InSpire (Spire Chronicles Book 1)

by April Wood

  “Maybe not tonight?”

  “I’m trying. I’m just so distracted.”

  “I know, love.”

  “Maybe we just try to sleep?”

  Darian climbed back up her body and wrapped her up with his arms. The heat of his body made her settle down. She closed her eyes and desperately tried to sleep. It was only an hour later that found her pacing the floor. She hadn’t even bothered to put on a robe. She was so preoccupied. By now they should have had some word from the soldiers. Nothing.

  “Come to bed, love.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Then we have to do something. Your pacing is going to be the death of me.” He clamored out of bed. He walked over to her with the reddest eyes. He was full of passion and anger.

  “What can we do?”

  “We don the royal armor and find him ourselves.”

  “Fine.”

  They walked to the closet together. They both put on black. She wore skin tight leggings and a shirt to match. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt. They were ready for their armor. They walked together back to the throne room. They arrived to find only a few of the advisors up for the day. It wasn’t even dawn yet. They didn’t expect to find too many around, but they didn’t them. They were going to suit up and take care of business. Darian trusted Athena explicitly. He wouldn’t go to war with anyone else by his side.

  “Good morning, Your Majesties.” Ubrene saw them first.

  “Fetch the royal armor.”

  He bowed again then sent a servant into the next room. He came back with two others carrying Athena’s and Darian’s armor. Hers was that of royalty and Darian’s was that of the royal guard. Darian was thrilled to see his again. It wasn’t the royal armor Athena was expecting for him, but it was short notice.

  It took the servants a full ten minutes to dress them. Athena had forgotten how involved the armor was. Once the breast plate was secure she called for her sword. It had been centuries since she called it to her side. It took a full minute for it to materialize. Athena wasn’t really sure it would come to her when she called it. The last time she used it she was cutting her wings off. Darian called his sword quickly. It wasn’t the first she had seen him do this. It was natural for him. It would be natural for her soon.

  “Shall we?” Darian bowed to her and held out his hand. Athena had a hard time not staring at him. She had always loved him in his uniform. It was one of the things she had first been attracted to. He was gorgeous in it and naked. Athena shook her head. She had to get back on task.

  Darian smiled at her. His eyes were quickly shifting from red to purple. Seeing her in the armor was a complete turn on, but he wanted to kill those witches. He would take his wife to bed when her father was safe. If it took him a month he would make up for the honeymoon they were missing out on.

  “Yes.”

  “I must say you look divine in Gold.”

  The royal armor Athena wore was gold and magically enchanted. Had her father been wearing his he wouldn’t have been taken. It was the armor that was important in battle. Skill helped, but royal armor made them almost infallible.

  “I expect a compliment of fifty to be waiting at the bridge.”

  Ubrene nodded his head in agreement. They walked out of the castle and toward the bridge. Darian could see Athena was nervous. Her demeanor was strong, but the little hints of nervous were obvious to him. He was striding confidently. This was what he was meant to do. It was his calling. In all her years Athena’s had never seen a soldier perform his tasks as efficiently as Darian. They walked through the soldiers to cross the bridge. She stood before them and they bowed.

  “My fellow Prins. Today we go to battle to protect our right to be. We have been invaded by a hideous foe who seeks to enslave us. I will never let that be. Who will stand with me?”

  “Hoorah!” The soldiers universally committed to the cause.

  She looked at Darian and smiled. His chest was puffed out in pride. She took his hand and they bolted through the sky. The entire compliment of soldiers followed behind them. She scanned the area looking for the cave. Once she located it she pointed it out to Darian. They flew down about a thousand yards from the entrance. She motioned for the scouts to come to the front. They did and bowed in front of them.

  “Go in and use your sense of smell to find them.”

  The soldiers bow to Athena and then took off for the cave. She hoped their sense of smell was as acute as she remembered it. If not her father could be dead soon. They stood outside the entrance and waited impatiently. Darian took her hand for as long as she would give it. She would rather pace back and forth. He was afraid her nerves were going to get the better of her. The stealth was quickly replaced by banging. It wasn’t the battle cry they were expecting. Athena’s heart sank as she realized what that meant. He wasn’t still in the cave.

  “What happened?”

  “They were in there, Your Majesty. But they haven’t been for a while. The scent is at this end of the cave but not the other.” The largest of three scouts seemed almost as disturbed as Athena. His head was hanging toward the ground as he spoke. They had hoped to find the King. At least they knew he was somewhere in Spire still. Darian could only see the good. Athena was starting to fall apart. Then she looked at him. His resolve steadied her nerves.

  “What does that mean?”

  “They never came back in.”

  “So they are somewhere in Spire?” Athena was stating the obvious for her own benefit now. It wasn’t so much a question as it was a revelation.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “I think I can guess where they are.” Darian was confident. He knew what drew the witches there in the first place. The mystery was only Athena’s.

