for the Underealm ASAP, but I needed the people I cared about to know where I was going just in case…Just in case I didn’t make it back.
“Fee, what happened?” Dean asked. “I smell blood.”
Fuck, I’d showered off the Dread blood and changed out of my battle-stained clothes, but there was nothing to rival a Loup nose.
Grayson was out of his seat, nose buried in my neck as he inhaled. He jerked away. “Dread blood?”
“I may have helped clean up the Beyond.”
“You had to fight?” Grayson’s mouth turned down. “What the fuck happened?”
I filled them in as quickly as possible. “So, I have the location of the power source, and I’m leaving for the Underealm within the hour. I just… I wanted to see you before I left.”
Grayson paled, but he nodded. “The last team they sent in didn’t make it back. Be careful, stick with the Dominions, and if shit gets hairy, you get out of there.”
Ah, crap. He didn’t know I was going solo. This was the part where I bit my tongue and smiled and let him believe I’d have backup, but my poker face was always shit.
Grayson looked from Cora to me. “What? No. Why would they ask you to do that?”
I puffed out my cheeks, ignoring the squirming in my belly. “Because they’ve already given up. They have an escape plan. A flagship. And in seventy-two hours they’re going to drain what’s left of the power in the Beyond and propel their getaway vehicle into the ether to pastures new, leaving us to burn.”
Silence filled the room.
“We can’t get into the Underealm, can we?” Dean asked, even though he knew the answer.
“No.” I gave him a small smile. “Trust me, I’m shitting myself, but I have to do this. There is no other way. If I don’t, then we all die.”
“I’ll go with you,” Cora said. “I can get into the Underealm just fine; it’s getting out that’s usually an issue, but you can fly me back.”
“Not if I’m carrying a power source. Besides, you need to look into the missing humans.”
I still couldn’t believe Azazel’s deputy was a Mammon supporter. Cora had alerted Keon about the possibility of spies. Was that why he wasn’t back yet? Had they found spies?
Cora made a sound of exasperation. “Missing humans won’t matter if the world ends. You can’t do this alone, Fee. You shouldn’t have to.”
“She won’t.” Keon entered the room with Uriel in tow. “Because we’re going with you.”
I absorbed the information Keon recounted. Mammon, the sneaky bastard, had sleeper agents in all the academies, and Master Luena had been one of them. Bloody hell.
I glanced over at the daemon and the celestial standing by the Christmas tree as if they were getting ready for a festive snapshot to be taken, except they weren’t exactly dressed for festive.
Keon had managed to snag a new outfit, more Dominus and less…naked. Black cargo pants that allowed his tail to be free and a black long-sleeved V-neck top that hugged his lithe, muscular torso like a second skin. He’d braided his hair, but navy tendrils had come free to kiss his high cheekbones. The markings on his face seemed to stand out darker against his blue skin today. Uriel had been kitted out in a similar fashion, but he was bulkier than Keon, and the shirt stretched tighter across his shoulders. His dark hair was tousled by the elements, and his ember eyes looked like jewels framed by thick, dark lashes. They both looked dangerous and kick-ass, and they were coming with me.
Relief was a live thing sucking the panic out of my chest. I wouldn’t be going alone, and that meant I could finally breathe.
“Sleeper agents aren’t just at the Academy,” Cora said to Keon. “Azazel’s deputy is one too, and he was pretty cocky about it.”
Keon hissed.
My temple throbbed with the threat of a headache. “We need to let Azazel and Mal know.”
“Already done,” Keon said. “I sent out phoenixes. We’ll meet them at the Hog and Boar on the far side of the Enmity River. We can spend a few hours and rest after our flight. We’ll hand over the coordinates to the cadet drop-off and fill them in on what Mammon is doing. Master Luena is meeting us there with a few chosen senior cadets.”
“She’s going to go through the motions, isn’t she?” Cora asked.