by Bella Klaus
Hades didn’t even bristle at the unspoken barb about his inability to secure the Fifth Faction of Hell. Whatever Kresnik’s people had tried to take from him was more precious than his sex toys.
The Demon King’s gaze darted from side to side, his eyes twinkling with mirth. My brows drew together. Since when did he find a reminder of his failures amusing? I was about to ask him what on earth he found so funny, when he placed a finger on his lips in a gesture for me to be silent.
My mouth clicked shut, and I turned to Valentine, who shrugged. Even after working beside Hades for centuries, it was hard to fathom the Demon King’s peculiarities.
“I have another idea.” Hades set his jar on the ground and rose with one of his fists clenched tight. “Miss Griffin, would you do me a favor and reduce the immortal body to ash?”
“You want me to separate Kresnik’s body into different containers?” I asked.
He grinned, his eyes shining with cold malice. “Let me tether his soul to it first.”
“But you said…” My words trailed off as Hades’ grin widened into an expression more gleeful than the one he’d made when Nut and Geb had come to claim my organs. I cleared my throat. “Didn’t you say enforcers were looking for Kresnik’s soul?”
“Have you found it?” Valentine asked.
Hades fixed his glittering eyes on me, breathing hard as though he could barely contain his excitement. “Do you remember the time you murdered the Mage King in hot blood?”
I choked on thin air, heat rising to my cheeks. “I was mad with grief.” My words tumbled over each other. “Besides, you had the power to tether his soul to his body, but you only kept him alive long enough for an interrogation.”
Valentine rubbed a comforting circle on my back. “Stop agitating my mate,” he growled. “The information we have on you is far more damaging.”
Hades didn’t even scowl. Instead, he raised his fist to the ceiling in a gesture that reminded me a little of how he’d manipulated the Mage King’s soul.
Bibi’s corpse lifted itself off the floor with the awkward movements of a marionette. Her head, which should have lolled to the side, rose to glower at us through eyes that burned with hatred.
This was no Rude Girl. She’d died the moment she had refused to have sex with her own sisters for the amusement of a psychotic god.
The being staring out through those eyes with a loathing hot enough to incinerate my soul was Kresnik.
Best of all, Hades had trapped him in a magicless body.
“Impressive,” Valentine said.
“How on earth did you do that?” I asked.
“Not me,” Hades replied with a chuckle. “When Kresnik’s soul left the puddle of flame, I imagine you pictured him possessing another fire user. Perhaps even a dragon shifter?”
I shrugged. “Actually, I did.”
“After the way he treats women, the last place you’d look is the corpse of one of his human victims. Kresnik’s plan to hide in plain sight backfired.” Hades grinned down at the corpse.
Kresnik bared Bibi’s teeth and hissed.
The Demon King snickered. “After you’ve cremated him with your phoenix flames, we’re going to split his ashes into multiple containers.”
Valentine rubbed his chin. “It sounds familiar.”
“A fitting end for the bastard who did it to me,” Hades growled. “But my friend Medusa will bronze the severed cock and balls.”
“Wait,” Kresnik groaned through Bibi’s mouth.
White light streamed from the dead woman’s lips and entered the stab wound I’d made in the gut of Kresnik’s immortal body.
I leaned against Valentine’s side, waiting for Hades to finish his gruesome task. With Kresnik dead, there would be no more preternatural vampires—at least none that he had kept alive with his magic. There would also be no more zombies, either, but he’d left the Supernatural World with a gigantic mess.
Once Hades had finished transferring Kresnik’s soul to his dead body, Valentine moved all the ash from the burned furniture and furnishings to one side of the room, and the Rude Girls’ remains to the other. He floated back our weapons, and I slipped the solid flame dagger back into my sword belt.
Hades turned to me with his brows raised. “Miss Griffin, will you do the honors?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “You signed a contract in blood that stated you’d fight with us against Kresnik, yet you buggered off. How do we know you won’t duck out of helping to find King Antonius’s soul?”
