Page 32 of Grabbed By the Guard

“Do we get to meet them?” I ask.

Glaine sighs. “They appeared to us. Trust me, Billie. That is an invitation we would be foolish to refuse.”

As if they doppelseers have been able to listen in on our conversation, the door to the cabin creaks open.

Glaine sets his shoulders. “Come, Billie. And whatever you do? Don’t ask about their eyes.”

That’s not the only whispered warning Glaine gives me as we trudge over to the open cabin door, but it’s the one I’m repeating in my had as I’m led into a cozy interior awash with orange light.

Like at the palace, the doppelseers have floating orbs that illuminate their space. And, like at the palace, they’re in their shadow forms like so many of the other demons I’ve met have been. That doesn’t make it any less obvious that they’re identical twins… well, almost identical.

One demon has a bright white eye for the left one and a glowing purple one for the right. His brother? Has the opposite.

It’s freaky. Sorry. Maybe it’s my experience with the rogue and how Glaine explained you can tell when a Sombra demon has gone fully demonic by the whites of his eyes. In Sombra, their eyes are like mood rings, only they tell you what kind of demon you’re dealing with. Only the duke has blue eyes, while mages are purple, soldiers are green, and hunters are blue.

And seers… they have that.

“Glaine.” That’s the demon with the right eye that’s purple. “It’s good to see you again after all these centuries.”

Huh? Okay. That explains how he recognized the cabin. Could also explain why he’s on his guard around the demon twins. I can’t wait to ask him about it. Something tells me there’s definitely history here.

It’s especially obvious in the respectful way he bows his head. “Lucian.”

Lucian’s twin nods a greeting. He has the left eye that’s purple, and to make it worse, I don’t think he ever blinks.

Glaine addresses him next. “Damien. Anything for me?”

Damien shakes his head. I guess that’s a no.

Glaine almost looks relieved to hear it—and that’s when Lucian gestures toward the stairs behind him.

Wait. What?

There were no stairs. One hundred percent, they were not there two seconds ago. More magic, huh?

“We have seen that the demon guard and his mortal mate are in need of shadows since they don’t have any of their own. You are safe with us. The duke will not be able to see you until we allow him to.”

Glaine looks surprised. “You’re concealing us?”

Lucian’s purple eye flares. Only the purple one. “We have been. We will be. There is something… we have seen your mortal before. She is known to us.”

I am. Oh, great. Demon soothsayers. I can only imagine what they’ve seen.

Glaine kicks his chin up. “You have seen that she is my mate.”

Damie shakes his head again.

“My twin is right. When it comes to your prophecy, I do not think anything has changed. But we will see. Come. Rest. You will spend two full moons as our guest. When it is done, journey on to Nuit. That should be all the time we need to read the female.”

”Um. Read me?”

Damien turns his purple eye on me, but all he says is, “Out of the spotlight, it’s time you rely on a heart barely used.”

My mouth falls open even as the demon at my side grows puzzled.

I’m not.

Glaine warned me. One twin spoke in riddles when he spoke at all, the other made it as clear as he possibly could when giving his visions. I’d say it was easy to figure out who was who, but that wasn’t a riddle.

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