by Bella Klaus
I bit down on my lip and gulped. It wasn’t like I held any affection for Hades. He was a double-crossing dick who tried to take advantage of Valentine’s death with a faux display of sympathy. He also stood by and laughed as Nut and Geb dragged me from his office when he could have negotiated a seven-day extension on my debt.
“Release me this instant, or I’ll confine your soul to the deepest pit of Hell,” Hades snarled.
“You would have done that already if you could,” Valentine said.
The Demon King clenched his teeth. “What do you want?”
“Fight with us against Kresnik,” Valentine said. “Stop plotting against my family, my fiancée, and myself. Stop trying to court Mera, and help me find my father’s soul.”
Hades squeezed his eyes shut and panted. “Remove the trident, and we’ll talk.”
Valentine stepped back and folded his arms across his chest. “Do you agree?”
“Fool,” Hades said through ragged breaths. “Anything I agree to now would be null and void. No contract—verbal or otherwise—can stick if it’s made under extreme duress.”
I chewed the inside of my lip. He had a point, but that didn’t mean we were going to remove the trident.
Valentine stretched out an arm. “Mera, we’re leaving.”
“What?” Hades screeched.
Valentine turned to Caiman. “Have the wards of this room sealed to the maximum until after Mera and I have returned from our honeymoon.”
“Very well, Your Majesty,” replied the butler.
“Honey—” Hades shook his head from side to side. “What are you gibbering about?”
I walked a wide circle around Hades’ fallen form, making sure to avoid the blood pooling across the floor, and reached Valentine’s side.
He placed a hand on the small of my back and guided me toward the door. “When we have defeated Kresnik without your help, we intend to arrange our long-awaited wedding and spend an unspecified time traveling on honeymoon.”
Despite having left the Demon King impaled and bleeding on the floor, my heart still managed to make an excited flip. “Really?”
“We can visit anywhere in the world of your choosing.”
“That’s if Kresnik doesn’t kill you first,” Hades spat.
Valentine and I stepped out into the hallway, where a trio of cloaked wizards already awaited. Each of them held large crystals I recognized to be ward stones.
A breath caught in the back of my throat. Would they really keep Hades injured and walled up in the room for such an unspecified amount of time? Not that he didn’t deserve it. I’d lost count of the amount of disasters that were the direct result of the Demon King’s negligence, and Valentine owed him for helping the Mage King take over his preternatural body.
“Wait,” Hades screamed.
All three of us turned to the open doorway, where the Demon King crawled toward us, stretching out a bloody hand.
“Don’t do this.” His voice broke. “I couldn’t stand to be alone in this room for a day, let alone months.”
Valentine folded his arms across his chest. “What do you propose?”
“Another agreement, this time without the duress.” Hades’ tongue darted out to lick his lips.
“I’m listening,” said Valentine.
Hades’ eyes darkened even further. “Come inside. I won’t be overheard by gossiping servants.”
Valentine glanced down at me as though to ask if I wanted to play along with Hades’ new machinations. I raised a shoulder. The Demon King was always in the company of one woman or another. He just might be serious about not wanting to be left alone in a darkened room and might make us a genuine offer.
We stepped back into the dueling room, letting the door click shut behind us.
“Speak,” Valentine growled.
Hades nodded. “At some point in the future, Miss Griffin will remake me.”
So all his talk of having separated our connection had been bullshit. “You want me to burn you into ash again?”
He lowered his head, resting his fists on his thighs. “But this time resurrect me without your blood.”
“So you can come after me again?” I snapped.
“So I can stop obsessing over you,” he barked. “I can barely stand it. When I’m with Coral, all I can think of is you. Not even a pair of water nymphs and a succubus could distract me from my desire, Miss Griffin.”
Revulsion twisted through my insides with a twinge of guilt. If what he was telling was the truth, then his behavior would never cease. “Is this because I resurrected you with my blood?”
“What else could explain this unholy obsession? I haven’t felt this way about a woman since…” His lips tightened, and he jerked his head away with his nostrils flared.
I stepped closer to Valentine, taking comfort in the warmth and strength of his larger body. Hades didn’t need to complete the sentence. I already knew he was talking about Persephone, the wife who appeared in half the artwork around his office, private quarters, and palace.
“Do we have a bargain?” the Demon King growled.
Valentine stroked his hand up and down my arm, silently communicating that accepting or rejecting his proposal was entirely my decision.
“I agree to your demands, but what about everything Valentine asked for?”
Hades exhaled a choked breath. “We can tack that onto an agreement.”
“And what about the duress?” I stared down at the Demon King, who knelt on all fours with his head bowed in defeat.
“Since the offer came at my instigation and is unrelated to the pitchfork lodged in my lungs, I believe our contract will hold in any supernatural court of law.”
Valentine stared down at Hades without a trace of pity in his red eyes. I placed my hand on his chest and tilted my head to the side in a silent question. By now, Valentine’s faith in the goodness of the Supernatural Council had to be hanging by a fraying thread. Not only had Hades continued to plot against him, but the Demon King hadn’t lifted a claw to ensure Valentine’s safety during his time in prison.
