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“Do you know who?” I breathed. My immediate thought was Amon, and Dossidian pursed his lips.
“No, but I know what you’re thinking, and it will not be Amon.” He told me, looking as if he were almost sorry about it. “She can’t risk moving him. If you were to learn his location she would be risking a major bargaining chip. It will more likely be someone we do not have any personal connection to.” I frowned. I glanced at Cerenah, who looked distressed. It did not matter if I had any personal connection to them. I wanted them free. Dossidian regarded me thoughtfully.
“There are many daemons, Raven, that are enslaved. Many of whom you may not feel benevolence for.”
“Like who? If they’re enslaved, then I want them freed.”
“What about the daemons who are keeping Kasha?” He asked gently. He gestured to Conrad. “What about The Siren?”
I frowned again, trying to wrap my head around this grey area.
“There are different… degrees of the slavery bond. You must remember, all of us were enslaved until Amon came into power. My father, for example, is enslaved, yes, but he is given many liberties and freedoms that ‘lesser’ daemons are not, due to his position.
“Ash Nevra allows him to continue to rule The Court of Wrath and manage the day-to-day. He has the power to give orders to lesser slaves. It all ladders up to Ash Nevra at the end of the day, but there are many enslaved daemons who do horrific things of their own volition, and not as a condition of their enslavement. She will likely choose someone who you have no interest in saving, for Blackwood’s demonstration.”
I glanced around the room, my mind whirling. I didn’t want to send the magick folk there alone if Blackwood was bringing a daemon. I knew Dossidian was probably right, but I couldn’t risk it. I would never forgive myself if we were wrong, and he brought Kasha or Amon and Conrad and Meredith were left alone to deal with their rescue.
I couldn’t go myself, either. If Dossidian was right, I couldn’t waste any more time. I needed to save Kasha as soon as possible. Every second that passed, she was suffering through a repeat of her already barely healed trauma. Not to mention Amon. I needed to find him too.
“Go with them.” I finally said to Dossidian. “I can’t go, and if they’re bringing a daemon, I want a daemon there to represent our side.” I said. “You have set up the excavation team for the shadowstone back home already, right? Sabel and Kael have their orders. Court will be fine for a few days while you handle this.”
“Aye,” he nodded. He glanced at Meredith, who was chewing her bottom lip, looking uneasy. “Alright. I will go with them. On one condition.”
“What is it?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“When you visit The Court of Greed, request an audience with Princess Vespara and see if you can convince her to ally with us in the upcoming war.”
Cerenah, to my surprise, laughed. We all turned to look at her.
“Princess Vespara will not ally with you. The Court of Greed has historically been loyal to Ash Nevra.”
“That was before. If Raven offers her freedom from her bond, perhaps it will be tempting enough for her to switch sides.” Dossidian countered.
“Have you met Princess Vespara?” Cerenah asked incredulously, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear an edge in her voice. I liked fiery Cerenah. I hoped that I would get a chance to see more of her. “I served her and Prince Zayne exclusively for a long time. Believe me when I tell you, she will never walk the path of light. She is too unhinged. She likes things the way they are.”
“I understand,” Dossidian said gently, “However, we must try. This is war. The Court of Gluttony has officially aligned themselves with Ash Nevra. I had the rumor confirmed before I left. That means our food imports will dwindle to nearly zero. We will also lose a great deal of income when we cease to export restructium to them in return.” He turned to me.
“When you return from Greed, we will need to travel to Wrath and Envy to officially recruit them to our sides as well. Wrath has a powerful army - that combined with Pride’s armed forces should be nearly enough to stand against Gluttony’s army. Envy has an impressive navy, and they have historically allied with The Court of Pride in the past, so I am not too worried about them agreeing to join with us.
“However, all these daemons will need to be fed. With no food and a drastic hit to one of our main exports, we have no way of purchasing food from anywhere else to feed our army. The Court of Greed is rich. Much of their wealth comes from black market dealings and the sex trade, yes. But gold is gold, and this is war. We do not have the luxury of picking and choosing where we get our advantages from.”
I paused, digesting this new information. I bit the side of my cheek, trying to decide how to move forward. On the one hand, I wanted to give us every advantage possible in the upcoming war. On the other hand, I hadn’t really thought about how complex the moral nature of the slavery bonds made everything. If The Court of Greed was willingly complacent with the way things were, so much so that the promise of freedom wouldn’t even appeal to them, was it even worth trying to ally with them? On the other hand, what were our other options if we needed more resources to counteract the loss we were suffering due to The Court of Gluttony’s allegiance to Ash Nevra? I was sure Dossidian would have mentioned it if there was a more palatable option to ally with if we needed gold.
I was just about to ask about The Court of Sloth when Rycon piped up from his chair. He was leaning precariously on the back two legs and looked for a moment as if he were going to kick his feet up on the table. He shot a quick look at Jeremy, who was eyeing him skeptically, and seemed to decide against it.
“Fine, if that’s the condition to get this conversation to fucking end, then sure.” He slammed the chair back onto all fours and stood up, throwing a decisive look at me before turning to Dossidian. “I don’t have any issues with taking their blood money. I dont really give a fuck about anything except getting Kasha back.
“So if we need to use them and they’re dumb enough to let us do it then that’s fine with me. But if they get in the way of my mission, I will kill them and anyone else who even looks at me the wrong way.” The kitchen fell silent and it was Dossidian’s turn to pinch the bridge of his nose and sigh.
Finally he looked up and exchanged a look with Conrad. “Why do I feel like all of the rational people are going to Italy, and all the hot heads are going to The Court of Greed? There’s got to be a better way to split up this team.”
“Hey,” Jeremy interjected, looking offended that he was lumped in with the supposed hot heads. Cerenah’s eyes widened slightly before she softened and shrugged, as if she was surprised, but not overly perturbed by being labeled a ‘hot head’. I bit back a smirk. The more time I spent with Cerenah, the more I felt as if we were going to get along.
“Well, except for you, Jeremy.” Dossidian said wryly, eyeing my father up and down. “Think you can handle them and keep everyone in line while Conrad, Meredith and I are away?”
Jeremy gave him a tight smile, and I didn’t miss the way his gaze flitted to me before returning to the hulking daemon.
“Well, I managed to keep Raven from killing anyone for nearly eighteen years, what’s a few more days.”
