Page 142 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Do you want to clean up before we eat?” Jeremy asked, gesturing to my gore covered armor. My ponytail was one big clump of congealed blood from when I had butchered those fucking rapists in the brothel. I tried to feel bad about taking so many lives but couldn’t. If I had the choice I would do it again. I even wished I could have made them suffer more, after seeing what they had done to Kasha. Just thinking about it made me sick.

“I can shower later; this conversation needs to happen now. I don’t want to waste any more time.” I said, as I hopped into the pit. Dossidian snapped his fingers again and I was suddenly clean. I jumped, startled, and grinned up at him, realizing what he had just done.

“You really need to teach me how to do some of this domestic magick.” I said and he smiled back at me. I would still need a shower, the magick didn’t make me feel clean in the same way good old-fashioned soap and water would, but it did feel more sanitary for eating.

“When we’re done saving the world, I would be happy to show you how to run a household.” He said, his eyes twinkling.

“Maybe you should give up your post heading up The Court of Pride’s armies and answer your calling of being a house maid.” Rycon smirked, hopping into the pit and piling a plate high with perfectly cooked pieces of lamb, and an aromatic rice pilaf. Dossidian didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, to my surprise, he winked at Meredith.

“I don’t know about a house maid, but I would make an excellent house husband.”

Meredith’s entire face flushed red, and I glanced at Conrad, surprised at the flirtatious comment. He gave me a lopsided grin and shrugged.

‘Dey been tip toein’ ‘round each other fah days.’ He said into my mind, his eyes shining with amusement. I bit back a smile of my own.

‘Interesting,’ I replied, as Jeremy settled in next to me. He reached over, grabbing a bottle of wine and began filling everyone’s cup, clearly feeling relaxed and at home now. My chest tightened at the sight of him passing a glass to Dossidian with a smile. He really had taken everything in stride. We wouldn’t have made it out of Greed without him, either. He had taken down Kieran and The Siren, forcing them to retreat, giving me the window of opportunity I had needed to shadow walk us away.

Looking around at everyone as we gathered to eat, the gaping, bleeding hole in my heart where Amon should be throbbed with pain. My little band of friends and family was not complete without him. I was not complete without him.

A slash of pain cut across my shoulder blades that was so strong I physically winced. I was really going to need to stretch and take a hot shower after dinner. It had been a rough day.

“So, who wants to go first?” I asked. Dossidian took a sip from his wine, before clearing his throat.

“We can go first. We have a problem, and it’s called The Syndicate.”

Raven

“So, the archives are gone.” I said, recapping what we had just discussed. Dossidian, Meredith and Conrad had been amazed to hear about Cerenah and the lightning Titan. Dossidian had been especially proud that I had managed to make an ally of The Court of Greed. I held up a finger and started listing off obstacles we needed to overcome.

“We still need to figure out a way to neutralize The Flute. Even if just for long enough to be able to steal it back from them. We need to figure out where they’re keeping Amon. We need a bigger army… even with Greed. Zayne made it seem like Gluttony’s resources are almost limitless. We need to keep the shadowstone weapons away from Ash Nevra… if she’s planning a way to use them against us, I don’t think we can mass produce them and allow just anyone to carry them like we had originally planned.”

“Yeah, but if people dun has di shadowstone weapon, dem can easily be re-enslaved.” Conrad pointed out. I nodded, frowning.

“Maybe we can do something about that with this.” I said, tapping the ever-present circlet that rested on my head.

“That only protects the person wearing it. We would still need to distribute shadowstone to the masses.” Dossidian pointed out.

Meredith looked thoughtful. “Maybe there’s a way we can amplify the protective power beyond the person who wields it?”

We all looked at her, and she tapped a finger against her chin. “There are spells that amplify things. You can add spice to potions to make them more potent or build intention with the wax of the moon. I don’t see why the same principals couldn’t apply to the benefits of shadowstone. Maybe if we harvested a big enough piece, and figured out how to expand the reach of its protection, we would cover enough space to protect an entire court from the slavery bonds?”

Conrad nodded, a huge grin spreading across his face. “Dat actually sounds like it might work.” He said.

Dossidian and I were both gaping at Meredith. Dossidian looked like he was trying not to kiss her on the mouth. Hell, I felt like I might if he didn’t.

“Do you really think that would be possible?” I asked. Meredith shrugged.

“Anything is possible, with a little magick. I do think we’ll need more than the few chilli peppers you need to amplify a love spell, but I’m sure if I did enough research and experimentation, I could figure something out.”

“Di research is di hard part.” Conrad said, and I did not miss the heavy layer of sadness that flooded his tone. “Di archives are gone.”

“Shadowstone is a material that comes from the daemon’s realm.” Meredith said, her tone pensive. “Perhaps we do not need the archives for this. Come to think of it, The Flute seems to affect daemons more than magick folk, shifters, or humans. We assumed that because it was an artifact, the answers lay in The Board’s archives. Maybe we will find something useful in the library here.”

“The library here does not have anything on The Flute outside of that prophecy I found.” I said. “The books would have told me if there was.”

“I have an idea.” Dossidian said suddenly. “We might be able to kill two painted drakes with one stone.” We all leaned in to listen.

“The Court of Wrath has a massive library filled with literature and texts from both worlds. It may be worth checking to see if there’s any information there that we can use. Additionally, my father has an impressive infantry. His war squadron is nearly half a million daemons strong.”