The demoness leaned against a building. Arms crossed and frowning. She had to keep her chin dipped so low that she almost couldn’t see past the edge of her hood.
It couldn’t be helped.
Demons were so pale that not even standing in shadows hid her skin tone completely. At least her demon red hair she could pull up high enough to hide.
She had the unusual skill set to change her skin color, but it was difficult to maintain and she was out of practice. A good 200 years out of practice. Why bother with it if her spy network was usually sufficient for this sort of thing?
But this was different.
This was Lita.
And that human child represented a situation that got under Diana’s skin and made her eyeballs itch.
How did I get myself into this?
She gritted her teeth as Lita came out of the twelfth stall and continued to move casually up the street.
“I told her to deliver a letter,” she muttered to herself as she pushed off the building. With an effort, she changed her skin tone on just her hands and forearms. “I didn’t tell her she had permission to go shopping.”
Every stop the human made was another one that Diana had to remember.
Fifteen. Fifteen blasted stalls and shops to investigate later.
She was glad she hadn’t relied on that putrid smell she’d planted on the document. The human had done something to it, making it weaker. She would’ve been weaving through streets and straining her senses around a thousand other smells to pick it up.
It had been useful to find out unexpected stops, like when the child had gone into an alley. But it would’ve only been a headache to follow on this street.
Eventually, the child went back to the Palace.
By then, Diana was sweating and miserable.
She peeled off the cloak when she was sure she wouldn’t be spotted and walked back into the courtyard.
The courtyard was busy today.
Merchants from all over the Separation had arrived, by order and invitation, with their goods. While they negotiated prices and payment with the accountants, which included two of the Palace demons, servants were going in and out of the Entrance Hall doors. Taking the goods to their respective storerooms.
There was also some of her human enforcers and two of the housekeepers in a corner of the courtyard with a separate group. Interviewing for temporary help.
It was a noisy mess that grated at her.
Still, there was an unconscious shift in the crowd as they noticed her passing. As if by magic, people stepped out of her way. Even the red-haired, yellow-eyed demons gave her small, respectful nods as she went.
Even after 200 years, she still found this respect… ironic.
Especially when she thought about how alone she’d been before. Huddled in dark, crumbling tunnels under an unfriendly city.
She did her best to ignore them and entered the Entrance Hall, immediately veering right and crossing the enormous room to the main doorways on the right.
The south wing.
This was her territory, and she unconsciously relaxed as she passed inside.
The first large room, the training room, was lit by skylights she’d insisted on having (despite the difficult and painful process of touching sand and fire). There was a lot of movement and noise in here as well, but it was deliberate noise. Deliberate movement.
Her enforcers, human and demon, went through strict motions as they practiced basic moves. On the sparring mats, the chaos was controlled within boundaries.
It was reassuring because it was predictable.
It was relaxing because it was by her rules.
Everything was planned, everything was on schedule. And here, her people knew not to acknowledge her unless they were actually interacting with her. So it was also without the unnecessary pressure and contact she had to endure elsewhere.
“You,” she said to a passing enforcer. “Where’s Captain Lloyd?”
The woman immediately paused in whatever she was doing to bow. “I believe he’s in the conference room, Mistress.”
The conference room? Why was he there? This wasn’t the time of day for assignments or regular reports.
Frowning, Diana waved in dismissal, and the woman went on her way.
When she reached the conference room, she stood outside the wooden door. Then leaned her head against it, ear to the wood panels.
If she’d been a different kind of demon, she would’ve changed the necessary body parts to hear better. But, unfortunately, she had worse hearing for human speech in her demon form than in her human form. So she stayed human as she strained to hear what was beyond the door.
“... Kahnay force.”
“Voids it!” That one was Lloyd. A dull thud accompanied his voice. “Every time they’re one step ahead. Do we have any suspects on the mole?”
“Calm down. They haven’t done any real damage-”
“That we know of. And I don’t plan on allowing them time to find something damaging. Tell Indigo to keep his people digging. We need names. We need locations. Anything they can find that could lead us to the bastard in charge.”
“Yes, sir.” Pause. “Will that be all, sir?”
“For now.”
Diana sprang away from the door and moved further down the hall. A minute later, the door opened and three human officers left, turning away from her and walking back toward the training room. Talking quietly among themselves as they went.
She waited a heartbeat to be sure they hadn’t noticed her, then went to stand in the now open doorway. She leaned on the frame, crossing her arms, and watched her lead human captain as he leaned over a stack of parchments and a map spread out on the table.
She didn’t notice the way she relaxed as she watched the handsome man work.
He’d been an excellent choice when she’d accepted his request to join up. At the time he’d been a fifteen-year-old, gangly youth. Now he was 35 and had risen to the highest rank a human was allowed.
The man had taken a lot of stress off her shoulders. Stress she hadn’t realized was there until it was gone.
“Spy reports not to your liking, Captain?”
He visibly started and stood up quickly. Then sighed with relief. If she’d been relieved, she would’ve dropped her shoulders and slouched. Not Lloyd. He bowed his head respectfully but otherwise remained in a perfect posture.
She was jealous of that ability. She had to work at it.
“There was a disturbance in Kahnay. We knew it was coming and had been working with Master Leo to set up a trap.”
He clenched his fist on the table.
“I take it the trap didn’t work?”
“Not only didn’t it work, but they dumped the body of our chief spy in an irrigation canal. Where we’d definitely find him.”
Ah. That’s what he was upset about.
She watched his jaw clench and unclench as he glared a hole in the floor. Unconsciously, a smile flinched across her lips before she caught it and forced it back into its neutral position.
“Anything else I should know? Anything you need from me?”
Frustrated, he shook his head. “Leo’s demons are heading the interrogations. With any luck, it’ll be someone who can’t hide that they’re lying in their scent.”
“But you doubt it.”
“But I doubt it,” he agreed. He slammed a fist into the table.
“If it helps, I might have a lead into the rebels’ spy network here in the Capital.”
His chin shot up.
“What?”
She couldn’t bite back a second smile. She enjoyed surprising him.
“I said I have a lead. We can begin investigations now by having them watched. And start interrogations as soon as the meetings are over.”
He didn’t flinch and his expression remained neutral, but she could smell a spike in his scent as his anxiety instantly rose.
Obediently, he nodded. If it had been Aridon who’d given the order and smelled Lloyd’s reaction, he would’ve interpreted it as a desire to avoid the business. But she knew Lloyd better than that.
“Relax. You won’t be torturing anyone. I’ll take care of that if it becomes necessary.”
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