Yeah, thought as much. I sigh. “I understand the need to protect those you love.”

“My wife and daughters are all I have. As long as I do as they ask, they let us go about our business. My daughters are permitted to ride and paint and play piano, and my wife is permitted to sew and cook, and I…They allow me to tend to my herb garden.”

An herb garden… “You grow herbs? Tell me, what herbs do you have.”

He looks surprised by my interest. “Um… hazel root and branberry leaf, camoline flower, and elder root.”

Elder root. That was it! “Listen to me. You can help me. You can help me without them ever knowing you did.”

He blinked at me.

“All I need is some elder root.”

“Elder root. That’s all?”

I nod. “Get me some elder root, and I’ll do the rest. I promise I won’t allow your family to come to harm. You have my word, and the word of a Dominus is his bond.”

The edge of fear melted from his expression. “I’ll be right back.” He glanced at the plate of food. “Don’t eat that. I saw them sprinkle something on it.”

Probably more of the drug to keep me disconnected from my power. “Thank you.”

He inclined his head and left the room.

There was nothing more to do but wait.

Chapter Twenty

Mal

It’s been too long. I need to go in, and fuck the consequences.

Nirma grabs my elbow. “It’s been an hour,” she reminds me. “Give her a chance.”

But an hour is too long for her to be alone in a building with killers even if she does have fang and claw. They have muskets, and bullets might not kill her, but they’ll wound her, badly. And if they shoot her enough, she won’t be able to heal fast enough and—

Fuck, I’m hyperventilating. What the fuck is wrong with me?

“You care about her, don’t you?” Nirma says, almost wistfully.

“My feelings are none of your fucking business,” I snap at her.

She flinches, and I don’t even feel bad. I have no room in my head to feel bad because every atom is focused on Fee.

Opening myself up to her was a bad idea because there is no longer any room to pretend, and if she’s hurt, if she’s mortally wounded, I’ll lose my shit and do something bad.

My hand tingles and flares red, and the malignant energy housed in my scythe pricks at my soul, wanting to influence and take charge. Wanting to maim and hurt. I close my eyes and breathe through it. Letting it wash over me, but not through me.

“Are you okay?” Nirma asks.

I want to wrap my hand around her throat and choke the life out of her. I want to see the light bleed from her eyes.

“Hello?”

Not my thoughts. Not my needs or wants. I push them away and open my eyes. “I’m fine.”

I really need to get to purgatory and soon. My stomach cramps and twists in fear. Focus, Malachi.

“This was a bad idea.” I take a step toward the gates, and Nirma sucks in a sharp breath, making another grab for my arm. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“Fee.” She points.

I turn to see a huge silver wolf trotting toward us, and with her comes the faint whiff of shit.

Fee yips and then runs across the street and between the houses where she shifted the first time. I hand Nirma Fee’s clothes, and she follows the Loup.

Five minutes later and Fee is back, dressed but still whiffy.

“Ten fake guards. We’re going to have to go in stealthily. I have no idea where they’re holding Conah, though. I didn’t make it into the house.”

“How do you know how many guards?”

“The creature in the barn told me.”

I open my mouth to ask more questions, but she cuts me off.

“No time for questions. Just come with me, and you can see for yourself.”

We run in a crouch along the hedge, keeping to the shadows.

God, I can smell shit. “No offense, Fee, but what did you do? Roll in crap?”

“You have no fucking idea.” She makes a face. “But you’ll see.”

I’m not sure I want to.

Chapter Twenty-One

Fee

Mal wouldn’t stop staring at the drake creature.

“You can hear him?” he asked.

“Yes. You know what he is, don’t you?”

Mal shook his head in wonder but didn’t get too close to the creature. “I think so, I just…I’ve never seen one in the flesh before. I thought they were extinct. But the fact you can hear him makes sense. He’s a seraphim.”

“Wait, what. I thought the seraphim were a class of celestials?”

“They were a long time ago. But the Beyond sent them to the Circle to watch over the souls sent here. They were forced to give up their celestial heritage and become demons in order to serve the Beyond. They were the Beyond’s eyes and ears in the Underealm. Formidable warriors. But when the contract was altered by the Beyond, they were left here to rot.”

