by Bella Klaus
“Better than you,” I snapped. “Valentine doesn’t send out enforcers to get killed while he watches from behind a screen. He’s out there, risking his life and battling with everyone else.”
The Fae King chuckled from two seats down the table. “If you think the Vampire King is a valiant warrior and not a pawn of Kresnik, I’m sure he’ll earn his own exoneration.”
I glanced at the Witch Queen, looking at her for help, but she stared back at me through pitying eyes before dipping her head to obscure her face with a curtain of white hair. None of them ever intended for Valentine to prove himself—they’d been humoring me all along. Or trying to make a point that no matter how hard I tried, the Council always won.
Bitterness rose to the back of my throat, and it took all my effort to choke it down. It was no wonder Kresnik wanted to destroy these people. They were useless relics, only good for sitting on their asses, bossing people around and sending them to their deaths.
I clenched my teeth, holding back a retort, and snatched the scroll off the table. The screen on the tabletop still streamed Kresnik standing in what was now a room crammed with admiring followers.
My skin tightened. The Supernatural Council couldn’t even erect wards to keep all those humans out of the television studio.
“Thanks for nothing.” I turned on my heel and headed to the exit. It was time to visit Valentine and tell him what had happened.
Corporal Penumbra straightened at the door, her eyes wide. Her hands hovered at the handle, ready to pull it open.
“Could you direct me to King Valentine’s cell?” I asked.
“One of the enforcers guarding the door on the other side will escort you, Miss Griffin.” There was a friendliness in her voice I hadn’t expected, and her eyes shone with an emotion that bordered on respect.
I turned to Captain Zella, who stood by the mirror and gave me an approving nod. Some of the bitterness coating my tongue faded at the acceptance in her eyes. It looked like the enforcers might also be getting sick of seeing so many of their number die while the Council members bullshitted behind the safety of their wards.
Corporal Penumbra opened the door into the hallway that overlooked the six-lane escalators that led down to the ground floor. By now, the sun had completely set and moonlight shone through the Council Building’s tall windows, drenching the space in silvery light.
I nodded my thanks and stepped out, glancing down the row of enforcers standing against the walls. As soon as my gaze caught that of a young woman who had shown me to the enforcers’ quarters weeks ago, I headed toward her with a tiny smile.
“Miss Griffin?” Hades grabbed my wrist and spun me around
“Where did you come from?” I pulled out of his grip.
“Allow me to escort you to your destination.” In the blink of an eye, we stood in front of the crackling fireplace of his office, where a new painting of himself stared down at us.
This portrait depicted Hades’ new and youthful appearance and stood shirtless, wearing a replica of his helm and holding a trident identical to the one Sylvester had confiscated from Prince Draconius. Its background was a room that opened up into a courtyard, where a red-haired woman lay front-down on a couch, her ass cheeks as red as the cheeks on her face, and smiled with gleeful satisfaction.
I snatched my gaze away and snarled, “This isn’t Valentine’s cell.”
“You and I need to talk.” He placed his hands on my shoulders.
“About how you’re plotting against Valentine?” I ducked out of his grip. “First you want to take his throne, then what? His life?”
Hades’ lips thinned. “Quick to judgement as ever, Miss Griffin.”
I slipped the scroll into my pocket for safekeeping, walked over the rug toward the exit, and reached for the door handle.
“What does it take to make you forget King Valentine?”
My breath hitched. This was his plan? To impress me with his ability to ruin an innocent man’s life? “Give up.” I balled my hands into fists. “I didn’t like you when you sentenced me to death, I hated you when you and the Mage King took control of Valentine’s body, and I only allied with you in the Flame because I had no other options.”
“Yet you bound us together—”
“So you wouldn’t betray me,” I yelled. “And the moment you got a chance, you tied me to a bed in your purple room of pain.”
“It was a purple palace of pleasure.” Hades glowered down at me, his nostrils flared. “And some women are impossible to please.”
