“Nonsense!” Elder Alastor pounded a fist on the island. “She isn’t ready to handle the seraphim on her own.”
“I won’t be alone. I get a plus one.” I waved the invitation. “Rafe can accompany me. He’s half seraph. He’ll be a good choice.”
Elder Alastor huffed in exasperation. “You cannot trust the seraphim. You will not emerge from Dominion unscathed.”
“We trusted Elder Sam,” I pointed out.
“He was different and you know it,” Elder Alastor shot back.
“And what about my mother?” I asked. “She was different too. Who knows how many more are like them? The only way to figure it out is to go and meet them.”
Elder Alastor threw up his hands. “Well, we’ve managed to keep you alive for eighteen years. I suppose that’s the best we could hope for.”
“Stop being so dramatic,” Elder Kali snapped. “Can’t you see what a brave decision this is?”
“Foolish is more like it,” Elder Alastor said. “Sam is barely gone and she’s proposing to break bread with his torturers.”
Elder Bahaira placed a hand on his shoulder. “Every seraph in Dominion isn’t responsible for what happened to him, or to Cassia.”
“It’s not like I’d go for fun,” I said. “I don’t think I’d even enjoy a ball. Much too fancy and full of relatives that will look down their noses at me because I’m only half seraph.”
“You’d meet your grandparents,” Elder Bahaira said. “Perhaps they’re eager to right past wrongs and welcome you into the fold.”
“Or slay her where she stands,” Elder Alastor said.
I eyed him closely. I had a feeling that Elder Sam had confided in him that my grandfather, King Gustav, had been the one to approve Sam’s punishment.
“If her grandparents were so wonderful, her mother would not have felt compelled to send her away for her own safety,” Elder Alastor said.
“To be fair, she seemed most concerned with the prophecy’s impact on my life,” I said. “Maybe she never gave my grandparents a chance to voice an opinion.”
“As Cassia said, she’ll take Rafe with her,” Elder Asago said. “The invitation allows for an additional guest.”
“If it’s in my honor, I think I should be allowed as many guests as I like,” I said. “Maybe I’ll bring the entire academy. How do you think the royal seraphim would take it if I brought a hundred or so cambions to bounce around on their sacred clouds?”
“Cassia…” Elder Kali said.
I waved a hand. “Kidding.”
“You should tell Ana,” Elder Alastor said. “See what she thinks.”
I was sure I already knew the answer, but I complied all the same. I found the seraph on the sofa in the library with an open book and Gretel purring on her lap. “Traitor,” I said to the cat.
Gretel meowed in response.
Ana gave me a wary look. “Sounds like an unpleasant conversation in the kitchen.”
“It’s how we hold discussions. You’ll get used to it.” I dropped the invitation onto the open page in front of her. “August seems to have made his move.”
She examined the invitation. “I see.” Her eyes met mine. “What do you think?”
“I think that August needs to be held accountable for his actions and I’d love to be the one to do it,” I said.
“What about what Rafe said? He’s right, you know. You’ll need more than accusations.”
“I know, and I’m a half demon. They’ll believe August over me for the sole reason that I’m not a full-blooded seraph.” As though the amount of demon blood you had coursing through your veins made you more willing to lie.
“I wish I could say you were wrong,” Ana said. “We have a way to go when it comes to embracing those different from us. On the other hand, you also have royal blood and that’s not to be underestimated. The king and queen have their prejudices like many other royals.”
I dropped onto the cushion beside her. “What makes them so sure I’m Helena’s daughter? Won’t they want to give me a DNA test or something?”
“The coven already did, in a sense,” Ana said. “The Tree of Knowledge never lies.”
I stroked Gretel’s thick fur. “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course.”
“What do you think my mother would do if she were in my shoes?”
Ana handed me the invitation and set aside the book. “From what I observed, I suspect she would want to do everything in her power to protect her loved ones.”
I nodded. “And August remains a threat as long as he lives.”
Elder Asago hurried into the library, his hair askew and a napkin hanging from his shirt collar. “Smoke is rising from Trenton.”
My chest tightened. “Trenton, New Jersey? Do you think it’s another attack?”
“It seems so,” Elder Asago said. “You should go, Cassia.”
Elder Bahaira appeared in the doorway behind him. “Perhaps we should wait for an official report from the Watchers. If it’s only just happened…”
I set down the cat. “Then I might be able to catch them in the act.”
In the wake of Elder Sam’s death, I knew it would be difficult for the Elders to embrace my impending freedom. Their instincts would be to hold me close until the sense of danger had passed. But that was impossible. There would always be danger, maybe not of this magnitude, but there wasn’t a realm in existence that didn’t involve some semblance of danger.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go with Rafe and Liesel,” I said.
“Take weapons,” Elder Asago said. “As many as you can carry.”
I waved my hands. “My best weapons are the ones I don’t need to carry.”
“Please be careful,” Elder Bahaira said. “I can’t take another loss.”
I flinched. “Me neither.”
