Page 152 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Speak.” She ordered. I exchanged another worried look with Dossidian. Zayne pursed his lips, clearly annoyed with the tone, but Cerenah spoke for him and he was forced to sit quietly and simmer.

Conrad

Cerenah informed us that with the help of Elektraz, she and Zayne had made relatively quick work of the invading army. Apparently, once the battle had been won, the massive lightning Titan had disappeared into the clouds, and had not yet returned. The Storm Ring in the center of the megaron had been completely wiped blank, and no matter how hard Cerenah tried, she had not been able to re-summon the great lightning bird.

They had spent the rest of the night working to free as many of Zayne’s people as possible, though with only one blade, it had been slow going.

Cerenah explained how she had taken the females that Raven had freed from the Boudoir and set them up temporarily in the palace. She had plans to put together programs and rehabilitation efforts for the freed slaves who had nowhere to go and needed work.

Cerenah updated us and Zayne stayed mostly quiet, barely touching his food. Though I couldn’t help but notice his gaze never left Cerenah while she spoke.

Jeremy and Meredith came in and joined us midway through breakfast. Jeremy looked like he had finally enjoyed the first restful sleep he had in weeks, but Meredith looked drained.

“Mer. Yuh lookin rough gyaal. Yuh nah sleep?” I asked gently as she made her way into the pit to grab some tea. She gave me a tired smile and patted my arm affectionately.

“I checked in on Kasha several times. She’s still in a deep sleep, but her transformation lines have almost completely healed. I expect her to shift back at any moment now.”

“You shouldn’t push yourself so hard.” Dossidian said, his voice soft and full of concern. She glanced at him, her cheeks filling with color before she shrugged.

“Rycon and I took turns checking on her. He slept on the floor next to her bed all night. He must be feeling even worse than I am.”

As if on cue, the cat in question burst into the common room. He was dripping in blood again and had a massive smile on his face.

“Morning fuckers!” He greeted us jovially. We all turned to stare at him, and he stopped in his tracks, cocking his head to the side. “What?”

“Mer just been sayin’ how di two of you been up all night lookin’ after Kasha.” I explained, taking in the thick layer of blood and gore that coated his restructium suit. He grinned at me and threw his arms over his head in a big stretch.

“Oh yeah.” He said moving toward the pit. “It was a long night, but nothing wakes me up quite like the smell of murder in the morning.” He winked at me, before bending down to hop into the pit. Jeremy held up a hand, looking thoroughly disgusted.

“Speaking of smell…You’re not coming in here covered in blood, shit and guts, Rycon. Go shower, then you can join us.”

“Hey! Only one of them shit themselves, Pops… or at least, only one of them managed to get any on me.”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose at him. “That’s one too many, my friend. Into the shower you go.”

Rycon rolled his eyes, then turned to Dossidian, who was watching the shifter with an amused look on his face.

“Biceps, care to lend a hand? Give me that magick rinse cycle you gave Raven yesterday. It’ll be way faster than a shower, I’m starving.”

Dossidian chuckled and shrugged. He snapped his fingers and suddenly Rycon was clean. The shifter grinned at him, giving him a fist bump in thanks before hopping into the pit. He shimmied in between Dossidian and me, before reaching forward to fill his plate with an obnoxious amount of food.

I eyed his plate skeptically and raised an eyebrow.

“Yuh hungry today.” I observed, and Rycon shrugged.

“Worked up an appetite, what can I say?”

I remembered what Zayne had said earlier. He had brought one hundred and forty-nine prisoners with him. Surely Rycon hadn’t killed all of them. Not in that short amount of time?

“Yuh really murder all of dem?” I asked.

He glanced at me as he took a bite of sausage, eyeing me warily as he chewed. His expression darkened.

“Sure did, Obeah Man.” He confirmed once he had swallowed. His tone was quieter, as if he were challenging me to give him a hard time about it.

After seeing the state Kasha had been in when she had come back, I couldn’t bring myself to feel disgusted by the cat’s callousness. If those daemons had a part in what had happened to her, I only wished that their deaths had been slower. I nodded.

“Good.” I said, and the cat’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He gave me a smirk and elbowed me in the side, gesturing to the pot of coffee on the table.