Page 31 of Grabbed By the Guard

“The doppelseers,” he breathes out.

Dopp-ul-see-ers? It must be a Sombra word without a direct translation in English because, when Glaine just about whispers it, there’s a harsh edge to each of the four syllables that mark it as another foreign one. Like when a fluent speaker of a foreign language just slips a word in their own tongue into a conversation because it’s easier than trying to explain it in mine.

Context clues, Billie. Come on. You travel all over the world and have to broker contracts and meetings in dozens of languages. Sure, I have Charlotte’s help, but Sierra’s lawyer is back in New York. I have to parse these situations out on my own.

Doppel… Double, maybe? If a doppelganger is like a twin, what can a doppelseer be? Someone who sees double?

Maybe. Let’s go with that.

I don’t know how I didn’t see their house before. It melds into the shadows, no windows reflecting the moonlight, and only a single door. Built like an old-fashioned cabin, it’s squat and wide, but the moment I glanced in that direction, it was there like it has always been.

But I know it wasn’t. Before Glaine knocked me momentarily senseless with that fantastic tongue of his, I was looking around, keeping an eye out for any other rogue demons who might catch on to the fact that I was so aroused, I could just about hear my thighs squeak while we were walking.

It was bad. Like, taking an aphrodisiac bad. If Glaine had solemnly told me that the only way to stop the empty ache in my pussy, plus the fever and the sweats, I might’ve actually gone ahead and bent over for the growly demon. My body was telling me that’s what it needed, this strange feeling in my chest was tugging me toward Glaine, and my pussy was screaming, “Go, Billie, go.”

I got what I needed by clinging to his horns for dear life as I rode his face. It’s probably going to be a lot harder to convince him that I’m not my mate after that, I was actually a little relieved to have a distraction once he set me back down on my feet.

Then I catch a glimpse of Glaine’s strained expression out of the corner of my eye, add that to the sudden explicable appearance of a cabin I know wasn’t there before, and I’m beginning to think this might not be the sort of distraction I need.

Glaine is seven feet tall, can wield a sword when the chains aren’t dulling his shadow magic, and is strong as hell. He’s also a trained soldier who didn’t blink at ordering me to stab the rogue. If he’s alarmed by this cabin, what the hell’s inside?

Doppelseers. Okay. Let’s go with that.

Keeping my voice low, just in case, I murmur, “What are the doppelseers?”

“The doppelseers are the voice of the gods here on Sombra.”

So they’re a ‘who’. I think I understand. “Like priests?”

Glaine mulls it over for a moment. “Priests serve the gods in your world. The gods need none of that in Sombra so Lucian and Damien serve the duke like the rest of us.”

Why am I not surprised to hear that? “Okay. So we have to worry about them turning us in?”

“Not necessarily.”

I glance back at the cabin. “Do we have to worry about the fact that their cabin seems to have just popped out of nowhere?”

When he doesn’t deny that, I know we’re in trouble.

And then he says, “Duke Haures is a bondmaster. He has very unique magic.”

I nod.

“But the doppelseers have magic unlike any other demons in our realm, including Duke Haures. His palace stays put in Mavro. Lucian and Damien… they go wherever they’re needed.”

I… don’t think I like the way he said that.

“Do we need them?”

Glance takes a deep breath. “They are diviners. Many clans have seers, but the doppelseers are the most respected visionaries in Sombra.” He lowers his voice even deeper, sounding almost reverential as he does. “They’re supposed to be the longest living demons left on Sombra, older than even Duke Haures.”

Supposed to be… “You don’t know for sure?”

“No one knows except the doppelseers.”

I’ll admit, this is actually really interesting to me. Not only because Glaine seems so cock-sure about everything that it’s new for him to admit there’s something he doesn’t know, but because I’m looking at the most ancient of demon immortals who have their own traveling house.

I loved Howl’s Moving Castle as a kid. Is this like that?

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