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

37

Searra

A sh’ren and I went a little too hard last night. Between receiving his mate mark and riding him two or three times after we went to bed, my mind was addled by a lack of sleep in the morning.

Donning a composed, queenly facade to visit the labor rings was difficult, but it must be done. Every laborer and their family had been warned of the plan, but I feared nothing would compare to hearing it from their queen. So, we visited as many hubs as possible, assuring children and urging parents to hide the moment they heard the alarm within the next two days. Warning without instilling too much fear was honestly an impossible balance, but we did our best.

“Keeper, it’s good to see you on your feet,” I exclaimed as the tattooed old man approached us, leaning heavily on his staff.

“Hello, Your Highness.” The fragile prophet smiled in that knowing way. Something distracted him, and he nodded at someone to my left. I followed his gaze to Markel playing in the distance, his smile broad despite the worry loitering around the adults. I waved before turning back to Keeper, noticing then the lithe demon hovering at his elbow.

Wait, I recognized this demon! Something clicked in my sleepy mind, and I snapped my fingers at the brothel worker I’d last seen on a cot, full of grace even while pissed off and in pain. “You!”

“Me,” the demon drawled. He dropped into an elegant curtsy. “Your Bone-Blessed Majesty.”

“Tayman. I’m so glad to see you well.” An epiphany provided a burst of energy. I snapped my fingers and marched forward. “Tayman, I have a position I think you’d be perfect for.”

“Whoa, Your Highness. You’ll have to speak to my higher-ups to commission my services,” Tayman teased. Recalling the choice words he’d had for his powers-that-be, I figured it wasn’t totally a joke.

Behind me, Ash’ren growled. I waved my hand behind my back to call him off. “Ha, ha! No, Tayman, my pleasure is fully taken care of, thank you!” The brothel worker’s brow rose in the kind of way that made me want to lean forward and gossip more, but I shook the silliness from my sleepy brain and grasped for that flaming queenly facade. Tayman reminded me way too much of Elodie, which didn’t help my urge to dub us friends right this moment. “I mean something much, much greater.”

Tayman glanced over my shoulder. He made a trilling sound and leaned close, covering half of his mouth conspiratorially. “Your king consort doesn’t seem to think there’s a damn thing in this entire shit sandwich more important than your pleasure.”

King consort . Purely hearing Ash’ren called such so casually made my heart flip. I giggled despite myself.

I waved at Fara, who rushed to my side with parchment. “This is Fara. Come visit me. She will give you the details.”

Fara nodded, scribbling on the parchment and offering it to a very confused Tayman. I squeezed his shoulder, shocking him into silence, which I assumed was a rare achievement. I snapped my hand back and apologized. “Whoops, ha! Anyway, good to see you both!”

Curse the no-touchie-touchie-the-princess rule. I’d be getting rid of it pretty soon. Hopefully. Assuming we weren’t all dead in three days.

“Oh, wait!” I turned back to Tayman. “I’ve been wanting to ask. I know it’s a long shot but, did you happen to know Elodie? She was from . . . Well, she lived a few different places in Ring Six.”

Tayman’s features smoothed into a wistful smile before scrunching again, this time his flabbergast twinged with amusement. “How in Hell’s forsaken rings do you know Elodie?”

“A lady doesn’t tell her secrets,” I said with a wink.

Tucked into Ash’ren’s side again, my stomach growled its frustration at being ignored all morning. Ash’ren laughed and changed our course abruptly. “Come on, Firefly. You can’t instill hope with your belly shouting at good folks in that rude tone.”

“Ash, there’s still a lot of ground to cover. I’m not ready to go back yet.”

“We’re not.” With that, he swooped me off my feet and launched into the air.

“Flames below!”

“Whoops. Hold on tight.”

“Thanks for the warning, bugger!”

It was hard to be afraid of heights with the ticklish whipping flames licking my fingers, which I kept outstretched for the short journey. Not many rhythmic beats of his mismatched wings later, we landed, and he placed me on my feet with finesse.

Before us was a mess tent, with rows of tables full of butts on benches. Humans and demons ate in groups, with hiltens resting in the places between trays of stew and beans.

“Sir boss!”

The shout brought the slightest upturn of a smile to Ash’ren’s lips, and I followed his gaze to a table in the far back corner with four occupants. The resounding voice belonged to Razgard. I was convinced the massive demon had some giant in his lineage somewhere.

Oh, freaking rings. This was not the first time I’d seen Ash’ren casually hanging around this group, talking, eating, milling about. Be still my giddy, pattering heart! I couldn’t believe it. My big scary mate had officially made friends! I sucked a sharp inhale at the realization, my lips pressed thin.

Ash’ren shook my hand loosely, making my arm flop like a noodle. “Don’t get any ideas. They’re just my best trainees.”

“Sorry, I think you mispronounced buddies . They’re just your best buddies.”

He shot me a warning glare that did nothing to subdue my giddiness as we sidled through the busy mess tent to his bestest friends ever. Besides me.

“Hey hey, sir boss! And sir lady boss.” Razgard said with a dip of his chin. “Your majesty.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you, Raz!” I squeaked as my stomach growled again.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” An affronted voice snapped. My gaze shot to the human, but they were staring fake daggers at Ash’ren. “You’re dating a fucking queen and letting her go hungry?”

“Thanks for offering to make us a couple of trays, Jadan.” Ash’ren let go of my hand to swing his long legs into the picnic table, leaving open a space between himself and Maisa, which he patted for me to take. “You’ve always been my favorite.”

“Ooh, what an honor.” Kien deadpanned.

“Shut up, all of you. You’re supposed to act civilized in front of royalty. Hello.” Maisa tapped my knee with hers. “Welcome to our dysfunctional family.”

“We are not a family,” Ash’ren corrected tersely. “We’re an army.”

Maisa, Kien, Razgard, and Jadan all snorted. In unison. At Ash’ren. It was all I could do not to die.

“Right. Because family members don’t kill each other’s dads.” Kien said sardonically, a silent look passing between them. Knowing Ash’ren’s feelings about their history, I turned into a pile of goo witnessing their adorably strange dynamic.

“Whatever you weirdos are, you’ve got the dysfunctional part right.”

“Hey, we live in the pits of Hell. Best thing we can do is have some drinking buddies around while we eat shit.” Maisa shrugged casually and raised a bite of beans like it was a toast.

“Eat shit!” The table repeated like the closing of a prayer.