Mentored in Fire by K.F. Breene

Twelve

Lucifer checkedthe screens hanging over the large window, looking for anything out of the ordinary within his kingdom. He viewed short snippets of action before moving along to the next sect.

He paid the most attention to the sects he knew to be political, the ones that would stand to gain favor if they used the trespassers as leverage. A few had more activity than normal, but that was likely because Lucifer’s people were churning through them, asking questions and searching.

“It has been two weeks. How could those vampires continue to elude us?” he demanded, turning to a small collection of his most trusted advisors.

It was Victoria who answered, easily the most courageous of all his minions, a trait that had kept her as his first assistant and confidante.

“They have proven…incredibly elusive. The vampire Darius didn’t travel in a straight line, and his trail largely seems to have vanished. There are no smells for our trackers. No signs of passage. The castle is presumably his ultimate destination, because of the heir, but his initial path didn’t seem to indicate any sort of destination at all. It seemed like he was winging it.”

“Winging it? Winging it?” Lucifer ground his teeth. “That vampire has set up a network of highly aggressive and intelligent traders throughout this kingdom. The more we look into it, the deeper thehole seems to go. He’s done this in a matter of Brink months. That is not a creature who wings it. There is a reason to his madness. We need to find it.”

“Yes, sire. You are entirely correct. And we wondered…” Victoria rolled her shoulders. “We wondered if maybe the heir could be prodded for information?”

Lucifer took a deep breath. “I’ve been working on her. Trying to sever the connection she has to the vampire and her friends. It’s proven…difficult.”

That was putting it mildly. She’d seemed more pliable since he showed her the garden dedicated to her mother, just like he’d hoped. But that only went so far. The woman was viciously stubborn, and she seemed to completely shrug off his manipulation tactics. Grand dinners and drunken nights and training—she often seemed like putty in his hands, to mold and shape how he would. But the second he tried to implant thoughts or coax information out of her, she shrugged it off, or made a flippant comment, or laughed at him. She disarmed him like he was used to disarming others. If the situation weren’t so dire, he would’ve felt a surge of pride.

That wasn’t true. He felt a gush of pride every time his anger rose at one of her comments. Every time he lost his cool and then realized she was waiting for his explosion. Waiting, and ready. Not scared.

If he did explode, he knew she’d thwart it as best she could, and it would be enough to save her life. He knew it, and she knew it. She’d grown in her magic incredibly fast. Faster than anyone he’d ever trained. Faster than he had thought possible. They now shared the same power level, but her magic was more complex. More diverse. She had the gift of those blasted angels, and it made her stronger. Harder to beat.

Those stupid creatures would laugh at him if they knew. Or maybe this was their grand joke. Just another parting gift.

But she could never feel completely at home here if she held on to her mortal attachments. And she had to feel at home here—she was born to rule. The mantle was hers; she had but to claim it.

That cursed druid wasn’t helping. He was whispering in her ear just like he had with the last heir, and if he wasn’t watched—carefully—he’d drive her to madness, too. Lucifer wouldn’t be able to watch that. Not with her.

“She is used to subtle maneuvering from that vampire Darius,” Lucifer said, watching his screens. “She knows when I’m trying to coax information out of her. And when I am trying to implant ideas.”

“She is yielding, I have heard,” Victoria said. “Her attendants see the change. She relies on the druid less, for example. She looks forward to her time with you more.”

Lucifer nodded. He had heard that, and it gave him hope that she was coming around. If she weren’t so stubborn, he’d think it was in the bag. As it was, he had to constantly keep his wits.

“What of Vlad?” he said. “He’s never been past the Edges. He can’t know how to maneuver in this kingdom.”

Victoria shifted her position, noticeably agitated. “It is a great mystery, your highness.”

He tightened his fist, fire running over his skin. “What is so mysterious about it?”

“The sect he usually does business with in the Edges said they did not see him. We turned their living quarters upside down. Nothing. We did find a trail leading from the river, though.” Her eyes narrowed. “It didn’t smell like him. Our trackers are sure. But they don’t know who it might be.”

“Not Vlad?”

“He could’ve disguised his smell,” said Durgess, another trusted advisor. Standing nine feet tall, he had large, muscled arms covered in chartreuse skin. “Both vampires seem to have access to magic.”

“Yes,” Lucifer said, realizing the hole in his own arsenal. It was currently thought that a team of highly powerful mages had created the disturbance last week. The very same mages that had been supplying the vampire Darius with their magic.

Lucifer had ordered his people not to kill the mages until he could speak to them in person. If they could be harnessed for their power, he might find a place to store them. Otherwise, as the saying went, if he couldn’t have them, no one could…

“Continue to look. I’ll be taking my daugh—”Lucifer cleared his throat with the slip. None of his advisors reacted. “I’ll be taking the heir to see the dragons today.”

Now, they did react.

“Are you sure that is wise, sire?” Victoria asked. “A few of them have neonates. They are extremely vicious when protecting their young.”

“She can handle it.” Lucifer puffed up in pride. “I’ll have her bring that wet blanket of a druid, too.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and the druid won’t survive,” Durgess rumbled.

“That’s the hope.” Lucifer strutted away, angry still about the vampires, adrenaline fueling his blood at the thought of what was to come.

Reagan was ready. She had to be. She had the magic and the courage. The only other thing required to tame a dragon was the refusal to give in to pain. She’d shown she was capable of that after the elves’ treatment. More than capable.

He couldn’t wait to see what she did to those elves when she was able to claim her vengeance.

First, though, she had much to learn. If she survived the dragons, he would step her up into advanced work. She was ready. By then, he hoped she’d finally be ready to get rid of the druid and, with him, her ties to the outside world.