Page 70 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

Everywhere I looked there was death and destruction, broken windows and doors, the air tainted by the stench of blood and burning.

The inner keep sat at the heart of the castle, the top part higher than the walls, it’s pointed turret usually ringed by small demon towers, which were now broken and smoking.

Had someone killed the queen?

Reaching the closest point to the keep, Xavier shot a strand of spider silk up at the roof. He tugged it, telling me to hold on. Seconds later, we were flying, dragged upward like a whizzy ascender.

We landed on the balcony of the queen’s chambers, the window broken, drapes billowing in the bitter January wind.

An upturned, golden cage fit for a rat sat close by, a dead man’s hand resting on it. Ice filled my veins, prepping me for the worst possible scenario.

Not my Darcy.

Not my Darcy.

Please…

I hurried inside, dagger drawn, totally floored by the rest of the scene.

Dead humans littered the floor, weapons strewn across the carpet.

There were demons fading away from severe injuries, the massive head of a demon resembling a hog, rusty nose ring in its snout, sat blinking over by a collapsed wall.

The rest of its body wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and it faded away seconds after I entered the room.

Butterfly stood before the queen, trapped by six red spikes skewering his body—two through his torso, two through his chest, and two thorough his neck. Diagonal, fixing him to the floor. Crimson jelly shimmered around his ankles.

Shit.

“Hello, my dear Shadow,” Queen Margarite greeted me. Her face was caked in dirt, her black robes torn, gray hair a sweaty mess. And she beamed a triumphant grin right at me.

Princess Piper sat still in a chair over in the corner. Held by magic, eyes staring ahead.

Where was my friend?

For the first time in my life, I didn’t obey royal protocol. “What happened?”

“He came looking for you.”

Of course he did.

“What you are both seeing is the dominance of witch magic,” the queen added.

“What happens when demons attack. This butterfly creature destroyed my towers, tried to threaten me into helping him find you.” She wrinkled her nose.

“Drama always follows you, Roman. When I refused to give this demon the time of day, these humans and demons flooded my castle and slaughtered my people.”

A spike of guilt hit me in the feels. Even now, after everything, I wish I could’ve helped her. Protected her. Served her better.

Fuck. How long would this take to shake off?

“Yet here he is,” the queen continued, “A failure. Every demon will fail. This world will not bow to demonic scum.”

She clapped her hands together. A red sheen spread across Butterfly’s skin, his face contorting with pain. He screamed, every inch of him radiantly crimson.

What the hell?

Xavier, his reflexes on point, grabbed me and spun us into a cocoon of silk as the demon exploded. Black blood splattered the silk, the sounds like sudden rainfall.

“Oh my God…” I wheezed, pressed against his body.

“Certainly an unexpected twist.”

Once the gore stopped splattering the silky protection, he returned us to the action.

The queen snarled, wiping demon blood from her brow. “Disgusting. Look at you, Shadow. Look at what you’ve become.”

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Piper lift a hand.

“Where’s my friend?” I demanded.

“Roman!”

My little buddy darted out from under Piper’s chair, pausing when the queen lifted a hand.

“I would scuttle carefully, rat. This is not over.”

“Touch him and?—”

The queen silenced me with a snappy, “Such insolence from a servant!”

“This is?—”

“Hold your tongue, Roman Gold. Traitors are not permitted to speak in my presence.”

Piper moved her other arm.

“Now for the other demon in this room,” Margarite said.

Oh, hell no.

I stepped in front of Xavier, a rush of Synth curling around my dagger’s hilt, lifting it into the air.

She smirked. “You would kill your queen? You would commit regicide for a demon?” Her eyes fell on Xavier. “What have you done to my boy?”

“He isn’t your boy. He’s mine.”

The queen plucked a red bead from her bracelet, eyes back on me. “I have a question to ask you, Shadow.”

For all her bravado, she did not look in the best shape.

“Where’s the cavalry?” I returned.

“They will be here soon,” she said. “But I wanted to ask a question. I hate those who jump queues.”

“What is it?”

“No Majesty? No bowing to your queen?”

I kept my mouth shut, hating my lack of formality. She’d lost my respect completely, and it sat so wrong inside me.

Give me the simpler days again…

But they were long dead.

“Teleportation,” she said. “How did you teleport away from me after I shot you? Better yet, how did you survive?”

The princess lifted both arms, moving her head.

“It’s complicated.”

“You can tell me how.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Why? What happened to us, Shadow? Why did you allow yourself to be stolen from me by this creature?”

