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  ‘They were mistaken,’ one of the angels said in a hushed voice, and there were other murmured yesses: hard to deny that after what they’d just witnessed.

  ‘They lied,’ Jinx said. ‘They out and out lied.’

  I didn’t care. I had lost Kayla for ever. My heart was aching and nothing much else really mattered.

  Then Jamie rested a hand on my shoulder and Jinx slipped his arm around my waist and I realised that, actually, yes, there were other things that mattered very much – like making sure my Guardian kept his wings, my Deathbringer kept his life and I kept my men.

  Persephone hadn’t succeeded in taking them from me, Amaliel hadn’t managed to take them from me and I was damn sure no tribunal of so-called ‘ethereal beings’ was going to either.

  I took a deep breath, pulled back my shoulders and tilted back my chin. No one was going to take them from me.

  Twenty-Five

  We returned to the royal palace, where we knew we’d be safe – which struck me as somewhat ironic, given my history with the building and its occupants. Its chambers and dark corridors were filled with so many memories, and on the way to present ourselves to Baltheza, more than once I thought I caught a glimpse of Kayla out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned around, she wasn’t there. Of course she couldn’t be – she was gone, and I would never forgive Pasqual for the part he had played in that.

  Lord Baltheza hadn’t taken very kindly to Pasqual trying to shoot me, and as a result, he was now residing in the Chambers of Rectification. Baltheza had also ordered the remaining Guardians to tell the Veteribus that their ‘chosen’ Guardian was under arrest for treason – and that he would be very angry if he discovered they had issued the order for my assassination.

  ‘Let them stick that in their craws and choke on it,’ he said grimly.

  But I had other things to worry about. The relationship Jamie, Jinx and I had was special, but I wasn’t sure things would ever be the same. Occasionally the old Jinx peeped out, but several times I’d seen him watching Jamie with a strange expression on his face, and as we made the long walk through the palace corridors from Baltheza’s chambers I could see it again. My heart grew heavier with each step and my nerves began to jangle, and by the time Jamie opened the door and ushered me into my chambers, I was so cranked up I felt physically sick.

  If Jamie had noticed Jinx’s expression, he didn’t let it bother him. He led me across the room to the sofa by the fire and pulled me down beside him. Jinx followed us in, but stopped by the door as if unsure he was welcome, until Jamie beckoned him over with a smile.

  He stalked over and dropped down onto the floor by my feet, resting his arm on the couch and his head on his arm, looking up at us.

  ‘What I don’t understand is why Pasqual tried to kill you,’ Jamie said.

  ‘Did Charles or Peter know?’

  ‘They knew he was going to try and arrest us, take us back to Askala – but kill you?’ Jamie ran his hand through his hair. ‘I think that came as a surprise to everyone.’

  I thought on this for a bit. ‘Arrest us for what?’ I asked eventually.

  ‘Charles and Peter didn’t know, and Pasqual told them to mind their own business – that’s why they came looking for us.’

  This was all doing my head in. ‘Do we think Pasqual was acting on his own initiative?’

  Jamie wrinkled his nose. ‘I don’t think he’s got the brains, but he’s always been ambitious, and some of the Veteribus have clearly taken a shine to him – probably because he’ll do whatever they might say without question, while I will not.’

  We sat thinking about this for a bit, until Jamie said at last, ‘I guess the main thing is we’re all here, alive and well, and that is cause for celebration.’

  ‘And that’s what we should do,’ I said, and before he could say another word I pressed my fingers against his lips. ‘Tonight we celebrate the three of us being together again.’

  That brought a smile to his face.

  I had been all for christening the rug in front of the fire, but it would have meant making the fire up and getting it going, and who had time for that?

  I was still worried about how Jinx was going to react to Jamie in our weird three-way relationship, especially when Jamie got up and took me by the hand to lead me towards the bed, for Jinx had stayed kneeling by the couch – until I held out my other hand to him, when he smiled, and followed willingly.

  He let Jamie undress me, and I missed his teasing, but once we’d leaped onto the huge bed and I started running my hands across his broad chest and playing with his cute little horns, he happily joined in the touching and kissing until the three of us were romping the way we used to … well, nearly.

