It would need to fall to someone else. Like a mediocre butler who was also a master puzzle-putter-together.
If I went through one of the portals, assuming it didn’t sear the skin off me, I could bring Leala. She would be happy for a little whip time. The master had killed most of the demons in the castle, so she needed a few more daddies, as it were.
Why the fuck was I talking myself into this?
If anyone was unqualified to play hero, it was me.
The master groaned out his completion, and I hoped to hell it had helped Finley.
He dropped his hands to his sides and leaned his head back, but I knew him well enough to know it had nothing to do with postcoital bliss. He was waiting until Finley passed out to allow himself all the pent-up terror, sorrow, and rage at what was going on.
We were all just so fucking helpless.
“We are getting really close now,” I said to literally no one, looking out through the scraggly trees as if I enjoyed the view. It always helped him to yell at me when he came back from one of these heart-wrenching pleasure sessions. “All of the most powerful shifters have been released from their suppression. They’re helping the less powerful ones. We have people shifting all over the place—new people, too! Kids, even! Well, kids to me, anyway. Fuck, I feel old. Anyway, I call that a big win. We’ve moved at a breakneck pace, and I’ve had literally zero life, but we all have to do our part, hm? Those shifters took the most power. Now we just need to juice up the stragglers, and we’ll be all set.”
He pushed to his feet, his head bowed, and pulled up his riding pants.
A tear dribbled down my cheek, and my heart threatened to rip in half and bleed all over my ribs.
“And the amount of new dragons! Isn’t that a fucking miracle?” I sucked in a shuddering breath and tried like hell not to sob. “That’s one for the history books, that is. When we have paper in large supply, I might turn into a scholar, you know? I just might. I’ve seen things. And we’re almost all cured of the sickness, too.”
I nodded for no purpose. Bella pranced in impatience, ready to get moving. The master’s great black stallion looked back with a hard glare, huffed in evident disdain, and then swished his tail. Awful jackass. It was as moody as his master.
“Have you seen the rosebush lately?” I asked. “Of course you have, since you spend a lot of time wallowing in your mother’s room. Vibrant and alive, all elements of the kingdom. Sure, people continue to fall ill, but we’ve got it under control.”
He stepped out of the brush, jumped up, and swung his leg over the back of his stallion. Without a word, he kicked his heels and they moved on. No barking at me. No biting my head off.
Shit.
He was in a bad way. This must’ve been a real doozie of a session.
Finley’s sessions went in fits and starts. She’d need the master’s help every day for a week, get a bit of time off, and then it would happen again. Sometimes there were breaks, but they never lasted long enough. And it shouldn’t be happening at all.
None of us had thought the dirty ol’ demon king would dare to treat the master’s mate this way. I didn’t know what he was up to, but he was really stepping in it. I wanted to rip his face off, and I wasn’t usually all that violent. Or I hadn’t been, at any rate, before everything went tits up.
“Do you know what I love?” I asked a little too loudly. Nonsense usually snapped him out of his funk if an upbeat summary of current events wouldn’t do the trick. “Tea. I really love tea. I love it just plain, with maybe a biscuit or two. I’ll sit out in the sun or maybe the shade, sometimes at night but usually in the morning, and drink and dunk and drink and dunk…”
I let my words drift away as we wound back toward the castle. He hunched on his horse, and I knew he had dark purple circles under his eyes. He didn’t sleep much anymore. He patrolled the Royal Wood, and he helped right his kingdom. Finley was counting on him, and he was giving his everything to his mission—to her—even though he mostly didn’t think she would come back.
My heart ached again, and I blinked back tears as I looked out to the side.
“She is stronger than both of us, sir,” I said softly, but I knew he’d heard. We both had full access to our animals now. Mine was mostly quiet these days, offering only soft and subtle support. I thought he’d gotten used to the darkness, and his voice was slow to come back. I hoped he’d continue to open up as time went on, but right now he was keen to watch. Which was fine. Just the feel of him was enough for now.
“You know her. She will not break. She will not veer from her course. If she sets her mind to something, she’ll see it through. She’s just as strong now as when she went to them, isn’t she? Didn’t you say that?”
He didn’t answer.
“That first week was rough, but you’re helping her now. And can’t you two communicate after a fashion? You said that, I know you did. So that is good comfort for her.” My voice broke, and I gritted my teeth for a moment to hold back the emotion. A tear fell down my cheek. “She’ll get out, sire. She will.”
“I won’t stand for much more of this,” he said as we left the gnarled trees of the wood. “I will not stand feeling her pain and being able to do nothing for her. My duty is to protect her.”
“But you are doing something. You’re certainly doing more than I am. I’m doing fuck-all. I can’t even help by fucking myself.”
He shook his head as we neared the stables. “I’m going to summon Dolion and make a deal. I’ll give myself in her place. I’ll put in a clause to ensure no one in the kingdom meets further harm. He’ll take the deal because he wants to make a mockery of me. He still doesn’t realize the only way to break me is to hurt Finley and my people. If they’re safe, he has no power over me. And if he imprisons me in his court, I’ll kill his people one by one until we are the only ones left or die trying. We’ll see who breaks first.” He dug his heels into his stallion’s flanks. “Hah!”
They sped off at a gallop.
“What?” I said, following suit. We were no match for their speed. “Damn him and his top-of-the-line horse stock. Why the fuck did the horses in court join us in the whole time’s stopped thing, when plants and flowers and other living crap haven’t? Oh, that’s good. I need to save that for one of my nonsensical comments.”
But it does make sense, my wolf said. It’s a good question.
I mean, yeah, logically it makes sense, but when he’s in a temper, he hates listening to random shit with no relevance. It usually gets his rage up. That’s a good one to use for annoying him. I have to hang on to it.
I slowed the horse near the stables as the master was pulling his leg from across the stallion.
“Sir, no. Wait.” I swung my foot over Bella’s back and hopped off while still moving, hitting the ground too fast and stumbling forward. I didn’t fall, though. Ol’ Hadriel still had it. “Sir, wait. No, you can’t do that.”
I caught up with him as he made his way across the brittle grass to the castle. Everything in me wanted to grab his arm and pull him around to face me, but I knew that would get me bodily tossed across the grass. I didn’t much feel like going flying. So I half jogged to match his long-legged stride.