Reign Shadowfell's Arc

Chapter 21 of 29

The knock came sooner than Reign expected. Word moved fast in a demon city, and his purple eyes had done half the work already. He glanced at Lux on the sill. The imp gave a small nod. One at the door, no blade drawn. Reign kept his seat and set his hands flat on the arms of the chair. The amulet lay open on his chest, red stone catching the lamp. "Let her in," he said. Lux hopped down and pulled the door back. A small demon stepped through, no taller than the imp himself. Three short horns curved over a single eye set in the middle of her brow. The mark was plain. It was the same crest stamped on the letter Reign had received from his grandfather. She wore court black with a silver clasp at the throat and carried nothing in her hands. Lyla shifted against the far wall and folded her arms. Vixen crossed the room, sat sideways in Reign's lap, and rested a hand on his collarbone. The message was clear enough. Reign let it stand. The small demon looked at each of them in turn and did not blink. "The king sent me to see the face," she said. Her voice was dry and older than her size. "He wants proof before he opens his hall. Bring what your mother left you and lay it on the table. He will know her hand." She waited. Reign said nothing. The room had grown small around one problem. He had no ring of Merida's. No lock of hair. No letter in her writing. He had a portrait sealed behind a door three days away, and a story from an imp. Nothing his grandfather could hold. Reign lifted the chain over his head and set the Shadowfell stone on the table between them. The silver raven and the red stone caught the lamp. "This is my father's," he said. "My mother left me the imp. He served her before he served me. Ask him anything you would have asked her." Lux stepped up to the table and put one clawed hand on the wood. He named Merida's favorite song. He named the scar on her wrist. He named the last order she gave him and the year she gave it. The small demon listened without moving. When Lux was done, she picked up the amulet, turned it once, and set it back exactly where Reign had placed it. "It is enough for the gate," she said. "It is not enough for the hall. The king will hear the imp himself, and he will decide." She looked at Vixen in his lap, at Lyla against the wall, at the door behind her. "Come at first light. Bring only the imp. Your women wait outside the throne room, or they wait here." She bowed once, shallow, and left. Reign closed his hand around the stone. He had bought the gate. The hall was still shut.