“Some women have had better men.”
He flinched. “What?”
Triumph flared through my insides. Hades was a man who didn’t understand the word ‘no,’ but neither did he like to be compared to other men. I filed that thought for future reference.
“I am not and never will be interested in you.” Vitriol dripped from my words, each inflection burning like acid. It was cruel to turn down a man with such venom, but Hades was more persistent than Jonathan had been and twice as entitled. “You lie, you cheat, you sleep with multiple women, including my sister—”
“Now you’re trying to slut-shame.” He waggled his finger and grinned.
“You don’t take me seriously when I say that I’m committed to Valentine.”
“What you feel for King Valentine is puppy love.” He spread his arms wide. “Or it’s the kind of connection a couple experiences after a thrilling adventure. Once the adrenaline fades, there’s nothing left—not even the initial physical attraction.”
“You’re wrong.” I elbowed him aside and pulled down on the handle.
“Do not leave this room.” His sharp voice sliced through my determination, and he backed it up with a crackle of magic.
I clenched my teeth, hating myself for hesitating, but maybe it was time to say a few hurtful truths.
“Hades.” I turned to meet his fiery gaze. “Valentine is the most decent and noble being I’ve ever met. He’s honest, kind, generous, and loving. These are all qualities you lack.”
The edges of his irises turned black. “You’re forgetting that I’ve seen how tame he is when he fucks.”
“And you’re forgetting that he satisfies me in a way you never can,” I said.
“You’d rather copulate with a corpse than a god?” he asked through clenched teeth.
My jaw tightened, the pulse between my ears thudding to the beat of my fury. How many of these bastards were going to accuse me of necrophilia? It wasn’t like I’d jumped on Valentine’s cold and unmoving body, and ridden his rigor mortis into the sunset. Each time we’d had sex, he had fed, he’d been warm, and had appeared as alive as any other immortal. If Hades thought I would back down, he was in for a shock.
“The truth?” I asked.
Nodding, he folded his arms across his chest.
I sucked in a deep breath, centered myself the way Istabelle had taught me before performing long healing sessions, and filled my chakras with magic. Then I eased all that power beneath my skin, where it was ready—just in case what I was about to say caused Hades to fly into a rage.
“Here’s the truth,” I said. “Even when Valentine had risen from the dead with his skin graying, his eyes milky, and an open wound in his chest. Even when his flesh was as cold as winter and his touch as frigid as ice, he was still a better and more desirable man than you. I have loved Valentine for a quarter of my life, and I’ll continue loving him until the end of my days.”
Hades’ glare could cut diamonds. Heat radiated off his body, accompanied by a fury that charged the air with brimstone. Tiny crackles of magic hit the surface of my skin in a storm of static electricity.
Holding myself still, I met his gaze and breathed hard against the onslaught of his power.
“That is your final word?” he asked.
“My final word is to leave us both alone,” I replied. “Find someone else.”
He stepped back, his chest rising and falling with the force of his emotions. “Y
ou’ll regret stepping out of that door.”
“I’ll live with the consequences, thanks.” I pushed down on the handle, yanked the door open, and stepped backward into Namara’s office.
Hades remained in the middle of his lair with his arms folded and the corner of his lips curling into a smile. I glanced over my shoulder, looking for a trap or some other kind of revenge, but all I found was his assistant sitting behind her desk.
“Good evening, Miss Griffin,” Namara chirped. “Welcome back to our realm.”
“Thanks.” I tried pulling the door shut, but Hades held it open.
I met his dancing eyes, his wide grin, and would have asked what the hell he was laughing at, but he was no longer my concern and I still needed to tell Valentine what I’d done.
As I edged away from the chuckling demon king, a warm hand landed on my shoulder. I spun around to meet Nut’s black eyes. The tall woman stared down at me, her features expressionless.
“You survived?”
She inclined her head.