  “And?”

  “Well if you were here and you lived off of the energy from demons where would you go?”

  “Do you really think so?” The look of understanding on Athena’s face made Darian chuckle. He knew she was behind the curve ball, but didn’t expect to have to explain everything to her. It was kind of endearing.

  “Won’t know until we go.”

  The demons were held in a prison camp until they were collected or reassigned. On any given day in Spire there upwards of five hundred demons in there. It was slow to process them so keeping them was the only they had. It would be an enormous source of power for the witches. Darian knew he was right. They would be as close as they could get to it. They could just sit there and suck the power until they would be unstoppable.

  “We should go now.”

  They took off for the hills on the other side of the castle. The camp was well hidden from prying eyes, but they had her father. He will eventually tell them where it was. They knew he wouldn’t be able to withstand some of the potions they would administer. They flew up over the mountain to get an aerial view. The camp looked ordinary. There were several demons in the outside pen walking around. The guards were at their posts. From the air it didn’t look unusual. Then they got the feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

  “Can you feel them?”

  “They’re close.”

  “Can we sneak up on them?”

  “Chances are they have already seen us. We could land now and try to make a stealthy approach.” Darian was looking around for the most strategic location. He was ever the consummate warrior. Athena’s passion for him burned brightly. Then it was replaced quickly by anger. She would murder every single witch on earth to get her father back.

  “Let’s do that.” Darian usually loved to see her eye color go purple, but it shifted so quickly to red it scared him. She was really tapping into her power. She would kill thousands to rescue her father. She was a force of nature right now. He would guide her, but not stand in her way.

  They landed together as a group. The vibrations were less on the ground then they were in the air. The guards sniffed the air and found it clean. It was perplexing.

  “What now?” The red was still in her eyes, but it
was tempered now by some green. He wasn’t sure what was causing the shift. He didn’t want to find out either.

  “We fan out. They can’t be too far.” Darian had no problem giving orders to these men. Most of them had been under his command centuries ago. In turn they didn’t seem to mind taking them from him. They would jump for her, but they valued his opinion. Athena was a little bothered but they didn’t know her as well. The soldiers break off and fan out as Athena and Darian head straight for the camp. The guards might not recognize her, but they would recognize the armor they both wore.

  “Who goes there?”

  “Your Queen, Athena.” Darian stood there with his chest puffed out. He was proud to announce her as such.

  “Queen?”

  “You dare question?”

  “NO. Come in.”

  The gate squeaked open and they were met at the door by an official looking gentleman. He was tall with white hair and black wings. Athena should have been used to them by now, but these wings were not exactly black. They had hints of brown in them. She found herself looking at him with the curiosity of a child. When he returned her look with one of his own, she stopped looking.

  “Your Majesty, I’m Garrin the camp director. How can I be of service?”

  “There has been an infiltration of witches in Spire. We have reason to believe they are around the camp sucking energy from the demons housed within.” Athena tried desperately not to stare at his wings as she spoke. She knew this was rude, but her mind couldn’t quite process how it happened. She should know some things defy explanation. Her wings where the only white ones in Spire. To Garrin’s credit he never let on that it bothered him. Darian wanted to step in and stop her, but that would bring embarrassment to both parties. He only prayed she would realize it soon and stop of her own volition.

  “Please come into my office.”

  Athena looked around as they walked toward the small building that was Garrin’s office. This place did resemble a lot of the prisons she had seen in the human realm. There was a high barbed wire fence, several buildings used for housing, and six towers. It was quite remarkable. There were a few demons milling around in the outside area but they didn’t seem to notice them. It struck Darian as odd. They shouldn’t just be pacing. Usually there were hundreds of them outside. They would lift weights and play games. It wasn’t like them to be so low on the energy scale. He knew they were being drained, but couldn’t see where from.

  “Please have a seat.”

  They all walked into the Prin’s small office. He had large windows, a big metal desk and not much else. Athena by passed the seat and walked right over to the window. She stood there staring out it for a few minutes before anyone spoke. It was obvious the events of the past few days were weighing heavy on her. Darian would take her burden if he could. He would die for her.

  “We need to know if you have noticed anything significant.” Darian sat squarely in front of Garrin. He leveled himself two inches higher. If he had learned anything through the years it was always be bigger than your opponent. It didn’t matter if they were friend or foe. You wanted them to be intimated by you.

  “A few of our demons have requested not to go outside during their regular exercise time and I have had a few come to the infirmary claiming to feel drained. But all this has happened in the last twenty four hours.” He flipped through a book on his desk looking for vital information. Apparently he kept very immaculate records.

  “That would fit the time frame.”

  “Are you going to tell me what is going on?”

  “My father was taken by a group of witches.” Athena never even turned around. The sadness dripping off of her tongue was so heavy it made the air in the room go cold. Both men knew what she was feeling. It was clear.

