Chained to the Devil’s Daughter (Mating the Elements #1)

31

Searra

T he declaration snapped necks. Beside me, Ash’ren vibrated with killer energy as he read the missive over my shoulder.

“We don’t know if he’s heard what’s going on here.” I dared not glance at the gathering crowd of former laborers. Despite their expressed interest in fighting for their freedom, my instincts were to shelter and protect them, not throw them against the most evil demon to sully the pit of Hell. “You and I need to meet with Lavar. Now.”

“We’ll be ready,” Ash’ren said, his sturdy tone a buoy.

Clattering accompanied by crazed laughter whipped my attention to Maisa, stomping down a long grub table. She slammed her fists against her chest and bellowed in a rugged way that could rally the most timid fighter to frenzy.

“Our prey comes to us!” Maisa boomed. “And we are fucking hungry!” Some banged fists or mugs on the tables. “We will show that fucker what happens when you fuck with Queen Searra’s people, led by the slayer of the overseers, Ash Render himself!” More cheers this time. “Let him bring his fire, for it is weaker than ours! Let him rain down his sparks, for they will turn to ash before reaching the tops of our pretty fucking heads! Devil thinks he’s squashed our pride, but he will learn. Trained by the demon of darkness, the fucking Ash Render! We are not afraid!”

The tent erupted into war cries.

“Renders of Ash! Renders of Ash! Renders of Ash!”

Ash’ren stood tall, the only hint of his overwhelm lay in his tapping thumb against his fist. Biting back tears, I pressed an encouraging hand between his shoulder blades. The moment he pumped his fist into the air, the people went wild, fear over Devil’s return momentarily lost in the storm.

∞∞∞

Plucking another dragoncherry from the war table, I popped it in my mouth despite ash being all I could taste. While Devil’s magic was confiscated during his time with the council—same as any other weapon would be—it would take some time for him to burn through the enchanted ring clamped around his wing to forbid flight, a detainment method only used on criminals. The flight-preventing apparatus was forced upon him after being held in contempt by the council for attacking a council member who questioned the ethics of his Forgotten Ones bone-excavation methods.

We had an estimated three days until Devil was within sight of Ring Ten. Sentinels were stationed at the tower and would signal his arrival, but by that time, we’d need to be ready.

“I’m surrounded by flame-fucking cowards! Sure, we could avoid bloodshed if Princess here grows the balls to kill him herself.” It wasn’t the first tantrum Lavar had thrown in the past thirty minutes. His empty eye cavity flickered like a spooky torch. “But, since she won’t, I say, let there be blood. You rallied the workers, let them fucking work!”

Despite his charming way with words and his tendency to go rogue, the Warlord continued to show up for me. There was something deeper driving him than the hopes for a higher position in court, I mean, he already controlled most of the military. Then again, he was a total dick. Perhaps my one conversation with his daughter, who seemed way too nice to be part of his family, was screwing with my instincts.

“No, no. Spilling their blood is obviously not ideal.” My argument lacked luster around another tasteless cherry.

“We can’t let you face him alone. He’s paranoid.” Ash’ren gestured to Filaris’ note. Though there was a chair between us, the balmy waves of his possessive anger stroked me like the furry flames of a purring mew. “I will not lose you.”

Dragoncherry juice leaked from the light smile I sent Ash’ren, his gaze locking on my tongue as I licked it away. The heat emanating from him rippled.

“We agreed to strike hard.” The sturdy table withstood Lavar’s beating, his fist accentuating every other syllable. “Now you have the people on your side, the most lethal weapon in an uprising’s arsenal, and you want to backtrack!”

The eight walls of the dark room were smaller without Filaris’ presence. Filaris had held this whole rebellion together, apparently, for her absence left us like poultry with their heads cut off. Where there used to be at least tentative agreement in the plan, there was nothing but new ideas and judgments.

I sighed and turned away, my hand rising to my velvet choker. I fidgeted for a moment, trying to bring back the righteous ire that had filled me these past months, fueling my rage and rebellion. I thought of Ash’ren’s trainees and how ballsy they’d become under his tutelage. Between Lavar’s loyal troops and the laborers, I had an army, but I didn’t want to use it. All those lives had finally been given back to the people they belonged to.

“Are you aware, Princess, that Devil is on his fucking way right fucking now?” Lavar shouted.

“Stand down,” Ash’ren growled. The angry warlord snapped his mouth shut with a matching sound. Closer now, Ash’ren lowered his voice into my ear. “What’s going on in that pretty head?”

My hand lifted from my throat to pick at my lip, but Ash’ren grabbed it instead, bringing it to his lips so that his breath skated over my knuckles. “What is it?”

“The laborers.” I turned to face him fully. “Devil has to pay. But. . . I can’t make him pay using their lives. They’re the first thing he’ll see and destroy.”

“You want to change the whole fucking plan in the most critical hour?” Lavar shouted, slamming his flat palm on the sequoia wood. When he once again failed to receive the reaction he was pining for, he shot up so fast that his empty glass clattered to the floor, where it shattered. “I’ll be twiddling my fucking dick at my post awaiting orders. Whatever you shit stains decide, hopefully it doesn’t kill us all.”

He left, muttering about how he should never have gotten involved in this whole shenanigan.

“They knew what they signed up for,” Ash’ren said. A simple statement, not an argument for one plan or another.

“Those decisions happened under duress,” I countered.

“They believed themselves dead either way.”

“I can’t strip them of their hope again.” The dragoncherry bowl was empty. I scrubbed my velvet necklace instead.

“A last resort. What of Lavar’s troops?”

“If we deploy them, we risk them swapping sides when soot gets real. Ash,” I exhaled and stared at the empty cherry bowl, fearful of what I’d find in his cinnabar stare. “I have an idea.”

Ash’ren crooked a finger below my chin, forcing me to look at him. Resolute and steadfast, he stroked my cheek with his thumb as he confirmed my silent orders. “I’ll do my best to bring him to you alive.”

“You must bring him alive.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. His gaze dropped to the base of my throat, where my tight necklace covered a moon-shaped scar. “Only for that. You deserve to know.”

“Devil must arrive to ghost rings. Clear skies, no dust clouds kicked up by all the digging. Everyone inside.” I scrawled orders on sheets of parchment. “He’ll be livid. He’ll come straight to the hall to see whose bottom sullies the Bone Throne.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“I hate to use you in this way, after all you’ve been through on my account,” I whispered.

“Oh, don’t worry, love bug. I’m dying to get my hands on that fucker for my own reasons.” His tone was unquestionable. Dark but earnest. “I’ll bring him to his knees before you, without stripping more families of their loved ones.”

My heart cracked at that last bit. I crept past the chair dividing us and crawled into his lap. Cupping his strong jaw, I kissed the corner of his frown. “You are a good man, Ash.”

“That’s not true, Firefly. A gentleman doesn’t fuck the way I do.”

“I didn’t say gentle.” A deep rumble reverberated against my hand when I laid it over his chest. “Besides, it’s your heart I love.”

“You love the rough fucking, too, though.”

“Of course.”

Maybe it was the addictive rush of having such a powerful demon squirm in my presence. Maybe it was all the pillow talk of killing my father. Either way, all I wanted at this moment was to be rutted over the war table.