I also sent out a silent word of thanks to Nut and Geb. They didn’t realize this, but their threats to eat my organs had triggered me to stage a jailbreak. Even though Valentine might have been able to kill the assassin with his telekinesis, there was no telling if Prince Draconius would have come in to complete the murder himself.
Without a word to the Demon King, Valentine guided me to the door, and we stepped out into the hallway.
Caiman stood to attention with the trio of wizards. “Your Majesty?”
“Please send for someone who can draft a contract,” Valentine said.
The butler inclined his head. “Maitland is already at your service.”
A heartbeat later, a tall vampire appeared and swept into a low bow. “Your Majesty?”
When he rose, I met his green eyes, recognizing him as a member of Valentine’s Board of Directors. Maitland was the Head of the Legal Department in his property holding company. The man always dressed like an undertaker with his frock coat, high-necked shirt, and cravat, and in all the times we had worked together, he’d barely acknowledged my presence.
“I need the utmost discretion on this matter,” Valentine said.
Maitland inclined his head. “As always.”
Valentine and Maitland sat on the uncomfortable sofas, drafting up a contract using Hades’ blood as the ink. Hades knelt on his hands and knees in an expanding pool of blood.
I leaned against the wall with my arms folded against my chest, trying not to cringe at the spectacle. Even with my basic academy education, I knew that signing a contract in one’s own blood made it more binding than signing it in ink, but drafting its wording in the blood made it irrevocable.
In between the discussion, the Demon King’s gaze drifted toward mine. A lump formed in the back of my throat, and I tore my eyes away from him and tried to look everywhere except him.
The man was insidious. Odious
. Devious. Yet why couldn’t I stop myself from feeling pity?
I shook off those thoughts and focused on the upcoming battle.
After several minutes, Maitland waved a hand over the scroll, drying the blood to a deep brown. “I will take this to the treasury for safekeeping.”
“Thank you.” Valentine placed a hand on the other man’s arm.
The lawyer turned on his heel and strode out of the room with Caiman, letting the door click shut.
“Satisfied?” Hades asked through clenched teeth. “I have agreed to advocate for you with the Council of Ministers, cease allying with your enemies, fight Kresnik, help you find the soul of King Antonius, and stop pursuing Miss Griffin.”
“Immensely,” Valentine said.
“Then remove this infernal trident from my back before I bleed to death.”
“You’re immortal,” I said.
“That is hardly the point,” the Demon King hissed through clenched teeth.
Valentine rose from his seat, placed a foot on Hades’ ass to steady himself, and yanked the trident from his back.
Hades threw his head back and screamed. “You did that on purpose.”
“Perhaps.” Valentine wrapped a hand around the Demon King’s neck and flung him against the wall, sending two of the portraits falling to the ground.
Next, Valentine raised both hands, and the wooden furniture splintered, their pieces flying to the walls. At least that explained why I’d found the sofas so uncomfortable. What was the point of furnishing the room with the good stuff when it would be smashed into pieces as part of a declaration of a duel?
“Mera,” Valentine growled. “If you want to stay here and watch me beat some sense into the Demon King, then shift.”
With a nod, I pushed my magic out and transformed.
Valentine did a double take, turned his attention away from Hades, and walked toward me with his brows furrowed. “What happened?”
I glanced down at my fiery hands.
Hands?
My head snapped up. “I’m not a phoenix.” I reared back. “And I can talk?”
Hades staggered to his feet and brushed himself off. “I believe Miss Griffin has unlocked another element of her power and has discovered how to transform herself into an ifrit.”
I glanced down at my body. It was still female, still fiery, and still mine. Best of all, I still wore my cloak. “Maybe I’m channeling some of Kresnik’s power through our bond.”
“Bond with Kresnik?” Hades choked. “I hope you’re referring to the father-daughter connection?”
Valentine stepped forward, his eyes wide with awe. “This is wonderful news.”
Hades nodded. “There’s a lot a young woman can do with a pair of hands.” When I shot him my most venomous glare, he raised his hands. “I’m talking about wielding your reaper scythe.”
My fingers trembled as I tapped the cloak, trying to avoid melting Valentine’s credit card. The miniature scythe protruded from my right pocket, and I reached into its depths and pulled it out.
In the blink of an eye, it expanded into a full-length reaper weapon, its curved edge aflame.
Valentine gave me a sharp nod. “With the blood of one immortal Greek god, the trident of another, and a scythe that can harness the power of a phoenix, we have everything we need to destroy Kresnik.”
I beamed at the prospect of putting an end to Kresnik, but a worry twisted in my stomach. What if turning into an ifrit meant I could never again shift into a phoenix?
Chapter Twenty
I stared down at my fingers, turning them around to find that my flaming body had completely engulfed the engagement ring. Valentine and Hades still crowded around me, staring intently at my latest development. A lock of orange hair slipped down over my face, and I tucked it behind my ear.
“This is so much better than being an oversized bird,” I murmured.
A knock sounded on the door and Kain slipped inside, his eyes bulging. “Mera?”
I spread my arms wide. “What do you think?”
