by Lexi Ostrow
She smiled, and he smirked. Being in love didn’t always have to lead to death for her, and she and Philippe were going to prove that.
Twenty-Three
Odette looked around the meeting room at the council and felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. Ever since their return life had been meeting upon meeting, all for different things, but now it was time for the meeting that would determine the Alliance of Silver and Steam’s fate.
They had been home just shy of three days. For the first day, they had hidden what had happened to her father. Layel had appeared in the Guildmaster’s office on day two and told her that the Royals needed to know what was occurring, that the guild and the Alliance deserved to know. She’d been ignoring it. Not wanting it to be true, but Layel had been right. She’d needed to do what was right for the guild, and hiding the tragedy that took him was not the way.
Together, with everyone that had made the trip to save her life, they told the guild after morning meal. The tension from each one of them could be felt, even if their faces did not betray the truth. Their story had many holes, and without all of them to explain it, it would be unraveled with a simple question they hadn’t anticipated when they’d planned it on the journey home.
The five of them had weaved a lie, that on a business encounter, her father had fallen ill and had swiftly been taken from this world. They had said Kellan had traveled to Ireland, having been homesick for his family. No one had questioned them, not then at least.
When they had adjourned, Alliance members had approached her, one by one, and poked through the gaps in the story. That morning they had called a meeting of just the Alliance members, in the very room the council sat in. Tears had fallen from every one of the thirty-three hunters and the eighteen inventors. Her father’s death was mourned, which left the meeting that night to finish.
She looked around the room again—Greyston, Felicia, Eliza, Lucius, Philippe, Physician Tate, Layel and the royal member of the council, Jacob—sat around the room. The two other masters at the guild had declined to come, wanting more time with their grief, but swearing they would immediately accept whoever took over.
Tonight would be the hardest night of all. They would pick her father’s permanent successor, discuss what to do about Kellan, and she had to share with them what she was. All but Jacob and Felicia knew, anyway.
That hadn’t made it easy to prep herself for what she was about to do. She wanted to keep her secret about her mixed heritage and her craving for blood. She could not, though. People needed to know in order to watch out for her behavior and to protect her from others who could stumble upon the information and react badly.
“I don’t want to make little of this. There is a secret in this room that needs to be spoken. As the council, what occurs here is private and is not to leave.” No one interrupted her, but she felt her voice catch in her throat.
Her eyes darted to Philippe, and she regretted it. She didn’t want to need him, but she did. He nodded, and she felt herself sigh, accepting his support when she should be standing strong on her own two feet.
“I am not human. Not entirely.”
“We know. That is why you went to Hell, is it not?” Felicia didn’t bother to stand. It was unnecessary, and being days from giving birth, the motion was too strenuous on her body.
“That is not the whole of it. My father, Thomas Agardawes, was not my father. Not by birth and not by blood.” She wanted to add that he had been in the ways that it mattered, but instead, gestured to Layel. Everyone but the demons present, herself included, wore goggles to look upon him. She did not need them since Seraphina had shared her blood. “This Pure Angel is my father.”
The backlash may have been louder had it been news to more than two people in the room.
“How is he not a Fallen?” Felicia asked.
Jacob growled and banged on the railing in front of him. “You cannot be here then.”
She chose to address Jacob first, holding a hand to motion Lucius and Greyston to rise. “You say I cannot be here, and yet, before you stand too full-blooded demons. Whilst I mean no offense when I say this, they are not the same as a Pure Angel. Their kind is known for seduction and murder. Yet they are here, why would I be different? Is it because I am of the fairer sex? Or simply that you knew you could not oppose my father and think you can oppose me?” She leveled her eyes onto his blue ones, and he fidgeted.
Jacob lowered his head, shook it and sighed. “They have proven themselves loyal to the guild, to the Alliance and to the crown. What have you done? I mean no disrespect, I am here as a liaison to the Royals because my bastard status makes me less valuable, more disposable. So if I am to work alongside a half demon, I should like to know her true colors.”
“Salaud!” Philippe’s French struck out in the room.
Whilst she wasn’t certain, she knew it wasn’t a polite word.
“You know nothing about her, so hold your tongue.” He’d bolted up from his seat and was leaning over the railing that circled around the benches as if he were going to strike at the bastard prince.
Her heart shattered a fraction at Philippe’s defense of her. After everything she had said, he had defended her. Their reconciliation may have been fresh, but it was certainly real. They were going to make it out the other side because she loved him too much not to.
Not now, Odette. Not now.
“Thank you, Philippe, I appreciate your loyalty. This is my secret and my battle.” She turned to Jacob, who looked visibly annoyed. “I left London for America, to head up an Alliance branch there, because the crown lost power of the Americas, and no one else would go. Do you know what I found when I was there, your highness?” She rose and opened the short gate that would allow her to cross over to him.
“No, I do not.”
