I scooped her up and held her tightly to my chest. “You are amazing, my friend.”

A slow purr rumbled out of her. “Of course I am. I’m a cat, after all.”

Rylee reached out and brushed a hand over Peta’s back. “Any ideas on how to get close to Orion, oh mighty cat of knowledge?”

Peta nodded. “Actually, yes. But first thing’s first. Lark, your father is awake and I believe he is headed here. Which means we need to go. Right now.”

I jumped to my feet, but it was already too late. As I spun, my father waited for me on the steps that led into the hot springs.

“How dare you come back, Larkspur? How dare you steal into my home like a thief in the night?” His words were harsh, but the tone was all disappointment.

Rylee stiffened beside me. “I remember him. He was an asshole then, too. Hasn’t changed much.”

She was right, he hadn’t changed much.

But I had.

CHAPTER 20

RYLEE

LARK’S FATHER WAS a dick of epic proportions. Then again, my adopted parents hadn’t won any awards for how they’d dealt with me, either.

The king, Basileus, had long gray and brown hair, and except for the slight wrinkles around his eyes, he didn’t look all that old. Yet he was close to a thousand—according to Lark.

He had a stocky build with heavy muscles, and his green eyes were, at the moment, hard as flint. But he wasn’t the only one who was pissed.

“Maybe if you knew you had a demon in your home, you wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss her,” I snapped.

Lark put a hand on my arm. “Let me deal with him, Rylee.”

His eyebrows shot upward. “This is Rylee, the one you helped in the desert. The one who caused your second time in the oubliette?”

Lark laughed. “Old man, I am not the child I was even ten years ago. Your approval means nothing to me anymore. For so long, I thought you were broken, and I could help you heal. And then I realized there was no healing you. The other rulers are right, you are weak.”

He sucked in a sharp breath. “How dare you!”

“HOW DARE YOU!” she roared back, and I’ll admit, her anger was something I never thought I’d be afraid of. But I stepped back and gave her room.

The earth above and below trembled with her anger. Fucking Destroyer . . . no shit.

She walked toward him, the earth rumbling. “While the world suffers, you stay inside the Rim and hide. But there is nothing you can do to hide from the tidal wave of demons coming, Basileus.”

As if using his name was a physical slap, he stumbled back, opened his mouth, and the sounds of screaming erupted above us.

“Bella is up there,” Lark whispered, and she was running for the stairs. I was right behind her, my pack with me. Alex shifted in mid-stride, as did Peta. Pamela and Berget ran together, their long hair blowing out behind them. Liam was the fastest, though, leaping up the stairs four and five at a time, passing even Lark. Cactus—where the hell was he?

At the top of the stairs, I saw him, guarding what was supposed to be our exit.

I say supposed to be because as far as I could see, there was no fucking way out. Fanny had apparently brought friends with her for shits and giggles. The inside of the Spiral swarmed with demons—swarm being the word of the day. Not a single one was bigger than a small dog and they all had wings. They had picked up Belladonna and held her high above our heads as she shrieked. Cactus was shooting the little bastards with balls of flame. Pamela joined in and the two vampires dove into the melee.

But only I could send them back. “Throw them to me. Everyone throw the little fuckers my way.”

Three of them came at once, from Liam, Pamela, and Lark. I dropped my weapons and caught them, holding them tightly as I sent them to the other side of the Veil. A stopgap at best, it was all I had since the little bastards could crawl right back out whatever hole Orion had opened.

Over and over, biting teeth and slashing claws came at me as my family tossed the demons my way.

I held to my love for my daughter, for Liam, and all the others in my life. In that, this was the easy part. To remember how lucky I was to have so much love, to have all those people with me on this crazy journey.

That was simple.

As I grabbed each demon I whispered the same thing. “Go to where you belong.”

I hoped it was farther from us than even the seventh Veil. I really did, but I somehow doubted it.

Sweat and blood slicked my skin, and the scratch and bite marks stung, the tiny open wounds like miniature hot pokers.

The black and gray flesh of the demons, their leathery wings and snapping jaws, blurred together until I saw nothing but them.

None of them willingly came at me once they realized who I was. They actively avoided me.

“Flying rat bastards,” I yelled as I leapt up to grab one by the foot before it could get farther away. My words were harsh, but my intentions were not. They couldn’t be if I was to keep this up.

As quickly as the attack had started, it was over.

I stood with my arms out, aching, waiting.

“They’re gone,” Pamela whispered, her voice hoarse.

Rubbing my arms, I looked at my bare skin. It looked as though I had red sleeves, and the ache in my muscles picked up in earnest.

“I can heal you,” Pam said, coming toward me. I waved her off.

“No, don’t waste your energy on me. I’m not badly hurt.” I took quick stock of my people before picking up my swords and tucking them in. Everyone was scratched up, bitten and clawed, but there was nothing serious. So what the fuck had the attack been about?