He blinked and touched his cheek with his fingers. The air crackled, but it wasn’t his energy. Stryke had arrived.
Air buzzed around her and she couldn’t move. One of them had immobilized her.
“You’re going to imprison us down here.” She wanted to slap him again, for so many reasons. And she was furious at herself for it. A slap? That was so…emotional. She should’ve dug into his skin with her claws, attacked his jugular with her fangs, and tried to rip his lying head from his body. At least that would have accomplished something.
Except he’d never lied. His deep, dark secrets would curse her and Xera forever. And her poor niece, of course. It wouldn’t matter if Xan begged Quution and Stryke to help her save her sister, they would be stuck here, at the mercy of Spaeth and any other full-blood and half-breed who could overpower them.
Might made right in the underworld. And most demons didn’t know what mercy was.
Quution lifted his gaze over her shoulder.
She didn’t wait for Stryke to answer the unspoken question. “No, he didn’t tell me. I figured it out. I might not be able to read all of your precious books, but I still have a brain.” She wanted to point an accusing finger at Stryke, but only her mouth could move. At least she could glare at Quution while she spoke. “He’s scared for you. I had to wonder why. You’re not the type to take over. For all of us halfings, you’re like the symbol of hope that not every full-blood is a demented monster. And your powers are the gold standard of the realm.”
Blood drained from Quution’s face and his gaze darted to Stryke once again. His brother being in on the plan was a given, but how high up did it go? It certainly didn’t have roots in the underworld beyond Quution. So the vampires? Had Quution’s mission been sanctioned by the vampire government?
Betrayal burned through her. The brothers had trapped her like she was the villain.
“You’re not the type to take over. You work from the shadows,” she continued. “You’re devious, underhanded. You don’t get your fake claws dirty. So I had to ask myself, why would a powerful demon pretend to be something he’s not? What would he be up to? He’s protective of humans and has connections with the vampires.” She cocked her head. “And his fantasy takes place on Earth, in the great wide open, the very opposite of how he was raised. It was pretty clear after that.”
Tendrils of guilt floated through his features. “And if you’re right, who would you take this information to?”
“Everyone,” she lied. Could she do that to him? Taking her theory to Spaeth would free Xera, but at what cost? Spaeth would easily rally his fellow full-bloods and be able to recruit most every other half-breed.
The option to escape to the human realm had always been the halflings only respite. Hours of peace. Even if they were in a host to do another demon’s bidding, they were still allowed time to themselves, where they could watch TV, eat all varieties of food, and learn new skills like driving.
Quution was going to take that away from all of them.
Stryke’s boots crunched as he circled around her to stand by Quution. He crossed his arms. Nope, he wasn’t as good-looking as Quution. “Do you realize how it’d destabilize the realm if you spread those lies?”
The blame was not on her. She would be going from one service contract with Spaeth to an eternity with whomever could catch her or blackmail her. “We all know they’re not lies. I’m sure more of your vampire friends know it as well.”
She would tap her foot, but her limbs remained immobile.
Quution dared step closer. She couldn’t move, but she could spit. It wouldn’t burn like Spaeth’s but it might give her a smidgeon of satisfaction.
“Xan.” His voice was soft. “Tell us who’s making you do this.”
“I work alone. Always.”
He took another step toward her, reading her like one of his books. “Yes. I’ve realized that. But not this time. You won the prize for most unexpected demon to take a Circle position but since then, you’ve remained isolated. Except for me. Unlike the rest of us, you have no one working for you, no servants. I’d like to think you’re actually interested in forming a stable government, but you haven’t even attended any meetings.”
“I have too.”
“Late enough to have missed the whole thing. Why have you done all this?” He cocked his head. “And for whom?”
Damn him. He sounded like he actually cared. She lifted her chin. “You tell me everything first.”
“It was my idea,” Quution said. Stryke shot him a hard look, but Quution continued. “Like you said, I care for the beings in the other realm. I can’t say the same for the majority of species down here. We both know if I set wards against full-bloods only, there are plenty of other half-breeds who are just as cruel.”
His idea. He’d thought of it. He’d planned it. And he’d be the one carrying it out. All those hours studying their kind’s history, reading every tome and scroll he could find. And he said it was the others who were cruel.
“Now, it’s your turn,” Quution said, his calm so aggravating. “Who do you report to? A full-breed, one on the Circle?”
“I didn’t say I’d talk if you did.”
Stryke snorted. “Then I guess you’re going to stay here until you do.”
Quution jerked his gaze to his brother. “Not here. Her master will know she’s here.”
She almost spit at the word master, but it was heartbreakingly accurate. Her heart hit her ribs. She willed it to slow down. The next time Spaeth summoned her and she didn’t show, Xera would pay.
She had the rest of the week. Wherever they kept her, she had six more days to try to escape.
“No,” Quution said. “Absolutely not.” Stryke’s idea was ludicrous, and it made him nauseous. “I wouldn’t put my worst enemy in there.”
“She is your worst enemy.” Stryke’s tone was as flat as his stare.
