Chapter 19
Rys left his office to look for Fara. If he needed to find her quickly, he could simply contact her with a sending or ask the imps. But part of the fun was hunting her down and guessing where she was whiling away her time.
Unlike most of the palace residents, Fara didn’t have daily duties. She didn’t have an office or a regular haunt that Rys could reliably find her in. Instead, she bounced from place to place depending on her whims. Finding her quickly required Rys to have his finger on her pulse.
Recently, Fara had spent much of her time training with the demons and Kinadain. She desired strength, and her increased focus on her combat skills reflected her focus on her desires. When she hadn’t been with them, he had found her with Grigor or Fred. Battle was on her mind, and they were Rys’s generals.
But Rys had felt a shift in her attitude since returning from the Labyrinth. He hadn’t yet understood what it was, but she spent less time training. Part of him felt that she had been avoiding him.
Honestly, he suspected that was in his head. The reality was that Fara had started visiting places that he didn’t usually think of. He had been surprised to find her sitting between the shelves of his atelier, brow furrowed as she tried to read thousand-year-old tomes about magical theory.
She had refused to elaborate on what she had been looking for, even though he could probably explain the book easily. The specific topic she had been reading about had been about gathering energy in large volumes, which was too general a topic for him to draw conclusions.
Or it would be, if he were an idiot. Rys had a pretty good idea of what Fara wanted to talk to him about, and he worried it would be something foolish. She had learned of some of the Infernal Empire’s experiments on entire races in the Labyrinth.
Both helldragons and vampires had been created by infernals as weapons. Perhaps Fara thought Rys could do the same to foxes.
Fara had never seemed the sort to consider such a drastic measure, however. She still sometimes called him evil. Something was lurking in her mind that he didn’t know about.
When it came to finding her, that meant Rys needed to think of places Fara might go to gain knowledge without it getting back to him. That was likely why she had been avoiding Grigor and Fred, as both would tell him immediately if Fara asked about suspicious topics. The Lilim were out, because Fara disliked them.
Just in case, he checked his atelier and asked the imps what Mina was up to. The former was empty. Mina had retreated to her little hidey-hole in the service ducts and was probably being slipped a feast by the imps given how much they doted on her.
As Rys considered where to search next, a pair of familiar faces fell into step behind him.
“Margrim, Terry,” Rys said with a nod.
“Boss,” they both greeted.
These two infernals represented the infernals that Rys had summoned, and were some of the few willing to approach Rys directly. The noble demons would sometimes ask him things, but they had been acting strangely since the recent Labyrinth visit.
Margrim was an old devil and took almost everything in stride. Rys wondered what it would take to truly throw him off. Terry—whose actual name was Terrailin—was a noble demon who was in charge of the palace’s security.
“Looking for anyone in particular?” Margrim asked, a lit cigarette waggling up and down in the corner of his mouth.
His tone was guarded. Rys raised an eyebrow.
“The fox you’re all scared of,” he said drily. “But the way you asked that tells me that something’s wrong. Does Grigor know?”
Terry winced. Margrim shrugged.
“The Prince-General’s been busy, and I think you’re behind the latest disruption anyway, boss.” Margrim chuckled darkly. “The new arrivals made one hell of a ruckus.”
“Ah, the succubi?”
“We can deal with some haughty bitches,” Terry grunted out, his beak clacking. “Most of us have bumped into succubi before. We know how the game works with them.”
Rys’s eyes narrowed. “The Haunts.”
Both infernals nodded.
“I wouldn’t call myself a loyalist, but I’m from the Devil Queen’s patch,” Margrim explained. He jabbed his thumb at Terry. “And he and the Prince-General’s mob are all independents. Your suits almost never leave Malusian’s territory.”
“They used to primarily work for Ariel in my time,” Rys said carefully, realizing that something had changed about the Haunts while he had been sealed away. “In fact, the Pharoah had been Ariel’s spymaster for millennia and almost every Haunt worked for him. The entire reason there was a divide between succubi and Haunts was because Lacrissa and the Pharoah didn’t get along.”
“Huh. Didn’t know that.” Margrim stuck his jaw out for a moment and rubbed his chin. “Neither are all that welcome in the Devil Queen’s territory these days. Although there are succubi in the outer courts.”
“How does Ariel keep up with Malusian in terms of intelligence then?” Rys asked, confused. “That doesn’t add up.”
“Can’t say I know, boss. She does have spymasters in her courts. A few handmaidens, the royal devil Tephrys, the demon lord Grishaw, and of course the independents that she pays. I worked for Grand Lord Serasfir for a couple of years, and he was constantly trading info with Malusian and Ariel. A real double agent, that sly bastard,” Margrim said with a grin.