Hades’ lips tightened. “The force majeure clause in the contract absolves me from liability.”
“Not good enough,” I snapped.
Hades’ facade of calm cracked, and he jerked his head to the side. “They found Persephone.”
Valentine nodded but didn’t ask for any more information. I bit down on my lip and frowned. If Persephone was still alive and living in his palace, why was Hades such a horrific womanizer?
None of it made sense. Valentine had once mentioned that Hades pined for his wife, but now wasn’t the time for gossip. I made a note to ask Valentine about it later, preferably once we were certain we’d sealed all parts of Kresnik.
“Fine,” Valentine said. “But you will help us find Tartarus.”
Hades nodded. “Thank you. I only wish I’d been here to strike the killing blow.”
Valentine gave me a pat on the back, indicating it was alright to set Kresnik alight.
I knelt beside his immortal body and laid my hands on his chest and forehead. “Should we say a few words before committing him to ash? Maybe a spell to make sure his soul never breaks free?”
Hades crouched beside his corpse. “Here’s to spending the next thirty thousand years with your ashes as an office paperweight.”
“You’ve already claimed your souvenirs,” I said without looking at the Demon King. “That should be revenge enough for you.”
Valentine sighed. “Of all the evils he’s committed, exposing the Supernatural World to the humans will be the most damaging. Kresnik deserves to be remembered by them forever as a fraud.”
“It sounds like you have a plan,” Hades said.
“Yes,” Valentine replied with a broad smile. “And you’re going to implement it.”
Kresnik’s body took half an hour to reduce to ash, and we separated his remains into seven of the spheres. Once we had secured the containers within the bag, Hades summoned one of his enforcers to glamor him to look like Kresnik, complete with the white suit and tie.
I folded my arms across my chest and marveled at the likeness. The demon had even perfected Krensnik’s haughty posture and leering smile, but perhaps that was a feature common to all of the male Greek gods.
Hades strode to the door and paused. “Shout when you’re ready to search for Tartarus. I will do everything I can to help.” His eyes lingered on mine for a heartbeat longer than necessary. “Miss Griffin, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
I dropped my gaze to the burned floorboards. Maybe Valentine could cope with having such a powerful frenemy, but the way Hades switched from seducer to betrayer gave me whiplash.
As Hades stepped out into the hallway and disappeared, Valentine scooped me up into his arms. He placed the bag of spheres on my lap and crossed the room.
“We should leave Hampton Court before it burns down,” he said.
“Do you think they’ll riot?” I asked.
“Humans have done worse to false prophets.” He climbed out of the window and floated above the snow-covered courtyard. “They’ll be furious when Hades admits to carrying out the world’s most audacious hoax.”
Cold wind swirled around our bodies, accompanied by tiny flakes of snow. Valentine’s idea was brilliant, and I loved the idea of Kresnik being committed to history as a lunatic, but it wouldn’t begin to negate all the damage Kresnik had done.
I rested my head against his shoulder and sighed. “It doesn’t matter what Hades tells them about special
effects and laser displays. Some people will still believe in him.”
“As long as there’s an element of doubt, and we take the right precautions, the Supernatural World will be safe.”
Valentine rose over the rooftops, over its high towers and chimneys and Union Jack flag, until the concert and Hampton Court Palace was a mere blot within acres of snow-covered parkland. We were so high up that not even the supernaturals on the ground with enhanced vision could spot us.
Even though the clouds had thinned, snowflakes continued to drift in the wind, which drowned out the sound of the concert.
I peered down at the pinpricks of lights from the stage. “He’s going to let them storm the stage and kill him?”
“They can try,” Valentine said with a chuckle. “But the Demon King is slippery enough to make a discreet escape.”
“I hope it works.”
Valentine placed a soft kiss on my lips.
I slid my arms around his neck. “Do you remember the first time you flew across London with me?”
