He pointed at us as we approached, then exploded in a hearty laugh.
Devil’s Dream colored his tongue and clouded his eyes, the poor fucking idiot.
Jax grabbed his head and grinned. “Goodnight, asshole.”
He snapped the guy’s neck and dragged him inside, stashing the corpse in a meat locker, and on we went, following Gem through a maze of servant passages until we finally ended up one level above the ballroom. Music and revelry hummed below our feet.
“It’s here,” she finally said, stopping at a set of wooden double doors, plain and unguarded. “It leads into a small sanctuary behind the dais. We open these doors, we’ll have maybe ten seconds before anyone spots us. I’ll get Haley. You two take down the soldiers and Keradoc.”
“Let’s fucking do it,” Jax said, and I nodded, fangs descending, adrenaline coursing through my blood. My mouth was already watering for a taste of Midnight blood.
Keradoc’s, if I got lucky and he didn’t.
Gem drew her short sword and pushed open the doors.
We followed her in, and in the span of a single breath, a few things became readily fucking apparent.
This wasn’t some sanctuary behind the dais. Just an ordinary fucking room currently occupied by a firing squad of a dozen Midnight guards with crossbows, all pointed at me and Jax.
Gem had fucking betrayed us.
Half the crossbows were loaded with hawthorn stakes for me, the other with good old-fashioned bolts for Jax.
I didn’t need a closeup to know they’d be carved with devil’s trap sigils—a demon’s worst nightmare. As soon as one of those fuckers nailed him, he’d drop, completely immobilized.
Gem lowered her sword and stepped behind us, pushing us forward. “On your knees, tough guys.”
Outnumbered and outgunned, we did as she asked. My heart fucking liquified.
“I trusted you,” I breathed. “I thought you were one of us.”
“I’m sorry,” she said coldly. Flat. Nothing like the Gem I knew. The Gem I thought I’d always known. “But it’s like I always say,Elian… Nothing in Midnight is ever what it should be.”
She crossed over to join the firing squad. Then, her gaze locked firmly on mine, she stepped behind them and said, “Fire at will.”
39
HALEY
Seriously? This is your A-game, Keradoc? Fairy-dust roofies and some light bondage?” I struggled against the ropes binding me to his throne, but it was no use. Unlike the last rope, this stuff had been spelled.
I had no idea how long I’d been unconscious this time, but judging from the numb ass, it’d been a while.
Where were Jax and Hudson? Gem? Elian? Did they still not realize I was missing?
Or had they been captured too?
Had Elian even shown up tonight?
“Let me go,” I gritted out, “and I promise I won’t throw your corpse to the ghouls after I kill you.”
Standing in front of his precious skull throne, Keradoc glared down at me, unimpressed. “I don’t know the guise under which you were sent here, Daughter of Darkwinter, but your purpose is neither to kill me nor to steal my blood. You’re here to help me win this war.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m not Darkwinter.”
He set his hands on the arms of the throne and leaned in close, his scent nearly suffocating me. “I cansmellit on your blood, witch. The darkness in you.”
I fought back a shiver. “How can you smellanythingwith all that cheap cologne you’re drowning in?”
