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Faking Lucia and Penelope’s capture, probably. That would at least make sure only two of them were caught instead of three.
Shit.
While we spoke, Grel came up to Azazel, standing up to his full height and dwarfing the two across from him. His military armor was a stark contrast to Azazel’s fancy suit and tie and Tyler’s unimpressive jeans and button-up.
“Azazel Ambrose and Tyler Bastille,” he started, voice loud, “you know very well that you have no power in the Free Kingdom. Your attempt to interfere with the capture of our fugitives violates our agreement, so I have to inform you on behalf of the King and Queen that you are to leave Europe at once or face the consequences. I hope that you’ll go peacefully.”
It was then that I became very aware of how the Guardians had firmly placed themselves so that we were no less surrounded than before and had no out.
Escaping from here was going to be really hard. Even if Grel was on our side, it’d be difficult for him to help us in this scenario, and anything he tried definitely wouldn’t work with these other Guardians here. It would just get him caught along with us.
We were probably screwed.
“Well, of course, I know that this is your domain!” Azazel answered, grinning fawningly. He clasped his gold-clad hands together. “We were just going to capture these wayward children as a favor for the fae monarchs, of course! You were tracking them, weren’t you? And didn’t we stop them just before they could get in a portal and out of your domain?”
Grel was unmoved. “Why did you not contact us directly before you started waiting here, then? You were provided the spells to do so.”
“I merely wanted it to be a show of good faith. Isn’t capturing your fugitives for you all without needing to be prompted a good way to show it?”
“With all due respect, your history with the fae doesn’t lend you much confidence from the King and Queen. They would rather not have your ‘help.’”
A barely-contained sneer appeared on Azazel’s face that he tried to hide with a smile. “I understand. Now that you have your fugitives, we’d like to come with you back to the castle. We also have things to discuss with these children, and—”
“Our Majesties would like to handle this matter personally,” Grel interrupted, “and without interference from outsiders.”
“Outsiders?” Azazel stressed. “We’re family with them! How can we be considered outsiders?”
“My niece is needed here,” Tyler growled out. He was the only wolf that hadn’t shifted yet. “You can’t just take—”
“Quiet,” Azazel snapped at him, then turned back to Grel. “Commander Grel, you must understand that we’ve been looking for these children for a while. That’s why we came to your Kingdom in the first place, yes? So we would appreciate having a say in what happens to them. Their fates concern more than just them.”
“No. You won’t be interfering,” Grel shut down.
Azazel’s mask of friendliness cracked apart at repeatedly being denied. “How dare you speak to me like this,” he hissed. I instinctively sensed the beginning of one of his tantrums, and I could see the darkness in his eyes as he threatened to shift. “You aren’t even royalty! You’re just a lackey! If I want to take my son and his mutt of a mate with me, I will!”
My angel prickled against my skin at Azazel’s insult to Aria. Real hypocritical of him to talk about “mutts” when he sired a bunch of mutts that he’d never cared for.
The Guardians, for their part, raised their weapons at the impending threat while the fallen-blood wolves raised their hackles and prowled closer.
Tyler looked around. The situation was clearly not going well for them. He looked at Aria with greedy eyes that made my skin crawl with anger and disgust, and then he shifted, too, gearing up for a fight.
Things are going to get ugly,I said to Aria.We might be able to use that chaos to run for the Tower.
I hope the portal’s in an obvious spot in there. And how would we open it? Someone opened it for us last time—would our blood even work on it?
That guy was a human. If our blood wouldn’t work, nothing would.
I hope you’re right.
I turned to exchange looks with the other four. I didn’t even need to say anything; they clearly knew what they needed to do, too.
All of a sudden, the fallen-blood wolves lunged in sync, snarls coming up their throats, and the battle began. Azazel, claws extending from his hands, also jumped on Grel.
In the noise of clashing steel and claws, the six of us half-joined in, half-started making our way past them all.
Even though the wolves and Guardians were busy fighting each other, they weren’t busy enough not to notice the entire reason they’d come here trying to escape from them. Whenever our group got too close to one, either a Guardian or a wolf would try to grab one of us, only to either get deflected by us, whoever they were fighting or a new opponent. With how many of each side there were, it was absolute madness.
