Page 80 of Demon's Bane

Rhett’s heat washes over my back a moment later, and one of his hands settles on my waist as he tugs me against him.

“Jo?” Allie asks, eyes going even wider. “Who is this?”

“This is…” I glance up at Rhett, and the tension written all over his face is more than a little concerning, considering there are about a dozen sword-wielding demons still watching us intently. “Rhett. He’s… well, we’ve got a lot to tell you.”

“I bet you do,” Allie says with a breathless, nervous laugh. “Maybe not here?”

“Come,” Eren cuts in smoothly. “Let’s talk in our council chambers.”

Rhett seems to snap out of it a bit as he lets go of his hold on me and gives Eren a curt nod of assent. Crisis apparently averted, Allie steps forward, tucks my arm in hers, and tugs me close to her side.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you.”

“I can’t either,” I say, squeezing her arm and feeling a wave of relief as we follow the king deeper into the mountain.

24

Rhett

“David?” Queen Allison asks, incredulous. “You think that asshole’s involved with this?”

Joan shrugs, shifting a little uncomfortably where she’s seated at the long wooden table in the royal council chamber.

“Stranger things have happened, right?”

The queen shakes her head. “Still. I thought we’d said good riddance to him a long time ago.”

“You and me both,” Joan mutters.

The council chamber falls into silence as the four of us consider everything that’s been laid plainly out between us over the last half-hour.

The Crescent witches who’ve come poking around the village and the thefts that shortly followed. My trip to the human realm to speak with Esme. Everything Joan and I learned from Seren. The recent cave-in.

Queen Allison’s face is pinched with worry, and Eren keeps an arm around her shoulder as the two of them let it all sink in. After a few moments, she lets out a long, tense breath and rubs her fingers over her temples like she’s trying to soothe an ache there.

“Okay, okay, so let’s forget the David thing for a sec and back up. Tell me when these witches started showing up.”

I clear my throat. “A few weeks after you recast the bargain.”

“They really didn’t waste any time, did they?” Allison mutters before turning to Joan. “Did my mom say anything about it when the two of you were making your bargain?”

Joan flinches a little at that, and the first stirrings of a growl kick up in my chest before I can stop it.

On the other side of the table, Eren meets my eye with a hard, disapproving stare. Mortified, I silence myself and bow my head in a show of respect.

Goddess above, the way I acted in the great hall still coats my skin like a shameful slime.

Igrowledat my king.

Like an adolescent with no control over myself, all I saw was another male about to have his hands on my mate, not thinking about how it could have endangered her to have me act so irrationally. And even if he met that slight with good humor, I know better than to show anything but deference and respect to my queen now.

Joan opens her mouth to reply, but Allison speaks before she can.

“Sorry. It was shitty of me to say it like that.”

“You’re not wrong,” Joan says with a shrug. “And no, she didn’t say anything about it. She didn’t say much at all except for how she believes none of them had anything to do with it.”

“I bet,” Allison snorts.