Hair pulled up in a topknot, her skin grows even more stretched over her skull as she smiles with plump, plum coloured lips.
She speaks, and suddenly I realise where I know her from.
“Did I hear someone say negotiate? Now we’re talking,” she purrs.
I gape, only one word escaping my lips into the silence.
“Pandora?”
Chapter Twenty Six
I Need You Tonight
PANDORA
His reputation precedes him, and as my eyes caress his angular figure, I can’t help but feel my heart skip a beat. I might hate his brother, but there’s no denying that Haedes is hot as hell.
My words ring out, bouncing from the crystal of the grand hall. It might not be The Higher Plains, but it’s worlds away from the crumbling ruins of The Fallen Kingdom. Lucifer recognises me, my name falling from her lips and into the stunned silence shortly after my own verbal invitation.
The Nexus Council stares at me, and the Banshee at my side edge forward as three women I’ve read about only in myth, leap into action to defend their charges. Their growls are audible and make everyone, except me, in the room incrementally twitch. I myself am practically immune to Banshee screams by now.
“Pandora… wait, aren’t you that Kindred of Hera...” Haedes begins, raising a hand and halting the forward motion of the three female warriors, who are furious in expression. His voice is smooth with an edge of rugger, like duchess satin when it slides through your fingers the wrong way.
“No. I was a Titan. But your brother…” I begin, and Haedes raises a hand.
“Look, if you’re here to put me in the same boat as my brother, then you’ve really got the wrong one… in fact, you and I may have more in common than you think.” Haedes grins, charming as he steps forward before looking to the rest of the Nexus council members.
“Leave us,” he commands them, sending the three wicked looking women to usher the other gods made mortal from the room. They look back over their shoulders to him, their eyes wide with some expressions turning from shocked to irritated quicker than I can fathom. I wonder if Haedes is about to make my job far easier than I have anticipated, but as I take a few steps forward, he raises a hand.
“One moment,” he promises, lifting a finger. Raising his hand, I feel the Banshee stir at my sides as I still, their loyalty to me as good as it ever has been to Lilliana. They shift, claws tinkling against the crystal of the floor as I feel my posture stiffen, preparing for a fight.
He clicks his fingers, summoning a mist above us. A funky beat begins to emit, stirring my anger.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demand, scowling.
“I am setting the mood for civil negotiations. Not for you to threaten me as I know you intend to do.” As the words travel above the ambience, he smiles at me, flashing his white teeth and causing me to falter slightly in my scowl. As I’m staring at him, he unleashes two projectiles of red flame at the Banshee by my side. They perish before me, and I step forward toward him over their ashes.
“That wasn’t very hospitable,” I bite out, and he cocks an eyebrow.
“You don’t bring dogs to a dance…” he whispers, closing the distance between us.
“Dance?” I query him, heart racing in my chest. I don’t want to get close to him, and yet, I can’t help but inch slightly closer. After all, I have his daughter… so do I really have anything to fear?
“Yes, would you do me the honour?” He bows his head as a man’s low and seductive voice echoes out across the room, filling my mind. I shake my head a moment, letting a loose lock of blue-black hair fall down from my up-do and tickle the back of my neck. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the box.
“Wait. I have something to show you first,” I promise, picturing Sephy in the Dark Colosseum.
A portal bursts into life, causing Haedes to take a few steps backward, his long legs making short work of the distance. The air in the middle of the room breaks apart, rippling and giving a view into The Fallen Kingdom. Haedes’ eyes widen, looking to the box in my hand.
“That’s… an Othrysian portal box. How did you get it?” he asks me, his brow furrowing. His hair remains cool blue, and he runs his fingers through the spikey style, clearly perplexed by my mere existence.
“Your brother gave it to me. Nice little consolation prize for not being worthy of a seat on the Aetherial Court,” I explain, unable to keep the resentment from my voice. Haedes rolls his eyes.
“Typical Zeus. So that’s how you ended up here?” he asks me, and I nod, surprised how civil this all is.
