Mated (The Queen's War #1)

Chapter 21

Perci stared out past the glass partition that separated her from Taran and his lab technicians and struggled to keep her face neutral for the demons that glanced her way every now and then. For two weeks, she had made herself a constant presence in Taran's labs much to his displeasure. And she wished that she could leave him to what was sure to be his greatest project ever, but she had an all-consuming urge to know everything that was being done to free her soulmate from the shackles of feralism.

Taran, like Senika, seemed to disapprove of her without even knowing her and hadn't tried to hide his feelings during their time together. For the most part, they spoke only when needed and in short to-the-point conversations. Perci really didn't have the energy or patience to try and win him over. It was tiring enough dealing with Senika's comments in the arena when Abaddon's back was turned. Though she had noticed in the past couple of days that the demoness had dialled down her bitchiness.

The sound of the door at her back opening had her glancing over her shoulder and when Abaddon came striding in, she placed her cold cup of tea on the table and stood to embrace him. He'd been her rock for the past two weeks and often sat with her in Lillith's gardens comforting her and reassuring her that Lucan was in no danger of dying.

"I take it that there haven't been any breakthroughs in my absence?"

"No." She sighed, leaning against Taran's desk.

"Don't give up hope, Perci."

Abaddon had repeated those words to her like a mantra every day and she was certain not even he believed them anymore. Even though the battle at the edge of the city had been won, barely, seraph had been increasing tensions all around the globe now that word was out about Lucan's feralism. They might be able to hold out for a month or two if Michael tried to invade Undercity, but without the King their defeat was an eventuality.

Since Taran was having such a difficult time with the Angelspear, not that he would admit it, and creating a cure for Lucan, she'd asked him to try and see if he could create a counter weapon instead. It had involved a hasty recruitment of a dozen blacksmiths, but the effort had been worth it. And if Taran's fast approaching form was anything to go by, he appeared to have news of their endeavours. When he closed the office door behind them, Abaddon came to stand beside her and they waited until the scientist had gulped down an entire mug of steaming hot coffee.

"How is progress going?" She asked him, and typically he answered not to her, but to Abaddon. The disrespect didn't even matter to her as long as he had good news.

"Slowly. Creating weapons to counteract the Angelspear is difficult, but we've made more progress with the Nightsword."

"Show us." She demanded softly.

He led them into the lab and through to a connecting room. Inside appeared more like a high-tech blacksmith than a lab. Numerous beefy looking demons forged, grinded and hammered pieces of glimmering metal. At her entrance, the work came to a stop and the whole room bowed.

"Please, continue your work." She smiled, and once more the room was filled with the sound of a crackling furnace, the hissing of scalding metal hitting water and the ping-ping-ping of hammers crafting.

"From the little I understand about the King's Nightsword, he created it using his power much like he did Gehenna." He said as he led them over to where the Nightsword was mounted on the central table.

"Is that something we can replicate the process of?" Abaddon asked whilst Perci trailed her fingers over the gleaming black hilt.

"Not entirely. I believe we may be able to make something similar, but nowhere near as powerful." He gestured to the workstation of one of the blacksmiths. "If we find the right alloy it's possible an individual demon could imbue his own power with the sword in the same way that the King does."