Chapter 213: Demesne
Warm. I woke slowly, basking in the sensation. Rolling from my side to my front, I pushed up with my lower pair of arms and stretched out, feeling my somehow-not-sore muscles. Top arms, bottom arms, legs, tail. And I capped it off with a tongue-stretching yawn, flicking the tip before slumping back onto the bed, boobs pushed into soft sheets.
Unfortunately, despite the heaviest sleep I’d had in quite a while, the grogginess didn’t last and my demonic constitution brought me to full alertness in disappointingly short order. I was alone in bed, which meant Sey was either still following or had run into trouble.
Outside, it already looked like midday, and I silently thanked whoever had let me sleep in. It was only when I got up that I noticed the pile of blankets on the floor. My summoned nightgown was apparently plenty warm on its own. Either that, or I’d heated the room in my sleep. My mana was still recovering, which was a little odd, but that could perhaps be the reason why.
Yawning more for the performance than any real need, I walked out onto the balcony. Instead of a viciously cold wind, I was met with merely a stiff breeze. Probably colder than freezing, but not by too much. On a day with so few clouds, I’d expect a lower temperature.
One look down, and the memories of yesterday’s battle came rushing back. I leaned against the railing on two elbows, holding my head in my other hands. Behind me, my nightgown-covered tail wrapped tightly around one leg.
Below, the once-pristine field was a mess of mud. With my vision, I wasn’t spared the details, either. Broken bits of armor, streaks of blood and viscera. Crows gathered in clusters around pieces of human meat that had been missed. A few figures were walking methodically through the mess, cart full of metal bits trundling behind them.
Further out, the pass wound up the hill before turning away to the south, to my right, and out of sight. The mud continued up it, churned up by the passing of two armies, in, and out. Such an awful battle, and it was if anything just a prelude to the slaughter Envy would doubtless try to visit upon far more than Astrye. And the Church’s own bloodstained hands would intervene, so certain they were of their own dogma. Not just them, but Duke Ludwig of Norgath and who knows who else.
I had a sudden urge to feel harsher wind, to stand atop the mountain behind the castle and observe all the March of Astrye. The peak was easy to picture, clearer than I remembered. I blinked, and I was there, flames retreating from the edges of my vision.
My feet and claws sank into rough, icy snow, and I would have toppled over had my reflexes been human. Instead, I dug in and steadied myself with two hands on a nearby rock. One glance over, and I saw the rock wasn’t just any spur of old stone, but the peak of the mountain.
And I was somehow atop it, looking down at my castle. Still in my nightgown with its fluffy horn-toppers and fully-enclosed tail pocket.
Eyes carefully open this time, I thought of my and Sey’s balcony. Flames swirled around me for a fraction of a second, and this time I could feel that I moved through something. Something warm and definitely quite magical. The flames retreated into a familiar view and I was back, leaning on the old stone railing, which was still warm from moments ago.
When I’d moved, it wasn’t like conjuring fire or wind. It wasn’t like my human transformation or the clothing and weapon I’d recently learned to make. This felt like my magic, but from the outside.
And the moment I thought of it, I felt the connection. Like thinking about breathing. My instincts told me what this feeling was, this magic of mine that existed outside my body, and I’d felt two similar places before: a demesne.
My demesne.
A shudder ran down my body from horn tips to tail tip. I thought back to Lilly’s methods of keeping people out, to Utraxia’s spread-out awareness. We needed trade, and I needed to make sure the people of Astrye, who deserved someone better fit, less dangerous, and more representative than me, wouldn’t have their lives controlled.
I looked down at a chimney with smoke coiling and tried to see inside. I felt nothing, and I managed to stop myself just a moment before I’d have appeared on their rooftop. At the same time, I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know the inside. Didn’t have any idea what was going on.
So instead, I thought of the castle. Nothing, at first. Then faint auras started to appear. The longer I focused, the further from me the sensation spread and the weaker the auras it picked up. I stopped when it reached the city, and swallowed.
Envy would doubtless be able to hide their aura. Right?
