There is silence.

“There’s a tulpa in Necro City?”

He sounds awfully interested in that prospect. “Hooded figures who we believe to be tulpas. I’m trying to find their creator, and I need your help.”

“I’ll be in touch in a few days.”

The call ends with a click.

That was it? I’d waited hours to be told he’d be in touch. Urgh. Fuck this. I push back my chair, wave bye to Leana, and head out into the late afternoon. It’s Friday afternoon, and humans are scurrying home or hitting bars after finishing work, and the world is buzzing.

I just want to get home and curl up in the second lounge with Cyril, a bowl of buttered popcorn, and a movie.

I think it, and I’m there. The second lounge is shrouded in darkness. I let out a yelp as I stub my toe trying to get to the spot where I think the lamp is. My fingers reach for it, but a hand wraps around mine.

My scream shatters my eardrums, and then the light flicks on, illuminating the owner of the hand.

“You? What are you doing?”

Chapter Thirty

Fee

“How long now?” Kiara called from behind a massive screen.

“I think an hour and a half.” I sipped the wine the maids had offered me. Yes, it was only midday, but fuck it. It’d been a stressful morning. A Companion’s role was similar to what humans called a maid of honor, which meant I’d been running around making sure the carriage was ready, the hair decorations had arrived, and that we were basically on schedule to walk into the wedding dome on time.

We’d made it into the outer circle of Imperium where the wedding would take place and into the bridal quarters where Kiara would spend the night after her wedding. Now it was a matter of getting dressed and then heading down to an anteroom that was used for reflection, where the bride would be allowed some alone time before she said I do, you know, to make sure it was her idea and she wasn’t being coerced.

Another hour and a half and the hard part would be over.

Kiara stepped out from behind the screen, and my mouth dropped open. Draped in glittering gold and crimson, hair loose around her shoulders with gems woven into the strands, she looked fucking gorgeous.

“Conah is a lucky demon.”

The maids giggled.

Kiara blushed and did a slow spin. “You like it?”

“I love it.”

“I made it myself.”

“Talented and beautiful.”

There was a knock on the door, and Kiara tensed.

I frowned. “We expecting someone?”

The head maid who’d been working with me to make sure everything ran smoothly looked sheepish.

“Lord Mammon is to visit with his daughter,” she said. “It is called the farewell.”

Oh, yes. Unlike human weddings, the father of the bride didn’t give her away. The bride gave herself. Her choice. They didn’t walk down an aisle, they did a circuit of the room and then joined their husband to be in the center of the chamber. Guests were seated on balconies above.

Yeah, I’d checked out the room. I was so prepared.

Kiara took a deep breath and exhaled. “Let him in, please.”

I set my goblet down as the maid ran to open the door. She fell into a deep bow as Mammon entered.

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but it wasn’t the stocky, jovial-looking demon with a beaming smile and mahogany hair pulled back from his face in a braid. He wasn’t as tall as Asmodeus, but he was still large—a fallen angel trait, maybe? He glanced briefly my way, dismissing me easily in favor of his daughter.

Kiara stood, eyes downcast as her father approached.

He cupped her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “You make me so very proud, my child,” he said. “Today, you unite two powerful bloodlines and secure peace for the Underealm.”

“The honor is mine, Father,” Kiara said.

“I want you to know that I have never loved you more than I do in this moment. You will forever be in my heart.”

My scalp prickled at his words, and the urge to read him was an itch in my palms, but that was impossible with the amulet in place. I was being paranoid. This was Kiara’s father, and there was no denying the love shining out of his eyes as he gazed at her.

He kissed her once more. “Farewell, my child.”

Then he turned on his heel and strode from the room.

The door closed behind him, and Kiara breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you all right?”

She nodded, smiling slightly. “It’s just…I’ve always been in awe of my father. His presence, his stature, his love. It’s overwhelming.”

She was the offspring of a fallen angel like Leviathan. Important even though she’d inherited none of his power. Special because she was soulmate to the last of Adam and Lilith’s bloodline. But that wasn’t all.

“You’re wrong about something, you know, Kiara. You were born with a superpower, and that superpower is your heart. You love with everything you have, and you draw people to love you. It’s seriously impossible for anyone to not like you, and that is your true power.”

The maids nodded in agreement.

