The Night Realm by Annette Marie

Author:Annette Marie [Marie, Annette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781988153148
Publisher: Dark Owl Fantasy Inc.
Published: 2017-10-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Lyre leaned casually against the wall, arms folded. The interior foyer, where the east and west branches of the building met, was mostly quiet, with only the occasional daemon or two passing through. Some of them greeted him, others just nodded, but he ignored them either way.

Twenty paces down the south hall were four doors, three open and one closed. The small meeting rooms weren’t often used, so it was easy to keep track of them. The closed door was the reason he was loitering in the foyer.

This was Clio’s third meeting with Madrigal. Lyre had spied on the last one too, and he couldn’t quite describe his pleasure when, after an hour, Madrigal had stalked out of the room looking royally pissed. It seemed Clio had figured out how to shake off his aphrodesia. As long as Madrigal didn’t grow desperate enough to really enthrall her, she should be fine.

Lyre tapped one finger thoughtfully against his chin as he waited. Once Clio was successfully escorted back to reception and sent on her way, with no more excursions through the building, he could get back to work. This hadn’t been his most productive cycle.

The meeting room door popped open and Madrigal stepped out, his body language stiff with annoyance. His dear brother wasn’t accustomed to rejection.

Clio appeared in the threshold behind him, her blond hair pulled into a high ponytail and her small frame clad in dark, fitted pants of a common Underworld style and a green scoop-neck sweater at least two sizes too large. She folded her arms and cocked her hip, her mouth moving in words he couldn’t hear but imagined were scathing.

Madrigal shooed her back into the room, shut the door, and strode away, likely to alert reception to send an escort to take her to the inn. Another point for Clio.

His neck prickled, and he pivoted. Two feet away, the last incubus he wanted to see smiled at him.

Lyre sprang away from the wall with a snarl. “What the hell, Dulcet?”

His younger brother shrugged. “You looked distracted.”

“And that’s a good reason to sneak up on me?”

Dulcet nodded, and Lyre flexed his jaw. Despite having six brothers, he only cared to spend time in the company of one, and if there was a family member he could kill without a flicker of guilt, it was Dulcet. He’d be doing all three worlds a favor by ridding them of that twisted mind. That was assuming he could actually kill Dulcet, which he seriously doubted. Despite being younger, Dulcet had surpassed Lyre years ago in both weaving skill and unchecked viciousness.

“What do you want?” he asked icily.

Dulcet hummed a few notes of a song as he picked at something under his fingernail. “I wanted to ask a favor.”

“Oh, that’s easy. My answer is no.”

Pouting, Dulcet canted his head. “But you haven’t heard the favor yet.”

“Don’t need to.”

He started to walk away but Dulcet stepped in front of him.

“Brother, brother,” he chanted. “Don’t be that way. It’s not a difficult favor.

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