When I tried to feel for Seyari in the direction of the pass, I hit a wall. Feeling along it with my senses, eyes closed and body still leaning on the railing, I moved around the march. My demesne didn’t cover all of it. But it covered where people lived and far beyond that besides.
When I opened my eyes again, aura sight showed me a faint crimson tinge to the very air. Is that why it’s warmer?
Somewhere below me, I felt a spike of anger. And the merest thought of following it lit up the entire demesne. Too many!
I slumped to my knees, cradling my head, trying to remember what I was thinking about and why I shouldn’t just punch the top floor of the castle up over the mountain. I sucked a breath in, grasping the anger, all of it. Then I exhaled and loosened my mental fingers.
One at a time, until all twenty came undone and the wrath of the people of my demesne resumed its flow. Flow was probably the wrong word—it wasn’t a river. It was like scattered rain on a partly cloudy day.
And I was in control of the clouds. Bad metaphor, but the weather analogy helped me think while I was staring up at the real clouds. I could feel all the anger, all the wrath, in my demesne. That was something I was pretty sure Envy had under their cold facade, and I was almost certain they couldn’t hide it.
So long as I could learn to tune out the background noise, I could probably identify incoming demons. Wrath demons with absolute certainty, and others only if they were angry—so most of my enemies and probably also most of my friends.
My demesne felt malleable, and like something barely grown. Right now I was certain I could only move through my flames within the demesne, and I doubted my influence would significantly cripple Envy. With time, I could do so much more. But it would hardly be fair to the people living here.
At least for now, it was a way to make Astrye a little safer for everyone if I used it well. Figuring out what else I could do was clearly important, but I didn’t doubt I had much work waiting for me. With a snap of my fingers—wholly unnecessary but also very necessary—I donned some comfortable clothing.
I almost… teleported? Teleported. I almost teleported downstairs, but I walked like a normal person instead. The castle was still probably full of citizens and to do so would invite some colossally embarrassing situation.
***
I felt the incredibly familiar sensation of Seyari’s anger just a few hours later, close to sunset. I looked up from checking over a timber proposal at Taava who was lounging across from the desk.
“Need somethin’?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Sey’s close to home. Would you mind finishing the addition here?”
“Ya think I know math?”
“Taava, half of this is your work. And it’s right.”
She snorted and stood up with an exaggerated stretch. “Darn right it is.”
“Great!” I leaned over the desk to hand her the paper, failing to stifle a fanged smirk. The moment her fingers brushed it, I disappeared in a swirl of flames.
This time, I didn’t appear instantly. Moving along with the wind and heat, my presence in my demesne could vaguely sense Seyari on some sort of moving bench. Thinking was quite difficult like this, so without hesitation, I coalesced next to my wife in a gout of crimson hellfire.
“Holy shit!” someone shouted, and the bench jerked along with the whinny of several horses.
I managed to get my transformation in place, but not before the vehicle we were on jerked to one side, throwing Sey on top of me and tossing the poor driver off into the snow.
In an instant, Sey had a blade at my throat. In another instant, she was clambering off me, swearing like a pirate. “Renna! Fuck! What—how?”
Instead of waiting for my answer, my wife took one look at the road ahead, then dove off after the driver. By the time she got back with a shaken, spluttering woman in heavy traveling clothes, the door to what was apparently a fancy carriage had burst open and a young man tried to stick a sword in me.
His thrust had good power behind it, and I had to catch him by the shoulder to keep him from also tumbling off when the blade glanced off my clothes. Meanwhile, Seyari and the woman were shouting and pulling the reins, and I caught a glimpse of steep hillside before the whole thing got under control again and the horses calmed down. The entire time, Seyari’s right wing was hitting me upside the head.
With four of us on a pile on the bench, she was the first to speak.
“Renna?”
I gulped. “Sorry!”
She put up a hand. “Not now. Later. What on Varra did you do?”
“Teleported across my demesne.”
She stared at me for a moment, and the two humans did too. With a better look, I recognized them.
