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Xiang pressed the tip of the knife to the underside of the man’s chin, lifting his face so that he was forced to look at them. “Where’s the queen? Her chambers?”
He started to shake his head, but he stopped when he nicked himself on the edge of the blade. “No. She-she’s in the throne room. She almost never leaves the throne room now.”
“How do we?—”
The figure’s right hand shot out, pointing to the doorway they’d just come through. “The fastest route is to travel down this corridor, make a left and then a right into the main hall. Follow that up the central staircase and it’s through the double doors facing the stairs,” he directed before Kai could even finish his questions.
“Now, let’s try that without leading us past every remaining guard in the palace,” Xiang snarled.
Kai smiled as well. “You know your way to the kitchens. You must know the servants’ corridors to the throne room.”
Their new companion audibly gulped, his black eyes widening so that they caught glints of the dying embers. “Um…um…right out of the kitchen. Just keep following it around until you hit a set of narrow stairs. Up one floor. There will be a set of black doors. They’ll open on either side of the dais to the throne.”
“How many guards are in the throne room?”
“I-I-I don’t know.”
“Lies!” Kai pressed the tip of his own knife into the creature’s gut, poking through his shirt.
“No! No! Seriously! I’ve never counted. It’s been weeks since I last dared to stick my head in that room. I’m just a paper-pusher, as the humans would say. My job is to keep an eye on the gnomes, dwarves, hobgoblins, and the like. The diggers who can find the queen shiny gems and such. If you’re not an elf, you don’t get much of an audience with the queen. Not that anyone wants that now.”
“Then take a guess,” Xiang sneered. “How many guards are going to be with her?”
“A dozen. No! Fewer than a dozen now. She has more when she’s holding court.”
That at least made sense.
Kai was about to withdraw his blade when a new thought occurred to him. “What about Trin, the queen’s bastard son? Is he in the castle? Has anyone seen him about?”
The mere mention of Trin made the man’s eyes bug out and his face pale. His mouth bobbed open, but not a sound came out for a second. “I-I saw him once about three or four nights ago when I was on my way to get a snack. Like tonight. He was standing in a dark corridor, speaking low, but I couldn’t see anyone else with him. I’ve not seen him in the castle since. Don’t know if he’s here or not.”
With a soft grunt, Kai straightened. They had no clear sign of what Rei’s half brother was going to do next.
“We need to get moving,” Xiang murmured. “What should I do with him?”
Kai shrugged. “Kill him.” He was a member of the fae—the creatures who’d tormented him, Yichen, and Rei. He’d be content with all of them being burned from the face of the planet. But the frown on Xiang’s lips said he didn’t find Kai’s suggestion amusing.
“No, please. I was helpful. I helped you. Please, don’t kill me. I won’t tell anyone you’re here. I’ll leave and never come back. Pl—” A hard bonk to the top of the head with the hilt of Xiang’s sword cut off his pleas.
“Find a place where we can stuff him. He should be out long enough for us to get this done,” Xiang ordered.
Kai moved through the kitchen, searching as silently as he could until he located a pot big enough to hold their diminutive friend. “Maybe we’ll get lucky, and someone will cook him,” Kai teased as he placed the lid on top, hiding the man.
“Do you believe what he told us?” Xiang asked as he led the way to the kitchen entrance.
“About two percent,” Kai admitted. Xiang paused at the doorway and glanced at him, one eyebrow raised in question. Kai smirked. “I can confirm my sword feels like it is in the general direction he gave for the throne room, and I wouldn’t put it past her to be existing on her throne, clinging to her power while fighting to break me. But the part about the number of guards and her people leaving her? I’ll only believe it when I see it.”
Xiang nodded. “I’m inclined to agree with you.”
As he took a step forward into the hall, Kai reached out and snagged his arm, pulling him close so that his shoulder bumped into the center of Kai’s chest. Xiang’s head whipped around, mouth open to question him, and Kai seized it in a deep but too-short kiss, once again staking his claim on the true heart of his hoard, the center of his universe, the source of all his strength and willpower. Li Xiang, vampire of the Zhang Clan and one very sexy man.
A soft noise of surprise escaped Xiang, but he leaned into the kiss before Kai broke it off. Kai pulled away, rubbing his lips across Xiang’s and brushing the tip of his nose along the side of his lover’s. He wanted a million more nights of holding this man, hearing his laugh, feeling the caress of his fingers on Xiang’s cool skin, breathing in his alluring scent. They needed at least a million nights to learn everything there was to learn about each other. There would never be enough time for them, but he planned to treasure every moment he had with the vampire.
“Soon,” Xiang whispered. “This is going to be over soon and we’re going to have so many nights lounging in our hoard, bickering about silly things.”
Kai hummed at the happy image that danced through his head. “Lounging naked,” he corrected as he released Xiang’s arm.
Xiang huffed a soft chuckle and led the way down the dark corridor in the direction their captive had instructed.