“You look like the Human Torch.” When I didn’t react, he glanced at Valentine with his brows raised. “From The Fantastic Four? He’s a superhero?”
I shook my head, for once not loosening bits of fiery debris.
“Anyway.” Kain hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ve been watching Kresnik all day. You should know he’s already gathered thousands of people across Kingston Bridge.”
“What for?” asked Valentine.
“We suspect they’re advancing on Logris,” said Hades.
“But the wards will hold,” Valentine said.
“The Council has brought in ward masters from Atlantis, Akakor, and El Dorado, ophanim from Heaven, and I’ve employed a combination of my most talented demons and deceased wardsmiths to secure Logris.” Hades ran a bloody hand through his hair, seeming to have completely recovered from his ordeal. “Nobody’s getting inside unless Kresnik does something drastic.”
I tilted my head to the side, wondering what could be more desperate than tricking a horde of humans to attack a supernatural city. “What could he possibly do to make the wards fall?”
“Human sacrifices,” Valentine and Hades said at the same time.
Kain clapped a hand over his mouth. “That’s what he was talking about!”
We all turned to the young man standing in the doorway, who flushed. “Kresnik asked a crowd of people if they were prepared to sacrifice everything to make the world safe from the demonic plague.” Kain wrinkled his nose. “Then he showed a bogus vision of Heaven with half-naked models with angel wings.”
My jaw dropped. “People fell for that?”
He raised his shoulders. “At least the men did.”
“Do you have the app on your phone that plays human TV?” I asked Kain.
He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket, pulled out a smartphone, and tapped its screen. While Hades and Valentine crowded around him, I pulled back my flames, fastening the clasp of my cloak.
“It’s worse than we thought,” Hades muttered. “Excuse me while I gather a crack team to deal with these delusional humans.”
My mouth dropped open. “You can’t kill—”
Hades disappeared before I got a chance to complete my sentence.
“What’s happening?” I strode across the room to where Valentine and Kain stared at the screen of the smartphone, finding Annie Chong from BBC Score standing in front of a screen, narrating the actions of hundreds, if not thousands of humans walking through the trees.
“Is that Richmond Park?” I asked.
“They’re heading straight toward us,” Valentine muttered.
I shook my head. “Is Hades going to murder anyone who comes close to the wards?”
Valentine paused for several moments, seeming not to want to reply. When I placed a hand on his bicep, he pressed his lips together and exhaled a sharp breath through his nostrils. “I’d like to say he’s bound by law not to attack innocent humans, but the answer is complicated.”
Kain raised his head. “What do you mean?”
“The laws concerning the exposure of our world to humans are somewhat…” Valentine winced. “Murky.”
My shoulders sagged, and I exhaled the world’s heaviest breath. All that time I kept secrets from Beatrice, I should have worried about the world at large, because those things I imagined she would suffer could now be done on everyone who had seen a hint of the Supernatural World.
“They wouldn’t attack them all,” I whispered.
“The Supernatural Secrecy Act does allow for executions in cases where a human’s knowledge of our world would put our lives in jeopardy,” Valentine said, his voice breathy with regret. “I dread to think of what measures the Council has approved.”
I grabbed his arm. “We’ve got to do something.”
Valentine’s gaze swept down my body, reaching my bare feet. “Ask someone to direct you to the queen’s dressing room, where you’ll find a few c
hanges of fireproof armor. The green set has been enchanted to retract when you shift into avian form.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“If we can stop Kresnik before he gives the order to attack Logris, perhaps we can prevent a widespread slaughter.” Valentine swept his arm toward the door.
He didn’t need to tell me another time. I raced out into the hallway, passing servants who murmured greetings to me as the Lady Phoenix, and out into the palace’s grand reception area of marble floors, matching columns, and crystal chandeliers. I turned toward the grand staircase, readying myself to charge up the steps.
“My Lady,” a voice shouted. “Behind—”
Before I could so much as blink an eye, a strong hand wrapped around my neck, raising me off the ground.
I stared into the crimson eyes of a man in fireproof armor. Even though I could barely see his features through the transparent strip in his helmet’s visor, there was no mistaking the leering features of Prince Draconius.
“At long last.” He elongated his syllables as though savoring the sweet taste of victory. “I have you in my grasp.”
My heart leapfrogged into the back of my throat, making me jerk into action. I flared out my flames across my skin, hoping the armor would warp or buckle under my touch.
Digging the fingers of one hand beneath his large hand, I fumbled around his wrist with the other, trying to find a seam. If I could get my flames to touch him, even for a second, he would cower with terror.
“What are you doing?” I said from between clenched teeth. “If Valentine—”
“My beloved nephew died,” drawled the vampire. “An unfortunate business, but you’ll find that—”
Prince Draconius’s helmet flew off, revealing his shocked eyes.
“What is the meaning of this?”
I spat a fiery glob of phlegm into his face, filling the air with a cloud of steam and the scent of burning flesh.
“Bullseye!” Kain appeared on my left, punching his fist into his palm. “I knew you could spit fire.”
I snorted a laugh. This was the same young man who had suggested I defecate on my enemies from the sky.