I didn’t realize Amduscias was trying to get my attention because I was practically making each of them a mix tape in my head. My life had gotten so fucked up since I got arrested. It wasn’t the entire plot and getting framed and all that. It was the fact that I was making mix tapes for three guys in my head. I never did shit like that.
“We need to get to Bael’s. Eiltan and his father are there and ready to plan. Bael said he’s also got a bunch of antsy fairies in his sitting room wanting Serafina there.”
Okay, that was fucked up too. No matter how much I had wished to meet my family when I was getting abused in the convent or getting shuffled around the foster system before I ran, I never thought it would happen. When I thought my father framed me and did all these terrible things to me, it was easy to blame him for me ending up on the street and tell myself I would kill him. Every time his eyes misted over when he looked at me, it made me so fucking uncomfortable. It would be even worse with my grandfather there.
I didn’t have to tell anyone this. Skoll and Roman both pulled me into a hug. Roman did that thing I loved where he nuzzled my neck from my ear to my shoulder. Skoll cupped my ass and squeezed it.
“Just give me a sign, killer. I’ll either get you out of there or rip their throats out.”
I loved it when Skoll did that too. I rubbed my face into his hard chest.
“As fucked up as this makes me feel, we can’t kill them just yet. We need them in case Zepar has more than three Dukes on his side now. My father royally fucked up, but he didn’t set out to hurt me. He didn’t get me out of Scorchwood right away because he thought I was guilty. Most of everything that happened to me was because of Warden Skinner. She didn’t frame us and had Rathmore do all those things to me to help the Fae. She had her own agenda, or she wouldn’t have tried to frame the Sunshadows.”
Amduscias joined our hug.
“Let’s get to Bael’s estate. Warden Skinner is in for a rude awakening. We’ll find out exactly what her agenda was. Bael is an expert at torture, and he taught me everything I know.”
Amduscias opened a portal to Bael’s. I knew why my father did all of this. We knew why Zepar manipulated him. Why did Warden Skinner do all the shitty things she did?
I wouldn’t mind torturing her a little myself.
Chapter 8
Serafina
T
here was an entire audience waiting for us on the other side of the portal. All the kings of Hell were waiting, but even if I had met none of these people before, I could have picked my father and grandfather out of everyone in the room. There was no question as to which of my parents I looked like now, and I used to wonder that when I was a child all the time.
We all had the same blonde curls, pointy chins, and bright green eyes. My eyes slanted upwards just like theirs did. The only different thing was that my ears weren’t pointed like theirs were. They both wore their hair long and parted it around their ears like they were trying to show off the points. I was suddenly very self-conscious about my ears instead of the size of my ass.
They both stood when they saw me, and I hated how they were looking at me. As much as I had dreamed about a meeting like this, I didn’t realize how much I would hate them looking at me like I was some eighth wonder of the world when I wasn’t. I wasn’t anything special, even if fate had decided to meddle in my life.
They both didn’t make a move towards me, and for that, I was glad. I didn’t like people touching me unless I liked them or had consented to a one-night stand. I was delighted they didn’t get all huggy because I still wanted to punch my father again, and I hadn’t decided about my grandfather. My grandfather could still order my execution by giving a single order.
My grandfather bowed his head to me. The fucking king of the Fae bowed his head to me.
“I realize you have little reason to trust the Fae with everything that has happened. If you wish to live in Hell when this is over, I wish you the best. I do hope you’ll visit the Fae realm frequently and learn more about that side of your heritage.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. Why was he being so kind to me? If I had been a halfling that wasn’t his granddaughter, he probably would have had me killed. I knew Fergus said he would open the portal again, but would we even be having this conversation right now if we weren’t related?
“Don’t all the Fae want me dead because my mother was human?”
“Your father has been quite vocal about opening the portal again and letting Fae come through to try to reunite with some of their descendants. He insists allowing the halfling children to come back to our realm would further our society. He’s right. The majority of my council is on his side, and the people feel the same. You would be quite welcome. This has been in the works well before I found out about you.
