The Warrior King (Inferno Rising #3) - Abigail Owen Page 0,94
know who I can trust. Clearly, I’m not the only one worried about that.”
Amun sighed. “Protecting the king is my first priority. You taught us that.”
“You will never have to protect him from me,” Samael ground through clenched teeth. Except for claiming his mate while the king was supposedly dead.
“I hope that is true. But with what’s been going on these days since the mating ceremony, we operate now on a policy of ask questions first and trust later.”
Another quote Samael had been known to toss at his men. A reluctant smile raised one corner of his mouth. “I’m glad to hear you were listening to at least some of what I said.”
Amun smiled back, though the expression remained guarded.
“I assume the fact that I’m not dead is a good thing. Please tell me Gorgon is actually here, and that his being alive wasn’t part of a trap.”
“A trap? Is that what you thought?” Amun crossed his arms. “Makes sense, I guess. Your timing couldn’t have been worse.”
The implication being pretty damn obvious. “So, he is alive.”
“Yes.”
“I need to see him.”
“Why do you think I’m here?”
They stared at each other for a long beat as Amun made no move, then Samael raised his eyebrows. “Are you going to open the door?”
“I need you to give me your word that you’re not going to go crazy again.”
“I didn’t go crazy. I just wasn’t going to that dungeon.”
Amun shook his head, gaze turning wary. “You didn’t see you from my point of view. I’ve never seen you like that. You fought like a man possessed.”
Or like a desperate mate.
“I had reason. I’m protecting the queen.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Amun said in the lazily sarcastic way that had used to make Samael laugh. “We still have her locked up.”
Samael scoffed. “Not if her hellhound is with her, you don’t. He teleports. If Meira is still in her cell, it’s because she wants to be there.”
Amun’s eyes widened, the humor disappearing from his eyes. “Fuck me. We thought she sent him through the mirror she stepped through.”
“Doubtful. You would have been fucked if she wanted to turn him loose on you. There’s little more deadly than a hellhound, brother.”
Amun shook his head, but he also keyed in the code, and the lock sprang back with a clank. “Let’s take you to the king. Dealing with you is hurting my head.”
Outside the dungeon, Samael turned right to head up three more levels to the atrium, where they could shift and fly the rest of the way.
Amun grabbed his arm and jerked him the other direction. “If you think I’m letting you loose in dragon form, you’ve lost your mind. I’m a damn good fighter, but I’m not stupid.”
“Right,” Samael muttered. Confirm and trust later.
They took the long path through the winding human tunnels of the mountain. Though the tunnels were often fairly empty, they didn’t pass a single soul. As though the mountain itself was as empty as Samael’s heart.
“What’d you do?” Samael asked. “Clear the tunnels so no one had to lay eyes on me?”
Amun’s lips flattened. “Half the clan is gone.”
Samael stopped in his tracks to eye the other man. “Gone where?”
But Amun only shook his head. “You should discuss all this with the king.”
They made the rest of the journey in silence. At Amun’s knock a guard let them into the king’s suite. The damage from the fight had been cleaned up. A glance at Bero revealed an equally black eye, and Samael sent the man a smirk, earning a glare in return.
The sound of a voice, soft and broken, sounded from farther inside the chamber, pulling his attention from the room, and Samael turned slightly to find Amun watching him closely, as though he’d turn feral any second and start removing heads.
“Where is he?” Samael asked.
“His bed. He’s in bad shape. The healer, other than pausing to work on your ass, has been with him constantly.”
That did not help Samael’s guilt any.
Each step felt an eternity as Samael crossed through room after room of the king’s larger chamber, down a dome-topped hallway—a natural formation of the mountain caves—past an office and several other bedrooms to a doorway left wide open. Inside, he found several of the advisers who made up the king’s Curia Regis, along with more of the guard, surrounding the bed, obscuring Samael’s vision of the man lying there. Only Gorgon’s feet under the blankets showed through gaps in the crowd.