Page 13 of Fallen Demon

After that, the castle was a flurry of movement as our friends and guests arrived for tonight’s meeting.

Drake and Thea had arranged so maids were ready. Each group that arrived was escorted to their suites in the guests’ wing, and then invited to join everyone in the larger sitting room on the castle’s first floor.

Farrah stayed with me for a while, but Queen Kayden, her mate Fox, Farrah’s brother, Daleigh, and Twyla arrived, and Farrah decided to be their host, dismissing the maids.

I had met Kayden and Daleigh years ago, right after meeting Farrah, and we had all become friends. Last year, I met Twyla. Lavinia and Killian had rescued us from the warlocks who wanted to take our powers. She was the daughter of the previous fae king, and because of that, people had hated her. So, we almost disappeared together. Two souls lost in the human world. But in the end, Farrah had gotten through to her and offered her a deal. Twyla proved she wasn’t her father’s daughter, helped them, and she was now a general in the Frost Court’s army.

Daleigh, the lord of the Frost Court, was her fated mate.

I hadn’t met Fox yet, though, Kayden’s childhood friend, turned bodyguard, turned fated mate.

I frowned, realizing everyone had their own mates.

My bond had been forced, unnatural, not fate at all.

Or was it?

According to Farrah, everything was about fate. Meant to be.

“You’re coming with us, right?” Farrah asked, bringing me back to the moment.

I gestured to myself. “I got out of training and I stink. I’ll take a shower and find you later.”

She gave me one suspicious look. Several times now I had promised to meet them later and ended up leaving without a goodbye.

“Don’t worry, I won’t run away.” One corner of my lips tugged up. “Yet.”

She fake-glared at me, but I knew she was still hurt about all of those times.

After promising again to see them later, I excused myself, went back to my room, took a shower, got dressed in a pretty gown, and instead of finding Farrah and her family and friends, I headed to the library. Knowing the evening was only going to get busier, I wanted a moment of peace and quiet and to do something for myself.

At the library, I tried getting my mind busy and researched more about the underworld.

So far, there weren’t any real facts, everything was speculation. The only facts I had found were what we already knew: the underworld was another realm, larger than anyone knew, and the house of its king and his allies, which a few years ago was a supreme demon and his thousands, maybe millions, of demons.

Now, demon hunter Tanner was the king, and many of the demons had fled the underworld and were causing chaos in the human world.

As far as I knew, Tanner was assembling a team of warriors, and alongside the demon hunters, they were hunting these demons. To either kill or imprison them, it depended on their crimes and intentions.

Once upon a time, angels would be helping them.

But no. Ylena thought humans and all other supernaturals were plagues in this world. She wanted to eradicate them and start anew with a “purer” crop.

I put down my book and shook my head, still in shock. I had been under her wing for many years and I hadn’t seen one hint, one clue. To me, she had been the most righteous, powerful, and right of all of us.

How wrong had I been.

“What’s with the long face?”

I looked up and found Abbie, Maggie, and Lacey standing in front of me, and a maid behind them.

“Sorry, Ariella,” the maid started. “They insisted on seeing you before I showed them to their rooms.”

“We won’t be using any rooms,” Abbie said as she stepped forward and hugged me. “We’ll portal out once the meeting is done.“

I nodded to the maid, who spun on her heels and left.

“How are you?” Maggie asked me once she hugged me.

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