Rys groaned and ran a hand down his face. “You didn’t say what I think you said, did you?”
“Uh, which part, boss?”
“Did you really just call that runt Serasfir a ‘grand lord,’ Margrim?”
“… you know him?” Margrim’s eyes bulged.
Terry’s beak fell open. “Runt?”
“He did my paperwork back when I was a general. Joined up after the war with the angels. Was a lazy bastard who spent more time sleazing it up than doing his job.” Rys shook his head. “I mentioned that I knew a necromancer, right? That’s Serasfir. Can’t believe he became an independent powerbroker. Guess I’ll talk to him at some point.”
“Sometimes I forget how old you are.” Margrim shook his head. “I actually thought his stories about the Empire were bullshit.”
“They probably were. Serasfir is a serial liar.” Rys paused. “Out of curiosity, do you know of a royal devil by the name of Harah? Or Sesrah?”
“Uhhhh, everybody knows Sesrah, boss. At least if they’ve spent more than five seconds in independent territory in Hell. She’s Darus’s muscle. Hot dark-skinned girl with massive tits, gigantic scythe, and the ability to vaporize you without lifting a finger? Hard to forget.” Margrim shook his head.
“Uh, I don’t know Sesrah, although I’ve seen a woman who matches her description.” Terry winced. “I know the first name, though. She sometimes stayed with us. Only talked with the Prince-General and avoided us. Was real dangerous. Killed any demon that tried to touch her. Didn’t have a scythe, though.”
“Huh. Didn’t know there was a species of devil like that.” Margrim stroked his chin.
“There isn’t,” Rys said. “They’re sisters. Unique devils who came out of the same mating ritual and they share the same Gifts.”
Not all infernal siblings were born at the same time, but Harah and Sesrah had been.
And it sounded like a lot had changed in the last 1500 years. Rys had avoided bringing up Harah with Grigor before, as he hadn’t been interested in her.
Where most of Rys’s former subordinates had been loyal to him, Harah hadn’t been. He had recruited her after she failed to assassinate him, and he had wound up with her true name after a sequence of events. His relationship with her was complicated, but she had been a royal devil and one of Ariel’s handmaidens before he “recruited” her. Sesrah had actually been the lower status one.
It seemed that time had been cruel to Harah. But Rys didn’t have time to waste on a rebellious devil who might try to kill him. Still, he kept her in mind.
Also, he wanted to know what happened to the scythe he had crafted for Harah.
“I can’t say that Ariel’s strategy is probably appropriate, but who am I to judge.” He shrugged. “As for the Haunts, I’ve never restricted myself to one faction in the Eternal Game. The Empire is long gone and neither Ariel nor Malusian are here. Let them do their thing, and I’ll ensure that they don’t create problems.”
“Got it, boss,” they both said.
That appeared to be the end of the discussion. Rys turned to leave.
“You looking for Fara, boss?” Terry called out.
Rys raised an eyebrow at the demon, but didn’t answer. Margrim watched with one hand on his cigarette.
“She was with Lady Vallis in her office, along with Lady Maria. I was going over security precautions for mages and the Labyrinth, now that we’re connected to those wannabes down south,” the demon said. “Fara didn’t seem to be interested, though.”
“Got it. I’m not worried, though. But I know where to start looking.” Rys smirked.
Terry grinned back, his huge fangs showing. “Heh. Good hunting, boss.” He slapped a fist across his chest, then wandered down the furnished palace corridor with Margrim.
Despite appearances—and the way he sometimes acted—there was a reason Terry was in charge of security. The average noble demon got through life by clobbering everything in his way and hoping that he was bigger and stronger than everyone else.
Naturally, that approach hit a wall at some stage. Even species such as Kashlovians and Bausfrahr eventually ran into a demon bigger and stronger than they were. Or perhaps they discovered the truth of the world—that for all the strength they had, someone with the right Gifts or magic could still beat them.
Most noble demons hit that wall and stopped dead. Despite their name and fearsome reputation among mortals, noble demons were low on the rungs of Hell’s social ladder.
In fact, noble demons barely had their claws on the ladder at all. Lesser and greater demons swarmed in the bottomless pit that was Hell, fighting and clawing at each other, while every devil looked down on them. Noble demons barely held onto any status.
In the Empire, they had been valued for their uses in the military and keeping the peace. They could keep mortal armies in line and boss around town watches, freeing up devils for more important tasks like counting their money and holding pointless meetings.
However, only a fool looked down on every demon. Not only were there entire species that were far stronger than the vast majority of devils—such as Kashlovians—but every so often, a genuinely dangerous demon rose to power.
