by Marie Mistry
Now, as the last of my line, I was like a bleeding wound in a sea full of sharks.
Kain held my bag out to me as I stood and made for the door. “Go kick ass, Sunshine,” he encouraged.
“Then come back to us and let us strip you out of those clothes,” Jin finished for him.
I managed a small smile, then turned the door handle and headed out into the hall, wings flapping nervously behind me until I stilled them with a thought.
I walked to the Gatehouse alone. The castle grounds were nearly empty in the hazy dawn light. Unshown lingered here and there, extinguishing the gas lamps along pathways or scurrying to the kitchens to begin their day's work. Each one of them bowed low as I passed them and, as much as I wanted to drag them out of those bows, I knew that I couldn't. Today I wasn't just another student. Today, I was Lady Carazor, and everyone who wasn't a member of the High Chamber was required to genuflect by demonic law.
And it wasn't just the unshown who bowed.
When I reached the Gatehouse, Maddox, Blaze, Nelly and Leonie were all gathered waiting for me. Beyond the portcullis, I spied an imposing black sedan limo with tinted windows and golden Carazor crests on the doors.
None of them spoke and it took me a second to realise that they weren't permitted to speak, unless I spoke first. “Do I look okay?” I asked, my voice unsure.
Nelly grinned at my words. “You look ready to kick ass and take names.”
Leonie's smile was softer, flicking her eyes over me. “Perfect.”
“Every inch the Lady of House Carazor,” Maddox reassured me.
I waited for Blaze to speak but he just let his gaze peruse me for several moments. “You look so sexy in that outfit. I want to sit you on the bonnet of that car, rip off your panties and fuck you senseless.” He finally admitted down the bond.
I blushed slightly but couldn't help my secret grin. “Are you all coming?” I asked, trying to ignore the heat in his eyes.
“Everyone except me,” Maddox replied. “I'm simply here to wish you good luck … although your group is missing someone…”
As if on cue, a roaring sound echoed across the car park beyond. A lone rider on a deep blue motorcycle roared into the space and disembarked smoothly. His helmet obscured his face but I knew the way he moved better than I knew myself.
“Aeron is coming?” I asked, drinking in the sight of my Lust mate after so long, as he took off his darkened helmet.
“You need a teacher as your escort whenever you officially leave the college grounds,” Maddox explained. “Professor Aeron Saxon is the member of staff I've assigned to the role.”
It took everything I had not to run into his arms and hug the ever-loving shit out of him and, from the sparkle in those yellow eyes, he knew exactly what I was feeling.
His squeeze along our mating bond confirmed it.
“Leonie will accompany you as your unshown servant and Nelly, of course, is your assistant,” Maddox added. I almost didn't hear him because my eyes were still fixed on Aeron, who was leaning against the limo without a care in the world.
I dragged my gaze away and looked at Leonie uncertainly. Could I really pretend my mother-by-mating was my servant? Memories of the way Vendra had treated her unshown made me bite my lip.
“Are you sure?” I asked her, gently.
“I am a Knight.” Leonie's voice held a thread of steel. “It is my honour to protect you and my pleasure to keep my daughter-by-mating safe.” Then she smiled, all the steel forgotten as her expression morphed into a mischievous one. “Besides, I've always wanted to see the inside of the Assembly.”
Maddox checked his watch, the motion obvious enough that I knew it was intentional. Since I was Lady Carazor right now, rather than Lilith the student, demonic etiquette prevented him from speaking to me without being spoken to first. I let out a deep sigh of annoyance at these antiquated rules, then forced my nerves deep down and settled my face into a confident smile.
“Time to leave?” I asked.
“Yes, Lady Carazor. Safe travels.”
I bit my lip and nodded but my nerves kept me from saying goodbye to him. Instead, I simply turned toward the car and let Leonie open the door for me. Aeron slid in beside me, with our backs to Blaze in the driver's seat, and Nelly and Leonie took the seats opposite us. Nelly had a tablet waiting for her and I watched her flick it on with the press of a button.
