Exiled as Useless, I Healed the Demon General Who Fell at My Feet novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Obsidian Court

Karzhul was a city built inside a volcano, and it glowed from the inside out.

Rivers of orange light ran between the black towers.

The streets climbed the walls of the crater in terraces, lit by lanterns the color of embers.

Kanae rode into it in front of Vorhaan, on a horse the size of a cart.

Hot wind blew her hair about, and twenty Legion riders followed at their back.

Every demon on every terrace turned to watch the human go by.

"Don't look at them," Vorhaan said into her ear. "Look at the throne."

"I'm trying not to look at anything."

"You are doing very well."

The Obsidian Court was a hall carved from one sheet of glass-black rock, and it held a thousand demons in silks and armor.

A long red carpet ran down the middle.

At the end of it, on a throne grown from the floor in spikes and curves, sat the Demon Lord.

She was ancient.

Kanae knew it before she knew anything else.

Her horns branched, white and cracked with age, and her face was young and smooth and utterly calm.

Her eyes were black from corner to corner.

They found Kanae at the far end of the hall, and they didn't leave.

They walked the carpet with the whole court watching.

Vorhaan went down on one knee at the foot of the dais.

Kanae stood beside him with her hands folded and her legs shaking.

"My Lord," he said.

"Draegis." Her voice was low and dry and carried without effort. "You were dying. Now you are walking. And you bring a human into my hall."

"My Lord."

"Explain."

A thin demon in a high collar of black feathers stepped out from the line of courtiers.

He had a long grey face and horns that curled inward.

"With respect, Majesty," he said, "the explanation is obvious. The General has been seduced by a creature from the Hero's own camp. She has put a spell on him. She is a spy."

A murmur rolled through the hall.

"The Chancellor speaks," said the Lord, without turning her head.

"I speak for the Court. She should be burned in the Ash Pit before nightfall."

Kanae felt Vorhaan's shoulders go rigid beside her.

She put her fingers lightly on his arm.

"May I answer, my Lord?" she said.

A thousand heads turned.

Her voice had come out steadier than she'd expected.

It turned out that fourteen months of being talked past by men in meetings was a very good education.

"Speak," said the Lord.

"I was the Hero's healer. He threw me away at the border with one copper coin." Kanae held it up between two fingers for the court to see. "Ten minutes later your General fell down in front of me. I'm not a spy. I'm unemployed."

Somebody at the back of the court choked on a laugh.

The Chancellor went the color of ash.

"Prove it," he said. "Prove you are a healer."

"Gladly."

The Lord lifted two fingers.

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