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“What happened?”
No one spoke. She turned her attention back to Demos. “Please tell me you’re not poking at the unstable, murderous fae prince.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
Demos just growled. “He slaughtered an entire godsdamned regiment.”
Asinia turned to me. “Did you learn anything?”
Valdoria snorted.
Demos threw up his hands. “How am I suddenly the voice of reason here?”
I spoke through gritted teeth. “First, I didn’t slaughter the entire regiment. Just the generals and a few sentries.”
And anyone else who had gotten in my way. A few hundred soldiers, at most. If they’d expected it, they would have met me with fae iron, but by the time I’d learned everything I needed, anyone responsible for giving those orders was already dead.
“They didn’t know where Prisca would have been taken.” And by the end, they would have told me anything to make me stop. “But there are other generals.” I’d failed Prisca again tonight. But I wouldn’t stop until she was freed.
“There will be consequences for this,” Asinia said. Since it looked like she was barely keeping her feet, I stalked over and took her arm, guiding her to sit on the edge of Valdoria’s sofa. The worst of my fury had drained, and I dropped into one of the stuffed armchairs as Demos paced.
Finally, he heaved a sigh. “If you can’t control your murderous urges, then we use them.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “We hit where they least expect it. Create enough fear and confusion that we rip into their morale before they meet us on the battlefield. Whenever we attack, we make sure at least a few of them hear us describe exactly how we knew to find them.”
Asinia grinned. “Because the last men we tortured told us where to find them. Perhaps they did it easily, desperate to turn our attention elsewhere.”
Demos nodded. “Any battalions Regner is moving down here are likely soldiers who will be ordered to fight next to one another. If we’re going to risk attacking them, we use the opportunity to sow confusion and discord.”
He glanced at me, and I nodded. It was a good plan.
“If that’s settled, I’m going back to bed,” Asinia said, getting to her feet. “Goodnight.”
When she’d wandered away, Demos took her seat, leaning forward and leveling me with a hard stare. His amber eyes were so like Prisca’s, my mood darkened further.
“I know Prisca is your mate,” he said.
“Whatmakes you think that?”
“Don’t play with me.”
I shrugged, aware it would irritate him. To his credit, he kept his face blank.I knew him well enough to know he’d decided to give me a brotherly warning. Since—against my will—I was beginning to like him, I would allow him to talk. For now.
He tapped his fingers against his knee, his expression thoughtful. “I know you’re in love with Prisca. And I’ve heard enough about the fae and their mates to know what that means too. I know you’re dealing with…impulses.”
I stared at Prisca’s brother and had the strangest urge to laugh.
“Impulses?”
He pinned me with a glare. “The kind of impulses I don’t need to linger on when it comes to you and my sister.”
I sighed. “The impulses are…difficult. But I learned she was my mate long after some part of me had accepted I needed her.” If Demos thought it was just my fae blood tying me to Prisca, he might be tempted to dismiss it.
“You’re saying the mating doesn’t matter?”
“Oh, it matters. The fae are violent, territorial, and possessive. I’ve never battled with my instincts like this before.”
He was still watching me, and I met his gaze. “I didn’t need anything before Prisca. I wanted peace on this continent. I wanted our people to be safe. I wanted Regner dead. But I didn’t need anything for myself. I didn’t know I could have anything myself. And then I met her, and for the first time in my long life, I needed.”
I didn’t know why I was opening myself up like this. Especially to Demos, of all people. Perhaps it was just exhaustion, Even my body was finding it difficult to go this long without sleep.
