Page 69 of Tortured Royals

I blow out a breath. “Yes.”

Prince Callan crosses his arms. “If we prove to the clan leaders that Ivar was following the witches’ order to assassinate them, it would also renew their hatred for the witches,” he adds. “And alliances won’t be so murky.”

“But what if the witches don’t make an appearance?” Mason asks. “How do we prove that Ivar is behind everything we say?”

I pace the room, deep in thought. “Scarlett,” I say after a long moment.

Nate tilts his head. “Who’s Scarlett?”

“Scarlett is a she-demon I helped out recently. She has the power to extract the truth,” I explain.

Alaric’s eyes darken, his fists tightening. “So do I.”

“Confessions brought about by torture aren’t always true,” I point out. “Scarlett can use magic to force someone to speak the truth. They have no choice but to answer her questions. If wehave her, and Ivar confesses, the other clan leaders will have no choice but to believe us.”

“And do you think this…Scarlett, is up to the task?”Dante asks.

I think about the broken female who had been locked away by her family. Scarlett had been hidden away for years, and only recently escaped that toxic environment and found her mates.

“I hope so,”I say. “But first, Ivar saw us at the club, and he also saw some of you at the warehouse. We need new disguises. Luna, do you think you can manage that?”

“Not me,” Dante says. “I’ll stay invisible.”

The she-demon lifts to her feet. “Not a problem. Who wants to go first?”

Prince Callan steps forward. “I can.”

“We want to be able to blend into the background,” I tell Luna, and she nods, walking over to my archangel. It doesn’t take long for her to work her magic on Prince Callan, Mason, Alaric, and Nate, and they have different faces yet again.

While she was busy at work, Noah slipped from the room, and just as Luna finishes with Nate, the demon bursts in, red-faced. “I have it,” Noah says, holding up a piece of black card with cursive gold lettering. “The Fallon Blade clan must have a secret house in the north. Ivar has invited me to attend a party. It starts in a few hours.”

“Okay, then,” Nate says, flexing his muscles. “So, we have a location.”

“Your highness, shall I work on your disguise?” Luna asks me tentatively.

“Not yet,” I reply, walking over and studying the invitation in Noah’s hand. “The witches might be helping to guard the house. We need more information if we’re going to simply walk in there. Just…” I lick my lips, “give me a moment.”

Taking a deep breath, I think of my crows. The memory of the doves turning to ash still makes my chest tighten, but war is on the horizon, and I assure myself that it’s not like I’m sending my crows into battle.

Closing my eyes, I break through the illusion magic still on me, and I reach out with my mind. For a second, I’m overwhelmed when I feel them all—the birds around Seral. Their minds all join to mine, ready to hear me. Focusing, I think of the northern end of the city, and it doesn’t take me long to find the crow I’m after.Emorie.The connection strengthens at my command, and a thread of warmth goes through me as Emorie welcomes me. The other birds don’t speak to me like Shade does, but she lets me in, and soon I’m seeing the world through her eyes.

She’s perched on a slated black roof, and she peers over the city, watching as demons mill about in the streets, walking under the night sky.“I need you to scout out a building,”I tell her.“War is coming to this land, and there’s someone important in this house.”I send her the location of the party, and Emorie’s only response is to stretch her wings and launch into the sky.

She soars over the tops of the houses, until she finds the one we’re after.

“That’s it,”I tell her.“Don’t fly too low. We don’t want them to see you.”Following my request, she circles high above, not dropping lower.

“It’s a mansion,” I say aloud to the others. “I have a crow flying overhead.”

Everyone keeps silent, hanging on to my every word.

“It’s three stories high, and there’s some distance between the perimeter walls and the house. There’s no garden we could use for cover, but there’s a shed at the back that doesn’t appear to be patrolled. I can create a portal to take us there. After that,Dante can you make us invisible until we enter the house? I count at least twenty Fallon Blade members acting as security.”

“Easy done,” Dante replies.

Emorie continues to circle the house, but without getting lower there’s not much more she can show me.“Thank you. That’s all I needed,”I whisper to her, and I pull back, weakening the connection.

My eyes fly open, and I find the others staring at me intently. “Once we enter the house, we’ll want to find the kitchen quickly and replace a few of the servers before we’re detected.

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