Mentored in Fire

by Breene, K. F.

  Lucifer pushed up until he was basically standing on his dragon’s back. He held his palms together in front of him and then pulled them apart, his gesture of peace.

  Archion slowed, and Lucifer glided past us once, and then again, a smile on his lips. Cahal trailed us.

  Fantastic, Lucifer said, and gave me a thumbs-up. Excellent! You are a natural. You were born for your post.

  Pride welled up in me and I shrugged, still not accustomed to praise.

  Let’s go for a ride, shall we? he said. Let’s grace the skies with our presence. It’s time we officially show you off as the rightful heir and princess of the Underworld.

  I tried to ignore the thought: You’re entering the point of no return.

  Instead, I focused on my dragon, and how completely at home I felt on him. This was a good day, regardless of what tomorrow would bring.

  Sixteen

  “We got dragons.” Penny pointed at the sky from within her bush, just at the edges of a large weeping willow in one of the rest spots. She didn’t necessarily need to be in a bush, but just in case her invisibility spell wasn’t working, she wanted to take extra precautions. That spell worked for almost every type of demon, except for the crazy-powerful ones, and neither she nor Emery could figure out why. It would take Reagan to patch the hole.

  They’d left the demon sex club, thankfully, after staying for nearly a week and having way too much dirty sex in too many positions. They’d even done it in public a few times! She’d given herself to Emery, over and over, completely sober. Drunk on ecstasy. On his body. On the forwardness of the place and the beings in it. It had been sexy and dirty and taboo and fun and oh my God what would her mother say…

  The number of times they’d gone at it with Darius in the room…

  She shuddered, feeling her face redden. Darius hadn’t seemed to notice, and obviously vampires did that kind of stuff around each other all the time, but still…she was mortified if she thought about it for too long.

  The drink must’ve had lasting effects. That was what she was blaming it on, anyway. Certainly not the allure of getting the green light to let it all hang out…

  “There’s three…” Penny squinted into the azure sky, the colors changing depending on the area. It was like always living in a painting. “And two are bigger than I’ve seen yet. They must be important.”

  Emery scooted to the edges of the tree line and looked up.

  Darius didn’t move, crouched near the base of the tree, thinking. He was going over every possible route to the next sect, a violence one. Back when the whole place wasn’t looking for them, they’d planned on taking a fairly straightforward route. That option was no longer afforded to them. Darius’s demon guide had met them at the lust sect and point-blank told them there was nothing it could do. Their cover had thoroughly been blown with the stunt at the entrance, and Lucifer’s minions were turning every sect inside out, starting with the more political ones, trying to find them. It had given Darius’s spells back and walked away.

  Darius wasn’t giving up, though. He’d chosen to target a sect that wanted more magical leverage in the Underworld. Right now they weren’t political, so they would be among the last searched (Penny still didn’t understand that bit), but they could be politically incentivized, or so Darius claimed. He had a plan laid out to get them refuge for a few days while he worked out how to get into the inner kingdom, and then what to do once they got in.

  They just had to get to the violence sect he’d chosen. At present, he was thinking it would be two or three days.

  The good—or weird—news was that they weren’t the only ones that Lucifer was tearing the Underworld apart looking for. A group of vampires had apparently snuck in while the fog was down. Vlad, almost certainly, and surprise, surprise, he hadn’t been caught either. Two masters at strategy, but what was Vlad’s game?

  Undermining Lucifer, probably. Laying the groundwork for when the elves were defeated.

  “That’s not the same patrol,” Emery whispered, pulling back. His shoulders tensed as he retreated a bit more. His voice dropped and took on a hard edge. “You’ll want to have a look, Darius.”

  Goosebumps spread across Penny’s skin, and she shrank down farther into her bush. It was highly uncomfortable, but better that than to suffer whatever horrors Lucifer had in store for them. Darius’s contact had said that the Great Master intended to make a public spectacle of them.