No, she wasn’t. Unfortunately, Quution had no proof. Xan had been the only demon to get close enough to hurt him and she’d done it without drawing blood. Her kind were rumored to be empaths, but he’d never pondered the meaning of the designation. Xan dealt only in fear, but from what he’d witnessed, she was adept at all the nuances that went along with the emotion. She preyed on weakness, and there were so many things that could make a being weak, if only for a moment.
She didn’t just make a guy think spiders were all over the floor, she did what she said. She warped their perception of that fear, either making her target go out of their mind with panic or deliriously happy when she made them believe their fear was resolved.
The way she could pinpoint what he wanted most—he hadn’t even known himself how much he feared he would never reach a state of peace, of utter bliss. Like he’d felt with her. Not once during their day together had he looked over his shoulder. His thoughts hadn’t been consumed with strategy, or spells bouncing around in his brain, or debilitating what-ifs. He’d just enjoyed his time with her. And it’d all been fake.
The devastation when it had all vanished after a knock at the door… His chest still hurt.
And if the very real hurt her con had inflicted wasn’t bad enough, her taste was still on his lips. Her cries still rang in his ears and he recalled exactly what she felt like in his arms.
How had that been fake?
A very tangible Xan was in his chamber while he and Stryke conversed outside his door. Between the two of them, she wasn’t going anywhere.
What she had done was despicable. To do it, she must lack empathy, sympathy, and compassion—she was a true demon.
Yet he could not make himself imprison her in the cell he’d been raised in.
“There are plenty of areas we can keep her.” The underworld was a labyrinth, a realm that had never been fully mapped.
“But are they set up to keep a person inside?”
“One of us is going to have to be with her constantly anyway.” He would be with her constantly.
“Between us and Mel
ody, we can keep her contained.”
Quution shook his head. “No, not Melody. The less she knows, the better.” Xan wasn’t the only spy in the underworld, and because of her association with him, Melody was already under scrutiny.
Stryke studied him for a heartbeat. Quution bristled and met his gaze. Energy crackled between them.
“I don’t trust you around her,” Stryke said. “She’s gotten to you. I mean, you two were…”
“I know full well what we were doing,” Quution said tightly. No reminders necessary. It was heartless how she’d toyed with him, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret one second.
Until he recalled how she hadn’t wanted to have sex with him.
Quution tired of the argument. Xan would pester Stryke until there was an altercation and one of them got hurt. Either outcome was unacceptable. “I’m close to figuring out how to bind our kind down here while allowing those who have mates on Earth free access.” Otherwise, Stryke and Melody would be trapped in the underworld for eternity while their mates were in the other realm. “I’d be studying anyway.”
“Fine, but I’m stopping by to check on you. Frequently. We just need to figure out where.”
“My library. She’s the only one who’s been able to find it.”
Stryke dragged in a breath and held it like he was trying not to sigh. “And just who has she told?”
“I’ve sensed no others trying to enter.”
The almost imperceptible shake of Stryke’s head aggravated Quution. Since Stryke had arrived, he’d been relegated to the role of little brother, and it chafed.
Stryke opened his mouth, but Quution interrupted. “I’m not asking permission.”
“I’m passing along what’s going on down here.”
Quution tipped his head. Notifying Demetrius, who could bring the situation to his government, was smart. If the problem of a certain sexy purple demon snowballed out of his control, it was best others knew the situation.
“I’m close to sealing the underworld.” Quution just had to figure out how to make his wards all-encompassing so he could seal them up as he left the realm forever. Demons were worse than lawyers about exploiting loopholes. The spells couldn’t be layered arbitrarily.
“I guess all that’s left here is to see if she’s going to walk or if we have to carry her.”
Quution looked at his door, wishing he could see through to the immobilized demon behind it.
He wasn’t sure he liked either of Stryke’s options.
Chapter 12
Three more days before Xan had to report to Spaeth. Stress should be gnawing at her. Spaeth would demand answers. She needed information to free her sister and niece, though if she were honest, she doubted Spaeth’s word. He’d find a way to exploit her some more, but all Xan needed was to know where he was holding her family.
Three days. She didn’t know if she’d survive the boredom.
With nothing to do the last two days, she’d recited the alphabet, spelled out her thoughts for the practice, sung songs, whatever it took to pass the time. Quution’s back was to her, and energy wards halved the dusty library. She’d slept on the floor—right next to the line of energy preventing her from crossing to him. The buzz of Quution’s energy over her skin had nothing to do with her reasoning.
Each time she crept closer to his wards, his shoulders tightened. He was aware of her. Painfully.
If the line of demarcation weren’t also imbued with Stryke’s energy, she could’ve strolled across it and sat in Quution’s lap.
She’d been here long enough to study the barrier in detail. She could get through it, but Quution hadn’t left the library. Once a day, the demon brothers would take her to a cave with a pool of water that amazingly didn’t smell like a brackish lagoon. Taking a pleasant dip with Quution wasn’t an option, but she lingered as long as their patience allowed, then pushed it even further. She liked the way Quution started pacing and clearing his throat and Stryke’s furtive glances toward him. He was worried about Quution’s feelings for her.