“And Lilith ordered our execution,” the seraphim said.

I stared at Mal. “Lilith ordered them killed?”

He looked surprised. “Is that what he thinks?”

“It’s what I know.” There was a growl to his tone now. “I was there. I saw it. I lived it, but I survived. A few of us escaped, scattering and hiding. Your queen didn’t want the Beyond’s eyes in the Underealm any longer.”

“He says Lilith didn’t want the Beyond’s eyes in the Underealm.”

Mal ran a hand over his face. “Makes sense. We were told they were called back to the Beyond. I didn’t know.”

“It matters not now. Now you must focus on freeing your companion and then freeing me,” the seraphim said.

“We need to focus on getting Conah out of the house.”

“I have an idea,” Nirma said. “But I’ll need to borrow the amulet, and you’ll need to trust me.”

Mal and I exchanged glances, thinking the same thing…She could take the trinket and run.

“She won’t,” the seraphim said. “Her soul is tainted by fear and anger, but there is no treachery.”

I trusted this creature. “The seraphim says we can trust you, Nirma. What did you have in mind?”

Nirma’s eyes smiled. “I was thinking I could walk right in.”

Conah

The root is starting to take effect when the guard who stabbed me enters the room. He shuts the door and leans against it, breathing hard.

“Come to finish me off?” I can feel the power returning to my limbs. “Come on, then?”

If he comes closer, I can grab the bastard.

But he’s studying the lock on my cage from a safe distance, his brow crinkled in concentration.

“Shit,” he says.

My gaze falls to his wrist, and my heart almost stops at the sight of a comm strapped to it. “Where did you get that?” I grab the bars and lunge forward. “Where the fuck did you get that?”

He looks at the comm, then his face ripples, and the Conari demon is staring at me from above her scarf.

“What the fuck?”

“I’m here to get you out, but I see that will be a problem without a key.” She taps a message into the comm.

“How are you doing this?”

“Fee loaned me her amulet.”

She knows who Fee is? She’s working with her. That’s why she has the comm. The churning in my gut ebbs. “Is Mal with her?”

“They’re both in the barn. I was supposed to get you out of here, then come back and lure the one called Ivor to the barn. But I don’t have a key.”

“Lure Ivor?”

“Fee has a deal with the seraphim in the barn.”

“Seraphim?”

“You sound like an echo. Maybe focus on how I’m going to get a key? Do you know who has it?”

My hand flares with heat, telling me the drug is fully out of my system, and my powers are back on.

I smile up at her. “No, but we’re not going to need one.”

My scythe blazes to life, and I slice through the bars like they’re made of butter.

The tavern woman staggers back, hand on her heart. “Oh. Impressive.”

I kick out the bars and step out of the cage, finally free.

“Well, that works too,” she says. “Follow me, I’ll get you out of here.”

But I can’t leave. Not without finding out who sent these guards after me. I can’t abandon this family to suffer. “I need to free the demons who own this house, and I need to question the guards. Only one needs to be kept alive for that part, though.”

She sighs. “Fee thought you might say that. The guards have muskets.”

Shit.

“Let me get you outside,” she continues. “Get to the barn and discuss it with your companions.” She taps another message into the comm. “Just letting them know we’re on our way.”

She opens the door and morphs back into the guard. “Follow me.” Her voice remains female.

I have no idea what she is, but she certainly isn’t Conari. She can manipulate the glamour set into the amulet but not the voice. Those questions will have to wait for later, though.

We step into the hallway outside the room. There’s a door in front of us, a corridor to the left that leads to an arch, and darkness beyond. Another arch sits to our right that leads to what looks like a kitchen and an open back door. That must be how the tavern woman got in. There’s no sign of any of the guards, but voices drift through the door opposite us.

It must be a lounge or something.

The tavern woman leads me right, toward the kitchen. We’re almost at the back door when a door to our left neither of us has noticed opens. A large demon male steps out, buttoning his pants.

The whoosh of a toilet flushing is the only sound in the kitchen as the guard who stabbed me stares at the tavern wench. His eyes are wide and uncomprehending at seeing his doppelganger standing in front of him, and then he lets out a bellow.