“Myrna! Phol! Fancy seeing you—”
“You have a demesne now?” Seyari asked. “Like Lillith’s or Utraxia’s?”
I nodded. “Weaker, but yes.”
“We’ll need to test it, but first.” She grabbed my hand, then hit me across the face with my own hand. “Don’t drop on top of a moving cart! You’ll spook the horses and send our whole damn city’s food down into a ravine! When I showed up, I landed and walked over!”
She’s right. I nodded. “I understand. Sorry again, to all of you. Figured I’d make an entrance, but maybe I should’ve thought it through a little more.”
Myrna sighed and took the reins from Sey. “Demesne? Do I even want to know?”
“Do you?”
“Nevermind.” She glanced over at me. “Your wife—congratulations on that by the way—was telling me about all the shit you’re mixed up in now that I’m also mixed up in now. You’re paying me extra for unforeseen hazards.”
“Didn’t the duchess pay you?”
“Not for this shit.”
“Point taken. We’ll arrange something.” I thought back to the work I was doing just before leaving. “We have timber you could take back?” One look behind confirmed two vehicles: one fancy carriage with Duchess Arina’s family crest, and another large, plain covered wagon.
“Make it free and it’s a deal.”
“Sure.”
“I want it processed. No root balls, no branches. Bark’s okay if it’s on. Only good trees, nothing bug-eaten.”
My smile deflated. More work than just a quick rampage through some far-off forest. We rode in silence until Phol spoke up.
“Sorry for stabbing you.”
I blinked. “Don’t be. Good, quick reflexes. You should get a magic blade though.”
“It is!” he protested.
“Huh.” Am I stronger in my demesne? Unfortunately, the look Seyari was giving me meant that I’d be finding out the answer to that particular question the extremely violent way. “I should probably get back to work.”
“Renna?”
I paused. “Yes, Sey?”
“Duke Ludwig of Norgath has apparently claimed Astrye as his own as you are a demon and therefore ‘unfit to rule.’”
“Hopefully King Carvalon can clear that up?”
“Don’t bet on it.”
“Should we be hearing this?” Myrna asked. “Because I think I’d rather not hear this.”
Stuck between me and Sey, Phol looked up at me and I realized I’d never let go of his shoulder. The moment I did, he retreated inside the carriage and closed the small door—probably a window, actually—with a thud.
Sey watched the bodyguard go and rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, trust me. Also, Renna, Myrna mentioned the Church might send my father.”
My heart skipped a beat, in a bad way. “Can they even do that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never seen it happen, but with the inquisition out of commission, they could.”
“Excuse me, your father? Are you saying Berethiel, the angel, is your father?” Myrna cut in. When Sey glared at her, she held her chin up. “Look, if you’re gonna talk about this right next to me, I’m going to ask questions.”
Seyari huffed, but answered. “I was three-quarters angel, half from my bastard, good-for-nothing, egocentric prick of a father, and a quarter from my half-angel mom.”
“Was?”
“I’m a full angel of wrath now.”
“And what does that mean?”
Seyari shrugged. “Whatever I—and Renna—want it to mean. I’m the angelic arm of Wrath, you could say.”
Myrna whistled. “That’s some serious blasphemy.”
“Do you have a problem with that?” Seyari asked, voice faux-sweet.
Myrna laughed. “I’d be a shit merchant if I did. I’m Navanaean, remember? We’ve got a whole pantheon—balance and all that. Everyone’s always blaspheming someone else’s god. You imperial fucks are the ones who get stuck on it.”
Seyari wrapped a wing around Myrna’s shoulder. “Great! And Renna?”
“I don’t know that I can take on an angel, Sey. They’re… that’s… different. You know? Shouldn’t they be—”
“They’re not. But Myrna’s right, we should talk about this later, okay?”
Next to us, Myrna groaned.
I nodded.
“Great. Look forward to when I get home.” Sey showed teeth, distinctly not a smile.
Some part of me was admittedly excited. “I will!” With a quick kiss on the cheek before she could react, I disappeared in a puff of flames.