Page 75 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“Rest,” Beaumont said quietly.

Dhara could feel the worry and fear coming from the three other elementals, and she wished she could offer them some sort of comfort. She had to trust that the other royals would find out she’d been taken and be able to get them all back to the human realm. Until then, with the help of her mate and the other royals with her, she would fight with everything she had to keep the earth from becoming a freezing, endless night.

* * *

Osiris feltit the moment one of his demi-lords returned to the underworld. “Dolion,” he growled under his breath. The leader of his army had been gone for some time. It was a good thing they hadn’t gone to war in a thousand years or else he’d be a dead demi-lord. Perhaps it was time that Osiris paid him a visit. It would be a nice way to occupy himself so he didn’t sit around like a pining teenager while he waited for the time to pass until the mortal female was with him.

“Crescious,” Osiris barked.

“My lord.” The demon scurried from the shadows and bowed.

“Come, we have a demi-lord to check up on,” he told the little peon.

Crescious shivered like the pathetic creature he was. “Beg your pardon, my lord, but do I have to go?”

“You could always stay here and wait for me to return and cut out your tongue for questioning me,” Osiris suggested.

The little demon squeaked. “Nope. Let’s go. Of course, I want to accompany you. I live to serve.”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, sir. Shutting up.”

Osiris didn’t give in to the urge to kick the little nuisance. He reminded himself for the thousandth time he did not want to have to train a new servant.

With a thought, he took them to Dolion’s territory, a barren area on level six that few demons inhabited. Osiris entered the opening to the cave serving as Dolion’s lair. Osiris didn’t make it far before Dolion was suddenly a few feet in front of him.

“My lord,” the demi-lord said as he bowed. “What brings you to my territory?”

“It has been a long while since you have checked in, Dolion, or even returned to the underworld. I find I am quite put out for having to come find you.”

“I was headed in your direction,” Dolion lied.

Osiris knew the demon was lying because none of his demons ever sought him out of their own accord. They waited to be summoned.

“What have you been doing in the overworld?”

Dolion shrugged. “You know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”

“You smell of witches,” Osiris said as his lip curled. He hated witches. They liked to think they had some sort of power over the underworld because they could summon demons out into the mortal realm. They were fools.

“I have been summoned several times by different covens,” Dolion admitted.

“Why would you, a demi-lord, work with witches?”

“They have their uses,” the demon answered. He shifted and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Osiris noticed the demi-lord’s horns had grown, and his eyes swirled a darker shade of pitch. He narrowed his eyes as he realized what was different about the demon since the last time he’d seen him. Dolion’s power had grown.

Osiris flashed his sharp teeth at the demi-lord. “Who have you been consorting with, Dolion?” He allowed his power to wrap around the demon by using his name. It should have caused him to spill his secrets, but Dolion simply shrugged.

“I’ve been doing what we do. Corrupting the innocent, possessing the weak… You know the drill.”

Osiris’s brow rose. Did Dolion seriously just talk to me, the lord of the underworld, in such a flippant tone? What the hell is going on?

He glanced around to make sure hell hadn’t frozen over because that was the only way one of his demons could possibly resist his power. Osiris had to know how the demi-lord had managed to grow more powerful while being in the overworld. He thought about killing Dolion then and there. But he wouldn’t get his answers if he destroyed the creature. So, he’d have to play along, for now. “Are you going back up anytime soon?”

Dolion nodded. “What else am I supposed to do? I’m a demon. Terrorizing humans is what you created me for.”

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