He stiffened. “Vaguely,” he said in a tone that made me believe he not only recalled stealing me away from Beatrice’s apartment but the memory of it made him cringe. “Why do you ask?”
I trailed a finger down his leather armor. “Some of the things we did while you were a preternatural were fun.”
“Really?” He pressed another kiss on my temple.
“What’s stopping us from doing them again?”
“You’re—” He shook his head.
I tilted my head, trying to meet his eyes. Moonlight reflected off the layer of clay on his skin, making him look as ashen as he had the night he’d risen from the dead.
When I continued staring at him, he peered down at me through eyes that gleamed like amethysts and gave me a fond smile.
“You were going to say I was pure or something,” I said.
He shook his head. “I stopped myself from calling you fragile, but you’re nothing of the sort, since you single-handedly defeated Kresnik.”
I wrinkled my nose. “It was just a case of fighting fire with fire, and I had a lot of help.”
His lips curled into a smile that made my stomach flip. “I’ve just discovered something else I love about you, Innamorata.”
“What?” I whispered.
“Modesty.” He pressed a kiss on the tip of my nose.
“I love how you’re always protecting me.” I ran a hand down the breastplate of his armor. “Even though you remember how much I loved your darker side.”
Valentine’s chest rumbled, almost sounding like a purr. “Any time you want me to play the big bad preternatural, I’ll be ready.”
A tingle of excitement settled between my legs. “Really?”
“You and I are going to have centuries of bliss.” He pressed a soft kiss on my lips and then another and another until I melted into his touch.
As Valentine flew us through the cold sky, nothing else mattered, not Hades, not Prince Draconius, not the Supernatural Council. Not even what was soon to be a distant memory of Kresnik. I relaxed into the embrace and surrendered to the kiss.
Last October, when I had decided to stop pining over Valentine, I hadn’t expected him to walk through the doors of the Crystal Shop and back into my life. I certainly hadn’t expected him to confess that his love for me had never waned. It was hard to believe everything that had happened. From unlocking the forbidden power in my soul, resurrecting Valentine from the dead, and meeting my birth parents, to banishing the most dangerous supernatural in living memory.
Snowflakes continued to swirl around our bodies, cooling my fevered skin. I curled my fingers into Valentine’s hair and moaned into the kiss.
He drew back, exhaling a sigh that was as relieved as it was blissful. “When you left Logris for the Human World, I thought about you every day.”
The backs of my eyes turned hot, and I blinked away my tears. “I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”
“You’re returning to Logris as the hero who slayed Kresnik,” he said with a fond smile. “And my soulmate.”
A happy laugh bubbled from my insides, and I placed a hand on the bag of spheres to keep them steady. “After everything we’ve overcome, we deserve this happily ever after.”
Fifteen Years Later
Stifling a yawn, I sat straighter in my seat and let my gaze drift across the circular table. Valentine sat opposite me with his fingers steepled and his face held in an unreadable mask.
I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that he also wanted this meeting to end. The Fae King slumped on Valentine’s right, looking like he wanted to be anywhere other than in the Supernatural Council’s meeting room.
The last vestiges of sunlight filtered through the window, catching on my engagement ring. It was the same diamond callstone Valentine had given me the first time he had proposed, the one I’d used countless times to appear at his side.
A laugh bubbled up from my chest as I remembered using it to find Valentine the night Hades had ruined our engagement ball with that spectacular fight.
Valentine cleared his throat, and I smoothed out the amusement in my expression. To his left sat the Mage Queen, who leaned forward, the blonde bun atop her head bobbing up and down as she nodded at each point made in this week’s round of bickering.
I made a note to ask Valentine later if she had been using her light magic to feign attention.
Hades slammed his fist on the table, and everyone snapped their gazes to him. “Why must my enforcers be deployed whenever a human catches another idiot shifting? They’re busy enough as it is policing every casino, coffee shop, and cat house in London that has a hint of demonic activity.”