  Three dragons rode overhead. The two big ones were much bigger than the typical patrol dragons, so large they nearly blotted out the sky. One had glittering black scales and the other was a metallic blue-gray, both regal in their carriage, as if they knew their riders were important people. Behind them soared a smaller pastel-pink dragon, like a little duckling. The way they lazily soared, the big ones hardly flapping their great, veined wings and the smaller one keeping pace a respectable distance back, it didn’t look like they were in any sort of hurry. Actually, it looked more like a joy ride.

  Her throat lodged in her chest and magic coalesced around her.

  “Penny,” Emery said in warning.

  A human face came over the shoulder of the majestic blue-gray dragon, and Penny thought she might be sick. A familiar face, flying low enough that Penny was positive it was Reagan. It had to be. They hadn’t seen anyone even remotely matching her description the entire time they’d been down here. Even the ones who tried to look human often failed in some way.

  All the breath left her lungs. Tears of relief filled her eyes. Reagan was okay. She was safe, as long as she held on to that great beast. She was riding a dragon!

  “I can’t figure out if I am incredibly jealous or incredibly relieved.” She wiped her face, shaking the bush. Reagan’s face disappeared, and then the underside of the dragon passed over them, metallic purple and really super pretty. The pink one came next, but no one looked over the side. Penny hoped it was Cahal, looking out for Reagan, being her support system and making sure she kept her head.

  As the dragons continued on, Penny could just make out the back of the black-haired man atop the black dragon. Her gaze lingered on him for just a moment before returning to Reagan. Her pose was easy and effortless, her hands braced on her legs or hips as she checked out the landscape below. For all the world, she looked just as regal as the dragons. As the man beside her. Like she was checking out her kingdom.

  The wide shoulders of the human-looking man behind her had to belong to Cahal, sure as rain. His pose was somewhat awkward, as though he wasn’t quite comfortable. As though he wasn’t having the time of his life even though he was riding on a mother-dunking dragon.

  Was Penny projecting all of this? This seemed crazy. Reagan out for a joy ride, calm and pliant, even though she was basically a prisoner down here? Cahal troubled and tense, even though he was with her? That guy was never troubled. He just minded his business and waited for any unpleasantness to go away.

  She had to be projecting.

  Darius was at the edge of the trees now, watching them go. Penny turned to him with the question on her lips, asking what he saw with his superior vision.

  She felt the blood drain from her face.

  Pain flared in the vampire’s eyes as his expression melted into one of obvious fear.

  Her heart beat faster. “What is it?” she asked.

  “We gotta go.” Emery quickly stuffed his things into his backpack. They’d intended to stay here awhile, since rest stops had rules. Mind your business. No fighting. No canoodling. Demons went out of their way not to notice other demons. With the various types of sects, it was a necessary rule to keep the peace.

  “Why?” Penny asked, needing an explanation for the sudden lead weighing down her gut. Her temperamental third eye throbbed with danger. “What’s the matter?”

  “That was Lucifer, right?” Emery asked Darius.

  “Yes,” Darius replied, staring after them. He pulled back, his eyes downcast, worry etched in every line on his face. “He is showing he
r the empire, and he trusts her enough to allow her and her…helper to ride dragons, without any kind of additional escort. He trusts that she is not a flight risk. Cahal’s body language suggested that he disapproves of the situation. He’s lost ground. His opinion no longer matters to her, or Lucifer wouldn’t let him be there at all.”

  Penny crawled out of the bush and into the canopy beneath the tree, a little too exposed for her taste, but they were leaving anyway. She packed up her backpack.

  “Okay,” she said, uncomfortable pressure on her chest, “but Reagan is just pretending. Of course she is. She knows the timeline. Never bullshit a bullshitter.” Tears clouded her vision. She swallowed down the lump in her throat. “She always says that. Remember, Emery? In the Flush? She’d know how to get one over on anyone. Even Lucifer. She’s a survivor. She respects Cahal. She would never hurt him.”