It was strange to see her in a skirt suit, hair elegantly pinned into a loose but professional bun—but she looked every inch the businesswoman. She might be as new to this as I was but I was grateful that she was so calm and collected about this.
“Okay, we have five hours for me to get up to speed.” I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and slipped my hand into Aeron's, squeezing. “Forget the formalities till we get there and tell me what I need to know.”
My Lust mate pulled me close as my best friend launched into an explanation that had my head spinning. She flashed photographs of important demons on her tablet and told me facts about them that made me laugh, and a few that made me glower.
But I barely absorbed anything Nelly told me.
Before I knew it, we were turning left onto York Bridge, the hedges of Regent's Park barely muffling the sound of London's horrific traffic. There were other black limos ahead of us and behind us, and demons in suits were turning pedestrians and unauthorised traffic away.
One by one, the cars pulled up to the black and gold gates of the Inner Circle. Each one deposited a hooded demon wearing black or grey, who was followed by an unshown in head-to-toe brown, then drove away. I eyed the whole process but my attention was diverted when Aeron pressed something into my hand.
“You'll need this,” he insisted.
I looked down and found my spear in its thigh sheath. “I don't plan to get in that much trouble…”
“They can challenge you to a duel at any time in there,” Nelly reminded me. “All of the others will be armed; I can guarantee it.”
I sighed and took it, strapping it to my thigh. Perhaps it was foolish but I felt more confident with it there.
I kissed Aeron on the mouth, the familiar taste of him calming my nerves, as Blaze pulled up to the kerb, got out of the car and opened my door for me. I bit my lip, steeled myself for whatever was coming, pulled my hood over my face and left the car.
Leonie trailed behind me, carrying my bag over one arm. Like Blaze, she kept her eyes down and averted and even though I longed to kiss my Wrath mate goodbye, I knew that wasn't an option.
Instead, I turned and walked steadily towards the gates, following the others.
I assumed we were meant to be a uniform group but my wings and the strange peaks in my hood from my horns meant that I stuck out like a sore thumb. I refused to let it bother me as I approached the gate behind another, black-robed demon, who strutted up to the pair of security guards waiting there.
“Lord Delaroza,” he announced, imperiously.
The red-uniformed guard nodded, checked his clipboard and nodded. “Welcome, my Lord.”
They waved him and his unshown past and turned their stern gazes on me.
Inwardly, I wanted to crumble under the weight of their stares but that wasn't an option. Fake it till you make it. I let my inner Succubus peek out, just enough to soften my walk into a seductive strut and lend me the confidence to meet their eyes, demanding their submission with nothing more than my glare. I was rewarded for my efforts when both of them respectfully looked away.
“Lady Carazor.” My voice took on a seductive purr and they both stiffened.
“Welcome, my Lady.”
I brushed past them, knowing I was walking a very fine line. Too much of my Succubus and people would notice. But until I understood my place here, it was always best to project confidence. My mother had once said, 'when you behave like you own the place, no one else will dare say otherwise.' She'd been reminiscing about her younger days at the time but I found it hard to believe that my mother had ever felt ou
t of place to the extremes that I did now.
Leonie and I walked up the long path through Queen Mary's Gardens, following the trickle of other demons towards Triton Fountain at the end. I'd been to Regent's Park with my family before but there hadn't been a long, black strip of carpet laid out along the path then. Nor had there been a wide set of steps, spiralling into the ground, just before the huge pond with its sculpted sea god statue.
I watched as the unshown in front of me touched their hand to the sigillary of their demon master and kept it there as they crossed the first step. The sigillary must have been the literal key to passing down the stairs, because the moment they were three steps down, the unshown swiftly dropped their hands from their master and retreated to leave more space between them.
When we reached the steps and I grasped the bannister, I felt Leonie's hesitant touch press the gold into my back, her fingers gently resting in place as I slowly descended the steps. Three steps down, Leonie released my back, leaving me feeling oddly bereft.
