As one, the demon soldiers slammed the blunt ends of their spears into the ground, dropped to one knee, and bowed their heads.

Eyes wide, Annwyl looked at the mother demon animal standing beside some of the soldiers. They stared at each other a moment before Annwyl looked back at soldiers, opened her mouth, and said, “Huh . . .”

Because, honestly, she really didn’t know what else to say.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

The Empress’s generals were impressive. Moving quickly as soon as the threat came into view, they rallied the troops and began to fight back immediately.

But the Empress was still undone by the loss of her youngest son, and her remaining offspring were having a hard time getting her to face her brother. Not in a one-on-one fight, but at the head of her troops in a show of fearlessness.

Her sobbing, though, made that impossible.

“Ma,” Fang tried again while Aidan and his brothers secured the windows and doors of the palace’s war room. “You have to stop this. Ren would want you to fight.”

“My Ren is gone! He’s gone! Why would I want to go on?”

“Because you have other offspring. And, of course, an empire to run.”

“Eh.”

Fang threw up her hands and walked away.

It was amazing, really, the way the entire family ignored the sound of rocks and lava balls ramming into their home; the crash of swords and shields. Instead, they all focused on their mother and trying to talk her into doing something. Anything.

As for Aidan and his brethren, they did what they always did. They protected the royals. It was what they were trained for. If Keita were here, and she still wanted to poison the entire family, that would be up to her. But Aidan wasn’t about to carry out anything like that.

“Ma, please.” Lei tried.

“My Ren!” the Empress suddenly burst out before throwing herself onto a large metal table, sobbing hysterically.

The Empress’s offspring huddled together, whispering. Aidan moved from window to window, looking outside to see if any of the enemy troops were getting close. He’d prefer to move the Empress to a more secure location but until she calmed down a bit that would probably not be possible.

Aidan glanced over and saw that the offspring were watching him. He had to admit . . . he didn’t like it.

He especially didn’t like it when Ju grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the room.

“You work with Rhiannon the White, don’t you?” Ju asked Aidan.

“It’s been my honor to protect, Her Maj—”

“Right, right. Whatever you say. Now we need you to use some of that skill on our mother.”

But Aidan didn’t know the Empress. He didn’t know anything about her.

“We need her to get up and face her brother.”

“But . . . as her children, wouldn’t it be easier for you to—”