Page 110 of World's Okayest Oracle (Reluctantly) Seeks Demon

“Return the lot to their original encampment,” Josiah ordered the guards, who obediently threw open the courtroom doors once more. “If anyone falls behind or causes trouble, shoot them. Including Hugh’s underpowered tramp of a girlfriend.”

At that, Hugh reached for Gwen again.

He was too late. She’d already whirled around and pushed through the group to stand between them and the guards, because Harry—fresh from a racking vision and far older than the rest of them—had barely even made it to the courtroom. He would definitely fall behind on the march back to their encampment.

The guards had raised their weapons again, this time at her. But she couldn’t let that matter. The oracles had trusted her guidance. She wouldn’t let them perish for it.

“We’ll go peacefully.” She bit her lip, unsure what demands she could possibly make. “As long as we’re allowed to take our time and help one anoth—”

A sheet of sulfurous fire materialized directly in front of her, separating her from the guards for a moment before flickering out in a puff of brimstone. Aghast, Gwen took several huge steps backward toward the group. Craning her neck, she looked over her shoulder toward Hugh, because no one other than him could possibly have created that protective barrier of flame, even briefly.

Under the bright lights of the courtroom, his body gently smoked, livid streaks of color slashed across his cheekbones, and his vengeful glower should have turned Josiah to ash on the spot. “If I could incinerate the fae—”

Before he could finish, a sudden commotion had everyone turning toward the courtroom’s entry once more.

Demons poured through the open doorway at a dead run, a full half dozen of them, their footsteps slapping against the marble floor. Most likely guardian demons, given the identity of their leader.

Eloise, dark hair whipping behind her, elegant face taut with hawkish intensity, hollered, “Grab all nine captives, then get out fast!”

Somewhere behind Gwen, Hugh gave a wordless shout at the sight of his lost sister. But Gwen couldn’t spare a glance his way, because the demons under Eloise’s command were snatching at whoever stood closest to them on either side, clutching them close in preparation for transport aboveground.

As a bruising hand claimed Gwen’s arm too and yanked her backward, she didn’t resist the rescue. Another demon would teleport Hugh next, and they’d reunite—

“Gwen!” Hugh roared, lunging for her as she was dragged past him, out of his reach, and she suddenly realized her mistake.

The demon intruders, who’d gathered all the other captives—and also, in the confusion, both guards—promptly vanished, along with everyone in their grasp. But Gwen was still in the Realm Below, still a prisoner, because that hadn’t been a guardian demon seizing her arm and hauling her farther inside the courtroom.

Josiah personally held her captive now, and his steely arms whipped her backward, hard against him, into an inescapable embrace that smelled of dead roses. One long-fingered hand rose to clasp her throat while the other cruelly dug into the flesh of her belly. With each mighty flap of his wings, he shook her until her head flopped on her aching neck.

In the front of the courtroom, just before the judges’ dais, he displayed her like a prize to his remaining audience of two. Eloise, whose determined expression was shadowed by clear exhaustion. Hugh, who now supported his sister with an arm across her back.

But he wasn’t looking at his recovered sibling. As the smoke surrounding him thickened to dark, opaque clouds and drifted toward the ceiling, his molten-amber stare was instead fixed on the hand wrapped around Gwen’s throat.

They both understood the implicit threat in Josiah’s hold. Without moving an inch, he could consume the rest of her lifetime in moments. She’d drop lifeless to the floor long before Hugh could reach her, even if he launched an uncharacteristically reckless attack.

But he wouldn’t, because that attack would be futile.

Although her demon lover could set the Realm Below ablaze in his rage, Josiah—like any other fae—could only be killed by a weapon of iron stabbed directly into his heart. Not fire. Gwen would remain his prisoner unless he either killed her or chose to release her…and since her captivity now served as leverage against Hugh, she wasn’t going anywhere.

Positioned between the two males, rot and sulfur filled her lungs with every inhalation. Gwen gagged at the stench, swallowing convulsively as terror turned the edges of her sight dark.

“We finally found you guys!” Now that she spoke from her own body, Eloise’s split tongue gave hers’s a slight, charming whistle. “Hey, cool fact: Turns out guardian demons in our flesh form can still teleport other beings aboveground, even though we’re technically dead! We stay corporeal just long enough to reach our destination, then”—she flung her arms wide—“poof! No more body! Just pure consciousness!”

Josiah opened his mouth, most likely to grandstand, but it was too late. Eloise was already rolling onward like the world’s most cheerful steamroller.

“Since I’m only a half-demon, though, I’m tapped out. I didn’t even know I could teleport this often in such a short period of time.” She sagged against her brother’s arm. “I’m sorry I can’t get you and Gwen out of here, Hugh. I’m also very sorry for my compatriots’ confusion over who was a guard and who was a captive.”

“No, El.” He spared a quick, love-filled glance toward his sister. “I’msorry for getting you into this situation.”

Eloise shrugged. “Don’t sweat it, bro. It’s kind of fun not to be the only troublemaker sibling. Besides, what more can Josiah do to me? I’m already dead.” Her brows beetled. “Which remindsme: Did he help to arrange my untimely demise? Because I’ve always wondered whether—”

Apparently tired of waiting for an opening that might never come, Josiah interrupted. “It’s time to make a bargain.”

“With me?” Eloise batted her thick, dark eyelashes. “Why, Councilor Goodling, I’m so flattered.”

He ignored her entirely. “I have something you want, Hugh: your human girlfriend. So let’s come to an agreement and keep her safe.”

“Why would I bother bargaining?” Hugh’s bearded jaw worked. “Those oracles will head home and tell everyone who’ll listen what you’ve done. Your conspiracy is tanked, Josiah. You might as well let Gwen go and get a head start on dodging arrest.”