My laugh-crying intensified.
Micah reached through the bars, like he often did, and the movement attracted Hadriel’s gaze. Startling, he scampered to the other side, finding Tamara standing in the center of her cage, staring at him like she’d seen a ghost.
“Ah, fuck me,” Hadriel said with a groan, scurrying back to the center. “Please don’t tell me this area is for the dragons.”
One of the officers stepped forward, whip in hand. He moved his arm in a circle, and I wanted to shout for Hadriel to get out of the way, but I knew there was nowhere for him to go.
Crack.
The slash landed somewhere on Hadriel’s front.
“What in the holy fucking hell, you goblin cumsplat! Ahh!” Hadriel scurried backward, fell onto his ass, and then crab-walked away as the officer stepped forward.
Hadriel stuck out his hand. “No! No more. I was playing dead! I was playing dead!”
“Stop.” The first officer, not smiling, stepped away from the wall, approaching the whip-toting officer. “Leave him. He has no power, just a mouth. Try one of the others.”
One of the other officers shoved Leala toward the center of the space.
“Yes, yes,” Hadriel panted, turning over and crawling in my general direction. “Yes, she’s the one who likes the whips.”
I crawled toward the bars, wrapping my fingers around them and watching Hadriel come closer. The crack rang out, and I looked up as Leala cried out. My gut twisted. And then she murmured, “Mmm, yes, Daddy. A little lower.”
Leala turned halfway and pushed out her butt. I could see that pain tightened her features, but the swell of pleasure in her voice was unmistakable. This was probably rougher treatment than she was used to, but she was going for it all the same, probably out of a sense of survival.
The guard froze, lowering his whip arm slightly, and flicked his gaze toward the first officer. Dragons came to the bars now, looking out, many with shocked faces.
“I. Am. In. Love,” Vemar gushed, scooting over to sit in his favorite place next to the bars.
The first officer, his brow furrowed in concentration, gestured. “Try again.”
The officer with the whip moved a little more slowly this time, as if unsure, then let loose. The point must’ve struck where Leala had desired, because after the initial pinching of her expression, a smile slowly soaked up her lips. “Yes, please. Again!”
The first officer’s brow creased further. He shook his head in frustration. “No. No power. She needs to be a level up, too. Try the last.”
“Hey.”
I belatedly noticed that Hadriel had made it to my cell.
I sat back onto my butt, a wave of pain rising up, but my latest wounds were already healing.
“Oh, honey.” He tsked, looking over my face and then down to my chest. “I can see your tits in that top. I thought we went over this? Running around showing off your tits is no way to go through life.” He smiled sadly and reached out to grab one of the bars.
I closed my hand over his. “Why are you here?”
“Look at this! You’re crying for me? I’m honored.” He pulled at the hem of his outfit. “I told you I would go with you. When you took too long to come back, I decided to do just that.”
“But…how?”
“Finding that portal wasn’t too hard. The journey here wasn’t great, but whatever. I am thoroughly knowledgeable about their whole boat setup now. Or…Hannon is. The master has apparently been delivering books to your brother—who knew? Sneaky fucker. Anyway, most of those books were about the demons. The master didn’t have time to study up, but he knew your family would. Hannon was filling in the gaps of his knowledge on the way here without them being any the wiser. He doesn’t say much, but he watches plenty. I do the talking, take all the focus, and Hannon…notices things. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t think he and I are as great of a team as you and him, but he’ll have to make do.”
“But…why? Why did you come? I would’ve gotten out.”
I didn’t voice the somehow or the someday, and definitely not the maybe.
Hadriel’s smile was still sad but determined. “I’m the brains, love. I’m the master puzzle-smith. I mean…I’m the fucking butler! Of course I had to be here. And don’t worry, I excel at mediocrity to the point where that whip strike was literally the worst thing that’s happened to me so far. It’s been rotten, but not that rotten, you know?”
He glanced around as Hannon walked slowly to the center of the space, his eyes on Hadriel and me. He was giving us time to talk.