  “No, but she would push him away, maybe tell him to get us to safety.” Darius’s face transformed back to its usual granite, empty of emotion. He was locking all the fear inside. “She isn’t lost yet. He is still with her. As long as he is still with her, there’s hope. We have precious little time.”

  Penny stood, ready to go, feeling the urgency even as her brain recoiled. “I can’t believe it.” Anger flash-boiled her blood. “I won’t believe it. She would never give up her freedom to stay down here. She only did it on the island because she loves Darius, and that we all knew that wasn’t going to last forever.”

  “It doesn’t look like she is giving up her freedom,” Emery said softly, directing Penny after Darius.

  “No. Lucifer is allowing her a nice, long leash.” Darius started out of the rest area at a quick pace. “So long that it probably doesn’t feel like a leash at all. He’ll have spies everywhere, posed as assistants. As friends. He is winning. We must hurry if we want even the slimmest of chance to…take her back.”

  The question rose in Penny’s mind even though she would have preferred to keep it trapped in her subconscious.

  What if Reagan didn’t want to be taken away? What if she was truly happy down here, with her remaining parent and a royal family line? She was a princess. She probably had a huge house and unimaginable riches. She wouldn’t need Darius’s money. Darius’s people. She’d have her own. Should they really ask her to trade all of that if she didn’t want to? Could they?

  Seventeen

  I couldn’t believe I’d known Archion for only three days. It was insane. I felt connected to him in a way I hadn’t felt connected to many others. And he wasn’t even human! Although…neither was Lucifer. And neither was Darius. And Cahal…and, well, me.

  Okay, being human meant nothing.

  I threw my leg over his neck and hopped down to the ground. Before heading toward the castle, where Mr. Boobs waited at the bottom of the steps, I glanced back at Cahal, who was getting down off Coppelia. Both of them were mad at me—Cahal for putting him in his own apartment, and Coppelia because she was a united front with her rider. Very prickly, those two.

  “At least you got to go for a ride, though,” I told Cahal as he ran his hand over Coppelia’s shoulder in goodbye. He was allowed to ride as long as I was with him—Lucifer’s rules. He needed to be picked up at the castle steps and dropped off at the same location.

  I, on the other hand, could ride whenever and however far I wanted. My restrictions were slowly being peeled away. If I wasn’t followed by skittering demon assistants all the time, it would be perfection.

  “Your royal heinous,” Tits McGee said, hands behind its back. I lifted my eyebrows, waiting patiently and not giving in to my sudden desire to give it a little shove and see if the enormous boobs finally sent it toppling. “Your father awaits you in the eatery.”

  “Dining room, remember? It’s a dining room,” I reminded it.

  “Yes. That. Your father would like to dine with you this evening.”

  I glanced up at the decreasing light, faux-day giving way into the eternal darkness of the cave we were in. A huge cave, much larger than made logical sense, but it was a cave all the same. The Brink would be really weird after this, with its grounding in physics and its smaller color palette, changing depending on the day or season.

  “Sure, yeah.” I turned to Archion, placing my hand on his leg. Until tomorrow, friend.

  Until tomorrow. Dream sweetly.

  I patted his glittering scales and turned. “Do I need to dress for dinner?”

  “It is…as you…what you want.”

  I frowned at the demon for a moment. “Did you short out? What’s the matter?”

  It looked at the ground. “Nothing, your heinous. Brain chasm.”

  Brain fart, it meant. It was trying to learn my sayings to make me feel at home, apparently. It was so delightfully weird that I went for it.

  “And the druid?” I hooked a thumb at Cahal, slinking up the castle steps behind me. He wasn’t happy, I could see. Since I’d moved him, his only joy came from riding. He hated seeing me practice, or create practical jokes in the castle. He hated my delight and good humor, basically. He no longer liked that I didn’t need a safety blanket. And if he weren’t so damn melodramatic about it, I’d probably take him more seriously.

  “Not this evening,” Mr. Boobs said as we entered the castle. “The Great Master worries he might have to attend to some business for a couple days, and he would like you alone for the evening.”