Araunth was the second-oldest infernal alive at present. Unlike Malusian, he hadn’t seen the Emergence, but he had been a powerful demon lord when Ariel seized the throne out from under Malusian’s complacent grasp. When Araunth backed Ariel over Malusian, it single-handedly ended Malusian’s attempt to become the Devil King some 3000 years ago.
Demon lords and princes were true powerbrokers in both Hell and the Infernal Empire. They commanded armies of demons, were immensely powerful, and held a deceptively high level of intelligence and social tact. The Demon Lord Argran had commanded as an equal next to the Succubus Queen Lacrissa for thousands of years. No simpleton could manage that.
That was what separated Grigor from so many other demon princes in Rys’s mind. His old friend wasn’t the strongest fighter, but he had a grasp for command that few others did and blended into social situations well enough.
Terry gave Rys similar vibes. Given more Gifts, a little more power, and maybe a few decades more experience, and Rys easily imagined Demon Prince Terry.
Upon reaching Vallis’s office, Rys drifted out from his thoughts. The room was tiny. The double doors were half the width of the room, and an observer might mistake it for a large closet or some sort of utility room. Possibly for the magitech they assumed ran the palace.
Rys opened the door and was greeted by an office that went on, and on, and on. Vallis sat behind her grandiose mahogany desk at the far end. Maria and Fara stood opposite her. The three were deep in conversation.
The office itself was sparsely decorated. The walls contained hidden cabinetry behind sliding doors that opened with a touch. They were intended to contain liquor cabinets, iceboxes, expensive displays, clothing racks, or anything that Vallis might want.
This office had, after all, been designed by Rys for her.
When she had been appointed viceroy, she had joked about having a really long office where people had to walk toward her for an awkwardly long time. She’d gotten the idea from meetings with Compagnon and some of the seedier merchant companies, who used long offices as a way of intimidating visitors and projecting power and distance.
Naturally, Rys had used the space-bending power of Castle Aion to give her an obscenely huge office. He treasured the memory of when she first entered it.
Vallis’s jaw had hit the floor. She had entered this tiny little room and found out it was the size of smaller palaces. He had ended up reducing its size in the end, but it had been an entertaining first visit.
A small desk sat beside the entrance, piled high with paperwork. Tall cabinets lined the walls behind it. Right now, it was empty, but normally Tyrisa busied herself there. She must be chasing down the servants.
Or perhaps she was collecting their notes from spying on Rys. He had stopped paying much attention to the obvious spying on him by his own servants after the first week. For whatever reason, Tyrisa had tasked the various demihuman servants in the mansion to spy on Rys as he went about his day.
He had confirmed with her that they weren’t recording anything classified. She had paled and stammered out something about how that would be against some office rules or something. Good enough, he figured, and let her have her fun.
If she was collecting information on him for her knowledge Gift, he wanted to see the future fireworks when she tried to sell it to other knowledge devils.
Rys approached the trio at Vallis’s desk. “Why are you all hiding out in here?”
“It’s called a meeting, Rys. We hold these to run your kingdom,” Fara drawled.
“Without Alsia?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
“She was here earlier,” Vallis said, grinning. “Practically bouncing off the walls with the news that you’re turning her into a balloon. I can’t believe you’re skipping all the normal steps and going right to the baby. Amazing.”
Fara scowled at Vallis, while Maria giggled.
“Somehow, I doubt that Alsia acted like that,” Rys said.
“She’s much more excitable when you’re not around,” Maria said. “Our opinions don’t matter as much, so she lets her mask slip.”
Interesting. Rys made a note to play with Alsia’s tail more and tease her until she broke down. He wanted to see this excitable side of the Kinadain.
“I know that face,” Fara muttered, face reddening.
“Oh, yes.” Maria giggled, her eyes glazing over. “You’re such a bully, Rys.”
“Asshole is more appropriate,” Fara snapped.
“Oh, is that what you call him in bed? What an interesting pet name.” Maria tilted her head. “Can we try that next time?”
Fara glared at Maria, who merely smiled back placidly.
“The answer is still no,” Fara mumbled.
“A shame. I wanted to see what those tails might feel like rubbing against my glistening, naked body while his engorged cock is inside me,” Maria said.
“Don’t pressure Fara to do things she’s not comfortable with,” Rys said. “I’m sure Mina will be interested one day.”
“Oh, fuck you,” Fara said, but she laughed and placed a hand against the desk for support. “Just… fuck. I want to hit you, but you’re so right that I can’t help but laugh. Does she know that we can hear her fingerfucking herself above your room?”
“I gave her a hint earlier.”
