Page 124 of The Queen’s Shadow

“How quickly can you mobilize your army?” I asked Zayne.

“The wall is always manned. However, my forces are still under the influence of the slavery bond. They will still be operating under Vespara’s order to protect the city until told otherwise… but it is a risk. If one of Ash Nevra’s higher ranking officials gets too close they could order my people to turn on me.

“That being said, they will have a very hard time breaching the wall.” He cut a gaze to Cerenah. “Especially if you have a lightning keeper, an osteomancer and a Titan manning the front lines.”

I looked over at Cerenah, unsure I wanted her put in that type of danger. However, the way she was looking at the dark rows of soldiers gathered in squadrons in the distance, I could see the flicker of desire in her eyes. She wanted to unleash on them. This was vengeance for her.

“Fine. Take this.” I said, handing one of my shadowstone blades to Cerenah. “Use this to free as many soldiers as you possibly can before they attack.”

Zayne’s eyes flashed as he watched Cerenah take the shadowstone reverently. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I want you there too, if anything happens to Cerenah I will hold you personally accountable.” I snapped at him.

He smirked and nodded, giving me a small bow. “Of course, my Queen.” He said, much too amicably for my tastes. I glared at him but didn’t have time to worry about how many ways he might be planning to fuck me over.

“Rycon, Dad, you’re with me. We’re going to get Kasha, then we’ll check in with Zayne and Cerenah before heading back to court.” Rycon’s eyes flashed, and he nodded, ramming a fresh clip into his gun. I whirled to Zayne.

“Where is Kasha? What is the fastest way to get to her and then to the city gates?”

“She is in the Gilded Boudoir. Vespara had her on the top floor. She is by appointment only, so you will likely meet quite a bit of opposition getting to her.” He said dryly. Rycon looked as if he was almost happy to hear that.

The daemon in me purred at the thought. Jeremy took one look at our expressions and paled. I made a mental note to station him outside of the brothel. I didn’t want him to see me lose control.

“There’s a transportation portal in the main entrance that will take you directly to the Boudoir. You can use the same portal to get to the city gates once you have retrieved her.” He explained. I nodded curtly.

“Alright. We’ll come find you.” I turned to Cerenah, and reached out to grab her hand, giving it a squeeze. “Give ‘em hell.” I told her, and she nodded.

“You too.” We smiled at each other, then we made our way to the transportation portal, to go our separate ways.

Rycon

‘Alexa, play Dark Matter by Rivals.’

The Boudoir was a fortress. There were guards at the gate before the four-story sandstone brothel. The building itself was large, and intricately carved with erotic scenes of daemons engaging in nearly every sex position possible. The moment we approached the front gates, I got the first whiff of catnip, and my pupils expanded.

I was going to kill so many fucking people.

My heart was suddenly in my throat, and I could barely keep myself from immediately launching through the gate. I forced myself to still and glanced at Raven.

“She’s here.” I growled, my voice was thick with rage and the lust for blood. I braced myself, expecting Raven to try to hold me back, or tell me to calm down. I needn’t have worried. I watched her eyes bleed to black and her darkness flood the air around us. Her rage tasted like rust and iron on my tongue. The sharp tang of it made my hair stand on end with excitement.

“Open the bond.” I said, and she raised an eyebrow, before doing what I asked without comment. I felt her anger and thirst for revenge rush down the bond to mix with my own. Her daemon and my beast egged each other on, and I cocked the gun in my hand in anticipation of our next move.

She turned to Jeremy, who was looking at the two of us, as if he were wondering if letting us go in together was a good idea.

“Stay out here, Dad. I’m going to free all the workers. I’ll send them out here to you.” She handed him a sack full of emerald shards. “Make sure they get into the transportation portals and are able to go wherever it is they need to go.”

“What if they don’t have anywhere to go?”

Raven thought about it for a moment, before finally sighing.

“I guess send them to the palace. Zayne will need to figure out what to do to help displaced citizens. He’s scum, but Cerenah will have something to say about it if he turns them away.”

Jeremy looked unsure for a moment, and I knew he was wrestling with the fact that we were about to go on a killing spree. His morals were fighting against the idea. He looked at me, and I cocked my head to the side, hoping he remembered our little conversation in the armory.

Now was not the time to be a pussy.

Finally, he dipped his head, and took the sack of shards from Raven.