  “Sounds good. You can escort Cahal to his apartment.”

  “You’re not even going to walk me to my estranged home?” Cahal asked, arms straight at his sides, back bowed just a little.

  “Cahal, I just spent an entire afternoon riding with you. Surely your balls must hurt? Get some ice. Or a pretty demon to rub them better. Then chill out and stare out the window while brooding. It’s your favorite pastime, and I want to make sure you have ample time to do it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  His gaze lingered on me for a long beat, but then he ripped it away and started off toward the opposite stairs. I took a deep breath and hovered up to the correct landing before jogging to my rooms to get freshened up. He’d be fine. This way, he got alone time to read without being annoyed by me, my unwanted assistants, or my requests that he drink more. This way, he wouldn’t have to spend his evenings telling me I was derailing. It saved us both the hassle.

  In a passable dress and leather pants, I made my way back down again. Lucifer didn’t seem to mind my odd fashion choices, and I liked to wear pants, just in case. He basically wore the same thing day in and day out.

  On the second floor, at the back of the castle, I arrived at the closed double doors of the private dining room, a demon attendant standing to either side. Each wore a type of tux, with long flaps at the back and a bow tie but no actual pants. Instead, they had hairy goat legs ending in duck feet.

  “Odd choice for formal wear,” I said as they opened the doors for me. “You got the pants wrong.”

  “Yes, thank you, princess,” the one on the right said.

  “We thought that we wouldn’t need pants, since we have animal parts,” the other said, obviously with a better grasp of the nature of my comment.

  I’d just learned to go with this place making no sense. “Yup, good logic.”

  They puffed out their chests and waited for me to enter before shutting the doors again. Lucifer sat at the head of the table, as usual, and stood when I entered the room.

  “Reagan.” He stepped to the side, dressed in his button-up white shirt and jeans.

  I laughed and took the antique-looking chair beside him, the back carved with lion heads and topped with spikes. The large oval table—dark brown, almost black—held three candelabra, each with three candles, all lit. Paintings in gilded gold frames depicted battles or love scenes. Two crystal chandeliers set in the paneled celling dripped down over the table.

  “What’s funny?” he asked, sitting down as I did. Attendants, previously waiting around the room, stepped up to push in my chair.

  “Noth
ing. Just the fashion of this place. It’s very different from the Brink.”

  “Good or bad?”

  “Good, because I never cared much for fashion.”

  “Yes, it’s an arduous waste of time.” He leaned back as an attendant filled our wine glasses from a brown jug. The deep burgundy drink was not wine, however. It almost tasted like punch, and it was quite a bit more alcoholic than its grape counterpart. “How are you? I missed our training today. How was your flight?”

  “I’m good. The ride was great. Archion did a flip in the air, and I stayed on.”

  “Fantastic.” He beamed, reaching for his glass. “That’s great. You are taking to the air like a squirrel takes to water.”

  “Not…no. A duck— It doesn’t matter. But yeah, it’s a good time. It’s a rush.”

  “Yes, it is. I have always enjoyed it.”

  “Were you busy today? Why’d you have to cancel training?”

  His eyes darkened for a moment, and he waved the thought away. “It’s nothing. There is a problem with a couple of the sects—a highly political sect, and a more dormant one built on violence. Some of the members are…breaking the rules. Flouting my law, as it were. I’ll need to make a public display. It is the dirtier part of running a kingdom. We’ll conquer that, in time. You are too new here to be involved in something like this. We must wait until you are more established, with a better grasp on how things work.”

  “Yeah, no problem. I didn’t think you’d want me to come.”

  He paused in sipping his “wine” and dropped the glass a little. “I want to involve you in all facets of this kingdom. You will have a fresh take on our operations. New ideas. I am eager to hear about them. Archion has spoken at length with Tatsu about his conversations with you. About the things you say as you fly over the lands. They are both intrigued to see what you can dream up. I am, too. It will be nice to finally share the burden of leadership. It’s a lonely role, without family. Without visitors.”