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“What’s the matter with you?” Seth hissed. “You can’t just charge in there like that. We were there for reconnaissance only. You know, to get information on the lay of the land so that we wouldn’t die when we made the final attack?”
“He was touching her.”
“Yeah, we saw. And she was wearing the necklace…”
That had been hard to miss too. It had practically glowed on her skin.
“…which meant he had the power of the scepter behind him, multiplying his magic a hundredfold. You’re lucky he didn’t see you, Mateo. You’d have been dead long before you even got close. Is that what you want? To have Eva watch as this guy tears you to shreds?”
“She wasn’t fighting him. She was letting him touch her.”
All three of them looked back at me like I was crazy.
“Yeah, because Eva’s not stupid,” Seth finally said. “You ever heard of a little thing called self-preservation? She knows fighting him would only make things worse for her.”
“And I’ll bet she doesn’t realize that she can control who can access the locket’s power,” Liam added.
True. I doubted the wizard would tell her that.
“But what if he offered her something in exchange for working with him?”
Seth scoffed. “I’m sure he did. He might not plan to honor the deal in the long run, but this is how wizards work. In fact, I’d be surprised if he didn’t make her an offer that was too good to be true. And the smart thing right now would be for her to take it, or at least pretend to take it, because she doesn’t really have a choice.”
Seth’s line of thinking made sense, and I was suddenly embarrassed that I’d been so quick to doubt her. Of course Eva had to play along for her safety. But that still didn’t change the fact that I was a nobody who could give her nothing, and she was this powerful...being…entity…that was born to consort with powerful wizards.
Seth mistook the unsure look on my face and continued his argument. “Trust me, I know. My mother stood next to a wizard for decades, bolstering his power until she had nothing left. She hated every moment of it, but she put on a smile because she knew the alternative would be much worse. Eva’s not dumb. She knows what she’s up against.”
He was right. Glumly, I focused on the good news instead. Our sacrificial drones had gotten a good look at his estate before they were taken out. They had also picked up some discussion between two security guards. Not the ifrits, but human ones.
I played the recording.
“We’re supposed to let the priest in tomorrow before dinner. The big boss is marrying that piece of ass he brought in.”
“Wow, that was fast.”
“She’s pretty fucking hot. Have you seen her?”
“Pfft. Probably all fake.”
“Who the fuck cares if she’s ugly behind the magic. My dick sure as shit doesn’t.”
“Yeah, until the kids come out butt ugly!”
I smashed the button to stop the playback so hard I was surprised I didn’t break the machine. I clenched my jaw, and a constant low, angry growl emanated from my chest.
Seth and Liam exchanged a worried look, and the demon moved a little closer to me, looking ready to restrain me if needed. I wished I could say it wasn’t necessary, but I felt an urge to go completely berserker at the guards’ conversation. I wanted to kill.
The growling crescendoed into a full-on roar that rattled the furniture.
“Shit, man. Way to draw attention to us,” Liam grumped. “We don’t want to get complaints.”
“Yeah. Calm your kitty titties,” Seth said.
I lunged at him, but Prax and Liam held me back.
“Relax, this is a good thing. It’s a perfect way for us to sneak into the estate. We just have to intercept the good clergyman and take his place.”
That was a decent plan. As long as we were welcomed in, it didn’t matter if the guards mistook us for someone else; the wards would cease to work until we were defined as hostile again. And by then, it would be too late.