Currently, she perched on the little desk she used to read on. He’d taken away many of the other pieces of furniture on her side of the barrier and cleared off the shelves. When she’d asked for a book to read, he’d asked, “Who are you reporting to?”
The last two days had provided her with copious amounts of time to think about Xera. Had Xera been exposed to Spaeth enough to detect his weakness and capitalize on it yet? Perhaps her niece’s powers were developing and she could see a missing layer Xera hadn’t yet.
Either way, they’d been Spaeth’s prisoners for months and Xan was beginning to think she’d failed Xera. A good two hundred and twenty years older than Xera, Xan had ignored Mama’s taunts that Xera was the powerful daughter she’d always wanted. Instead, she had taken her role as older sister seriously and passed on all the secrets of their purple kind.
The first rule: the longer she was exposed to a target, the higher the chance of success. Spaeth could stick Xera in a hole in the wall and chant every spell in the book, but after all this time, Xera should’ve been able to divine a way out.
Xan was caught between debilitating anxiety that Spaeth was hurting the females every chance he got and ignorant hopefulness that Xera had escaped with Xoda and Spaeth was bluffing.
She believed in Xera’s power. Their mama had done what she could to mold Xera’s thinking to her own bloody doctrine, citing Xan as the failure that shouldn’t have been allowed to survive. But Xan had refused to let Xera think she was nothing but a pawn for Mama to use. And when Mama had been ready to farm Xera out to the highest bidder, Xan had put a stop to it. Permanently. Then she’d taken over Xera’s training.
Mama had assumed Xan wasn’t strong enough to best her. It was why Xan had been shoved out of the nest. You ask too many questions. Your powers are stunted. You’re useless. Useless. Deep down, she’d known it was because she’d resisted Mama’s efforts to manipulate her. Mama had probably found a second demon to procreate with just to birth another child she could use.
Xan’s mind churned through scenarios until she could combust from insanity.
“Brimstone and ashes, Quution, can I just get one fucking book?” A little more tact might be required, but he should know by now that she wasn’t spilling her guts to him. So why make her suffer?
“Who are you reporting to?”
So that was how he was going to play it. She made a request—albeit a bitchy one—and he returned with the same old question.
“I guess I’ll just chat then.” After two days stuck in her own mind with a sexy, frustrating demon only feet away, she could converse with the wind. “Stryke, huh? Did he know about you? You know, I had a sister I didn’t know about.”
Xan pressed her lips together. She hadn’t meant to go there. But she could talk about Xera. Quution wouldn’t make the connection. He’d just assume her sister was like her and off doing spy stuff.
Besides, it got Quution to turn his head. He might even be able to see her out of the corner of his eye.
“Mama was a… She was ambitious. Like demon-y ambitious. When it was clear I was incompatible with her outlook on life”—like refusing to allow Mama to sell her by the hour—“she kicked me out and had another kid. Thankfully, it took a while for her to conceive again.”
Quution had gone back to staring at the scroll in front of him, but his shoulders weren’t as tense as before. He was thinking about what she’d said.
“I should’ve seen it coming.” Xan lost herself to those days. Of turning around and spotting eyes the color of an aged merlot. “Mama sent my little sister to spy on me. Jealousy, I suspect. It gets a lot of my kind. We only have female babies, you know.”
He turned his head again. The rich orange of his horns peeked out above his hairline. No, he hadn’t known.
“There’s like this rivalry built into my breed of demon,” she explained. “It’s why you don’t see many of us.” That, and other demons killed them
on sight before they could become victims. “Only female births, and then the constant fear of being used by our kin. It makes them trigger-happy.”
“Them?”
She would’ve grinned, but he’d taken her by surprise. A question that wasn’t Who do you report to? But as for clarifying what he’d asked, her words caught in her throat.
She’d just wanted a family. A home. Someone to watch her back while she did the same for them.
“I… I’m not as bloodthirsty, I guess. I don’t know who my sire was, but I assume I get it from him. Mama killed her mama. Mama had no sisters—she’d killed any that survived. I saw the idiocy of the trend.” Her laugh lacked all humor. “I didn’t miss the irony when I had to kill Mama.”
His chair squeaked as he swiveled around. “You killed your own mother?”
If his tone had been full of censure, she might have shut down the conversation and gone back to mind-numbing boredom. “It was necessary.”
“The sister you didn’t know about.”
“Mm.” She didn’t dare delve into the circumstances behind the fatal fight with Mama. Quution was smart enough to put together that if she’d kill to protect her sister, she was probably protecting her sister now. “I have a niece, too.”
“There are three of you?”
“Oh, they’re not like me.” The statement rolled out so fast, Xan blinked. Sure, Xera could be a cold-hearted bitch, but that was part of Underworld Survival 101. “Xera’s half-breed sire—did I say Xera? I meant Xoda. Her sire had more brawn than brains, I guess, from what Xera said. We joke that Xoda will only be able to give people the dream about going to work with no pants on.” She smiled at the beat of relief that went through her. She always enjoyed talking about her niece, and she’d missed it. Without Xera around, there was no Xoda.
A smile touched Quution’s lips, but his gaze was introspective. “Xoda—sister or niece?”
“Niece. Xera is my sister.”
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