  I’m not sure how much Jinx remembered, but there were moments when he looked like he’d had an inkling of how things had been between us before – he didn’t laugh, not the way he used to, which made me sad – but when he did crack a smile it was so warming, like the rays from the two suns beaming down on me.

  And when we had finished making love, his expression was one of contentment as he flopped back on the pillows, his eyes already drooping shut.

  ‘That went better than expected,’ Jamie whispered in my ear and I realised I wasn’t the only one worried that our happy little threesome might not work the way it had before.

  *

  Later – much later – we inevitably returned to the subject of Pasqual and the involvement of the Veteribus in my attempted assassination.

  ‘Perhaps I should travel to Askala?’ Jamie suggested.

  ‘No!’ I said, alarmed at the thought of him leaving me.

  ‘Lucky, it’s not something we can just ignore.’

  ‘Not if they’re complicit in your attempted murder.’ Jinx’s expression was very dark indeed.

  We lapsed into silence.

  Of course, now I had this conspiracy theory rattling around in my brain I was seeing dark shadows everywhere – I even started to wonder whether Amaliel had been working with – or for – the Veteribus … but that was just plain stupid, wasn’t it?

  *

  ‘What’s going on inside that head of yours?’ Jamie asked as he climbed up back onto the bed, a pitcher of wine in his hand.

  I dived right in. ‘Is it possible that Pasqual could have been carrying out the Veteribus’ orders instead of acting on his own initiative?’ Then I remembered what I’d been about to tell Jamie just before Pasqual tried to kill me. ‘There’s something else I forgot in the excitement.’

  Jamie passed me a glass of wine and poured more for Jinx and himself. ‘Go on.’

  ‘When Joseph raised concerns about waiting to blow up Vesuvius, Amaliel said something about the Guardians not being a problem as they’d been “successfully misdirected” – that sounds to me like there’s a traitor, either amongst the Guardians or the Veteribus.’

  Jamie’s smile slipped away. ‘I hope it isn’t so, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder, and the more I wonder, the more the simplest of past words spoken or snippets of conversation or tone of voice have taken on significance.’

  Jinx shifted up the bed and plumped up a pillow to shove behind my back. ‘Like what?’ he asked.

  ‘I’d not noticed at the time, but of late I realise I’ve been somewhat sidelined. There’ve been occasions when I was told my involvement in the affairs of the Overlands wasn’t needed – even a couple of times when I was actively discouraged from doing anything.’ His thoughtful frown darkened.

  ‘What?’ I asked.

  ‘The moment you were born, a shockwave passed from your world into ours; that’s how we knew a daemon child of considerable significance had been born in the Overlands. I was all ready to cross over to find you, but Pasqual was sent instead.’

  ‘And he was unsuccessful.’

  ‘Your mother shielded you from us – and the next time you came to our attention must have been when she was taken back to the Underlands and you were unprotected, and once
again, Pasqual was sent when it should have been me. But Kayla got to you first, and now I’m beginning to think it was just as well.’

  ‘You think he would have killed me?’

  Neither Jinx nor Jamie had to say a word.

  Jamie jumped off the bed, grabbed his trousers and started to get dressed. ‘I’m going down to have a chat with my old friend Pasqual.’

  Jinx’s eyes narrowed and he too started to dress as Jamie said to him, ‘You may want to join me.’

  ‘As will I,’ I said firmly.

  Jamie took my hand and played with my fingers a moment. ‘Very well,’ he said.

  ‘But know that we’ll do whatever is necessary,’ Jinx said, without even a hint of apology.

  I took Jinx’s hand and squeezed both their fingers. ‘We’re in this together.’

  Jamie looked at me, his blue eyes staring into mine until the world around me disappeared. ‘I love you so very much,’ he whispered, raising my hand to his lips and kissing it.

  *

  The descent into the depths of the palace’s torture chambers was just as dark, dank and scary as I remembered. Amaliel may have been long gone but his presence lingered, and so did the stench of suffering and decay. When we reached the corridor at the bottom of the first flight of stairs I almost expected him to glide out of one of the cells, his fiery eyes burning from within his hooded robe.