The stairs went downward forever, until I began to wonder if they'd ever end. The spaciousness of the staircase, and the lavishness of the crystal chandeliers which kept it well-lit, prevented any feelings of claustrophobia I might have had. But still, it felt as though we weren't getting anywhere. Only the ever-increasing hum of conversation echoing from below me convinced me that there was an end.
And what an end it was.
Chapter 8
When my foot met the last step, I looked up. And up. And up.
The ceiling was so high that my hood fell down from the way I was craning my neck to lay eyes on it. No wonder I'd had to climb down so many stairs! The vaulted ceiling was covered by a fresco of storm clouds and the ambiguous, robed figure of the Strange God stared down, from beneath his hood, at the gathering below. The dark clouds were streaked with lightning and, where humans might have had painted cherubs, the fresco had imps.
The whole image was so intense that it was difficult to look away. When I finally did, I let my gaze travel down the gilded walls with their gothic marble arches and crystal sconces to the people below.
The room was clearly split in two. The lower floor was set up like an auditorium, with staggered seating facing the far side of the room and multiple individual desks with seats. Figures dressed in the grey robes of the Low Chamber mingled between then, chatting and laughing effortlessly. I could feel the aura of their power bouncing against my skin but it was nothing compared to the intensity of what I could feel above me.
The upper floor was a balcony, encircling the entire room. From my limited vantage point, I could see the tops of a single ring of plush, gilded thrones looking down from beyond the gothic archways. The angle was steep enough and the thrones far back enough, that most of the demons on the bottom floor wouldn't be able to see who sat where. Black-robed figures looked down at the scene. Their hoods were down but their faces seemed blurred at this distance.
I wondered if the balcony was that high specifically to give the occupants anonymity.
The largest throne, sitting on a gilded segment of the gallery, directly in front of me, was the only one that was visible from everywhere in the room. It was clearly the seat of the Prime, intended to make sure he was the centre of everyone's attention.
But we no longer had a Prime. Enzo had seen to that when he framed his father, Prime Craven, for the murder of Senior Judge Abrosiax a month ago.
Brushing the memory off almost as quickly as it came, I turned my attention to my surroundings. I wanted to admire everything for a while longer but a guard, in the same red livery as the ones above, spotted me.
He promptly pounded the staff he was carrying on the floor twice. A hush began to descend in the room, until nothing, not even the sound of breathing, could carry over his projected voice. “Announcing Lady Carazor, Head of her House and member of the High Chamber.”
One by one, they turned to stare.
I held my head high, stilled any nervous flutters of my wings and strutted forward, all thoughts of admiring the room forgotten. I made it three steps before I realised I had no idea where to go.
I barely had time to panic before a familiar ice-blonde head came into view.
“Lady Carazor,” my maternal grandmother said, tone carefully neutral. “I'm glad you made it.”
“Lady Braxion,” I acknowledged her, formally. “It is good to see you again.”
And in a strange way, it was. I may not have felt comfortable around Vendra, but at least she was one person I knew in this strange, political world I was plunging into.
“Come, we will find your seat and I will introduce you to some potential allies.” Vendra swept toward a second stairwell, just off to one side. “It does not do to dally in the Low Chamber. Some of them might get ideas.”
I bit my tongue, holding back my objection. I was painfully aware of how out of my depth I was here. In the car, we'd all agreed that my best strategy was to wait and learn. If I blurted out my objections to Vendra's callous words, it could jeopardise my relationship with my only tenuous ally in this place.
So, even though it killed me inside, I followed her as she swept up those stairs and onto the open corridor behind the thrones of the High Chamber. It was nicer up here, if that was possible. People in black robes sipped at crystal wine glasses, gathered in loose groups with painted smiles and effortless charm. The Low Chamber families below had accessorised with gold and jewels but the people before me didn't need to. Their wealth whispered from the perfect cut of their clothes and the elegant motions of their hands as they conversed.