Despite New Hope, I wasn’t prepared for this. The sight of familiar ash-covered victims greeted us. Children playing soccer in a park with their parents cheering them on. Cars scattered on the roads, their metal husks dusted with ash. The city had been obliterated. I wondered how the humans would choose to view the situation. They couldn’t blame another freak dump of volcanic ash or nuclear power plant meltdown, could they? The fact that there were no police or hazmat suits in sight spoke volumes. They were keeping their distance until they had a viable theory—or one that they could pass off to the masses as believable.
“This is so much worse than New Hope,” Rafe said.
“Only because the city’s bigger,” I said. “Same devastation. Larger scale.”
He flicked a glance at me. “You sound oddly unemotional.”
I hugged myself. “Warm heart. Cool head. That’s how we win this.” Now wasn’t the time to break down. That would have to come later.
“Is that what they teach you at the academy?” Liesel asked, stepping over debris from a high-rise building. Some of the metal had melted, leaving the remaining pieces misshapen.
“It’s what some of the Elders taught me,” I said. Even Elder Alastor, in his own way.
“I don’t think anyone is winning this.” Rafe observed the carnage with his hands on his hips. “Even the monster that orchestrated this event.”
“I’ve lost a part of my soul just standing here,” Liesel admitted. “These people had no idea what was coming. They look so normal.”
“I guess that’s the silver lining.” Rafe’s eyes softened. “That they had no idea.”
“I would want to know,” I said, “if only so that I could say goodbye.” I’d had far too many goodbyes stolen from me in my short lifetime.
“We should look for clues while we can,” Liesel said. “The bodies won’t stay here forever.”
There were so many this time, though. I had no idea how the bounders would tackle their removal.
“What was Madam Maxine’s vision again?” Rafe asked. He bent down to scrutinize scorch marks on the ground.
I plucked the memory from my mind, grateful to sidestep t
he ones of New Hope that today’s event had triggered. “More fire,” I said. “Scorched earth. Devastation.”
Rafe resumed a standing position. “A bleak future and many needless deaths.” He blew out a breath. “I’m starting to think she’s on to something.”
“Fire and brimstone,” I added. “The earth splits and the sky bleeds feathers.”
“I haven’t seen any evidence of an earthquake or feathers,” Liesel said.
Rafe walked toward a bench where an ash-covered cat was curled beneath it. “I don’t know that these visions are literal.”
“It could just mean birds in the area that were killed by the magic and fell to their deaths,” I said.
“Bleak future sounds pretty literal to me,” Liesel said. She strode toward a dry hole in the ground that spanned fifty feet. A man with a fishing pole stood at the edge, suggesting that, earlier today, the hole had been a pond.
“What if we’ve been looking at this all wrong?” Rafe asked.
I looked sideways at him. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve been eyeing the king or rogue demons with ambition, but what if someone else is trying to blame the king in order to ignite a war?” he asked.
“Who would want to start a war?” Liesel asked.
A strong gust of wind ripped through the park and Rafe tucked his wings behind him. “Who was so desperate to find Cassia that they were willing to kill Jessup and countless others?”
I blanched. “Dominion?”
“Think about it,” Rafe said. “Feathers bleed from the sky. Seraphim could’ve inflicted this.”
Liesel’s face turned to stone. “How could you even suggest such a thing? We work on their behalf.”
“And we also work on their behalf,” he said, pointing to a family on a picnic blanket.
“If someone in Dominion is responsible for this…” Liesel broke off, unable to complete the thought.
“It has to be August,” I said. “He’s vile enough and ambitious enough.”
Liesel shook her head. “I can’t imagine that this is somehow part of a Dominion master plan.” She paced the length of the crater. “What could they possibly hope to achieve? It’s not like they want to expand their territory. Dominion doesn’t even like seraphim to live outside of the realm.”
“Maybe it isn’t an official Dominion position,” Rafe said. “It could be that August is acting on his own behalf. The royals in Silver City might have no idea what he’s up to.”
“But if they think the Nether king is responsible for these attacks, they’ll eventually send more support to the mortal realm,” Liesel said.
“Then maybe it’s a power grab within Dominion and August is using the Nether to further that goal,” I said. “If the royals are focused on a war with the Nether, then they’re not tending to their own backyard. It would be the perfect time for a wily seraph to seize control.”
“And then you take care of the Nether king and suddenly August is ruling the universe,” Liesel said.
Rafe frowned. “Do you think Trenton was chosen because of you?”
I shrugged. “It’s plausible.”
“Then why New Hope?” he asked. “You don’t have a history there.”
A memory slid into place. My mother on a bridge. Ducks in the water below. Elder Sam’s multiple visits. “I don’t, but my parents do.” It was one of the places they’d met in secret that was safely outside of the Nether and Dominion. It was where they’d been happy. I strangled a cry. “By the devil, this is about me, Rafe. All these people died because of me.”
Rafe closed the gap between us and wrapped his arms around me. “You did not harm these people, Cassia.”
“Why would August try to drag you into the dispute?” Liesel asked.
I leaned against him. “He knows about the prophecy. It could be part of his plan to win me over to their side. Maybe he thinks I’ll blame the King of the Nether for this and head there to dethrone him.”
