“We’ll meet Roger at his packs’ compound in central Montana,” Darius said as the dual-mages continued arguing. Emery switched seats on the island so he could hear us over the bickering of the older married couple. “A few of my people are setting up accommodations there now, blacking out, that sort of thing. I’ll only bring those obviously loyal to me. Vlad is employing the same tactic with his vampire allies. At present, there is no real way to discern numbers. Many are still on the fence, waiting to see how things shake out.”
“They’d rather join with Lucifer than Roger,” I said.
“Yes, for obvious reasons. Roger and I are working amicably together now. We have an understanding. I doubt we will ever trust each other, though.”
“Yeah, but…you don’t trust anyone.”
“I trust you, mon amour.” He kissed me on the temple. “Vampires are practical, though. They will choose the side most likely to win. We’ll need to have a good showing. Anyway, the pack has close to a hundred thousand acres in Montana. The dragons should be happy there. There’s plenty of game to hunt and space to fly.”
“But they’ll need to go through the Realm to get there,” Emery said.
“Yes.” Darius slowly took a sip of his cognac. “We obviously can’t have dragons flying over humans, even if the journey wasn’t too far for a single trip. No, we’ll have to take them through the Realm. We are plotting the fastest ways, hoping to fly over the least amount of enemy troops.”
Shivers racked my body. Enemy troops. The battle was coming soon, and the battle lines were being drawn. I’d been in a lot of skirmishes at this point, some larger than others, but this was the war to end all wars. I’d unabashedly use my magic, and unfortunately have to combat someone just as strong but a lot more experienced. Not to mention the elves, whose king and queen were just as strong as me and also a lot more experienced. I was the newbie in all of this, and I was expected to take on the masters, one of whom I really didn’t want to fight. Not after getting to know him.
“It’ll be fine,” I muttered, and drained my glass dry. Callie hurried up to refill it. She must’ve known what I was thinking.
“When are we leaving?” Emery asked.
Darius rubbed my back supportively, which I thought was a little odd because I wasn’t that shaken up about kicking this off, until he spoke.
“I want to speak with the Seers tomorrow,” he said.
“Nah.” I pushed away from him and took Callie’s proffered drink. “They didn’t do such a bang-up job the last go-round. If I was going to end up in the Underworld anyway, I didn’t need to make a pit stop in Elf Torture Land. I could’ve revealed myself to the demons, and they would’ve taken me with them, handy as you please. Penny wouldn’t be having nightmares of leaving me to die, Cahal wouldn’t have to paint torture porn or whatever he gets up to, and I wouldn’t have to choose between taking my vengeance on the elves and saving the fucking day. The Seers can chew on rocks for all I care. I don’t want to hear what they have to say.”
“Our friendship with Karen has certainly been…strained since we got back,” Dizzy said softly.
“I’ll say,” Callie grumbled, thunderclouds on her face. She and Dizzy tried to brush it off, but they hadn’t fared much better than Penny when it came to leaving me behind. I heard thoughts that slipped, felt it in their tight hugs, and saw it in their sorrowful eyes. I was physically tortured, but they’d been tortured emotionally. It had probably left a bigger scar on them than on me.
“Let’s talk about what you said earlier,” Darius said smoothly, and I braced myself, recognizing that cunning gleam in his eyes.
“Which part?” I asked suspiciously.
Emery drained his beer and pushed it in front of him. Callie moved to the fridge to get another. Clearly this would not be a sober affair.
“Roger manipulating you,” Darius responded, suddenly on point.
I waved it away. “He didn’t. Penny was just overreacting.”
“That’s what’s so fascinating,” Emery said, studying me. “If it was Darius, or me, or even Lucifer, who’s supposed to be the master of lies, you’d clue in to what we were doing. You might not even register it as manipulation, but you’d instinctively know someone was trying to tell you what to do, and you being you, you’d push back. I’ve seen it time and again. But Roger so obviously turns you in the direction he desires and pushes, and you bat your eyes like a lost lamb and go with it.”
“First, I did not bat my eyes. When have I ever? Second, I didn’t agree to anything other than showing up on the battlefield with them. Honestly, you guys, he isn’t trying to get anything besides help. His reasoning was…reasonable. My logical side gets it completely. I just have to work a little to keep that side of me in control, that’s all.”