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

42

Ash’ren

O nce I was satisfied that Searra was safe after the near-disastrous meeting, I hustled to the outer ring.

In a matter of time, Devil would escape, and even my firefly’s pleas couldn’t keep me from neutralizing the threat. Though, I trusted she would make the right decision when the time came.

I soared past the ninth ring and landed on the ridge of the tenth. I was five steps from being within sight of the tower. My gaze lingered on the spot where I knew it would loom over the trench.

“Ash’ren! Ash!”

I didn’t tear my gaze away until the wicked spire pierced my vision, and my heart fluttered to a calmer rhythm. My trustworthy guards were stationed at its base, along with a few of Lavar’s, who I trusted less. Razgard thumped his chest with a fist, whistling to his shadow, who followed suit. I gave a curt nod and turned to the sharp voice rushing to catch up with me.

“My, you’re a fleet one, aren’t you?” the Hydran woman said between painful-sounding gulps of air.

“Hello, Geysis.”

“Ash’ren, sir,” the short woman snapped to attention with a rushed salute, chain piercing swinging.

I smirked. The people who treated me like an noble were all people I wouldn’t mind shooting the shit with. To have a status like this all of a sudden was weird. I could imagine the other new nobles were experiencing similar feelings, though they had less of a reputation than the maw-gnashing Ash Render and were mostly defenseless other than Searra’s protection. And my own, for whatever that was worth.

“Hello, Geysis,” I said again. I threw an arm around her shoulder—my arm fully extended at the elbow for how short she was—and gave her a good-natured shake. “How can I help?”

Geysis beamed up at me, then launched into details of her latest prototype. While her inventions tended to lean toward weapons of war and defense, the creativity behind each one was wildly impressive. No one else would’ve thought shackles were a good idea for a weapon.

“If we’re to fulfill our promise to the Fyre Council and earn a spot as a nation-state, we must convert at least two rings to abundant agricultural hubs. Of course,” she sent me a sheepish glance. “You already know that. I’m rambling, I know.”

I grinned patiently and released her shoulder, sauntering beside her slowly to keep pace with her short legs.

“Do you recall that purple pine needle and the tree sample that you brought me?”

My brows rose. I’d found the pine needles under the climbing tree in Searra’s garden. That night, I’d been on my way to grant my Firefly the good dicking she deserved, when the strange leaves caught my eye. When I brought them to Geysis, her lips had pressed into a thin line. Before she could ask, I’d offered them to her. Before I’d finished speaking, she’d snatched them right up.

“Can you fix the tree?” I tried not to sound too hopeful.

“I don’t know yet, but its proximity to the pine needles gave me an idea. Several, actually.”

“Oh? Then they’re as useful as you’d hoped?”

“More so.” She stopped our stroll and grabbed my arm with a surprising amount of force. “They had a very intriguing reaction to the maltreated soil!”

“Fantastic,” I said, amusement pinching my cheeks. “And?”

“And I was hoping to ask, would you take another look in the garden to see if any remain?” Her voice trailed off as she searched my face. “If I can replicate it and use it in a serum, I could inject seed spots all along the rings. With this!”

She pulled a sword from her back. Well, part sword, part surgical needle, with an empty canister as a hilt. I cringed.

“Your creations are getting morbid, my friend.”

“There’s nothing macabre about growing crops.” Her bright smile shone with pride. “So, do you mind?”

“I’ll take another look.”

She grinned. “Well. Would you care to see how it works?”

“Even without the pines?”

“Well, how it will work. As soon as you get me the ingredients.”

I harrumphed and followed her lead. At the sight of the short, mad scientist stabbing Hell in the dirt with a sword-slash-needle thing, I bit my tongue to keep from howling with laughter.

“There’s something else,” she said after a while, wiping sweat from her brow. She unsheathed a dagger made of bones of the Forgotten Ones, handing it to me for inspection. It was plainly crafted, with a tiny bone at the upper crossguard. “Give this to Searra. I mixed the pheromones of a very special beetle species with your void magic, and filled the bone marrow cavities with it! If she turns that little bone clockwise, it’ll give off a sickly sweet scent you’ll be able to smell from great distances. And it’s dusted with poison, obviously.”

“Wow, Geysis,” I breathed, twirling the dagger between us. She’d taken my comment about a dagger never being just a dagger as a challenge. “Beetles?”

“These beetles, to be precise. Oh! Take this,” she thrust a vial with a vividly colored beetle crawling around into my free hand. “I call it the tooty booty. Take it in case things get ugly. Don’t let it loose unless you want heads to roll.”