Page 44 of Grabbed By the Guard

I wanted out of the cell. He broke me out.

I wanted to go home… and he tried. I’ll give him credit. He tried.

But it didn’t work.

My mouth goes dry. I dart out my tongue, dabbing at my lower lip. “So we’re still being punished.”

The look on his face now says that Glaine doesn’t not agree. “It’s the first law for a reason, Billie. We’re not bonded. You have my essence… Duke Haures cannot allow you to return to the human realm to tell stories about my people.”

“But—”

“You are an honest female. If you gave me your word that you’d keep the secret, I’d believe you.”

“Let me guess? And the duke wouldn’t.”

He nods his head.

I purse my lips, then blurt out, “I still want to know what the deal with the second pair of horns is.”

If he thinks my change of subject is sudden, he doesn’t say anything about it. Probably because he’s expecting me to, like, break down or something because he’s just confirmed my worst suspicions: I’m stuck here. Our Hail Mary didn’t come to pass. We got the chains off, but that’s about it. For now, at least, I’m not going home.

That sucks. I mean it. I was living in denial these last few days, convinced that things would work out because I wanted them to. I know better. To get what you want, you have to earn it. I’ll find a way home eventually. That won’t be the last New York sees of me because I refuse to never see Sierra again.

But if what Glaine suspects is true… I will. Sooner or later. For now? I’m not gonna cry. I’m gonna do what I always do: deal with it.

I have Glaine. There’s that. Against my better judgment, I’ve grown fond of the demon. Amazing, really, when I think about how pissed I was that he grabbed me and brought me to Sombra. Even though I’ve been trying not to rely on his essence, sometimes it just happens. I know him better now. Understand him better.

He just wanted his true love.

He thought that was Lilith once, but she broke his heart. For centuries after, he hardened it, hiding that pain behind a glower and a sense of duty to the duke. He did what he was told, and when he stumbled on who he believes is his real mate? Can I blame him for acting as impulsively as he did when it was his instincts in control?

For a moment, I think he’s going to refuse to tell me. That, or change the subject himself.

He doesn’t.

“Sombra demons born with a second pair of horns are known as two-horns. I’m sure you noticed that Loki is a two-horn. They’re almost always born as mages, too, their second horns giving them increased power. But for a soldier to bear that mark… I knew from a young age I would never rise up the ranks of the duke’s commands with them, so I got rid of them.”

I look at the two pairs of horns. He went to such lengths to be the perfect soldier. Cutting off the extra pair every time they regenerated so that he wouldn’t lose his post… and after all that, the duke tossed him in the dungeon because of his attachment to me. And now he’s released him from his guard.

I will do whatever I must to show you…

In his own way, he has, hasn’t he? He’s lost his job. His standing with the duke. His position in this world… and he’s done it all for me.

And what have I done? Reminded him at every turn that I’m desperate to get away from him. That all I want is to go home. I never even gave him the chance, knowing that I was repaying him for stealing me without my permission by using him to go home, no matter what it cost him.

He wanted to prove himself. I never gave him the chance.

Well, I can now… I mean. What do I have to lose? And if his ‘clever mate’ can figure out a way around Duke Haures’s command… who knows? I traveled through Sombra with Glaine. He can turn to shadows now. Maybe he wants to check out Manhattan.

It’s a thought, and I’m still thinking it as Glaine reaches up, stroking the front horn.

“Do you like them?”

He draws me back to the conversation with his deep, rumbling voice.

“I— what?”

“The two-horns. There are those in Nuit who existed when I was mere spawn. They’d remember a time before I started to hide them anyway I could. Magic. Breaking them in reckless challenges. Then, later, with the sword gifted to me by Duke Haures when I was still a favored guard.”

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