Page 74 of Princess of Bael

He winked in response, then spun away to take out an incoming Orsini Devil in the next instant.

I gaped at him, then allowed myself to take in the carnage outside.

Bodies littered the grounds.

And at least a dozen members of my guard stood lording over them with savage expressions.

Holy hellfire, I breathed, my lips parting. That’swhy none of the demons are attacking me… My Royal Guard is here.

Which meant either my father had sent them at the first sensation of trouble, or he’d ordered them to remain here in the shadows until I needed them.

It was something for me to evaluate later.

Because more demons were pouring onto the lands and I’d left Ezra behind to defend himself.

“Where’s the portal?” I shouted.

Yaz pointed his sword directly up in response, making me curse as a trio of demons fell from an inky cloud in the night sky.

How the hell am I supposed to close that?I wondered, gaping at it. “Who made it?” I demanded, searching the grounds once more. If I could locate that person, I might be able to take them down and force them to dismantle the portal.

Yaz’s expression told me I wasn’t going to like his response. “We don’t know.”

Great. That meant whoever was in charge here was blending in somewhere.No. Not blending.

Concealing.

I narrowed my gaze as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. Not many knew how to find this plane of existence. Hell, I hadn’t even known and my mate was the Archangel of Justice.

I also doubted Ezra left these grounds unwarded. He probably had runes everywhere.

Therefore, whoever was behind this attack knew not only the location but also his security parameters. Because there hadn’t been any warning other than the lust bomb—something that had been deployedafterthe grounds had been breached.

Kristina’s powers had probably been used to break the barriers, too.

Shit.

We need to get the fuck out of here. This isn’t a battle we can—

My thought halted as a knife sliced through my chest, sending me to my knees. But it wasn’t visible. I couldn’t see it. Only feel it. The sensation stole the air from my lungs, causing me to curl into a ball as Yaz shouted over my head.

A flurry of activity scattered around me, whispers of blue silk taking over my vision.My guard. They’re protecting me,I realized as I wheezed in agony.

I patted my hands against my chest, searching for the blood and the weapon and finding nothing.I don’t understand.

“They’re leaving,” one of my guards said.Baxton, maybe?

“We need to notify Bael,” another replied. That sounded like the low tones of Serena, the guard’s second-in-command.

“We need a Portal Dweller! Where’s Jinx?” a third demanded, the voice too deep for me to sort. Everything hurt. My mind refused to process, my body shaking beneath an onslaught of pain unlike any I’d ever experienced.

Yet I still couldn’t find the wound.

Because it’s not mine, a faint part of me realized.This isn’t my pain…

I blinked.What?

I pressed my palm more sternly to my chest, determined to quiet that voice.