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His eyes shone bright for a second. Shit, he was losing it.
“Fuck this,” he muttered. He walked past me, to the door.
“Where are you going?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. Shane left and the door closed with a loud bang. I flinched.
That had gone well.
Hopefully, he had gone for a run. That would help him calm down.
I took a deep breath and went to the conference room. Only Almae, Elisa, and Zadkiel were here so far. But others soon arrived—Killian and Lavinia, Kaz, Prince Cain, Prince Dorian, and Prince Aston. And then Thea and Drake.
From the head of the table, Drake looked around. “Where’s Shane?”
“He … he’s not coming,” I said, my voice tight.
Drake nodded. “All right. You can fill him in later.” He glanced at us. “We have a plan and we’re enacting it tomorrow morning.”
“What is it?” Killian asked.
“We use Raika as bait,” Drake said. Everyone looked at me as Drake went on about the plan. “Tomorrow morning, Raika will be near one of Paimon’s abandoned buildings by herself. We’ll start spreading the word tonight that Raika left the castle again and is searching for someone. He’ll come to take her power away and—”
“Wait,” Dorian said. “We tried this before with the gate. He only sent us two dead demon hunters.”
I shook my head. “He’s desperate for my power.”
“I thought he was smart,” Dorian said again.
“He is but he also knows I left the castle not three days ago to rescue my sister because he dangled her in front of me. He knows I would do it again if it was something important to me. And the last time, we lured him right to the gates. He knew something was up.”
Drake nodded. “Exactly. And this is probably our last chance to lure him and play this game by our rules. After this, we’ll need to prepare for open war and we might not have the manpower to do that.”
My throat became dry. This was all on me. They were counting on me. I could do it. I would have to do it.
“We should spend the rest of the day training,” Thea suggested. Kaz and I nodded.
“Good,” Drake said. “Meanwhile, we’ll gather our army, meet with the demon hunters, nail down the details, and get ready for tomorrow.” He stood up. “Let’s get to work.”
After sharing a quick kiss with Thea, Drake left the room, with Prince Cain, Prince Dorian, Prince Aston, and Killian on his tail. Almae, Elisa, and Lavinia said they would gather the Silverblood witches, get them ready for tomorrow. Zadkiel said he would head to the underworld gate and help the demon hunters.
Then it was just me, Thea, and Kaz.
Kaz nudged his head toward the door. “Ready?”
Not really, but that wouldn’t change anything.
* * *
The day was hotter than usual, the sun baking us alive in the clearing. I had put on some sunscreen and pulled my long hair into a high ponytail. Kaz didn’t seem bothered by the sun. Being a dragon shifter, he probably liked the heat. Thea didn’t look bothered either, but under that fancy gown, she had to be. If it were me, I would be sweating buckets.
“Focus,” Kaz said. He stood four feet from me, his feet apart and his hands raised, as if we would brawl instead of conjure magic. “Catch!”
He threw a quick bolt of dragon’s magic—in his hands, it looked like fire. I took a step back, lifted my hands, and stopped it. The bolt, now a white flame, hovered over my hand.
I wiggled my fingers and the flame sparked with the movement. “This will not be enough.”
On the way here, Thea and I told Kaz about the idea I had, of having some kind of spell Paimon wasn’t expecting, that would take him by surprise, and would also be powerful enough to stop him.
“What about your fake army?” Kaz asked.
