House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(54)
Emma rolled her eyes at him, shooting me a wry grin. Lexen grinned as well, then his wings shot out and started to flap, lifting him into the air with ease.
When he was hovering just above us, he shouted out in a deep rumbling voice. “Laous!”
Storm clouds rolled in, lightning and thunder echoing across the sky that had been blue not one minute earlier. “Is Lexen doing that?” I whispered to Emma.
She shrugged. “Probably. He’s pretty good with the storm power. But it could just be Astoria. This place has the most random weather ever. It can be sunny and hot one second, and then freeze-your-butt-off cold ten minutes later.”
The thunder got louder, and I was pretty sure we were all thinking this was Lexen now. Scary-dragon-shifter Lexen. I couldn’t take my eyes from him, his powerful presence drawing all attention.
“Laous!”
I shivered as another blast of icy wind rushed along the street. I was still in just a shirt and shorts, and this felt like winter weather. Especially for someone used to Hawaii’s warmth.
A warm arm draped over my shoulders and I almost moaned out loud. “Daelighters run a little hotter than humans,” Xander said, settling me in close to his side.
Truer words had never been spoken. Just about everyone I’d met from their world—especially in the overlord bloodlines—was hot to the extreme, and that had nothing to do with their temperature.
The wind started really howling, Lexen’s face fiercer than I’d ever seen before. He looked like he was getting mighty pissed. “We have a treaty to discuss with you, Laous.” His words echoed out into Astoria. “Show your face before I come and find you.”
The gates slowly started to open then and I almost panicked, thinking that we were about to be charged. The barrier remained though, so hopefully this was not an attack.
Lexen lowered to the ground, his mammoth wings flapping lazily as he glided to stand at the front of the group. He shifted back into his human-looking form the moment his feet hit the pavement.
We all crowded closer, and when the gate opened further, I swallowed hard. On the other side was a large group, as large as the one we had behind us. At the forefront was a Daelighter. I knew that because of the marks on his head. He looked stouter than I’d expected, with an unmemorable face. If this was Laous, I was going to guess that this all started because he was pissed about being the ugliest duckling in his world.
“You called for me, Lexen,” he said, spreading his arms wide. Fire burst to life on either side of his body, racing up into the air in an impressive show. “Here I am, waiting for my stone to be returned to me.”
Men moved in closer on either side of him, lots of men, armed with the biggest guns I’d ever seen in my life. What the hell were they? Bazookas? I didn’t have much experience with the army or guns, of course, but these looked like they should be on top of a tank, not in a person’s arms.
The Daelighters didn’t react, so I made sure not to as well. No need to show this guy that we were nervous. Or that they had the upper hand. “I’m waiting,” Laous continued. “My men here are getting very frustrated about not being able to kill any humans. They enjoy killing.”
His men had hard faces … mean, narrowed eyes, and … huge fucking guns. There was legitimacy to his statement.
“We don’t want the humans hurt,” Daniel said, moving to stand right at Lexen’s side. “They are innocents in this entire situation. So, as a good faith gesture, we will allow you to accompany us to the stone. Along the way, we will discuss with you your plans for the stone, and then maybe we can reach some sort of accord that satisfies everyone. This war has gone on long enough. There will be no more casualties.”
Laous grinned. “That was easier than I expected, which probably means this is some sort of trap for me. How about … you give me the location, and the four secret keepers. Then I can go and fetch the stone myself. We are all sure that these four … humans … will be required to retrieve the stone. Once I have the stone, I’ll return your ladies to you. And all the humans will go free.”
“Not a chance,” Xander shot back at him. “The power required to find the map took the eight of us. We’re all bonded. You’re going to need the eight of us to find the stone.”
Some of the cocky confidence faded from Laous’s expression. He looked between our groups slowly, like he was trying to discern the lie in Xander’s words. One of the men closest to him, an older guy with a dark beard-goatee combo, leaned in and whispered something.
Laous listened for a moment before nodding and straightening. “Fine, if you insist on the eight of you accompanying me, I will insist on leaving my men here to watch over this town. They are all in position to act with lethal force. Your little army will not have the time to stop them before there are mass casualties.”
Hopefully Laous was thinking that the Daelighters he could see was the entirety of our people. Better he didn’t know that a lot more warriors were still coming through the transporter.
We’d already expected to receive these sorts of demands, but we took a moment to pretend we were having a serious discussion about it. “Think he’s up to anything else?” Callie whispered, when our heads were close together.
I glanced over my shoulder to find Laous in a relaxed stance, arms crossed over his chest. He was definitely up to something. No one was that confident without a backup plan.