I follow the group of excited Abdicated out of the dining room and up a massive set of stairs. We weave through Tazreel’s palatial house, and the more corridors we head down, the more turned around I become. I don’t hear any telltale signs of a party though, which seems odd.
Tazreel drops back to walk next to me, and he shoots my guys a look that tells them to give us a moment. I try and fail not to roll my eyes. What’s with this dude?
I want to refuse and reach out and grab hold of their hands, but I stop myself by taking a deep breath to bite back my temper. You catch more flies with honey, I remind myself. Then again, I’m not trying to catch flies. I’m trying to keep this arrogant demon from thinking he can rule my life. Bet there’s not a Southern saying for that. Or at least I don’t think there is...I’ll have to ask Flint.
My guys dutifully slow their pace, falling away from my sides. Echo even took his shadows off my ass, which I miss immediately. The other Abdicated practically snatch the guys up, and I have to stop myself from growling out a warning about keeping their Abdicated hands to themselves. My anxiety over the situation climbs to its peak when we reach the end of yet another corridor, and the Abdicated and my Guardians break off from us. I try to go with them, but Taz stops me with a hand to my arm. “Hey,” I say, moving away from him. “Where are they taking them?”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” he tells me. “They’re going into the regular entrance of the party. You and I have to make a formal appearance so that I can announce you.”
I bite my lip nervously, watching as the guys cast me looks before one by one being led off to the right, down another hallway.
“This way.”
“This better not be a trick, Taz,” I warn, though it’s not like I can really do anything against him if he is.
Or...can I?
I look down at the scythe in my hand, noting how the blades disappeared once again. “Do scythes work on Abdicated?” I ask.
Taz stiffens and whirls on me, nearly making me run straight into him. I screech to a halt, my heels almost toppling me over.
“Are you threatening me?” he asks, and I’m immediately taken aback by the hard glint of his gray eyes. His wings come out and so do mine, like they’re ready to show up for the face-off. His power pushes at me, making my tongue heavy and my head dizzy, and I know he’s forcing the truth right out of me.
“N-no,” I stutter. “I was just asking. I was curious.”
Fuck, he’s scary like this.
He comes off as shallow and a little ridiculous, like he’s the sun of his universe and can’t help but be blinded by his own light. But in moments like this, I see what he purposely keeps buried. The dark violence he’s capable of. I realize that he’s both an arrogant prick and dangerously strategic.
He stares at me hard for another moment, until he finally gives a terse nod, satisfied. He turns on his heel, continuing to stride straight ahead, and I swallow down the panic, but I realize as I follow him on unsteady legs that he didn’t answer my question.
Hmm.
We finally reach the end of this long ass corridor, and Taz leads me up a wide staircase. Sounds start to filter toward us the higher we go, and by the time we reach the top, I’m out of breath from the climb and my ears are pulsing with the beat of heavy trance-like music.
There is a line of guards standing on the upper level, all of them with their straight backs against the walls and eyes forward and unmoving. There’s a set of double doors in the middle of them, and Taz heads for those. Two guards swing the doors open without a word from Taz, and then the sound amplifies tenfold. I’m hit with the noise like it’s a wall, and I actually stagger back from it.
Tazreel puts a hand on my shoulder and tugs me forward, and I walk out on the balcony and look over the edge.
There are demons everywhere.
It’s like watching the ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. The outside veranda, or whatever the fuck rich people would call