The Angel King pinched the bridge of his nose. “When we dismantled Logris and left Richmond Park to the shifters, we agreed to leave them with a level of protection—”
“If their king doesn’t care a damn about being detected by humans, then why should we?” Hades snapped.
My shoulders sagged. I missed having Beowulf on the Council of Ministers. At least he bothered to show up to the meetings, unlike the shifters’ new monarch.
A shudder ran down my back. There was something seriously wrong with that wolf.
The Mage Queen cleared her throat. “I could have a word with the Shifter King’s mate—”
“She barely keeps him under control,” Hades snapped.
I resisted the urge to shake my head. How many times had I warned Beowulf that one of the female shifters he mistreated would rise against him? Not only had she defeated Beowulf, but she’d unearthed the alpha of all alphas.
Unfortunately, this new alpha had then taken her throne. But Beowulf had been lucky to have escaped his former kingdom with his life.
“It’s someone else’s turn to deal with the shifters.” Hades continued to bicker with the Angel King.
I tuned out most of the argument and let my mind drift. Apart from a few blips, such as the new Shifter King, the Supernatural World had enjoyed over a decade of peace. Thanks to Kresnik announcing the location of Logris on television and across the internet, everyone but the shifters abandoned Richmond Park and separated into smaller villages.
The Supernatural Council moved its headquarters to Buckingham Palace using Kresnik’s temporal magic technique, with residences set up in Green Park for the angels who worked in our realm and St. James’ Park for the demons.
Fae hybrids who couldn’t stand Elphame built their community within Regent’s Park, mages now lived in Battersea Park, and the witches moved to Hampstead Heath.
I drummed my fingers on my lap, waiting for everyone to stop talking so we could leave.
“If the Demon King’s enforcers are occupied, perhaps another village can help out with the shifter situation.” The Witch Queen turned her pale eyes toward me. “The Fire Queen—”
“Can send dragons and ifrits down to Richmond Park and give the humans more videos to upload on the internet?” I folded my arms across my chest and s
tared down the woman until she lowered her gaze.
“Favilla is our smallest supernatural population,” the Angel King said, trying to sound reasonable as usual.
“And the fire users are off-limits,” Valentine added with a snarl.
I sat back in my seat. After liberating Coral, Racon, Gail, Lehman, Clarence, and all the other escapees from Hell, Hades, Valentine, and I had talked the Supernatural Council into setting up an eighth village with me as its queen.
Favilla was in Holland Park, a twenty-minute walk away from Hyde Park, which was the village of the vampires, and was also hidden from the humans with temporal wards.
To make up for centuries of persecution, the Supernatural Council converted a hotel within the park into spacious apartments and townhouses for the fire users. They’d even transformed the Belvedere restaurant into a palace, which I used mostly as an office building.
“If everyone’s so bothered about the shifters, let the mages deal with them,” the Fae King said with a yawn.
The Mage Queen blinked. “Alright.”
I glanced at Captain Zella, whose lips thinned. The Mage Queen was a hundred times better than her predecessor, but she was terrible at standing up for herself and her subjects.
Hades clapped his hands together and grinned. “In that case, meeting adjourned.”
Before anyone could say otherwise, he blinked out of sight.
The Witch Queen turned to me and smiled. “How is his wife’s pregnancy? Is the baby due soon?”
I shifted in my seat. In the years since Valentine and I had banished Kresnik, the Supernatural Council hadn’t once doubted either of our loyalty, but that didn’t mean we had forgotten how they’d turned on us. We only attended their meetings to safeguard the vampires and my fire users.
It was ironic that we were closest to Hades, who had caused most of our troubles, but that was for two reasons. Firstly, we would never have been able to save King Antonius from eternal damnation without his help. Secondly, his wife and I had become friendly during their twisted courtship. Supporting her was the least I could do, considering she met Hades at our masquerade ball.