“A family. I fell in love with a wonderful merchant. We had a young daughter, barely five in age and a son nearing three. For many of the years I spent there, demons hadn’t existed. Then I came in from a mission and found my entire sect killed. Slaughtered by what I can only hope was more than one demon, but I only ever found one body.” She was barely a hair’s breath away from him and had it been any other encounter, it may have looked as if they would kiss. “I lost my family. I lost my mother because she insisted on fucking an Angel, and now I’ve lost the most incredible man this world has seen. All to demons. So do not ask me what I have done. I have done nothing, you are right. Ask me what I have lost that qualifies me to be here.”
Jacob bowed his head. “My apologies.”
She nodded and stepped backwards. No one else in the room was seated anymore. They stood, forming a semicircle and watched. Layel’s eyes were a stark silver, like molten metal, Felicia’s fiery temper shined from her eyes as well. Philippe was steps behind her, his mouth twisted into a snarl. Again, she felt herself fighting the urge to run to him, to lose herself in his arms.
“It is fine. I knew this revelation would be a problem for some. Why do you think it’s imperative it does not leave the meeting?” She turned, and as she passed by Philippe, gently put her hand on his arm. She took her seat, and Felicia asked her question again.
“We know I have no qualms with demons here. I simply do not understand how an Angel could cause a human to have an addiction, sleep with her, bare a child and not fall?” It was the same question Odette had been asking herself for the past three and half weeks.
“I can help with that,” Greyston spoke out. “Angels fall when they do misdeeds. When evil lurks within their hearts. Layel’s intent would have had to be malicious and intentional. However, I think his actions were motivated by love.”
“I will not contest that statement.”
A look passed betwixt Layel and Greyston, one that almost seemed like a warning to Odette.
“It doesn’t hurt that he is the king of Pure Angels,” Greyston added, his eyes still locked with Layel’s.
The tense band that had been growing in her chest finally snapped. Her head whipped to the
Angel, and her mouth gaped open. They all had similar looks on their face, save for Lucius. She wanted the revelation to mean less to her than it did. But how could it?
She had spoken before she realized it. “Is it true? Are you the one who began all of this?”
He growled, at Greyston she presumed. “It is true. I am the one who approached the then King after the demons attacked in his court. I am the one who made the decision to share the crystals and the blood magic that controls the sensors with the Alliance.”
She nodded. Her head was spinning with all the possible meanings. She was royalty, in a sense. She still had a father who could teach her who and what she was. She had a powerful father. Her hands covered her eyes, and she dragged them down her face in annoyance. Her brain simply wasn’t processing properly. Too much had happened in barely over a month. The revelation was worthy of a response, but she could not bring herself to formulate one. There was too much to do to spend time on it.
“Felicia, I am not certain about you, but that adequately answers my questions on the subject.”
“Oh, it does. It brings up the little matter of just how much our demon members know and do not share.”
Temper flared behind her words, and Greyston visibly slunk lower on the bench. Odette did not wish to be him.
“We will speak on that another time. Two pressing matters must now be handled before we adjourn. Let us start with the most important. Succession. In the instance where the Guildmaster—” her voice cracked, and she struggled to push the word out, struggled to be the leader Agardawes would have wanted her to be. “—meets their demise, the next of kin is to be granted authority until a replacement can be chosen from the council or other location Guildmasters. We need to decide who shall take over and quickly. Seraphina knows of her victory, and if we do not place someone in charge, someone to begin the retaliation, we will be in a devastating place.”
Eliza cleared her throat and stood up, indicating she had something she wished to speak. “I do not desire to see someone we do not know in charge. I move that we work harder to communicate with the other Guildmaster’s from this day on, but I do not think they know London enough to guide this main sect. It needs to be someone who knows where the demons lurk here, how the late Guildmaster would have handled situations and how to think like a demon. We have never placed our thoughts just how Seraphina would strike. The lesson learned this time is she is not aimless in her actions. We know she used the Kappa to enslave and destroy from the inside. We are aware that she commands favor of the higher demons and gets them to work together. I want someone in charge who will do all these things.” Color touched Eliza’s cheeks, but her voice was strong and loud.
“I second that.” Lucius rose as his mate sat and then sat.
“Well then, with a motion seconded it would appear one of us is about to get an advancement.”
“Yes, you are.”
Philippe’s voice sounded to her left and startled her; he’d been so quiet since his outburst.
“Excuse me?”
Her brow furrowed at him and he rose to continue his turn at speaking. “I nominate you to lead us. None of us, save for Felicia, grew up in the Alliance. None of us knew how your father,” he gave a nod of apology to Layel, “thought. You were placed in charge in the American location. You are also a border betwixt two species in a way that only one other in the Alliance will be, Felicia’s baby. You straddle the line betwixt human and demon, and your blood father may be swayed to help us should his daughter make the request. There is no one in this room more suited than you.”
“I cannot.” She was adamant but said no more. It had been under her leadership that a group of twelve hunters and two inventors were brutally slaughtered. She would not be the cause of it again.
“You will have no choice in the matter in a moment, ma belle falle. All those in favor of seeing Odette Cosgrove become the Guildmaster and Alliance head, say aye.”
