"You couldn't know that for certain," she snarled at Tevan, who stood like a statue from hell at her feet. "You left Eudae at the same time I did, and when we left, Rue was still living."

Tevan shook his head and laughed softly. "Stop your fantasies, Claire. When the Atrika attacked Yrystrayi, we brought so much magick and so many demons to bear that no one survived."

"That's just your ego, Tevan." She spat the words at him. "You have no idea what happened at Yrystrayi after you went through the doorway. Anyway, if you thought the Atrika had managed to kill Rue and take over Yrystrayi, you wouldn't be here trying to get the elium from me. In fact, if you'd been so sure of defeating the other demon breeds, you never would have dove through the doorway after me in the first place."

The demons said nothing. Water plink, plink, plinked to the floor in the corner.

Time to further undermine their confidence—if the confidence of an Atrika could be undermined. "How do you intend to get back to Eudae anyway?" She laughed. "Idiots! You followed me here and now you have me, sure. Maybe you'll even succeed in taking the elium from me. But what if you do? What then? You have no way home. You're trapped here just like I am."

She was bluffing a little. They did have a way home. They could use the same method that Erasmus Boyle had used. It required blood magick and the sacrifice of many aeamon, but they wouldn't have a problem with that.

However, opening a doorway via that method was tricky. The demons would have to wait for certain astronomical influences to be present, they would have to have the right witches with the perfect balance of magicks, and, lastly, they would have to perform the blood rites at certain times and in certain locations.

The spell was complicated and limited, but it could be done.

"Don't worry about us, sweet Claire," Tevan purred. "We'll find our way back, even should it take decades. And when we return, it will be with the elium in my seat."

Kai stiffened a little at the words my seat and Claire tucked that interesting reaction away for later. Tevan planned to control the elium and Kai didn't like it.

"We fully expect that our people will have overthrown the Ytrayi and the other demon breeds by now," Kai interjected, his hand tightening painfully on her upper arm, making her wince. "But there are other uses for the elium." His gaze flicked at Tevan.

She frowned. Other uses for the elium beyond wielding it as the ultimate weapon against the ruling Ytrayi? What did they mean?

Could Kai and Tevan intend to overthrow the Atrika themselves and take rule into their own hands? If that was their plan, there had to be friction between them. No two demons could ever share power. If that was the case, maybe she could use that friction to her advantage. Surely, they were both already considering betraying each other.