“Oh, so she’ll be a little quieter about it.” Fara rolled her eyes.
Vallis gulped, her face so red that Rys thought she might have passed out. Despite her embarrassment, she still jumped into the conversation. “She seems more like the sort who would learn a way to stop you from noticing.”
Fara clicked her tongue. “You’re probably right. She’s such an overachiever that I can imagine her spending days working on aural barriers so that we can’t hear a damn thing.”
“You sound disappointed?” Maria prodded, grinning.
A glare was the only response.
Vallis stared at Fara with some of the widest eyes that Rys had ever seen on his young viceroy. He suspected that she had never seen Fara be this openly lewd.
“Anyway, no threesomes with me,” Fara said, making an “X” with her hands. “I’m rather enjoying my one-on-one sessions with Rys. If you want something more exciting, you’ll need to wait for somebody more exciting or for Alsia or me to get bored.”
“You’re going to make Maria wait a long time,” Rys said. “I don’t let things get boring in the bedroom.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” she said drily. “I’d say that you’re aggressive, but that sounds negative. You just never let a routine settle in.” She frowned. “I want to choose the rhythm next time.”
“If it ends up being what I think it will be, then I’ll make up for it next time.” He cocked an eyebrow, as if daring her to push him.
The fox huffed, while the other two women watched with bated breath, their ears pricked for when she asked Rys to elaborate. Fara’s tails weaved behind her, as if uncertain as to what emotions she felt.
Then they flattened behind her, and her ears dropped to either side. “Fine. I give. What do you think it will be, and why will it be disappointing?”
“Cowgirl, and you’ll spend a lot of time grinding,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “Holy shit, Rys. I really will hit you. I thought you were going to say something like how you need to hammer into me to feel good. I’m not some little girl with her first boyfriend learning how to have sex. I want to pick the rhythm, not get off by rubbing against you.”
“Should I make a note about that?” Vallis said, her voice strangled.
“I feel that I should.” Maria nodded.
Fara glared at them. Vallis cowered, while Maria smirked.
“Then we’re fine. Sorry that I underestimated you,” Rys said. “I’m looking forward to it. Tonight?”
The fox hesitated, realizing she had been drawn into this.
Maria leaped in. “Oh, are you looking to catch up to Alsia that fast? How daring.”
Fara laughed. “Oh, yes. Because after spending months holding off on sex at all, the first thing I’ll do is get knocked up by Rys.” She raised an eyebrow at Rys. “Was that what this was about?”
“In part,” he admitted. “I’m glad that nothing’s changed.”
“I chose to be with you, knowing that you would claim Alsia.” Fara’s eyes flashed. “I had thought you would wait a little longer before having a child with her—or having a child at all—but she’s made it clear to us that she wanted one.”
“Very clear,” Maria chirped.
“Then tonight?” Rys pushed.
“You’re horny, aren’t you?” Fara remarked. “Did we get you all fired up with our lewd talk?”
“Oh? In that case, I’m more than happy to join Alsia,” Maria said. She pressed herself against him, her plump breasts crushing themselves against his body. Her hands massaged his crotch through his pants.
“Uh huh,” Fara said. “I could tell in our earlier conversations that you really cared about children. All that talk about sex during pregnancy really gave it away.”
Maria smiled broadly.
Well, Rys knew her well enough, it seemed.
Vallis coughed in the background. “Uh, is this going to… progress in my office? Just checking.”
Before Fara or Rys could suggest otherwise, Maria’s eyes lit up, and she turned toward Vallis.
“I’m more than happy to pleasure Rys while you finger yourself,” Maria chirped. “Just like last time. You seemed to really enjoy that.”
Vallis’s face nearly exploded and she froze in her seat. Every muscle in her body and face ceased moving, as redness spread over every exposed patch of her skin.
In turn, Fara’s expression ran through a gauntlet. At first, confused and bewildered. Then shocked. Then amazed. Then she laughed, and laughed, before settling on a wicked grin.
“Amazing, Vallis,” the fox said. “Your room is right next to Rys’s, but your solution is to watch Maria fuck him. You can just knock on his door and walk in one night, you know?”
“Fuck you! You waited, too,” Vallis snapped.
“Keyword: waited. I didn’t watch others. You and Mina are so alike, it’s scary. Maybe you got my family’s blood in you at some point.” Fara’s grin widened. “Are you going to join her in the little hidey-hole above Rys’s room?”
“I will hit you,” Vallis growled.
“Go on, try it.”
Vallis bounded up from her chair. Fara darted backward, giggling as her tails whirled around her. The two raced around the pointlessly huge office, until Vallis chased Fara out the door.
