Page 146 of Princess of Bael

“Shit,” Yaz repeated. “I need to call Serena for backup.”

He started to move back, but Kayla caught him by the arm. “Yaz.”

He startled, his shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes. “Princess?”

“Where did you get that cuff?” she asked slowly, her mind telling me she was preparing herself for a fight. She was almost back at full strength but had mastered the art of appearing wounded.

The Royal Guard’s lips curled down. “It’s from the same place as yours.” A pause followed. “Wait, what happened to yours? You never take it off… That’s why I couldn’t track you.”

“You use my cuff to track me?”

“Of course,” he replied. “Guarding you is my primary responsibility. I always follow you.”

“Even to Heaven?” I asked flatly.

“Well, no. I can’t ascend. Just like Kayla can’t.” His blue-brown eyes flicked up to me before settling back on her. “What’s this abo—”

An explosion interrupted him midsentence, causing the ground to shake around us as a portal opened right behind us.

Demonic screams followed as a horde of hellish creatures poured out of the hole into the realm.

With Morax at the helm.

My eyebrows rose, my swords sizzling with warning beneath my palms. I’d finally cut through the first layer of the barrier.

But I was about to need my weapons for an entirely new purpose.

“You’re behind this?” I asked, both stunned and infuriated. “Yousiphoned off your daughter’s power?”

“No,” another voice said from above, a glint of silver shining brightly in the sun and momentarily blinding me as I tried to find the familiar voice. “He merely helped.”

Zerak.

A fiery shield blocked my vision as Kayla’s power ignited around us in a protective bubble.

Power slammed into it not a second later, her energy capturing and holding the assault and keeping us alive beneath her blistering inferno.

“Thatis useful,” I said, recalling her previous comments about my swords.

She grunted in response. “I can’t hold this for long. Not against an Archangel and an Archdemon.”

“Serena’s coming with backup,” Yaz replied, his fingers drawing various runes over his cuff.

Kayla’s fire had protected him as well, the reaction one born of instinct. Because she trusted him. Despite seeing his cuff and finding out he’d been tracking her, she still had faith in his innocence.

And given his behavior now, I was inclined to follow her lead with him.

Because either he was a brilliant actor playing the long game, or he truly cared about her.

I pulled my swords in, my wings tucked tight to my back. Kayla’s mind told me we didn’t have long before her shield failed.

Another blast hit us from the top, followed by one from the side.

You take Zerak. I’ll handle Prince Morax,Kayla suggested.

I shook my head. “That portal is going to be a problem.” Via our mental connection, I suggested a different plan.Have Yaz portal you out. I’ll draw Morax and Zerak up into the sky. Then you portal back in and take out that portal.

How are you going to take on Zerak and Morax without holy blades?