“But how would that fit in with keeping the seraphim royals occupied?” Liesel asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, more intensely than I meant to. “I’m thinking out loud. I haven’t got all the answers, okay?”
“No one does, Cassia.” Rafe threaded his fingers through mine. “The failure isn’t yours. It’s ours. We’re the ones tasked with protecting bounders.”
“Speak for yourself,” Liesel said. “Whatever this is—it’s beyond our pay grade. Our role is to protect humans from being drained by vampires and turning into werewolves. We haven’t been trained for something at this level.”
“Who has?” I asked. “Even the old conflicts managed to keep humans out of the fray. These attacks are deliberate. They’re meant to provoke a response.”
“If this keeps up, the mortal realm will be faced with knowledge they’re not ready for.” Liesel tossed aside the fender of a crushed car.
“If this keeps up, they’ll have more than knowledge to worry about,” Rafe said.
I scanned the horizon for any sign of movement. Madam Maxine had been lucky. Maybe a psychic or two in Trenton would be spared as well.
I thought of the invitation from Dominion. “How would you feel about a visit to Dominion, Rafe? There’s going to be a ball in my honor. I think it’s time to meet this August in person. Ask a few questions.”
Rafe’s mouth quirked. “You should consider accessorizing. Perhaps a bejeweled crossbow that matches your earrings.”
I angled my head. “Are you sure? The last time I suggested going to Dominion, you said we need more proof.”
Rafe glanced at the horrors around us. “I’ve seen enough. It’s time to take our concerns to the Silver City. At the very least, August needs to answer for the deaths we know about.”
Liesel’s gaze darted from Rafe to me. “You know I’m usually up for anything, but we’re talking about Dominion.” She focused on me. “You don’t know what it’s like, Cassia.”
“Sure I do,” I said. “It’s a place full of harps and floating on clouds.”
“The clouds are accurate, but the harps…” Liesel cringed. “It’s not exactly high on the favored instrument list.”
“The seraphim won’t take kindly to accusations of misconduct, especially by a trusted advisor,” Rafe said. “If we make a move against August there, we have to tread carefully.”
I thought of what the king did to Elder Sam when he felt betrayed by him. Rafe was right. The seraphim could be as brutal as they were beautiful. “We just have to hope that if we reveal what August has been up to behind their backs, that the royals turn on him and not us.”
“Unless some of them are in on it,” Rafe said.
My anger flared and I felt a rush of magical energy. “If they’re in on it, then feathers will bleed from the sky because I will murder every last one of them.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Wow,” Rafe said. He observed me with a look of pure astonishment. “I mean, I already thought you were beautiful, but this is next level.”
I glanced down at my dress. “One wardrobe change and you’re smitten?”
He hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me close. “I was already smitten. You know that.” He brushed his lips against mine. “And now all of Dominion will know it because I’m not going to be able to keep my eyes off you.”
“I don’t mind who knows,” I said. “I just wish the circumstances were better.” I wished I could stay pressed against him all evening. The crook of his arm was quickly becoming my happy place.
“How are you feeling about your first trip to Dominion?” he asked. His expression crumpled. “Oh gods. That’s not technically true, is it?”
I offered a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. It’s not like I remember being born.”
“Have you ever flown in a fancy dress?”
“Not really,” I said. “I doubt I’ll be comfortable.” The breeze would probably shoot straight up my skirt. “What about weapons?”
“They’ll never a
dmit us with weapons,” he said. “They’ll check for them.”
“Even me?” I asked. “The ball’s in my honor.”
“And you’re still a strange demonspawn to them,” he said. “Weapons will make them distrust you.”
“I didn’t realize they were so paranoid in Dominion,” I said.
“They know about New Hope and probably Trenton by now,” he said. “That will ratchet up their fears over the Nether’s expansion plans to an all-time high.”
I removed the daggers from beneath my dress and set them on a nearby table. “There you go, but I’m not getting rid of my non-weapon weapons. I’m far too attached to them.”
He grabbed my hands and brought each one to his lips. “As am I.”
A wave of tenderness washed over me. “Promise me that if anything happens, you’ll go.”
“Go where?”
“Anywhere,” I said. “To safety. I don’t want you risking your life for me. There’s been quite enough of that going around.”
He tightened his hold on my hands. “If you think for one second that I would ever abandon you in your hour of need, then you need a crash course in Rafe 101 at that academy of yours.”
Any other time, I would have laughed at the idea of Rafe 101, but not right now. “Rafe, I mean it.”
He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “So do I. I will not, under any circumstances, leave you behind. I don’t care if they pluck every feather from my wings with poisoned tweezers, I’m not going anywhere.”
I thought of the stumps on Elder Sam’s shoulders and my heart burned. “I love you, Rafe.”
“And I will risk torture and agonizing death because I’m mildly fond of you.” Grinning, he released my hands and slotted his fingers through my hair. “And because I am deeply, doggedly in love with you.”
It was a perfect kiss, full of passion and promise. Only when we broke apart did I ask the question that nagged at me. “Did you say doggedly?”
He cracked another smile. “What’s wrong with doggedly?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem quite right.”
Demonspawn Academy: Trial Three Page 13