  It was late and the daemons who worked down there had knocked off for the day, leaving two guards on duty in the main chamber, next to a blazing brazier which might have been glowing red but was doing nothing to ease the chill pervading the place. They looked up from their game of cards.

  ‘We want to see Pasqual,’ Jinx said.

  One guard pushed several coins into the centre of the table to join a fair-sized pot. The other peered down at his cards for a moment as if checking to make sure they hadn’t changed, then he too upped his stake.

  ‘He’s a right popular inmate this evening,’ the first guard said at last. Even sitting down he was a big daemon; he had a huge craggy face textured like a walnut shell, and of similar colour. His hair was hidden by his shiny leather helmet.

  ‘Popular?’ Jamie asked sharply.

  ‘You’re the second party to visit in less than half an hour.’

  ‘Twenty minutes,’ the other lisped, ‘if that.’ This one might be slight of frame, but if I’d had to make a choice of who I’d favour in a brawl, my money would have been on the smaller guard: a forked tongue flickered out over the sharp fangs curving down over his bottom lip and long, blade-like talons tipped each of his scaly fingers. I hadn’t a clue how he held his cards; I guessed it needed a lot of practice.

  ‘Who came to see him?’ Jamie asked.

  The two guards exchanged a glance, then began to frown. ‘I …’ The big one rubbed his chin. ‘Now you ask, I’m not sure.’

  Fang-Face wasn’t any the wiser either. ‘I remember them coming and asking for the key, and they couldn’t have been long, because the next thing I remember is—’ He didn’t finish but threw down his cards and jumped to his feet, knocking back his chair.

  ‘Oh shit,’ Jinx muttered, and he and Jamie were off along the corridor with the small guard chasing after them.

  I followed on at a more sedate pace. I had a horrible feeling hurrying wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference.

  Jamie urged the guard to get a move on as he fumbled with the key in the lock and then the door was flung back on its hinges, hitting the stone wall with a bang that echoed throughout the underground passageways.

  Jinx and Jamie started roundly swearing and crouched down next to Pasqual’s body, examining him with expressions of grim distaste.

  I didn’t need to ask if he was really dead. His once white feathers were awash with jade.

  Jamie looked up at me. ‘Someone didn’t want him talking to us.’

  ‘Who would do this?’ I asked.

  Jinx rested his chin on his fist as he stared down at the dead daemon. ‘Someone powerful.’

  We left the two guards standing over the late, departed Pasqual and scratching their heads. Neither could remember anything about the person or persons who had visited their prisoner: Walnut Head was adamant there had been only one, Fang-Face was sure it was three, dressed in black robes; Walnut Head said his daemon had been in some sort of uniform. The only thing they both agreed on was that it had been no more than half an hour before we’d arrived, calculated by the number of hands they’d played.

  ‘Of course, if they’d both been mesmerised it could have been an hour, maybe two,’ Jinx said as we climbed the stairs.

  ‘What sort of daemon can mesmerise another?’ I asked.

  Jamie and Jinx exchanged a grim look. ‘A Guardian,’ Jinx said.

  ‘Or the Deathbringer,’ Jamie added.

  *

  After some discussion we decided telling Baltheza his prisoner had been murdered in his cell could wait until morning. No good would come of waking him with such news.

  ‘Do you really think it was a Guardian who killed Pasqual?’ I asked, too ramped up to settle as my men climbed into bed beside me.

  ‘Well, it wasn’t me,’ Jinx said, ‘so it’s the only possibility.’

  ‘They would kill one of their own?’

  ‘Some of them were willing enough to let Jamie forfeit his wings,’ Jinx pointed out.

  ‘No,’ Jamie said, ‘most of them are good, solid daemons who believe in what they do.’

  ‘Most, but not all,’ Jinx noted. ‘If it had been you in that cell and you had received such a visitation, I’d have bet on it being Pasqual who’d carried out the deed.’

  Jamie leaned back against the headboard. ‘I’m with you on that one. He always had an agenda.’

