The Princess and the Bard (Royals of the Realms #1)

Chapter Eighteen: Not a Dream, Not a Nightmare

The sun dipped low across the horizon, casting the world in warm shades of pink and orange as they emerged onto the porch. The long shadows of naked trees stretched over the snowy hills, pooling in the wet trails of footprints and wagon wheel tread marks along the road. 

Taelan closed the front door of the cottage behind them, affording Reeve some privacy with Yuka.

Thelix was still trapped inside the cage of armored queensguard, but the guards had moved their prisoner farther away from the cottage. Paladin Kors was standing nearby, chatting with Fox, Myka, and a guard Alori hadn't been formally introduced to. They looked over as Alori came forward with Taelan and Hira.

"How did it go?" Fox asked, concern darkening his startling golden gaze.

Alori wondered again how the handsome patroller and Yuka knew each other. Were they both Dundens? Fox was certainly tall enough to be of southern seafaring lineage, but that was where the similarities ended.

"It went well," Hira answered before Alori had a chance to respond. "He's sleeping it off."

"Good. His wounds were grievous, we feared the worst."

Fox gripped the thin metal chain of a necklace that disappeared inside his tunic, worrying it between his fingers. Alori was worried, too. Her plan had gone off without a hitch, and she never got so lucky. She had half expected to walk out of the cottage to find Thelix had escaped with Dantalion's book, or another breach had been torn out of the sky while she'd been distracted. Compared with the mayhem they'd endured earlier, the quiet pockets of conversation and pretty sunset were jarring. The tranquility felt ominous and foreboding.

Kors withdrew Thelix's small tome from a gap within his breastplate, handing it to Alori. "Were you brought up to speed on Dantalion's connection to this book?"

She cracked open the binding and flipped to the first page, fighting the illogical fear that it would burn or smote her. Handwritten script filled the yellowed paper in a language Alori didn't recognize.

"I believe that's fae-hand," Kors said, peering over her shoulder. 

The whorls and embellishments of the strange alphabet were mystifying, but Kors was probably wrong. The fae were elusive beings who weren't known to meddle in human or demon affairs. As far as anyone knew, few if any pure-blooded fae even existed anymore, and the book did not appear to be exceptionally old. She kept flipping until she came to a page that had been heavily marked. 

Kors pointed to an indented paragraph halfway down the page, written in the alphabet of the common tongue. The passage of arcane words had been underlined in thick black ink.

"This appears to be an incantation. Perhaps the one Thelix used to summon Dantalion. I only recognize a few words that translate roughly into the old language. Dantalion seems to have certain mind control abilities, including love persuasion." The paladin's cheeks reddened. He cleared his throat and took a step back. "Your Highness, I believe the goal was to seduce you so that you would choose Thelix as your consort."

"Yes, I figured that out." Alori felt Taelan's eyes on her as she spoke. She closed the book and dropped it into the pocket of her coat. Taelan's coat, as it were. "I've decided Dantalion's crimes are too great for mercy. I won't waste my time trying to figure out how to send the demon back to whichever of the five hells it slithered up from. It needs to be destroyed."

Kors gave a curt nod. "I agree. The book sustains its lifeforce. If we destroy it, we destroy the demon. Do you have any questions for him–for it– beforehand?"

What sort of questions might a doomed demon answer? Alori hadn't the slightest idea. 

Dantalion had been truthful about desiring her power, so there was no mystery there. But...