“I’ll get you when you least expect it, you little rodent!” Vallis shouted out the door.
Rys didn’t hear Fara’s reply, if there was one. Vallis slammed the door shut and stalked back to her desk. Her glower fixed itself on Maria, who shrugged and gave Rys a peck on the cheek.
“As Fara has you tonight, I will catch up with you in the morning. Although this was an amusing distraction, there are matters regarding the war effort to plan.” Her gaze turned serious for a moment.
Then she squeezed his crotch and winked at Vallis, whose glare intensified.
Maria left, and the sound of the door closing after her echoed throughout the room.
Rys circled the desk, then leaned against it. He stared down at Vallis. There wasn’t much paperwork on the desk, suggesting that she had been dealing with others for much of the day. Tyrisa might have retreated to do her work in peace.
“So, do you want a child?” Rys asked Vallis.
She exploded into a coughing fit.
“No. Archangel no. Absolutely not,” she gasped out. “Are you serious?”
“Partially.” He chuckled at her glare. “You keep trying to step around this topic, but it’s very much the elephant in the room. Everyone is aware that you’re attracted to me. That was very obvious just then.”
Vallis glowed red. Then she sighed.
“I know you said that we can’t forget things after they happen, but can we have a conversation that’s… I dunno how to phrase this.” Vallis paused for thought. “Between two people, not viceroy and king?”
“You want this to be a personal and private conversation, rather than one about your duties,” Rys said. “I can say yes, but that’s only partially true. Like with Alsia and Maria, there’s an overlap between the official and the private. A significant part of my sexual relationship with them is because I am connected to them for their power. That can’t be separated. The same applies to you—without the sexual part, yet.”
Vallis frowned. “I think I get that. I’m never just Vallis to you.”
“Yes. You should also remember that everybody has an agenda. No matter how much people say otherwise, and perhaps deceive themselves into believing, the things they tell and advise you will be a reflection of their own desires and actions. If you ask me if you should have sex with me, then I’m probably going to say ‘yes’ because I think I am the greatest person ever and there is no possible reason that you would think not to.” Rys smirked.
“I feel like your head should have doubled in size when you said that sentence,” she said with a giggle. “Right. Then I’ll be up front. I’m pretty jealous over the whole thing.” She gulped and looked away. “I… I found you first. But everybody else gets you. I’m the one being the good girl, trying to avoid screwing things up by ramming your dick in me the first chance I get. But then they make fun of me and talk about having kids. I don’t like feeling this way.”
“Ah, that’s a fairly easy emotion to address. Envy is natural. You’re sticking to personal principles that others don’t share. When you do that, that means you are giving up things for some intangible benefit. Then you see others choose not to give up those things, and nothing goes wrong for them. You think ‘why did I give up those things, only to be screwed over?’ and it creates envy and anger toward others.” Rys shrugged. “The easy answer is to never be principled.”
“Sage advice.” Vallis’s eyes bored holes into him. “Somehow, I doubt that’s the answer you took. Everything you do has reasons and principles behind them, even if I don’t always understand them at first.”
“No, it’s not my answer. Because that intangible benefit sometimes rears its head, and then you get to watch as those you envied suffer because of their choices. I’m still here. Many others aren’t.” His eyes gleamed. “What you need to realize is that life is about risk. Sometimes high risk pays off, and principles don’t matter. When you mitigate risk, you need to be patient and find satisfaction elsewhere so that you don’t drive yourself mad.”
“What if the risk never eventuates? Like, ever.”
“That might mean that your principles are moral in nature, rather than based on genuine risk. That’s your choice. Otherwise, you need to be strong enough to let the success of others wash over you like water off a duck’s back,” he said. “You want power, Vallis. You want to be Viceroy and to rule the kingdom, and to claim that you earned it yourself. If so, then that means being mentally and emotionally strong enough to be trusted with power.”
She winced in response to his words. Then she took a deep breath. “This helps. A lot. I think I have an answer to earlier, especially after spending some time with Mina. We are a little similar. We both want your approval more than your dick, at least right now.”
Vallis’s eyes practically glowed. “One day, I will feel that I’m truly your Viceroy. I want you to take me when I tell you, Rys. And I want it to be special, although, uh, I haven’t worked out exactly how special.” She scratched her cheek. “I do kind of want something unique that the others don’t get, to show them up a little. I mean, I’m your trusted Viceroy, right?”
He patted her head, and she pouted at him. “Deal. But I will hold you to it. It will need to be very special.”
She blushed. Then coughed. “Uh, I did want to talk a little about some of these Avolar plans, actually. You know, the war we’re planning. Do you have time for that?”