Page 89 of Prince of Demons
The two guards in the surveillance room jolted upright when he slammed inside, all heat and barely controlled rage.
“Footage. Storage corridor. Mallorn. Now.”
“Mallorn? Why?—?”
Kesh’s snarl cut off the demon unwise enough to question his instructions.
Fingers fumbled at keyboards. A monitor flickered. After a moment… there.
Mallorn, with her.
Something ached below his ribs, like a wound. He leaned forward on both hands and stared at the feed until they disappeared into an old office—one of the few rooms in the building with no camera.
On-screen, Mallorn stepped out again a few seconds later, alone. His face was blank. But not empty.
“Slow it down. Half-speed.”
The demon at the console slowed the feed. Kesh leaned closer. Mallorn’s mouth was flat, but there—left eye twitch. Eye ridge movement. Again.
Three glances.
To the side. As if checking something. Or someone.
And then?—
A brief moment with the guards at the exit. Mallorn approached without urgency. Said something too low for the cameras to catch. Tapped the clipboard Yerren held. Waited for a nod. Walked out.
He didn’t hurry.
Didn’t fidget.
Didn’t look back.
Kesh moved.
The hallway blurred past in peripheral streaks. The door to the old office cracked when he shoved it open.
Silence.
He stood on the threshold, breathing shallowly.
His power stirred, reaching without his command.
There was… something just beyond sensation. Like the edge of a dream. Like reaching in the dark for someone who had just left the bed.
Not scent. Not magic. Not memory.
Presence.
It wrapped around his ribs like the ghost of her body in his arms. She had been here.
He growled low, chest tight, then stormed out.
Outside, Yerren and the other guard jumped when Kesh approached.
“You let Mallorn pass. Despite my orders to let no one out,” Kesh barked. “Tell me why. Now.”
Both guards flinched at the barely controlled smolder of their prince’s volatile temper.