“The only reason I haven’t given the order is that it would be unfair to our Fae women. I worried about Fae men leaving their wives for women who could bear them children. I was planning on doing this as soon as we had an answer, and dear girl, you were responsible for bringing me the answer and exposing atrocities in Scorchwood. You are quite remarkable.”
I never learned how to deal with compliments because I never got them growing up. I changed the subject because that’s what I always did when anyone other than Fergus tried to give me one. I was still getting used to getting them from Skoll, Roman, and Amduscias. I didn’t mind it so much from them, but it just seemed fucked up to get them now. This wasn’t over. We hadn’t won. We needed a plan.
“We need to save the sweet talk until this is over,” I said. “Zepar will eventually figure out we are onto him. If he’s recruiting topside, there’s no telling how big his army is.”
“We’ve discussed this, but it will be delicate since the Fae can’t lie,” Bael said. “This is all going to depend on Eiltan’s ability to be cunning, and Zepar already outsmarted him once.”
“Eiltan has grown up a lot since he first left our realm to cure our sickness. The only reason he hasn’t taken over as king is that I made it my mission not to step down until I had a healed realm to give to him. Eiltan can handle Zepar now if you tell us your plan.”
Could he? Both Zepar and Warden Skinner fucked him over. Fae couldn’t lie, so how was he supposed to deceive Zepar?
“This is our plan, but it must be carried out delicately. Eiltan will contact Zepar and tell him that his operation in Scorchwood has gone ass up. There will be news stories to back this up once you make a phone call about Warden Skinner’s extracurricular activities. Eiltan will have to find a way to lie to Zepar that he will have his Fae army.
“Zepar will share the details of his attack, and the Fae army will join Zepar on the battlefield. But Hell and all its legions will also have the location and will be waiting to attack. When Zepar gives the order, the Fae will turn on Zepar and his army. Hell will join the battle and wipe them all out.
“Every soldier, Fae or demon, will have to follow orders not to wound Zepar fatally. He will have to be captured alive if we have any hope of creating a remedy for the Fae with his blood. I also want to torture that pretentious little shit for trying to take what isn’t his and possibly starting a war with the Fae to do so. What he did to your women is unacceptable.”
It was an excellent plan if my father actually had the ability to lie. This plan involved a lot of lying, and there was just too much at stake. Zepar wanted the Fae to attack Hell. He could do that by killing my father.
My father gave Bael this grin that made me think maybe he wasn’t as inept as I thought. He looked cunning and every inch a prince at that moment.
“I can convince Zepar he has his army, even without being able to lie. He wants his army so badly, and he thinks he’s worn me down into giving it to him. He’s not going to ask too many questions that would require me to lie because he thinks he holds all the cards.”
“My Ena, from what they have taught me as a guardian, I can help your blood too. I should be able to communicate with Eiltan the w
ay I do with you because you are related. You can send me with Eiltan when he goes to talk with Zepar, and I can protect him. It’s up to you if you want me protecting him, but there is a lot at stake here if Zepar asks him a direct question that requires him to expose what is really going on.”
“Do you mind protecting him after everything?”
“Despite all of Eiltan’s mistakes, I am still Fae, and he is still my prince. This might be our only shot at stopping this. It’s my duty to protect you, but if we can fix the problems in the Fae realm, we should do everything we can to do so.”
“Thank you, Fergus.”
“I have something to say and something that will help,” I announced. “Fergus, please come out.”
Fergus burst from my chest and started playing on my shoulder. Eiltan and Ior both gasped in shock. Ior was looking at me in total awe.
“That’s not possible,” he whispered.
“Fergus is how I found out everything I did, and he helped us escape Scorchwood.”
“Do you mean you called Fergus Ó Síoráin as your guardian? He’s a Fae hero. He died young, but he was a hero on the battlefield, and he died saving the king,” Eiltan said.