“Why did you allow yourself to be taken in by hate?”

“Hate? What a silly thing to say. It is truth. Have you forgotten everything demons have done to us over the years? Is your mind empty of memory? Just because The Rift created this situation, it doesn’t change anything.

Demons are evil. There is no middle ground.

They are invaders. They must be purged. You will see. The world will see.”

Piper slowly and quietly got to her feet.

“Allow me to correct that,” the queen threw out. “You will not see, Roman. I have been thinking long and hard on this. Agonized so much over your betrayal?—”

I committed a terrible sin right then…

…I cut off the queen. “Hold on. What exactly did I do? I failed to kill King Basile, sure. But I still tried. And so what if I fucked a demon? How is that a direct betrayal to you? I still came back to you. I still?—”

“Enough!” she barked. “It tells me everything about your character that you have?—”

Round two of butting in. “I’ve been carrying a lot of doubt with me.”

Why I deliberately pushed her buttons was beyond me. But fuck her.

She rolled the bead between finger and thumb, offering another smirk. “You are corrupted, Roman Gold. Lost. It breaks my heart, but I know what must be done.” Magic danced around her fingertips. “I will eradicate the ultimate traitor.”

Hardly the ultimate traitor.

Man, she was so damn dramatic.

“Expel this demon from my castle.” Up went the hand with the bead—a Synth orb, not a bead.

Whoa. She’d managed to make mini versions of the deadly magical spheres.

Impressive.

“This is the end for?—”

Piper made her move, hitting the queen in the back with a spell powerful enough to make the princess’s nose bleed.

A spell that would come with a bazillion consequences if she fucked up.

“Queen Margarite, I invoke Article 81 of the Royal Constitution. As Crown Princess and your kin, I command you to stop. I challenge your authority and competence.”

Spirals of Synth snaked around the queen. She collapsed to her knees, eyes wide with horror. “Piper…”

“Silence, mother!” Blood leaked from both of Piper’s nostrils. “It is time for silence.” She raised her arms, scarlet sparks crackling in her hands. “I rebuke your authority. I rebuke you. I rebuke you. I call upon the Ascension Council. Come to me. Come to me. Come to me.”

The sparks crackled harder, more blood gushing from her nose.

This spell could kill a witch. Piper ran the risk of dropping dead at any second from an exploding heart.

Article 81 removed the power of a monarch, if successfully cast. During the spell, the caster must display strength and determination, call upon the Ascension Council to come help them.

Get their support. The council were a group of witches who would then either side with the caster or the monarch in a vote, manifesting into the place of calling as astral projections.

A powerful group. They declared monarchs, or removed them—the real force behind the throne. But they rarely intervened and were rarely invoked. The last time Article 81 got invoked was three centuries ago.

Six translucent figures appeared in the room, four of them in their pajamas, one in a ballgown, the other dressed casually in a hoody and jeans. Each one shimmered with a red glow.

A man in stripey PJs resembling a blue-and-white stick of rock spoke first. “Your Highness? What are you doing?”

“I’m doing the right thing,” Piper replied.

“Your Majesty?” the woman in the white ballgown said.

The queen looked at her, voice muted, weak as hell.

Was this really happening?

“The moment my mother declared her war,” Piper continued, “we should have acted against her.”

Easier said than done, really. Going up against a witch monarch was no small feat. In the previous attempt at this spell, the monarch didn’t lose their power. The caster lost their head after the council sided with their king.

“Your Highness,” the same woman spoke again. “I am shocked by your behavior. Please stop this.”

Okay, so we knew where one of the votes was going.

Another woman in silky yellow PJs piped up next. “The princess is right in doing this. We have stood back and allowed the queen to fall into despair and paranoia. We were a shameful council. One of us should have been braver, acted sooner. I applaud you, Your Highness, for taking this action.”

All but the woman in the gown nodded in agreement.

“You cannot be serious?” the queen’s only fan said.

“The princess suffers under the magic,” the stick of rock man chimed back in.

“We cast the vote now.” He cleared his throat, clearly the leader of the group.

“Council!” Whoa! What a booming tone. “In the matter of Article 81 and removing Queen Margarite from power, the votes will now be cast. Those against the removal, speak now.”

“Nay!” the woman in the gown cried. “The queen will save us from?—”

“Silence! Your vote is cast!”

She shut her trap.

The man continued. “Those in favor, speak now.”

“Aye!”