Every single person in the room, including Jacob, said aye.
“There you have it, Odette. You are outnumbered. I know you fear your past. I know we all do. The past is what makes us who we are, and you have been through one tougher than most. You will do a fine job. Move us onto the final piece of business.” He sat.
Odette closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath of air through her nose. They had given her no choice in the matter. Running from it would make her father’s death in vain. She owed it to him to continue on in the battle he had started. She would fight to her own death to prevent any harm from entering the guildhalls. The demons of Hell had taken enough from her life and being Guildmaster truly was the strongest position she could fight back from. After one more deep breath, she opened her eyes.
“Very well then. I will not let you down, and I will not let Kellan down. The final order of business is his rescue. A Pure Angel we met in Hell, Rafe, knew that Seraphina wanted an Alliance member to torture for information on top of a spy inside the walls. This leads me to believe Kellan is alive. I don’t know in what condition, but if she is half as forceful as she was with me, he will be in trouble. Time is of the essence, but I do not want anything hurried. We rushed to save my own life at the cost of two. I will not let that happen again. Kellan’s best chance is for us to be prepared. The cave entrance to Hell is gone. Layel spoke with me the other night. The demons somehow sealed it shut for good. That leaves two other entrances.” She sat down, her legs tired of standing and she was not interested in the pretense of formality anymore.
“London and the middle of the sea in an underwater cave.” Layel broke in. “London is not an option. Do not seek an answer. You will not get one. Just know that the London entrance is not to be broached.”
“This means we need a way to get to the bottom of a very deep sea and survive. I’m confident in saying a larger crew is required. You will be fighting off more than demons on your descent under the water.” She looked across at Jacob. “We will need funding for this, as well as a ship large enough to tow something.”
“I will present the case and ask—”
“No, you will command it. I admittedly do not know how my father interacted with yours, but I know how I will. This is not a request. If your father wants us to remain quiet, he will comply.”
Jacob shook his head and nodded resolutely. She almost felt bad for the man. He was in a room out of his peers and constantly on the losing end of her ire.
“There is something you’re missing, Odette,” Lucius spoke.
A grin spread across her face. “Oh no, there isn’t. Eliza, you are going to make me an airship that can move underwater.”
Color drained from Eliza’s face. “Odette, not that I am not honored, but that could take the better part of a year simply to build it, never mind test it. Kellan can’t possibly have that much time.”
“Then you will have to work faster and harder. A barrier will be erected at the harbor so you may have a big enough workspace. A hunter and Royal Guard will stand watch around the clock. The only question is can you do it, Eliza? Can you make a ship that will work underwater and be big enough?” Odette saw the insult as it hit on the inventor’s face, just as she had wanted it too.
“Of course I can.”
“It doesn’t need to be big. That entrance is nothing like the cave. Once you are down there, different paths lead directly to the realms of Hell. I know this entry, and can have a map made out. You will not need nearly as many warriors, just enough to get by the Sirens that guard the entrance.”
She wished Layel had shared that initially during her own rescue mission, but there would not have been time to access that entrance, so it made sense.
For the first time since she before the Kappa demon had bitten her, she felt hope. They were going to do everything in their power to save Kellan, and then they could focus on stopping Seraphina. She would not let her father down. Not ever again.
"Then we are done. No more will we lose to the demons." Odette rose once more, passion teemin
g in her voice. "We are going back into Hell, and we are getting him back."
Epilogue
Philippe brushed the scruff of his unshaved beard over Odette’s inner thigh. She groaned, and her body arched off the bed, closer to his mouth. When her hips rolled, he growled deeply. He had grown to love making love to Odette, and they had not had many chances the past month. Things had gone around in a whirlwind as she had stepped up to Guildmaster and Alliance leader.
He swept his tongue over her hot core, just as the buzz chime of the communicator sounded in the room. He pulled back slightly. “Do not answer it, Odette.”
She laughed playfully and slid up on the bed. In the past month, Eliza had worked with Layel to get the communicators to function within the guild walls themselves.
He groaned and emerged from under the bed sheet to sit next to her. She was visiting him in his chambers. She still lived in her father’s home but spent most of her time with Philippe at the guild.
“Yes?” Her voice was light, not giving away what they had been engaging in.
“Get down to the physician’s ward now,” Greyston barked through the communicator. “I have a son, and I would be honored if you would be the first ones to meet him, to witness the naming.”
Odette didn’t say anything for a moment, and Philippe feared she was having a flashback to losing her own son. A smile quickly spread across her lips, only making her even more beautiful.
“Congratulations! We will be right there.” She tugged her communicator over her wrist and was up and out of the bed before Philippe had even processed that there was a little Halfling in their lives. He was horrible with kids, but he was happy for Greyston and Felicia.
Felicia had been brought to the guild to deliver because none of them had truly known what to expect. A Halfling baby could have been very sick or very demon. They’d wasted no precautions, and she had been staying inside the guild for the past week.