“Yes, that’s my Fergus, and he’s agreed to be your guardian when you deal with Zepar, temporarily. I might as well tell you this. I’m in love with Fergus and want to wish him real. I want you to remember he helped me, and he’s agreed to help you before you get all offended about how forbidden it is.”
Ior and Eiltan shared this glance like they had no idea what to say to me. Ior bowed his head to me again.
“That law was written a long time ago. The fact that you managed to call a guardian at all when you are only half Fae and that you’ve mated with a wolf and a Vampire is telling me we are not only right to reopen the portal, but perhaps we need to revisit some of our older laws and beliefs.
“It was thought unnatural to wish a guardian real again because they already lived a full life before they died and gained the honor of becoming a guardian. I think part of that law is because it’s very rare for a Fae to become a guardian when they die. Every parent wants their child to have one. I didn’t get one, and neither did Eiltan. Perhaps that law was passed not because a guardian shouldn’t be alive a second time, but more because if a guardian becomes real again, there are less to go around.
“Everything about you is impossible according to our laws and lore, Serafina. If Fergus felt the call and came to you, who’s to say the fact that you love each other is wrong? A halfling has never called a guardian in all of our history. If Fergus is willing to protect Eiltan after everything he found out, then he clearly loves you, and who am I to say that is wrong?”
Well, fuck me. Ior and Eiltan were making it really hard to hate them. Maybe the Fae weren’t all that bad. I loved Fergus, and he was Fae. Perhaps I needed to learn more about that side of my heritage.
Eiltan perked up.
“This plan of yours is good, but why go to war if we don’t have to? Zepar could accidentally get killed on the battlefield, or he could realize he’s losing and fall on his sword so the Fae can’t get their remedy for double-crossing him. If Fergus is with me when I meet him, I could just capture him and bring him to Hell. You can get his coconspirators out of him, and the Fae can help you deal with them discreetly.”
“It’s a wonderful plan, but Zepar is fire born. Fergus can’t hurt him,” Bael said.
Amduscias cracked up laughing.
“Yes, he can. I thought I’d never get that image out of my head, but we can use it. I watched Fergus fly down a man’s throat and explode him from the inside. If Fergus flies up Zepar’s nose, Eiltan can let him know if Fergus grows to his full size, Zepar will be splattered all over the walls. Or, Fergus can stay tiny, and Zepar can come quietly.
“Zepar won’t think Eiltan is taking him to Hell. He knows the Fae needs him alive because his blood is the remedy. He’ll think Eiltan is taking him somewhere topside to steal his blood and lock him up. He’ll think once Fergus flies out his nose, he’ll just portal out of there or find another way of escaping.”
Eiltan looked a little green.
“Warden Skinner seemed particularly offended at the way Rathmore was killed. I take it that was the method of his execution?”
I tossed my hair over my shoulder. Was he about to get all judgey with me?
“He deserved it. He gave me a pelvic exam without my permission, put a control spell on me, and cut my birth control out of my arm.”
Eiltan smiled at me like he was actually proud of me.
“You’d make a hell of a Sunshadow princess if you wanted it.”
“We use both of our plans,” Bael said. “Eiltan will make Zepar think he is getting his army. Get all the details you can before you unleash Fergus. Zepar will eventually break under torture and give us what we want, but knowing Zepar, he will use this opportunity to give us names of people he just doesn’t like. If he’s going down, he’s taking his enemies with him.”
We had a plan for Zepar, but Zepar wasn’t the one who framed me and had Rathmore experiment on me. I knew what Zepar wanted, but what did Skinner get from all the elementals she framed?
“What’s the plan for Skinner?” I demanded.
Ior gave me a huge grin. He pulled this ornate pocket watch out of his pocket.
“Everything should be handled with the board of Scorchwood by now. Press releases should be ready to go. She’s sitting in her office with no knowledge of what’s going on. She’s ripe to disappear right about now.”
