Page 1 of Grabbed By the Guard

PROLOGUE

GLAINE

If there is one thing I have learned over my existence, it is this: when the opportunity presents itself, take it.

It’s how I rose up the ranks to become head of Duke Haures’s guard. Same for when I think that I could be toiling away in the stuffy school of mages for a rare quirk of my birth; born with the mystical second pair of horns but also the tell-tale eyes that mark me as a soldier, I could’ve been educated or trained. I chose the sword over a tome, and for seven centuries now, I’ve never once regretted that choice.

No. I’ve had but one regret, and once I find the one true mate meant for me alone, even that will be a memory.

It must be.

She must be.

But, no. I have been given another, even rarer gift: a second prophecy. And while the seer made it clear that the terms of the first haven’t changed—that I am destined to find my mate only for my female to inevitably deny me—I have hope that, with the second one, I can overcome that.

Even now, I remember it and cling to what I believe it must mean…

In chains of gold and magic bound,

You linger close, yet far profound.

To win the heart you hold so dear,

Release the spell that chains you here.

For love’s true love is not in grasp,

But in the freedom you grant at last…

Centuries ago, it was Lucian who saw the first vision and warned me that I would be denied. As a soldier, it was easier to accept the clear and precise warning; as Glaine, it was even easier to dismiss it because I couldn’t see how any chosen female would deny me.

The second prophecy was given to me by Damien. Damien who loves his riddles, and who added a warning of his own: that even when one of his riddles seems straightforward, it isn’t, and if Duke Haures hadn’t commanded him to read my future in particular, he would’ve been content to let me continue in my centuries-long search for my one true mate.

That search ends tonight. At least, I hope so. Following my former fellow soldier’s lead, I will risk it all to find the Grimoire du Sombra.

It is in the human realm. Sammael stole it himself, telling Duke Haures he would return it before reading the Verus Amor spell to see if he was destined for a human mate. Something told him he must be—though, when I asked if he had met with the doppelseers, he denied that—and since I met his Hope myself, he was right.

All I’ve ever known—courtesy of Lucian’s first vision—was that my female was fated to be born off-plane. For so long, I believed that meant I would find her in another demon realm. Soleil was my first choice, then maybe Brille Rouge. But in the decades since Duke Haures secreted his human mate to Mavro, with only his guard and a few of his inner circle knowing that Duchess Susanna exists… I’ve wondered.

Am I also meant to be mated to a mortal?

The scroll with the matefinder spell has long been lost. The only way to discover if a demon’s one true mate is a legendary human is to wait and see if we’ll be summoned by her, dragged through a portal, and brought to the human world. It is one of Duke Haures’s most fiercely enforced laws that Sombra demons cannot go to that world otherwise…

Ah. But I am no regular Sombra demon. I am one of the duke’s most trusted guards, and though I do not have the ability to open portals off-plane myself, I am one of the only demons who have been to the human realm and can navigate there.

The Grimoire du Sombra is still there. After Sammael found his human mate and decided to hide in the shadows of her home on Earth, he lost possession of the spellbook. He admitted as such to the duke while I was standing behind his throne, but Duke Haures didn’t seem to mind.

After all, the book has human magic of its own. Destined to move on to the next mortal female so that she can eventually find the Sombra demon waiting for her in my world, I grumpily settled down to wait and see how many decades that would take until I might have the opportunity I seek.

Mere cycles. That’s how long it took. Mere cycles before the spell summoned another demon I was familiar with: Dagon, Duchess Susanna’s personal bodyguard.

Dagon knows where the grimoire is. He must. And though I risk rousing the hunter’s protective instincts, approaching him while he is so newly mated with his mortal, I have no other choice. Once they’re fully bonded, I will have no excuse to check on them.

Once they’re fully bonded, the magic in the spellbook might disappear before I can get my claws on it…

A young mage burrows his own feet claws nervously into the ash. We’re on the edge of Mavro, where the capital’s blue moon and garden oasis give way to the red sky, fire pits, and ash fields that make up most of our shadowy realm. He’s in his solid demon form, purple eyes downcast as though afraid to offend me.

I stand tall and proud, wearing my red-skin and onyx horns proudly. I’ll have to fade to my shadows once I pass over to the human world; for all that I am risking, I will not risk breaking the duke’s first law. For now, I show off my larger size and green soldier’s gaze so that Morgath doesn’t forget who is asking this favor of him.

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