“Conah?” I grabbed his hand, which was clammy and slick with sweat.

“Fuck.” Mal cupped his face. “Conah, come on, you need to come back.”

Conah shuddered, and then his hand went to his chest, and tears spilled from his eyes.

“She’s gone.” His voice was a choked whisper.

He sagged, and Mal grabbed him and helped him across the room to one of the seats against the wall. Conah sat, but his face was blank. His eyes dull.

Mal looked torn.

“Leave him,” Lilith said. “There is nothing you can do to ease his pain. He must endure it to be free of it.”

Conah was here but not here. He was in the room, but his mind was elsewhere, and his pain was a palpable force that beat off him to touch anyone in his vicinity. Mal clenched his jaw and stepped away.

His emerald eyes were dark as night, his fists clenched. Was he recalling Gailan’s loss? Was he feeling that pain again?

“Felton!” Lilith snapped. “You were Kiara’s Companion. What happened?”

I focused on the queen and swallowed the lump in my throat. Kiara…What happened? “I don’t know. I left her in the antechamber for reflection and when I went to get her, she was…She was dead.”

“That bastard,” Lilith spat. “To think he’d stoop so low.”

“What do you mean?” Mal asked, joining me again.

She looked at Mal as if he was stupid. “Mammon murdered his daughter.”

What? “Mammon adores Kiara.”

Lilith made a sound of exasperation. “Mammon doesn’t adore anyone. He only covets what someone can give him. He is materialistic and greedy.”

“She’s his daughter.”

“One of a countless number,” Lilith said. “One that has served her purpose well.” She began to pace back and forth on her dais again. “I knew his agreement to this treaty was a lie. I should have listened to my gut. I had hoped that maybe he had seen sense, that war would bring nothing but pain and destruction to our world, but his greed for power knows no bounds.” She glared at us. “Your carriage was set upon by mercenaries, and you lied to me because you suspected my hand in the plot.”

“How do you know this?” Mal asked.

“I’m your queen.” She looked incensed. “Did you think I would not look into the matter of a defective carriage?” She gave us a what-the-fuck look. “My carriages do not fall apart, ever. So yes, I had Keon investigate your story. The drake master is dead. Keon found his tortured body yesterday. Someone wanted to know your route here.”

“Someone wanted to stop the wedding,” Mal said. He bowed deeply. “My apologizes for having suspected you, my queen.”

She waved away his apology with a tut. “It was what Mammon wanted you to suspect. He plotted it well, knowing that the finger would be pointed at me. After all, your route was private, known only by myself, Keon, and the drake master.”

“But he failed…” Mal said.

“And I believed that would be the end of it. Still, I had Keon watch over you just to be sure.” She looked to Conah. “I kept you close to me to ensure your safety. I never suspected he would kill his own flesh and blood for power.”

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…farewell, my child…

Oh, God. My breath rushed out of my lungs. “He did it. He killed her.”

“But no one will believe it,” Lilith said. “And now he has a reason to attack Imperium. He came with a large entourage, many fighters, no doubt.” She grit her teeth. “He won’t make it into the Keep. He’ll be forced outside our walls, but that won’t stop him. Mammon has wanted my throne for eons. He’s coveted the power and built alliances. I realized his influence was growing. There have been rumors… I knew it was only a matter of time before he made a move on the throne, but I also know that a war requires a cause that is greater than ambition and greed. Still, I couldn’t risk an uprising, and so I proposed a treaty at the last Ambassador meet. I did it in front of everyone, and he had no option but to accept.” She sighed. “I should have known he’d find a way out of it. He has the ammunition he needs now. A broken treaty and the story that the queen assassinated his daughter to prevent a split of power. No one will recall that the treaty was my idea. No, that will be forgotten in the heat of vengeance.”

By agreeing to the treaty, by arranging the marriage, Lilith had been willing to offer him equal power. She’d been willing to share her crown to protect the Underealm.

But that wasn’t enough for him.

He wanted it all, and now he had a cause to wage war.

I looked up at Lilith. “There has to be something we can do.”

She shook her head. “Reinforce the walls. Recruit more reapers and be ready. That is all we can do.”

But there was something bugging me. A piece of the puzzle that didn’t fit. The seal? The torture.

“Your Majesty?” I stepped forward. “Where was the drake master found?”

She frowned at me. “In the stables on the Keep grounds.”