Solron was bouncing happily in her chair. Bael gave her this cruel grin.
“Solron, how would you like to go play? You have my permission to knock her around a bit.”
Solron jumped to her feet and looked like she’d just been given the best Christmas present ever. She opened a portal and disappeared.
I wasn’t taught how to torture by a king of Hell, but I had my own questions for that witch.
Chapter 9
Amduscias
I
wouldn’t usually go on a raid with a shadow demon, and I knew Solron could handle herself. I didn’t care if Solron beat the shit out of Warden Skinner, but I was going because I wanted to make damned sure she ended up in someone’s dungeon so I could get my chance at torturing that bitch.
Scorchwood wasn’t supposed to be like that for us. Things would have been so different for Roman if those upgrades had actually been done. It wasn’t his precious moon and stars, but if that rec room had been built so he’d had the illusion of being outside, he might not have hesitated when he ran and got caught. If he hadn’t got caught, Rathmore wouldn’t have been pissed about losing him and tortured him. Rathmore was dead, but I held Warden Skinner responsible for his torture.
I didn’t want to alert Skinner with the swirling red cloud of a demon portal. Solron wasn’t mad I was coming with her. She understood why I needed to be there. We went to an unlit room with shadows. I grabbed her arm and felt the yank as we traveled by shadow to Scorchwood.
I just hoped we ended up in her office. If her office were brightly lit, we’d land in the nearest shadow. I didn’t want to tip her off we were here. If she wasn’t working alone, I didn’t want her calling anyone.
Luckily, we found Skinner in the middle of a ritual. Her office was dark except for the candles she had lit at the corners of the pentagram she had drawn on the floor. Solron went to step out of the shadow, and I stopped her. I wanted to see what kind of a ritual the little witch was doing.
She had a secret cell phone for Eiltan in her safe and a cell phone on her desk, but she was talking to someone through magic. Several people. A coven?
“Yes, Rathmore’s death has set us back. I need to replace him. It has to be another witch or warlock, and they have to be medically trained. It would take ages to give someone the same training we gave Rathmore. Is there anyone in the Coven that fits those needs?”
“That’s willing to work in Scorchwood? Hardly, Luc
iana. Rathmore was careless and got caught. He could have exposed us all. He’s lucky you got yourself chosen as warden and were able to save him so we could continue our work.”
There was an entire coven of sick fucks like Magnus Rathmore? Well, they were an empire now if Skinner managed to get the cushy position as warden of Scorchwood just to stop us from killing him so he could continue his work. I needed names because they were all going down. How did this plot keep getting more fucked up?
“Well, Morgana, I can blackmail someone, but they probably won’t have the stomach for it.”
“Luciana, maybe it’s time to stop using Scorchwood. Didn’t the Fae pull the plug? If we get caught, we can’t say we were doing all this for the Sunshadows anymore. You still have those women in the safe houses. Focus on them.”
“Duncan, I want that halfling. It was her that ruined all of this. I still don’t know how she did such a horrible thing to Rathmore, but she’s strong, and we deserve revenge for what she did to Rathmore. No one kills a member of the Nightshade Circle and gets away with it. We need the demon back too.”
“Face it, Luciana. Rathmore fucked up, and you fucked up. The demon is probably back in Hell where you can’t get to him. If you kill the illegitimate daughter to the Fae throne, you will expose us all. Leave it.”
“Fuck you, Calder. We were close. We had an entire list of test subjects that could have given us what we needed. Think of how much stronger we would have been once we had those babies and drained their blood? We would have been more than just witches and warlocks. We would have had the powers of every supernatural race. No one could stop us. We would have more respect than the elementals and the Fae.”
This was still about creating the perfect supernatural even now? I had the name of several coven members and the name of the coven. I didn’t want to move until she had cut off the conversation. I didn’t want to tip off the rest of the Nightshade Circle that a reckoning was coming.
Risky Business Page 4
