swept the broken glass and collected them in a bag. This had calmed her further, finding cleaning therapeutic. As for the molten metal, she might need Hobson’s help with that since it had hardened again and was now stuck on her floorboards.
She changed into black trousers and a simple pink, button-up shirt and walked to the study to find the four princes waiting for her. They sat on plush, yellow couches embroidered with petals and spiraling leaves. Their eyes followed her movements as she entered, looking at her with what seemed like worry.
She ignored it. “I need to know how to kill a demoness.”
The princes exchanged glances.
“Why?” Damien asked.
“I think you know why.”
He knitted his brow. “Sadie, if you plan on running off to danger again, we need to know.” Damien’s voice grew deeper. “You’re not putting yourself in harm’s way like you did the last time.”
She pouted. “Why do you care?”
Damien prowled toward her. He seemed to growl. And the way he stared at her made her want to shrink. “Trust me, I care very much.”
Sadie didn’t know what that meant, but she sighed, relenting. “I need to know how to kill Mara.”
Steele stood and approached her. “Is this the demoness that attacked us two days ago?”
She nodded, her lips sealed in a grim line.
“Does she have any enhancements?” Mordecai asked.
She remembered shooting a round of bullets at Mara and how it didn’t harm her. Sadie twisted her mouth. “She does. It’s subtle, but her hide is almost impenetrable.”
Damien clucked his tongue and shook his head. “That’s a powerful enchantment. It would take an incredibly powerful artifact to kill her.”
She hid her disappointment. “What kind of artifact?”
Before the guys could answer, Hobson flung the door open, eyes wide. “There’s an angel at the front gate.”
Sadie’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you say angel?”
Hobson nodded.
Steele rolled his eyes and groaned. “Angels are douchebags.”
“What’s her name?” Damien asked Hobson.
“I think she said her name’s Evangeline,” Hobson said.
Damien pursed his lips. “If angels are douchebags, she’s the epitome of douchebaggery.”
Sadie didn’t feel like meeting more of these creatures. She addressed her butler. “I’ve had enough visitors knocking on my door. Dismiss her.”
Kaiser cleared his throat. “Not sure that’s a good idea, Sadie. I think you should meet with the angel.”
“Why?”
“Evangeline is a scout,” Damien said. “She’s a messenger, nothing more.”
“Fine.” Sadie faced Hobson again. “Bring her up here, please.”
After a few minutes, Hobson opened the door to lead a sensual-looking woman inside. Clad in white armor that barely covered her body, she entered the room with her chin tilted high, looking at Sadie and the princes with disdain. Her sun-kissed hair billowed around her finely-chiseled face, and her golden, feathery wings were folded on her back. She eyed Sadie’s form from top to bottom.
Though the princes convinced her that she should entertain this guest, she could feel how tense they were, shifting uncomfortably in the angel’s presence. Mordecai didn’t bother to mask his revulsion, glaring openly at Evangeline.
“Why don’t you have horns?” the angel asked, crossing her arms and quirking an eyebrow. “Are you a human-demon hybrid?”
“So, what if she is?” Mordecai said, growling.
Kaiser placed a hand on Mordecai’s chest, silently imploring his brother to back down.
Sadie stared at Evangeline, not at all rattled by the angel’s haughty and discourteous demeanor. One, she had been warned. And two, Sadie was getting used to having guests with personality disorders.
“What brings such an esteemed guest to my fortress?” Sadie asked, smiling in the fake, polite way she had used to address Zagan.
“I’m just curious,” Evangeline said as she lifted one hand and examined her nails, not even looking at Sadie anymore. Maybe the angel thought Sadie wasn’t worth her attention.
Then why did she even bother coming here?
The angel blew on a nail. “You’re not as intimidating as I expected, without the horns.”
“Look,” Steele said with a sigh. “If you don’t have anything important to say, why don’t you go on your way? We’re all tired of this.”
Sadie looked at Steele, not expecting him to be the one to send Evangeline away like that. She also looked at the other princes, and they wore the same tight-lipped expression. They all seemed as impatient as Steele to see Evangeline on her way.
The angel could have been a demon with how her features twisted to an ugly snarl. “Fine.” Evangeline exited the study without another word
.
Sadie snorted. Wow. She turned to Hobson. “Make sure she leaves immediately and doesn’t loiter around the palace.”
When her butler left to carry out her order, Sadie sat down on the couch and leaned back on the seat.
“What did she mean by human-demon hybrid?” she asked the guys.
“It just means you are part-human, part-demon,” Damien said.
Kaiser sat beside her. “You’ll probably change eventually.”
Steele sat at her other side. “And we’re behind you, even if you don’t. All right?”
She smiled, feeling touched that they stood up for her. She knew they were four of the most powerful demons in the underworld. And for them to stand by her like that, she knew it was both a statement and a sacrifice.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sadie
Sadie sat on her throne, watching as the family members of the fallen ifrits walked the length of her throne room. There were a few men and a few women, some holding the hands of children walking alongside them. Mothers, fathers, siblings, daughters, and sons.
Sadie swallowed the hard lump that had formed in her throat and wished away the guilt-filled tears that stung her eyes.
She only knew Kiana from the ifrits she had sent, but she had asked Hobson who the rest were. Irithel, Zoe, Adela, and Edmund. Their names deserved to be remembered.
When the group reached the foot of the dais, they bowed in unison. Sadie stepped down from her throne and approached them. The woman in front seemed to be on the verge of tears. She had white strands of flaming hair and a slight stoop on her upper back. Sadie assumed she was elderly. But what caught her attention was how much she resembled Kiana. Sadie stepped closer and embraced the woman. The woman stiffened in her arms. The ifrits behind her stared at Sadie with wide eyes and shifted uneasily from their posts.