My pulse began to race. “It wasn’t just the route being known that made us suspect you. The letter the mercenaries got had a royal seal.”

“Oh, fuck,” Mal said.

The queen’s eyes grew wide. “A traitor in the Keep?”

I caught a flash of movement behind her. The glint of a blade.

And then a figure was lunging at the queen.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I cried out in alarm as Lilith turned to face her attacker, but it would be too late for her to dodge or counter. My body reacted on instinct before my mind could catch up, tearing the amulet from my neck to unleash my power.

The world fell into slow motion around me—the queen’s attacker a mere foot from her, dagger raised to plunge, the queen turning increment by increment to meet the blade.

I pushed through the time syrup, breaking the barrier and sliding between the queen and her attacker with a roar. Fire lanced through my shoulder, and then the world was back online.

Screams filled the air as the attacker stared at me in shocked incomprehension, and then his head was gone. It hit the ground with a wet thud to reveal Keon’s steel blue face contorted with rage. But the rage wasn’t aimed at the attacker, it was directed at me.

“You,” he growled. “Distorted you.”

Fuck, I was in Fee form.

He made a grab for me, but another set of arms got there first, yanking me off the dais and away from the stunned queen and murderous Blade.

“Stay back,” Mal panted. “No one touches her.”

My shoulder was on fire where a dagger was protruding out of it. I needed it out. Mal obliged, and my scream echoed around the room.

Keon took a step forward, but Lilith held up her hand to stall him. Her attention was on my face.

“Eve?”

“No.” I breathed through the pain in my shoulder. Fuck, it hurt like a bitch, burned too. “I’m Seraphina Dawn. I’m a Dominus, and I’m descended from Eve.”

“No.” She shook her head. “You can’t be. Azazel…He ended the bloodlines.”

I smiled weakly. “All except one. Surprise.”

“She’s a Dominus,” Mal protested. “Chosen by celestial forces.”

Lilith’s expression smoothed out, and she stood tall. “And the powers that be can choose another. Kill her.”

Keon leaped off the dais toward me. Mal shoved me behind him, drawing his scythe in a fluid motion to cut off Keon, but the Blade was faster, swiping at Mal, forcing him to duck and then leaping over him to land in front of me.

There was murder in Keon’s eyes, a hatred that didn’t make sense. He stared down at me and raised his twin daggers in a motion that I recognized as a decapitation move.

And then a crack of lightning shook the air, and a silver shield cut Keon off from me.

I stared at the shield, my heart erupting with a joy that momentarily blotted out the pain. Because it wasn’t a shield. It was wings.

Azazel’s wings.

“No!” Azazel’s voice was an epic boom that reverberated around the chamber, stunning all into silence.

My shoulder burned, and my veins stung as whatever had been on the blade was finally burned out of my system by my Loup genes. I buckled from the after-effects of the effort, and a slender arm gripped me.

“I got you, babe.” Cora pulled me against her side, her grip solid.

What was she doing here? How?

But my questions were benched as Azazel folded his wings and stepped back, bringing him abreast of me.

Lilith’s furious face came into view. “You lied to me. My son. My first son. You lied to me.” She sounded more perplexed then ragey.

I guess the thought of Azazel deceiving her was too unbelievable.

Azazel tucked in his chin.

“You told me the mission was complete. You let me believe…How could you?”

Yep, there was the anger, ready to bubble over into a rage.

Azazel opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, his throat straining as if he was trying to force out words.

“Don’t,” Cora said. “Let me.”

Lilith glared at her. “And who are you?”

“I’m Cora. I’d say it was nice to meet you, but considering you just tried to kill my best friend, that would be a lie.”

Lilith opened her mouth to retort, but Cora cut her off.

“Do you want to know why Azazel didn’t finish your mission or not?”

Lilith looked to Azazel. “I would hear it from my son's lips.”

“That’s just it, though,” Cora said. “You can’t. Because he physically can’t tell you.” She took a deep breath.

Wait a second, was she about to tell the queen about the curse? If she did, the curse would kill her. “Cora, no, you can’t—"

“Eve placed a curse on him,” Cora blurted, then snapped her mouth closed, waiting to be struck dead, no doubt. Silence reigned, and nothing happened. She sucked in a sharp breath and let out a little laugh. “Whoa, guess you were right, Az. I can say it. Not dead.”