Kiara’s eyes glittered with unshed tears. “You’re going to ruin my makeup.” She tipped her head back, blinking to stem the tears.

“We should go to reflection now,” one of the maids said.

My stomach fluttered on Kiara’s behalf. “Let’s do this.”

I left Kiara in the antechamber and wandered into the hall outside the wedding chamber. Several of Kiara’s entourage were already there. It was our job to retrieve her in fifteen minutes and then open the doors to let her into the wedding chamber. There were seats allocated for us by the main entrance.

My stomach was a mass of nerves.

The door to the wedding chamber opened, and Mal slipped out. He caught sight of me and strode over.

“How’s Kiara?” he asked.

“Nervous, beautiful. Good.” I grinned up at him, and he matched my smile as a silent communication passed between us. It was almost over. Almost time to go home.

He reached for my hand, and I shook my head slightly and widened my eyes in warning.

He chuckled and stepped back. “I’ll see you afterward.”

God, I wanted to kiss him. “Afterwards.”

It was a promise of silk sheets and naked flesh. He dragged his bottom lip between his teeth as he backed up, doing crazy things to my nether regions.

Fucker.

“It’s time,” the maid reminded me.

Kiara. I hurried back to the antechamber and knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open.

“You ready?”

The coppery scent of blood hit me hard.

Kiara stared back at me from the ground, eyes glassy and empty, one hand reaching for me as if beseeching me to save her, and the other resting on her collarbone just below the crimson line cutting across her slender, pale throat.

Chapter Thirty-One

I was numb and frozen as guards streamed past me into the antechamber, and then Mammon was there. He fell to his knees by his daughter, hands hovering over her like birds looking for a safe perch, and then he let out a wail and pulled her into his arms.

Kiara…

A dead Kiara.

He tipped back his head. “You will pay for this.”

Screams battered my ears, and then someone was dragging me away, and my paralysis broke.

“Kiara!” I tried to break free of the hold on my arm, needing to get to my friend. “Kiara! Let me go!” My vision blurred, and my chest flared in an inferno. “Get the fuck off.”

“Fee, hush. Fucksake, hush.”

“Mal?” I turned to him, my pulse beating so fast it made me dizzy. “Kiara’s dead. Someone slit her throat. We have to—”

“Get to the Keep now.”

“What are you talking about? We need to find out who did this. We need to—”

“Dammit, Fee, it’s not safe here. Mammon has the place surrounded. We’re under attack.”

“What?”

“He’s claiming Lilith did this.”

Comprehension dawned. “Oh, fuck.”

He clipped a pin to my tunic. “Stay with me.”

I took his hand, and we ran out of the building toward the nearest portal to the Keep.

The Keep was in an uproar, demons rushing here and there and everywhere. Mal and I wove through the throng.

“We have to get to the throne room,” he said. “We have to protect Lilith.”

“I don’t understand. I thought the Keep was impregnable.”

“It is usually, but some measures have been relaxed for the wedding. The outer Imperium is filled with demons from all over the Underealm, and someone just killed Kiara.”

Bile shot up my throat, and my eyes burned with the threat of tears. “Oh, God. You don’t think it’s Lilith, do you?”

His grip on me tightened. “I don’t know.”

I pulled him to a halt. “You want to protect her? What if she did this? What if she had Kiara killed?”

“We don’t know that. And even if she is guilty, the Keep is the only safe place for anyone affiliated with Lilith right now.”

We took a left and burst into the entranceway that led to the throne room. Four guards barred our way.

“Malachi and Felton, Dominus,” Mal snapped. “Let us through.”

“Let them in.” Keon appeared from our left, his face splattered with blood, his mouth coated in it. He licked his lips. “Let them in and seal the doors.” His tail lashed from side to side behind him. “Do it now!”

The guards leaped into action, opening the doors enough to let us slip through.

Guards and daemons and demons filled the room. Excited chatter and the zing of fear permeated the air.

“Please!” Lilith stood on her dais, hands up. “We are safe. The Keep is impregnable. My blades will make sure it remains that way.”

I caught sight of Conah at the front of the crowd a few meters from the throne. He looked dazed and pale. Mal shoved through the gathering, dragging me behind him. His hand was still wrapped around mine, and I tugged free as we reached the front of the throng. My arm brushed Conah’s. He was shaking. His whole body was trembling.