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Chapter 18
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The Demon Chapter 19
In the palace, I was greeted my Tom ripping me a new one for putting my life in danger—and my uncle doing the same for another reason. Dealing with the first one was simple. I just snorted and said that I wasn’t worth a dump if two gilded parrots could defeat me. Or would cockroaches stomp me to death with their tiny feet, too?The second one was harder. Uncle was majestic and imposing...and somehow reminded me of a gaudy fool in a village fair. Abigail was pressing her lips together with such force that I could see her teeth—a rat was a rat.“Alex, how could you do that!”I fluttered my eyelashes as convincingly as I could.What else would I do?I don’t know anything; I haven’t seen anything; I haven’t killed anyone!“Two dead bodies in one morning! Viscount Muerlath. Marquis Tiernen! By the way, Duke Tiernen is Her Majesty’s second cousin!”Oh hell, the rat had some nerve. Making her second cousin a duke? I had to get an execution list, pronto. And the executioners.I didn’t deign t
The Demon Chapter 20
The next three days were quiet. I introduced Tom to Rene, and they seemed to get on well, even if, from the sidelines, they somewhat reminded me of two huge cats, sniffing and observing each other. They hit it off and dragged me for a stroll—to a temple.Where else would three young, healthy guys go to have a taste of life in the capital? Only to the abode of the Bright Saint.Yet fate, apparently, was against showing our devotion. Along the way, we stumbled upon a brothel called Mistress Eliza’s, and Rene courteously invited us to have a look at that landmark. And there was a lot to look at there.As luck would have it, that part of my education had been mostly theoretical. It’s not like I could even think about intimacy while I was wearing my true face—very few women considered a tail and scales attractive. And when I learned to change shape, it was too late, as we got Rudolph’s letter...The only thing left to do was to pick up experience along the way. I did know the theory, howev
The Demon Chapter 21
The Sunday dinner at Morinar estate was much more of a success. Count Morinar accepted me as if I were his family—and not in that false manner I had gotten used to at court when they said one thing and meant something entirely different. No, he really had liked my grandfather. During his reign, the Morinar family had been in favor, and Henry Louis Morinar would love nothing more than to gain that influence back—the more, the better. He also wasn’t kissing my rear and kowtowing to me. He simply treated me like a friend of his son—told a few interesting stories, gave good advice, invited me to visit his house at any time.Meanwhile, Henry’s wife, a pretty-looking, plump blonde woman in her forties, took a shining to Tom and me. For some reason, she had decided that I was a poor orphan who never got any motherly affection and started to feed me and dote on me.If Martha had seen that, she’d probably have killed her right there. To consider her darling an orphan! Never. Still, I tried to
The Demon Chapter 22
“Alex, is that your work?”I gave Tommy an innocent look.“Why me? I’m a good guy!”“Because nobody else would dare to do that. Holy cow, throwing a dirty rag over a duke’s head and kicking him in the butt...”“Did he say that himself?”“No. But everybody else knows that already.”I snorted.“Tom, I am as innocent as a baby.”“Fine, that’s what I’ll tell them.”“Right.”We exchanged looks. Everything was clear. The less Tommy knew, the less they could harm him.As for Rene bringing us two bottles of almost century-old wine and inviting us to visit them at any time... Why not, really? It appeared that Richard had been severely injured.A promptly summoned mage healer, after examining the patient, told them that the duke had to spend at least half a year in bed—otherwise, he would never walk again.Richard was furious, Ruthina was weeping, and the royal couple was quite upset. Andre, however, behaved as if nothing had happened.I continued to live as an ordinary courtier. Nobody tried b
The Demon Chapter 23
Abigail’s cousin was called Count Torne. All decked out, that fop was sitting atop a stallion, whom I felt really bad for—carrying such an idiot probably wasn’t a dream come true.Armor made of hammered gold, outrageously expensive weapons, lots of jewelry—if a band of brigands caught this imbecile, they would be set for life. Even their grandchildren would be. In the meantime, I was getting by with two horses, one of which was carrying all of my meager possessions: a tent, food rations, a pot, a couple of bowls and cups, a flintstone, and a tinderbox, in a word, everything I needed to survive.We weren’t headed to the wilderness. There were people there. And really, Henry would have the time of his life with this dummy, driving him as hard as he could on mountain hikes. The count looked at me with surprise.“Your Highness? What about your cart?”A cart?“It will catch up to us later,” I decided to say.“Are we going?”“Yes. First, we’re to meet the regiment. It’s stationed in Tyrem.”
The Demon Chapter 24
I grinned, showing him my small sharp teeth. Human, at least so far. The colonel looked at me carefully, as if he had never seen a human. Or maybe he really hadn’t, at least one such as myself.“What are you suggesting, Alex?”“You’re going to do your job. I’ll go with you and learn. Then I leave for the capital, alive, and you remain here—”“And go back to the prison.”“Not necessarily. Could we discuss that? Yes, just not here. They’ve found a house for me. I suggest we talk over there.”Farne stared at me, and I looked back. Usually, people believed me because I wasn’t lying, and I believed people because I knew when they told me the truth. This was another case. He believed me because he had nothing else to believe. A desperate ally? Good enough. It would only make him care more about the opportunity I gave him.Two hours later, the three of us settled in. I, Colonel Farne, and Count Torne. We laid the count’s half-dead body onto the bed and poured another dose of moonshine into h
The Demon Chapter 25
Compared to the previous day, the mayor seemed to have more brass, but I quickly put an end to that. The secretary flew into the corner and hit the wall with such force that I heard his spine crack.The mayor tried to greet me with a smile but froze in place as soon as my saber cut the table in two in one swing. Just like a petrify spell.“If in two hours, the regiment doesn’t receive rations, tents, uniforms, and horses, you may consider yourself hung.”“Your Highness!”I pulled out a scroll given by my uncle to Count Torne. Everything its bearer did was assumed to be done for the good of the country.“I’m going to leave this room, show this scroll to the guards, and order them to hang the entire town council on the gates. At most, my uncle may give me a slap on the wrist, as I’m his only nephew. Go look for necromancers on the other side and try complaining about me.”“Y...your—”“My Highness, and My Highness is waiting! Go on, chop-chop!”I spoke the last word while almost hissing,
The Demon Chapter 26
Tyen Claymore cursed quietly. Saliah’s weeping had woken him, which meant that he wouldn’t get any more sleep before morning. He did feel bad for the girl, but he felt much worse for his own self. At least she wouldn’t get killed, maybe just used, but his prospects were much grimmer.That had been some truly epic bad luck: riding through the mountains, accompanying the baron’s children to the capital—and getting ambushed by bandits, of all things. What could a harmless scholar of ancient languages do with bandits? Die. He could die. They hadn’t let him, though. The bandits had knocked the dagger from his hands and knocked him out with a blow to the head. He had regained consciousness in the cave, inside a cell with enough space for a pig, not a human.Anyway, judging by the smell, they really had kept a pig there, until it had died in terrible agony. The scumbags were fair, in a way. They had offered to spare everyone’s life in exchange for a ransom, informing Baron Avris about his ch
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