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He was safe, but Dev? I didn’t know if he was okay. Didn’t know if he was dead.
I put one foot in front of the other, forcing through the screaming urge to turn back and find Ark and Joseph.
Taj bumped into me in the bond, his soul hitting me like a clumsy puppy; I returned it with a shaky caress and felt a tiny bit better. I'd be even better when I set eyes on Dev.
"Six hours, twelve minutes," I murmured when I spied a clock on the wall.
"What?" Taj rumbled, growling a threat at two winged warriors who stumbled out of their room to see what the earthquake was all about.
"Since I last saw Dev," I explained. It was six hours and eleven minutes too damn long. I'd gone to check on him before we went to bed last night, only able to leave his side because X needed me so badly.
Taj was quiet for a few moments as we moved through the castle, my steps faster with every second, panic driving my urgency. "You count every minute."
I nodded, my eyes fixed ahead, my heart slamming against my ribs. What if I went into that hospital room, and there was only an empty bed? What if Devwasthere, but the white bed sheet was pulled over his face?
I swallowed hard, trying to get my emotions under control.
"Every one," I confirmed. "I did the same with you. And every minute until X was returned to us," I added in a whisper, checking no one heard.
Taj didn't say anything for long minutes, until I was walking so fast I was almost running, magic raging through my gut in response to my panic. I nearly screamed when we flew around the last corner to the hospital and I walked into someone. The walls were dark and high around us, hardly any light hitting this place; I hadn’t seen them until it was too late.
My magic erupted out of me and latched onto the tall, dark green demon who slammed into me.
His eyes met mine a second before my pitch black fire consumed him, and I froze, my stomach twisting into a knot.
"What?" Taj demanded in a snarl, angling himself in front of me even as the demon collapsed into ashes.
"I … I've seen him before," I said, shock making my voice shaky. "I'vekilledhim before."
Taj's whole body rumbled with a growl, making all my hairs stand on end.
"He was at the training hall, he was Izan's best torture buddy.Eidolon's. But Ikilledhim, I severed his fucking throat, Taj. How is he—?"
Taj stopped growling, turning to me and catching my face in his hands. His claws were careful on my skin.
"Pennel and Luken," he said, uncharacteristically calm. "They're twins. You must have killed one before, and the second now."
My body went ice cold, like I'd been thrown into a frozen lake. I wrenched out of Taj's hands, stinging lines opening on my cheeks from his claws as I burst down the hall and through the hospital doors.
"Marjorie!" I screamed, so much panic hitting my system that, by the time I reached Dev's bed, I was two feet taller, bright red, and had horns, claws.
"Here, I'm here," Marjorie replied, bustling across the room without putting down the sweeping brush she had in her hand. "Everything's fine. Well, not the ominous green cloudorthe shaking, but your mate's stable, my lady."
"Greencloud?"Taj demanded as I tentatively reached for Dev, laying a demonic hand on his chest to feel his breathing. I wanted to believe it was stronger than it had been last night, but without sitting here beside him all night there was no way I could be sure.
"Outside, Your Highness," Marjorie replied. "It's all everyone's talking—"
"Who was that man who was just here?" I cut in, too freaked out to be anything but rude. "The green guy."
"He didn't go anywhere near the devil, my lady," Marjorie soothed me, hurrying over with a fresh cup of tea I was convinced she kept making just in case I showed up. Or maybe her magic was in conjuring cups of tea. I took it in furious, tight fingers and nearly shattered the ceramic. "I made sure of it."
"But whowashe?" I pressed, meeting her eyes with enough panic that she went from gently soothing to full-on reassurance.
"Just a friend of Shira and Sinjin's," she replied, squeezing my arm as she brushed past me, throwing together tonics and herbs and magic. She'd made me enough calming tonics to know one when I saw it. "Pennel Invizar. Nice gentleman."
I exchanged a hard glance with Taj, giving him a silent order to take my place while I stormed across the room. Pennel, Eidolon's lackey, was Shira and Sinjin's friend. Sinjin, who made no secret that he despised me from day one, who sneered and snarled and muttered under his breath.
I didn't slow until I reached the small attached room at the back where the siblings were arguing.