“Yes. He couldn’t see my worth. As you can see, though, I’m far from benign.” I gesture through the portal, to where we can see Sephy being dragged by Abraxians toward the pit of the dark cylindrical structure. There, the strongest Kindred the Demon Lords have to offer lie in wait.
“It is a shame he underestimated such a beauty as thee.” Taking a few steps forward, he nears the portal. I promptly slide the panel of the box closed, causing the window into the Dark Colosseum to dissolve as though it were never there.
“It is not my beauty that I want him to value. I am worth more than my pretty face. In fact, I’m worth more than most women.” I slide toward him, and he puts a hand possessively around my waist, pulling me close with almost feral power. I had expected him to be furious, violent even. I had not expected him to be charming, devilishly so in fact.
“I can imagine you are. You had me fooled. All of us. I suppose that box of yours is how the demons have been moving between dimensions and past the wall so seamlessly?” he purrs, appreciating my body as his gaze falls over it like a tropical waterfall in the midday sun. Steaming and powerful, the look bites into my hardness repeatedly, eroding my refrain.
The music plays on, and we begin to move, his mouth moving closer to my ear as we glide across the crystal in harmony, my heels tinkling against the two-dimensional and flawless facet. I breathe him in, the smell of heady fragrant smoke and dark chocolate filling my nostrils.
“But of course. The Demon Lords aren’t powerful enough to travel across dimensions. You know that.” I look up at him, raising my jaw as he spins me out from his body, pulling me back to him in a sudden jerking motion as I feel my breathing accelerate and my lungs draw the scent of him in deep. “Careful now.” I warn him as his mouth comes close to my ear once more and his arms cage me in close to him. I can feel his cold and even breathing on my neck as he whispers,
“What? Can’t handle a little rage?” he purrs, suggestive, and I watch as the cold glow of his hair turns orange, indicating his anger is bubbling ever so incrementally closer to the surface.
“Of course, I thrive on rage. I’m built from it in fact. It was the only thing powerful enough to keep me going after I fell from The Higher Plains,” I recall, and I feel him smile.
“I know that to be true…” he whispers, twisting me underneath his arm. My skirt flares around me, creating a wicked pinwheel of dark leather and shadow as I twirl.
“There is, I fear, one thing more powerful than rage though…” I muse, pulling his body closer to me now as I take the lead from him. We turn circles in a figure eight across the room, not a step out of place nor a beat missed between us.
“And what, my dear, would that be?” he asks me, his hips swinging in time to the song which is sexual to say the least. I look up into his eyes, knowing that now is the moment I must play just right.
“Love. Especially that between a parent and a child. Don’t you agree?” I ask him, and he falters in his step slightly. “Careful now.” I usher him back into the dance, letting him grip me with long desperate fingers.
“I do,” he replies, causing me to smile.
“Then we should discuss why it is I am here. I have a proposition for you, and you alone,” I whisper to him this time, coming close to the shell of his ear, which boasts a single silver stud.
“What do you want, Pandora?” he speaks now in a firm hush, causing
me to grin, unrestrained and fully for the first time I can remember. The tension, the drama, it’s all just too delicious.
“I want Mortaria,” I whisper back, and he snorts.
“Why would you want this dump?” he asks me, arched eyebrows rising on his forehead in surprise.
“The Demon Lords need their hunting grounds back,” I reply simply, and he frowns.
“So, you’re doing this out of the pure evilness of your heart then?” he observes, his tone dripping with sarcasm and disdain.
“Maybe I am.” I play innocent, and he shakes his head.
“I’m not stupid. You want revenge on Zeus, right? You want to use Mortaria to screw with the balance of the universe and him?” he guesses, astute, looking bored and as if I’m too insanely predictable for his liking. I sigh, rolling my eyes.
“Obviously. Your brother deserves to be slaughtered. Preferably at the hand of a woman he has screwed over. You cannot deny he has it coming.” I tempt him, wondering if having him on my side would be such a terrible thing.