I was out of my depth and I would have sat there, drowning, if not for Vendra striding away from me. I hastened to follow her, keeping my hold on my Succubus allure secure. The last thing I wanted was to turn too many heads but I knew that the first hint of fear would be sniffed out in seconds and used against me.
Vendra kept stopping as she made her way around the circle, introducing me to dozens of people whose faces Nelly had drilled me on. Each of them stared at my horns and wings, either in disgust or abject fascination, until we politely made our goodbyes and left. Even then, I felt their eyes on me. Somehow, it felt worse than the stares I got at Vice. More predatory, as though they could sense my weaknesses just by looking at me. But I grit my teeth and ignored them, instead focusing on the scandalous pieces of gossip Vendra would casually drop as we moved between groups.
At some point, Leonie left with Vendra's unshown, Gilly. I was so consumed by trying to learn everything that I didn't even notice her absence until she returned with a glass of wine.
I sipped carefully at the drink, knowing that dulling my senses with alcohol wasn't a wise move when I was surrounded by so many powerful people. Everyone else seemed to think the same because, although I saw many elegant wrists gently swirling their wine, I almost never saw someone take a sip. It was almost as though the drink was just another expensive accessory to these people.
Vendra was just introducing me to a Lord who was expressing a little too much interest in my breasts when an excitable hum started to grow around us.
“Lady Carazor!” I whirled to face the man who'd addressed me, scrambling to try and match the face to a name from one of the files Nelly had shown me.
He was a large man, with a wide smile and a nose that looked like it had been broken one too many times. His huge grin exuded charisma and likability and he wore his black shirt open midway, exposing his Envy crystal and the smattering of dark hair that surrounded it. His broad shoulders and wide arms hinted at an active past, but the slight belly protruding over his waistband told me that his active past was a distant past. Regardless, something about him made me want to like him.
Nelly must have told me who he was at some point but my mind blanked under pressure. Thankfully, Vendra saved me from gaping silently at him.
“Lord Delaroza.” She raised a single, imperious brow, which screamed her disapproval of him.
“Ah, Lady Braxion, still as s
tony as ever, I see.” Delaroza winked at me. “I was merely introducing myself to our newest Lady.”
Vendra's silence spoke volumes as to what she thought of his introduction and I hesitantly smiled at him. “Nice to meet you, Lord Delaroza.”
He beamed once more and gave a short, theatrical bow. “I hope you've decided who you'll be supporting in the vote for the next Prime! Lady Xandler is the favourite to win but I'm not counting myself out of the race just yet!”
I smiled and made a noncommittal noise, but Vendra interrupted us again. “Lord Delaroza, I'm terribly sorry but we really must find Lady Carazor's seat.”
“Not to worry!” Delaroza announced, “It just so happens that I spotted it on my way around. You've got the left hand of the Prime to yourself, my dear!” He clapped me on the back in an overly-familiar gesture, then strolled off toward another group, greeting them with the same enthusiasm.
Vendra and her group had all stiffened at Delaroza's announcement and I didn't miss the look that passed between them as we broke away from the group. I had a feeling that my grandmother was trying to decide what to say and was proven right when she spoke in a measured tone.
“Lord Hannibal Delaroza is a … character.” Her tone conveyed exactly what type she believed him to be. “You would be wise not to let his affable nature deceive you. But he would make a good ally, if you can keep your guard up.”
I nodded seriously, glancing back at Delaroza who remained near to where we had been. “Why am I on the left hand of the Prime?”
“I don't pretend to know the mind of the Assembly. The building places people where it thinks they belong.”
“The building placed me there?”
“The Assembly is positioned in a place where the shadow realm is closer to ours than usual. It has been subject to the energy of hundreds of powerful demons from across the epochs of demonic history. Over time, it has developed a kind of semi-consciousness of its own. Even I don't know how it decides where to place people … Some superstitious nitwits believe that the Strange God is even responsible. As if a deity cares about seating plans.” She scoffed. “They'll gossip because powerful figures in our history have always been sat closest to the Prime Throne, even if they never sit on it themselves. It means the building sees potential in you.”