  “That would explain your sudden arrival as Queen.”

  “Yes.”

  “I haven’t seen any witches or your father, but I don’t think they would risk getting close enough for me to identify them.”

  “We will wait here until my scouts report.” Her white wings hung down on the floor. Even they felt her sorrow. She kept her focus on the demons pacing outside. One in particular made her skin crawl. He was about six foot tall with blood red hair. His eyes were yellow within yellow and glowing. His skin was orange in color and looked worn by time. She watched him walk the circle with his head down. On his second loop he looked up to the director’s window. She swore he made eye contact with her though she knew this glass was smoked and shielded by a charm. He licked his lips with a forked tongue then went back to pacing. It set goose bumps all over her skin.

  “Sir there are soldiers at the gate demanding entrance.” A disembodied voice came through the speaker on Garrin’s desk.

  “Send them in.” He put his hand on a button on his desk and then let go. Darian shifted in his chair when Garrin did this. Garrin moved a little slower removing his hand. He had no doubt how lethal Darian was now.

  They all waited silently for the soldiers to climb the stairs to the office. Darian got up and moved next to Athena. Her eye color had shifted once again. He didn’t want her to accidentally hurt anyone in this room. He figured if he were close to her she would be in better control.

  “My Lady.”

  “What do you have to say?”

  “We could find no trace of them. We followed the small amount of scent we could pick up all the way back to the cave. This time the scent went all the way through.”

  “What does that mean?” Athena turned and looked at Darian. He was pacing away from her now. She knew this wasn’t good.

  “They must have gone back to the human realm.” He was pounding his hand into his fist. The pieces of this puzzle just weren’t coming together.

  “None of this makes sense to me.”

  “They have a readily available power source and easy access. Why stay and risk imprisonment or worse?”

  “But why keep father?”

  “He will be able to enter the cave. Remember it’s charmed against strangers. It can only be opened by those of royal blood. They have to have him. At least in that you know he will be taken care of.” Darian was still pacing. His mind was moving a million miles a minute. Athena had turned to look back out the window. The demon was still roaming around the pen. He looked up and caught her eye again. She knew it was impossible, but it seemed he was.

  “The general is right.” Garrin stood and walked over toward Darian.

  “Then your advice is?” Athena was fixated. She didn’t even turn to look Garrin in the eye. It wasn’t like her. Darian moved in her direction. When he reached the window the demon had moved on. Athena shook her head. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but there was something there.

  “We should post centuries at the cave. They can inform us when or if the witches try to return.”

  “I agree again with the General. I will also step up patrols around the fence line. If they do return we have no doubt where they will be headed.” Garrin was already giving out orders to do just that.

  “Then this will be the plan and Darian is Your Majesty.” Athena needed to correct Garrin. Darian’s uniform said General, but he was the King. She didn’t want anyone doubting his role in all of this. The soldiers and Garrin bowed as she took Darian’s hand. They headed out the door and took off. She was actually looking forward to some bloodshed. It was clear she was disappointed there was no fight. She wanted her father back and wanted to kill to get him back. Her own feelings on the matter where very confused. It had not been but a few days since she became a Prin again. Her human nature shied away from the blood and gore. Her Prin nature reveled in it. They were both warring inside her head. Perhaps that was why Darian looked at her the way he did. She really hadn’t thought about the eye color until now. She must have looked quite crazed.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Your Majesty, welcome back.” Ubrene was still in the throne room where they had left him.

  “Thank you.” Athena stood waiti
ng for the servants to remove her armor. As the breast plate came off she heaved a sigh of relief. Her bump wasn’t large yet, but the armor made her feel very constricted.

  “There are several matters that need attending.”

  “I am sure. I would like to dress more appropriately if you don’t mind.” Athena wasn’t raised to be on the throne in leggings and a t-shirt. She rushed passed Ubrene to her rooms. Darian was tight on her heels. They head toward the guest suite only to be stopped by Ubrene’s voice.

  “We have moved you to the royal wing, Your Majesty.”

  “Thank you.” He bowed then they turned to the left instead of the right. The royal wing was at least three times the size of the guest room they were in. The door opened to reveal a long hallway with five doors on the right and six on the left. She didn’t have time to explore them all today, but she made a mental note to go back later.

  She remembered from childhood the bedroom door was the fourth one on the right. Her father thought it would confuse anyone trying to kill him. They would have to go through a lot of doors before they found his bedroom. It was really a clever idea. Darian opened the door and stood there with his mouth open. She had only seen this room a few times. Her father liked to keep it private. The walls were deep red and the floors were a rich mahogany. The bed was done all in gold as were all the other furnishings in this room. There were four floor to ceiling windows. Each one had heavy long red velvet drapes. The room really spoke to the fact that it was for royalty.

  “I love this room.” Darian flopped down on the bed.