I glanced over her shoulder. “What about Geb?”
He stepped forward, removing his invisibility, and held up a scroll.
I tilted my head to the side, squinting at the ancient script. “What’s that?”
Geb placed his finger on the writing at the bottom and scowled.
I turned to Namara. “These two don’t speak English, Latin, or Ancient Greek. Could you translate, please?”
“Of course, Miss Griffin.” She rose from her seat, sashayed around the desk, placed her hand on Geb’s bicep, and spoke a string of words I had no way of understanding.
Geb replied, his words stilted. I got the impression he was the quiet type, even without a language barrier, but whatever he said made Namara shake her head and scowl. Geb grunted and repeated the same words over and over.
I bit down on my bottom lip. Surely they didn’t blame me for whatever happened to them in the slaughterhouse? November had suggested he’d killed them, but they’d survived his attack. Nut and Geb seemed indestructible, even managing to find me after dropping off the edge of a high-rise.
Hades chortled throughout their argument. I glanced from Geb to Namara, who continued a long conversation, neither of them sparing me a glance. Nut stared down at me with an intensity that made my insides curdle.
I stepped back toward the open door of Hades’ office, but her arm struck out like a cobra, and she grabbed me around the forearm, pulling me into her chest.
“Nut,” I whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” said Hades.
Namara’s glamor faded. She reverted to her red-skinned appearance and screeched at Geb.
“Please,” I rasped. “Tell me what’s happening.”
The imp ignored me to prod Geb in the chest. Nut leaned down and sniffed my hair.
My heart leapfrogged to the back of my throat, and I shrieked. How could I have forgotten?
“Miss Griffin.” Hades swaggered out of the doorway, grinning wider than the day I’d resurrected him from his ashes. “Is the proverbial penny finally dropping?”
I turned to Nut. “You’ve come to collect your payment?”
The taller woman nodded.
“Okay.” I licked my lips, swallowed hard, chewed on the inside of my cheek, trying to work out what to say. “Your contract is with King Valentine, remember? He brought you from New Mesopotamia to protect me.”
“No.” Nut’s voice was even deeper than her brother’s, sounding as though it had come from the deepest cavern of Hell.
Every fine hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and my lips parted with a silent shriek. “I can take you to Valentine’s cell.”
“No,” she rumbled.
The contents of my stomach turned to liquid. I clenched hard, trying not to splatter them across the linoleum. I turned to Namara, but she was too preoccupied with her argument to notice me. She and Geb stood close enough to kiss, screaming unintelligible words at each other.
“Miss Griffin?” Hades slithered to my side. “Since Namara is busy flirting with Geb, would you like me to translate?”
I shot the pair another glance. Geb had stopped holding up the scroll, making me suspect Hades was telling the truth. Shuddering, I turned back to Hades. “How much will it cost?”
“No charge.” He raised both hands, his grin stretching beyond human limits. “I haven’t been so thoroughly entertained in eons.”
Every pulse in my body pounded, as though I didn’t already know I was in the deepest trouble of my life. Making sure not to say anything to accept or reject his help, I asked Nut, “How much do I owe you?”
She pointed a stubby finger at my sternum.
Hades chuckled. “This is priceless.”
“Gold,” I screamed. “How much money do I owe you?”
She made a circling motion around my internal organs and scowled.
“I know you can understand English,” I snapped. I pushed my magic to the surface of my skin, making her tighten her grip on my arm. If this manhandling continued, I would transform into a phoenix and let her eat her fill.
Nut finally parted her lips to speak in a voice that echoed across the room.
I turned pleading eyes to Hades. “What did she say?”
“Nut can feel your rise in body temperature.” Hades dabbed the corners of his eyes with an imaginary handkerchief. “She warns that if you’re thinking of turning her into ash, she will not give you the courtesy of turning visible the next time she attacks.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out Namara and Geb’s stream of chatter, Hades’ mocking laughter, and Nut’s ever tightening grip. How on earth was I going to get out of this predicament with Hades now hating me enough to enjoy my downfall?
