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“Can I throw a party or what?” Kaleb crowed, glancing Shaw’s way.“You’re not joining in the fun?”
“It’s all a bit… convenient, don’t you think?” Her sharp greengaze searching for some hint of what had all her instincts clamouring, warningher that something wasn’t right. Then she saw it, the air behind Kaleb beginningto shimmer. Bloody hell, a Portal. Reaching out to grab for him, too late.Kaleb there one moment, gone the next. Snatched away. Fuck. No.
Another section of air caught Shaw’s attention, likewise beginningto shimmer. The air behind Galen looking decidedly familiar. Not this time.Shaw jumping, pushing Galen out the way as she sailed through the Portal,calling her halberds in readiness.
Whoever had the gall to kidnap Kaleb better start praying to theirfavourite Deity, because Shaw was coming for her Demon. And she wasn’t planningto leave anyone alive when she found him. More importantly, Kaleb had betterstill be smiling and dimpling when she did reconnect with him, or their deathswould be slow and very, very creative. No one… no one took what belonged toShaw Bengala and lived long enough to do more than gurgle ineffectively, andvainly try to stuff their innards back inside their bodies.
Crap. It was official, somehow, someway, between all the chatting,plotting, flirting, smiling, scheming, and dimpling, Shaw had gone and fallenfor one angelic looking Demon. Her sisters were never going to let her hear theend of it.
Chapter Twenty
This was new. Shaw had been expecting a pitch black oubliette.Maybe a treacherous demonic lava pit landscape. Or perhaps a Battalion ofwaiting ninja assassins. At the very least a bad guy or two wearing black andabout to monologue her to tears of boredom with their plans for Realmdomination.
The incredibly plush green carpet that cushioned her dive and rollwas the first clue that this wasn’t your average sub-par kidnapping. Halberdsin her hands, Shaw immediately moved sideways three feet to stand beside anannoyed looking Kaleb.
“Where are we?” Eyeing the old fashioned furniture cluttering thelarge room, that she could only presume were antiques. The whole look screamingthat a lot of money went in to the design that was possibly French or Britishin influence. Making it feel like they’d stumbled into the formal living roomof a mansion where they shot movies about people flirting and gossiping, whilstwearing tuxedos and long ballgowns.
“I have no freaking clue.” Kaleb gestured out the picture windowto their right. “Though I’m pretty sure we’re no longer on the Earthly Plane.”Frowning for a moment at the thick swirling purple fog that roiled against theglass, undulating in strange patterns. Almost as if it were trying to batterits way inside.
“Should we explore?” But Shaw had no sooner posed the questionwhen the large oak double doors to their left swung open, Conflict Demon andpolitical advisor, Bartius, striding in, looking gravely serious in his floorlength grey robes.
A flicker of annoyance crossing his arrogant weathered features ashe noted Kaleb and Shaw standing in the middle of the room. Taking a seat on adark green velvet sofa some twenty feet away, he leant back, settling one ankleon his knee. Rubbing absently at his short beard, as if it itched or irritatedhim. “Idiot.” He acknowledged Kaleb finally. “Couldn’t even get your last actas King right, could you?”
“Stodgy-ass!” The grin and dimple were back in full force. “Youmight just be right on the idiot front for once. Of all my advisors, you wereflying under my traitor radar.”
“Shocker. From the moment you were elected-”
“Hold on.” Shaw interrupted, nudging Kaleb with her elbow. “Do wereally care about the whys and the whining? If I kill him now, we can haul ass,find a bar somewhere and maybe grab something to eat.”
“I could go for something light, maybe a salad.” Kaleb nodded inagreement. “That was an astonishing amount of Barbeque served up at the showerfor lunch.”
Seems they were in agreement. Lifting one halberd casually, Shawthrew it with a lightning fast flick of the wrist. Bartius for his part didn’tso much as flinch, unconcerned, and with good reason it seemed, as the halberdabruptly hit the carpet with a muffled thump some five feet from Bartius’schest. The edges of his lips lifting ever so slightly in a self-satisfiedsmirk.
“Please, Valkyrie, I had assumed, given the way you finagled yourway into the Idiot’s bed and neatly dropped yourself into the Consort’s role,that you had some modicum of intelligence. You clearly don’t recognise acascasdian summoning circle when you’re trapped in one.”
Glancing down at the plush carpet Shaw noted the decorative edginginlaid into the material. A magical barrier. Damn.
“It was hellishly expensive to source high content silver thread,and the rug maker kicked up quite the fuss about the extra work. But.” Bartiusglanced down at the halberd lying on the carpet some five feet away. “I thinkwe can all agree the time and money was well spent.”
Biting back a huff of frustration, keeping her expression bland,Shaw sauntered forward to scoop up her halberd. Stepping back until she wasshoulder to shoulder with Kaleb again.
“I’m a little surprised you’re still willing to stand by theIdiot’s side. You are aware he was intending to gift the monarchy away? Allyour machinations to rule the Conflict Realm through him are for naught.”Bartius eyed Kaleb like he was something noxious he’d discovered on hispristine front lawn.
“Oh, Stodgy-ass, you do like the sound of your own voice, don’tyou?” Kaleb quipped, grinning, his body language nothing but relaxed. “Let’scut to the chase, shall we? You’re the so called mastermind behind it all.Sowing unrest daily amongst my advisors. Funding all those numerous failedassassination attempts. Are you really trying to tell me you spent all thatenergy, all that money, because you want to be King of a bunch of squabbling,can’t agree the sky is purple, greedy, self-serving, blinkered subjects?”
“Right there is why you’re unworthy.” Bartius hissed, his cheeksflushing red. “Your contempt for your fellow Demons. For the throne. Foreverything. You’ve made a mockery of the title. It’s been nothing but a bigjoke to you from day one. Treating everything and everyone as the punchline.”
Kaleb’s dimple abruptly disappeared, the smile along with it. Shawnoting that even the twinkle in Kaleb’s eyes had morphed from glitteringamusement into something much more… chilling. Oh Freyja. Things low in Shaw’sbody began to heat up. This was Kaleb’s true face. The dangerous apex predatorthat dwelt within. Bartius was the idiot for not realising that Kaleb’s lighthearted chatter, smiles and dimple were nothing but camouflage. Underestimatehim at your own peril. Bartius was about to discover that first hand.
“Hold on, you’re telling me you preferred Laynn’s way of doingthings? The lies? The money grubby greed? The betrayal of her own kind to holdon to power at all costs?”
“At least she did it with gravitas. She was Queen, she never letanyone forget that. Her conduct at Court was beyond reproach.”
“Beyond reproach?” Mused Kaleb. “She killed her husband. Made apuppet out of her son. Betrayed her brother. Created an entire generation ofDemons lost to a killing lust, just so she could wage a centuries long war inorder to hold onto the throne through subterfuge, magic and death. But you’reright on one score, she did always look regal as fuck when she sat on thatcursed throne of hers.”
“Watch that mouth of yours when you talk about your betters.”
“You know, I get Vanessa, Shunia and Seamus, their plots andschemes, they were all about the money. I even got Kreyon, being a xenophobemade him predictable and manageable. But you, I assumed you just disliked me,but who would ever have guessed you were a blinkered obsessed royalist? Buttell me one thing. You were surprised to see Shaw here. I presume you wereexpecting… Galen?”
