Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(63)

“I don’t think we’re supposed to know what happens next,” Penny said, chewing on her lip and looking around with large, worried eyes. “My mother once told me it’s impossible to see the right way when too many paths lead from a certain point. You need to wait until a step is taken in one direction or another. We’re at the crux, I can feel it.”

I knew that look. “What’s that Temperamental Third Eye saying?”

“Fight.” She put her hands on her hips. “I mean, I personally want to run, but where to? There’s nowhere to go. We need to fight. Moreover, we need to initiate.” Her eyes came to rest on me, and she shrugged. “I can’t tell if that’s my Temperamental Third Eye speaking, or just my response to Emery being in danger, but…”

Emery shifted his stance and glanced around. I noticed a shocking lack of shifters at the party. Clearly they weren’t in the doghouse. Or maybe they’d get their audience later. It was too bad telephones didn’t work in this place, because I had a feeling Roger and Devon would like to hear what was going down.

I turned my lips down and lifted my eyebrows, taking one second to think everything over just so I could tell Darius that I hadn’t acted completely without thought. My thoughts weren’t actually on what came next, or how I might deal with the situation differently, but I didn’t plan to tattle on myself.

“Right then.” I burned away Emery’s privacy magic and turned.

“What’s happening?” Dizzy asked, removing some herbs from his satchel. “What sort of thing should we create?”

What’s our end game? Emery thought.

“You will remove all weapons before entering the Royal Hall,” the lead elf announced, standing in front of the wide doors. He was preparing to usher us in, which meant the king and queen were in position.

“End game: to be determined,” I said, strutting forward.

“No, wait,” Charity said, standing quickly. She knew me better than Romulus did. She knew the show was starting before the curtain had been raised.

This was why I hated Seers. They got you into these messes, but they didn’t often give you a way out. My fate, and Penny and Emery’s fate, diverged from the fae right here. I felt it in my bones, and Penny’s Temperamental Third Eye affirmed it. The elves planned to give us different treatment, and nothing Romulus said would help us. Not now. We couldn’t play polite anymore. We had to be bold.

“Step one: make oneself known.” I swept my hand through the air, and the lead elf got caught up in my magic. Its eyes widened as it rolled to the right. It fought to lift its hands, but before it could get off a spell, or whatever it was planning, it bonked its head against the far wall and then lay still. I doubted I’d killed it. Probably just knocked it out. It was nice to know they were as fragile as humans and not so hardy as shifters. That would make things easier.

“Step two will likely be to fight our way out of here,” I continued. “Then we should get back to Karen and the Red Prophet. Cheat to win.”

I paused in front of the wide double doors just long enough to balance on my left foot and kick with all my strength. Metal squealed. With a loud crash, the doors flew inward, even as elves rushed us from around the room. I blocked them with air, shoving them back without looking. The doors slammed into the sides, and one pulled free from its jam, teetering.

We…cannot follow you in this, Romulus thought, standing. I almost felt his confliction in his thoughts. He knew the “right way,” but also knew his duty. We cannot begin a meeting this way. It is not how things are done. Please, come back. Let me lead.

His illusions wouldn’t be long in dying, but I didn’t have time to wait.

I ignored him, stalking forward with my weapons intact. Penny and Emery were right behind me, in it to win it. I heard Callie and Dizzy following us. After we made it through, I blocked off the door so the elves couldn’t follow. They were standing between us and the fae anyway.

A red carpet ran down the middle of the space, columns on either side of it, and the golden dome above us had to be over two stories high, with pictures painted on the ceiling and an enormous chandelier hanging down from the middle. There were ten rows of seats to one side, filled with spectators who’d shown up to watch the proceedings. That wasn’t ideal. In front of me, five steps led to a wide, raised area on which sat two golden thrones. The king and queen both had long, straight white hair, rustling in a nonexistent wind, and wore matching cream-colored robes. I honestly couldn’t tell them apart.

“Question—is it normal for elf royalty to marry their twin?” I stopped in front of them, feeling magic take shape around me. The natural dual-mages were readying for an attack. “Because you two look almost identical.” I snapped my fingers. “It’s a narcissistic thing, isn’t it? That’s what this is about. You love yourself so much you want to see yourself reflected back to you. Dude, that’s gross. You need someone around that will actually tell you the truth from time to—”

“Silence,” the one on the right said, and power curled around me, stronger than anything I had felt before, pressing into my flesh and crawling along my scalp. It forced my mouth shut and pressed compliance into my limbs.

Which pissed me off.

There was a lot I could handle, but being compelled to do something I didn’t want to was on the short list of hell fucking no.