“Oh, I don’t deny it. He utterly deserves his comeuppance, but why on earth should I give you that opportunity? He’s my brother. If anyone should fuck him up, it should be me.” Haedes sounds jealous, almost as if he’s been plotting something similar.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll rip your daughter limb from limb. I won’t even leave you with a carcass to bury. I will have her devoured,” I let the promise fall from my lips, encased in darkness and malice. Haedes doesn’t falter in his step this time, instead moving me faster and more passionately around the room.
“What makes you think I don’t know that you’ll just kill her and me the first chance you get after I hand this place over? After all, I’m related to Zeus,” he queries, and I laugh.
“I have no intention of killing you. Well, not by the standard means. Wouldn’t you like a normal life Haedes? A mortal life? A life free from all this responsibility, free from demons, from the sinners? A life with your daughter?” I coax him, knowing that this is exactly what he desires. His eyes widen slightly, but then darken as we continue to move. He smiles down at me.
“That does sound rather nice…” he admits, bending me backward and placing his hands behind my rear. I feel him grabbing at me, desiring me, but then, all of a sudden, I’m on the floor. He’s dropped me stone cold. “For you.” He grins, clearly not welcoming my proposal.
In his hand, he clutches the box, my box. The box that I’ve spent half my life bonding with.
“Wait… what?!” I cry out, flushing with humiliation.
“Oh, come on! You can’t be that stupid. Anyone who knows me knows that I didn’t make a sun that could keep me young forever because I want a normal mortal life,” he smirks.
“So, you’d rather have your daughter become demon food?” I ask him, shock resonating throughout my tone as I scramble to my feet.
“Of course not. But I’m not destroying the universe for her either. If you can think I’d be bought so easily by the life of one girl because she’s a blood relation, then I can see why Zeus didn’t want you on the Aetherial Court. There’s a bigger picture here. A picture you can scarcely comprehend, Pandora. No one life is worth the destruction of this universe. Or handing one of its most important strongholds over to the Demon Lords once more,” he chuckles, eyes dead but expression mocking.
“You… you’re a monster!” I narrow my eyes, alarmed by his callousness. I had thought he would be different, thought that because Zeus had slighted him, he would be sympathetic to my cause, share in my hatred.
“Actually yes. But that’s fine. As long as I’m still pretty,” he smirks, and I feel my fury boil.
“You and your brother are exactly alike!” I exclaim, holding out a palm and willing the box to me. It leaps from Haedes’ palm, flying over into my hands as I lay, sprawled out on the floor.
He doesn’t look impressed at this, he simply sighs, looking down on me like the pure-blooded and entitled god he is.
“Look, I get it. You hate Zeus. I hate Zeus. We all hate Zeus. He’s an asshole. But you know what I don’t hate? Being alive. Having a warm comfy bed and some whisky in my glass. Why would you think I’d destroy the peace which has governed this universe for centuries now? So, what? You can show him you’re so powerful? I might be irresponsible, but I’m also selfish. Selfish enough to not want to be dead, or back in The Higher Plains with my brother who, as I’ve already stated, I hate quite a lot.” He cocks his head, causing me to ball up my fists.
“You’re really sentencing your daughter to die… just like that?” I ask him, and he nods.
“Just like that. I don’t like it. Actually, I’m quite pissed about it and plan to open my finest whisky in her honour later tonight, but you know, that’s the difference between someone like you, a Titan, and someone like me, a full-blown god. I was born with the understanding that this universal peace comes at a price. We all pay it at some point.” His breathing is noticeably heavy, and he’s pacing now. “Just look at you, you paid it by succumbing to the lie that you were anything but a piece of fodder for the Aetherial Court to use and discard. If I have to pay it by losing my daughter, then that’s something I have to bear.” He sighs out again, bending down and looking deeply into my eyes. “Being a god, being a ruler, it means sacrificing the things you love so that other people can continue to have the things they love.”
“You’re heartless,” I spit, furious that he’s not succumbed to my demands.