  ‘And look where it’s got him – although the manner of his death was strange.’ Jinx snuggled down the bed until his head was resting on my hip. ‘A thin blade shoved up beneath the ribs at such an angle? That means the killer got up really close and personal.’

  ‘Almost as if he and his killer were embracing,’ Jamie agreed.

  ‘How awful,’ I said.

  ‘Now say that like you mean it,’ Jinx said.

  ‘I do. It’s awful.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Jinx rubbed his head against me. ‘I think if James had lost his wings you would have knifed Pasqual in the ribs without a second thought.’

  ‘Jinx!’ Jamie’s expression was horrified.

  I was about to deny it, but then I thought about it for a moment or two. Could I kill someone so brutally? I might like to think not, but if I was really angry, I had a feeling Jinx was right: I probably could.

  ‘Lucky?’

  ‘To be totally honest, there have been times over the past few weeks when I think I might have killed for either of you – I’m not proud of the dark thoughts I’ve had recently, but if anyone should hurt you or try and take you away from me’ – I gave them both a crooked smile – ‘I’m very much afraid I would do whatever it took.’

  ‘That’s my girl,’ Jinx said, and as his head disappeared under the blanket, any retort I might have been about to make instantly fled from my mind.

  I heard Jamie chuckle, and then I was lost – this time in a very good place.

  *

  Baltheza had already been informed of Pasqual’s demise by the time we were up and about and in a show of his complete indifference, had gone off hunting.

  My guards were pretty subdued over breakfast. They might not have really liked Vaybian overmuch, but his death had still cast a shadow over their usual cheerful outlook on life, and hearing of Pasqual’s unfortunate end was doing nothing to lighten their moods.

  ‘I would say good riddance to bad rubbish,’ Kerfuffle said, ‘but I have a feeling in my bones that this is not a good thing.’

  ‘That a Guardian or the Veteribus could be implicated in Pasqual’s death is definitely not a good thing,’ Kubeck agreed. ‘In fact, it is probably the worst possible of scenarios.’

&nbs
p; Jinx filled his plate from the breakfast table and gestured with his head to my empty dish. ‘Aren’t you eating?’

  I looked at the platters piled high with bacon and eggs and other assorted breakfast foods and shook my head. Even the smell was making me feel a little queasy.

  ‘You should eat something,’ Jamie said.

  ‘I think I’d probably throw up if I did.’

  Jamie glanced my way. ‘Aren’t you feeling well?’

  ‘It’s nothing. I’m just a bit down, is all.’

  Jinx popped a piece of bacon into his mouth, and as he chewed, a contented smile lit up his face. ‘I’d forgotten this,’ he said.

  ‘What?’ Kerfuffle asked.

  ‘Bacon, eggs, us all eating breakfast together.’

  Kerfuffle’s glower softened. ‘Having meals together like this are the best times of the day.’

  Shenanigans smiled one of his goofy smiles. ‘It’s like we’re all family.’

  Jinx piled some more food on his plate. ‘Family?’ He thought on it for a bit. ‘I like that. Family’s good.’

  That afternoon a small funeral service was held for Vaybian – and a little surprisingly, as he’d made it clear he had never liked the daemon, Baltheza decreed that Vaybian should be interred in the royal mausoleum with Kayla. ‘He guarded her body in life – it is only right that he guards it in death,’ he said, and closed the subject.

  I was invited to dine with him in his private quarters and, as there was no longer any danger from him, Jamie and Jinx hadn’t joined us, which was a first.

  ‘So, what are the Guardian and Deathbringer going to do about Pasqual?’ Baltheza asked after I explained what had happened while we were in the Overlands.

  ‘I really don’t know,’ I admitted.

  ‘I must admit to being puzzled by recent developments.’ He sat back in his chair and considered me over steepled fingers. ‘And this attempt on your life? I cannot understand that at all.’

  ‘None of us can—’

  He carried on as though I hadn’t spoken. ‘It is also very strange to me that the instigator of all this intrigue – the unknown entity with whom Amaliel was communicating – remains at large and is being generally ignored.’ He fixed me with another of his steely-eyed stares. ‘It is all most odd.’