Page 142 of Of Spindles and Nightfall
“No,Iam the real Neri. The so-called human you met during the trials was a shapeshifter pretending to be me. It’s easier to move about the castle when you’re expected to be there.”
Aryana’s stomach clenched. All that time she’d spent worrying about the Neri in the trials because she thought she was human. It turned out she wasn’t.
And gods, she didn’t have time for this. Zarathos was in danger. “Listen to me. We have to get back—”
“I’m aware. But we must be patient. We are awaiting someone’s arrival.” She smiled slyly. “You can’t imagine how long we’ve been seeking this.” Neri displayed the scepter fragment, the ruby shining darkly in the night’s shadows. “We were resigned that after Pohan won the trials, we’d have to attack your kingdom to get access to it. But now, nothing will stand in our way.”
Aryana stared in confusion. “What do you mean? Pohan is a kalator.”
“Pohan is currently winning the last demon trial.”
Her heart missed a beat. “So ithasalready begun.”
“Yes. Our spy who has infiltrated the council convinced the rest of the members to move it up to tonight. Oh wait, you didn’t know. And now the final trial is going on as we speak.”
“But Pohan can’t win the trials. His champion won’t let him—”
“Come on, dear, make the connection.”
Aryana’s gaze moved to the shapeshifter, and a sickness enveloped her as realization struck. “Pohan is a shapeshifter.”
“That’s right. Poor Xaphoron was already dead. We had just killed him when you showed up at his chambers, asking him to take youaway. So one of my shapeshifters took his place—put on his clothes to keep his scent—and took you exactly where we wanted you. Here, retrieving the final piece of the scepter for us.” Neri slipped the scepter fragment back into the sack, looking quite pleased with herself.
Aryana clenched her teeth. The Bloodbinding mark had been pulsing with a cold, ominous rhythm ever since she collapsed after defeating her uncle. She couldn’t stay here. She had to reach Zarathos. But with her limbs restrained, she was going nowhere. And until she uncovered all of Neri’s plan, she had no way of stopping it.
“But why?”
“Why? Because humans are looked down on, seen as the lowest of the low. ButIwon’t be looked down on, not for much longer.” Malice sparkled in her eyes. “When I ran into Pohan, a shapeshifter in hiding, I knew I’d found my moment. Back then, his kind were scattered, scared, but I brought them together and hatched a plot. Why don’t we seize the demon arch kingship so the shapeshifters might retaliate against all who wronged them? It took effort and patience, but when Zarathos kidnapped you before the trials, we suspected he was going for the scepter, and we saw our chance. We even tried to eliminate and replace Zarathos before the opening ceremony, hoping to get to the scepter in anticipation of yousucceeding.”
Attack? Her mind spun. “That night by the stream.” The night she’d barely outrun their pursuers after Zarathos had been incapacitated by one of his seizures.
A smirk crawled across Neri’s lips. “Not only did we fail, but worse,youfailed to obtain the vampire portion of the scepter the next evening.”
Aryana’s memories shifted to before the third trial when she’d seen Neri and Tigon in the hall. She recalled Jesir mentioning how Tigon had taken Neri away for a few hours every day. Enough time to let human Neri wander around the castle, enacting her plans. Gods, they most likely had impersonated Tigon, too. He hadn’t been taunting Neri that night. The real Tigon probably never once came to take her away. It had all been shapeshifters putting on a show. “The battle map with the nations circled on it wasn’t Terra Monstrum’s scheme. It was yours.”
“We were a little concerned when you witnessed that. Luckily, shapeshifter Neri played it off well.”
“You intend on attacking Kingdom Aeria and the vampires and—”
The humans. The battle map had also shown a circle around the human kingdom.
“With the scepter united, we will attack Kingdom Aeria and the vampires out of vengeance, bringing together the rest of the demon kingdoms in their thirst for blood.” She regarded Aryana, her smile growing cruel. “Of course, we’d always been interested in acquiring your piece of the scepter and uniting it at the right moment. Ten years ago, when your father was considering reuniting with the demon empire and turning over the vampire scepter to thecurrent demon arch king, we knew we needed to convince your uncle to mount a coup.”
The weight of the pronouncement hung in the air, suffocating in its intensity.
Aryana’s mind raced to place together the fragments of what she had just heard. “You were behind everything. All of it. Father’s death.” The implications of her words sending ripples through Aryana’s very core.
“That’s right.”
Uncle had mentioned other demons working with him to take down her father, but Neri was human. She washuman.
She sought to make sense of it all. “But why attack the human kingdom? Neri, they’re your people.”
“Mypeople are those loyal to me. We need the humans. Shapeshifters can not produce other shapeshifters. One can only be conceived by a woman and an incubus. But I’m sure you learned that when you found out Zarathos was half-incubus. As for human men, we can use them to breed more incubi… at least until they’ve served their purpose. Zarathos, however, will not be used. Pohan refuses to let any part of him remain.”
She fought for air as the scope and horror of Neri’s plans hit her. “You’re going to use them forbreeding?”
“We will save a race that was almost extinguished.”
