Page 108 of Commanding Scythe and Sky

Fuck, didn’t I?

The frantic shrieks of demons dragged my eyes sidelong. Kade and I had fallen into a kind of ritual the King of the Dead called taking out the trash.

I’d come in and do what Grayshell was best at.

Kade followed behind, cleaning up whatever demons we left breathing and collecting the bodies we laid out for him.

Between the two hierarchies, we left each city better than we found it. Well. Except for the humans who witnessed animated corpses snapping demons in half. That shit stuck with you.

“Cadoc doesn’t seem like the kind of man I want my sister playing with.”

“Didn’t your mate say the same thing about me?” Hands in his pockets, Kade kept up his leisurely stroll—as though his magic wasn’t dismembering our enemies twenty yards ahead—and glanced sidelong at me.

I wet my parched lips, throat tightening at the mere mention of Ally. “Yeah,” I finally breathed. “She’s a good woman, Kade. Protective. And your ability to exist outside her sight, combined with⁠—”

“My bastard of a father,” he cut in.

“I was going to say your family history, but sure, let’s go with that.”

“I get it, mate. Truly, I do. You’re waged against my cousins—Koa and Khaos were known to be every bit as cruel as Moros. Her hesitation was calculated. I’m not him.”

My heart drummed against my skull. I cleared my throat and—already dreading the answer—forced out the question. “Any new leads on your side?”

“I’ve had my souls scour the entirety of the islands, and I’m telling you, I don’t believe my cousins hid her at home. We would’ve stumbled across an enchantment or glamour by now, at the very least. Even suppressed, her power is too great not to sense if they’d crossed paths with her.”

I nodded. Nodded like the continued lack of answers was acceptable instead of a cosmic blade sawing me apart. Gone. My mate. My love in every goddamn life. Broken apart day in and day out. To what end?

“Information, I presume,” Kade drawled.

“Fuck, did I say that out loud?”

“Your face isn’t quiet, August. I don’t presume poker was ever your game of choice.”

I couldn’t summon the strength to laugh. “And this volunteer of yours? Any news?”

“He went radio silent yesterday.”

My teeth clenched, but the king kept going.

“That’s a good thing, August. You will find her—your forces might scour the globe to do it, but you will find her.”

The hair along my neck and arms lifted, goosebumps racing beneath my armor just as Kade threw an arm across my chest to stop me. Green mist spiraled from his arms as he stepped in front of me like a bodyguard instead of a companion.

Even the moon seemed to lean closer—to watch, to listen—as the energy swelled around us.

“What the hell is that?” I muttered.

“What can you sense? I feel nothing malevolent. Death has left the square, leaving me to clean it up.”

Whispers. Countless voices hissing over the asphalt like dead leaves skittering across stone.

“A gate,” we said in unison. We both turned back the way we’d come. I met those aqua eyes beneath his furrowed brow, and we jumped.

When my feet solidified beneath me, Kade was no longer at my side. But I could sense him. Feel his magic. See the faint green tint bleeding across the square as I stood at its center and scoured the space⁠—

—as at least one hundred souls materialized in the ravaged city.

In formation. A familiar formation. The hair on my neck stood on end as I surveyed them, taking in the immense energy steeped into every soul.