Page 96 of Demon's Bane

Joan stifles a giggle, but the queen’s voice calls out again a moment later.

“I already tried Rhett’s room, so I know you’re both in there.”

“Stay here,” I tell my mate with a groan, swiping the back of my hand over my mouth to wipe away the sheen of her and reluctantly rolling out of bed.

Tugging on the pants I wore last night, I stalk to the door and open it a crack. I tame the grumbling, snarling thing inside of me that's rebelling at being pulled from my mate, and remember enough civility to give the queen a deferential dip of my head.

“Your majesty, what can we—”

“Ugh, enough of that,” Queen Allison says with a laugh. “No need with the ‘your majesty’ nonsense. Not when you’re my best friend’s m—”

She catches herself before she says it, no doubt remembering the awkward weight of that topic from yesterday.

But after last night? I want her to say it. I wanteveryoneto say it, to see it, to know I’ve claimed Joan.

Giving her head a small shake, she sobers. “I needed to speak with the two of you. Eren and I got word very early this morning from the captain of the soldiers we sent to your village yesterday.” The hesitance in her tone, the worry in her expression, all of it sends my stomach plummeting to somewhere near the floor. “Something’s happened in the village.”

Allison goes on to relay details that barely pierce my consciousness over the roaring in my ears.

Another explosion.

Another attack on my home and my people, and where was I? Dancing and drinking in the court. Losing myself with my mate, indulging in my own pleasure while I could have been…

Shame climbs up the back of my throat.

“We’ll leave at once,” I tell the queen.

I start to shut the door, but Allison braces a hand on it, stopping me. “Joan?”

Stifling a growl—Goddess, the last thing I need is to growl at my kingandqueen in barely the space of a day—I put myself bodily in front of her, blocking her view into the room.

“I’m here,” Joan says from behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to find her approaching wearing the shirt I had on under my jacket last night. As much as it gratifies me to see her wearing my clothes again, it’s no match for my acute disappointment to see all of that glowing skin covered.

“Hey,” Allison says with a smile. “I hope you had fun last night.”

Though the queen tries for a cheerful tone, there’s something tight in her expression, worried, like she’s all tooaware she’s here to drag us out of our little slice of peace and paradise, thrusting us back into this mess of a situation.

“It was great,” Joan says. “But from what I overheard, that’s not why you’re here.”

Allison shakes her head. “No, it’s not. I also wanted to see if you’d like to stay here, in court? After what happened with the cave-in and the not-so-warm welcome you got in the village, maybe it would be better?”

Joan’s brow furrows, and a desperate, clawing sort of denial lodges itself in my chest. Be separated from my mate? Now? After we’ve barely started to explore the bond between us?

Only… the queen’s concerns make sense. Joan would be safer here in the court. Away from the narrowed, suspicious eyes of my kin and neighbors. Away from the danger of this wielder or whoever is behind the attacks.

Even if the idea of leaving her here feels like carving my heart from my chest and watching it bleed out on the floor.

“No,” Joan says firmly. “No. I’ll go with Rhett.”

Both Allison and I look at her in surprise, but my brave, beautiful mate isn’t about to back down.

“I want to see this through. With you, Rhett. I want to see this through with you.”

It’s a terrible idea, a cursed idea, the worst idea in the world to entertain for a single second. But, like every time my mate asks something of me, there’s nothing I would deny her. Especially if it means keeping her close.

Allison has just opened her mouth to argue when I interject.

“You’ll stay safe in the village,” I tell Joan, tone booking no argument. “And out of harm’s way.”