“Alright,” I said, just to give myself time to think. “I have Valentine’s credit card. We could—”
“No,” she said before launching into that ancient language.
“I’ll relay the message,” said Hades. “The twins’ contract with King Valentine was payable in gold, she says. You offered to pay double that amount if they accompanied you back to Koffiek to restore King Valentine to life. Now that the work is complete, they demand immediate payment of your internal organs.”
I opened my eyes. “Come to the Lamia Palace with me, and I’ll get your money.”
The larger woman’s shoulders sagged as though she’d looked forward to eating my organs. With a sharp nod, she clapped a large hand on her brother’s back, making him straighten away from Namara.
Nut dragged me toward the exit.
“Miss Griffin?” said Hades.
Hope sprang in my chest. I glanced over my shoulder to meet his twinkling eyes. Was he going to pay my debt? Get these demonic bodyguards off my back in exchange for another dinner? Whatever he wanted to save me from getting devoured, I was willing to negotiate.
“Yes?” I replied.
“When your soul finally reaches me in Hell, I will strip out your phoenix and discard the rest.”
The words sent a spike of fear through my insides. The sins I had committed were bad enough to condemn my soul to Hell. I had murdered the Mage King and had stood silent while Kresnik killed others. Even so, I held my features still, not daring to give him an ounce of satisfaction.
“You know what?” I said.
“Enlighten me,” he drawled.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
His smug expression faded, replaced by a harder emotion I didn’t stick around to analyze. I wasn’t going to beg Hades for his mercy or his help.
Turning back to Nut, I said, “Let’s go to the palace and get you that gold.”
Nut, Geb, and I ended up catching an Überwald from outside the Supernatural Council building. Instead of taking the front passenger seat like Geb did the time we’d first met, he sat in the back with his sister, leaving me in the center like the filling in a demon sandwich.
I wrapped my arms
around my middle, trying to replay the conversation I had with the twins that had led to this predicament.
“Why are you two coming after me for payment when Valentine signed your contract?” I nudged Geb in the side. “Let me have a look at that scroll.”
He unrolled it onto my lap, holding it at one end. Nut held down the other end and switched on the back light so I could get a better look. My heart sank. She was always so nice, staying close and giving me reassuring pats on the back. Why did she and her brother seem so eager to eat my organs?
I stared down the document and pointed at Valentine’s signature. “That’s who owes you money. Not me.”
Geb shook his head and grunted.
My lips pressed together in a tight line. I’d spent enough time with Macavity to understand what he meant. “Yes, I know I promised you twice the amount to help me save Valentine, but understand that if he remained dead you would have gotten nothing.”
Nut hissed between her teeth.
The driver chuckled.
“Is there something funny?” I snapped.
“If you’d kept your mouth shut when this Valentine fellow died, his contractual obligation would have died with him,” he said. “Your second offer formed a completely different contract. Now that he’s alive, these two lucky devils get the funds from Valentine plus two times the amount, as per your offer.”
Nut gave the driver a round of applause, letting the contract roll shut.
“You can tell all that from a snippet of conversation?” I asked.
“Demonology 201, isn’t it?” The driver tapped the side of his head. “There’s no need to let your academy education go to waste.”
“Nobody told me,” I snapped.
He raised his broad shoulders. “It was girls like you giggling in the back of Advanced Demonology that caused me to scrape through with a C minus. Serves you bloody right that you missed the lecture on contract promisors and promisees and got yourself into this mess.”
I clenched my teeth, wanting to tell the driver that I hadn’t been allowed in any of the advanced classes, but instead sagged into my seat. What was the point? I’d been desperate to resurrect Valentine and even more desperate not to become entangled with Hades. Valentine was ridiculously rich, and it wasn’t like his vaults were lacking gold.