“No. I’m not. I just… I know that Sephy takes after me. I have no doubt that you’ll have trouble killing her. She’s stubborn, also like me. So, I wish you luck with that.” He wipes imaginary dirt from his hands, like I’m filth, standing and holding out a hand to me. I take it in spite of the fact I want to cave his skull in on the way up. Why is he being a gentleman in spite of the fact I’m about to kill his only child.
“I want you to go…go back to the Demon Lords, and tell them that they will never possess Mortaria again. Their time is done. And you, Pandora, would be wise to quell your lust for revenge. No sin ever goes truly unpunished. You should know that by now,” Haedes warns me like he’s doing me a kindness, and I shake my head.
“I don’t care about punishment or sin, Haedes. I lived by the rules for too long, and I was still punished.” I shrug, and he stares at me with an amused expression as he places his hands in the pockets of his pants.
“Maybe you weren’t as innocent as you thought. Sounds an awful lot like a deadly case of pride to me.” He turns, flitting his hand in the air as a casual dismissal, as though he dictates my comings and goings.
“Now, you have a murder to attend to, but be warned, if I see you again, ever, in this place, even your ashes will not survive my fury. You are taking from me the last thing in this world that means anything to me. And you know what they say about a man with nothing to lose,” he threatens me, and I smirk.
“Sounds to me like you’re afraid of dying. Which is not even mildly ironic. So… there’s still that for you to lose.” At this observation, he has no reply, so I smile wickedly at him over my shoulder as I picture the Dark Colosseum in my mind, sliding the correct panel of the box open and stepping inside the portal.
I don’t turn back, don’t look back to see Haedes disappear, but I’m listening hard for a mangled cry of grief, the smashing of something as a bout of full blown rage hits him. Instead, before the portal closes behind me, I hear nothing. Only self-contained silence.
I remain unsatisfied.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
LUCE
The Nexus Council members look to me, as though I’m his mother, his keeper. I’m not, but for some reason, whenever Haedes does something nobody approves of, it’s my fault. Guilty by association I suppose.
“Lucifer, this is ridiculous! Why on earth would he need to be with her alone? You don’t think that…” Anubis insinuates that which is entirely ridiculous, and I t
urn on her, my fury reaching its peak point of intensity.
“What? That he had them kidnap his daughter? Um… are you insane, Nu? Seriously, I know you’re not that fond of the guy, but come on; she’s his kid. Why would you even suggest something like that? Anyway, she was kidnapped right under your damn roof!” I remind her of the fact that if she’d been more vigilant, perhaps we wouldn’t be here.
“Then, why does he need to be alone with her?” Osiris asks, his golden skin boasting a small layer of sweat under the flickering torchlight of door-side sconces. His expression is confused, not confrontational, so I don’t bite his head off like I instinctually want to.
“Has it ever occurred to you that in a situation where someone has something precious to you, you don’t want that person to feel threatened? Or ganged up on? I think Haedes is simply giving himself maximum control over the environment and situation. Don’t you think?” I ask them. Yama stirs, nodding at me.
“I agree with Lucifer; I believe Haedes wanted privacy so he could speak with her and find out exactly what her game is. He’s a mess; there is no doubt in my mind, after the death of Demi Sinclair, but you cannot deny he’s smart, manipulative even at times. He’s been the ruler of The Nexus Council and Mortaria for eons now. The city has flourished under his rule. He’s just having a hard time recently.” Yama stands up for his friend, and I’m grateful.
“Of course, you would say that. Don’t think we don’t all know you’re right in his pocket with your weekly chess nights,” Anubis snaps and Yama rolls his eyes. I want to laugh, but I know it’s not appropriate; instead, I go for sarcasm.
“Oooh, because chess is so taboo,” I comment, shaking my head in disbelief. Are we actually having this conversation?
Yama speaks up.
“You know, being a bitch isn’t a good look on you Anubis. Besides, I speak not from a position of personal preference but from fact. Even you, yourself, cannot deny Haedes has brought wealth and riches to this place with the bargains he forms with mortals before their deaths. He is not stupid. It would be nice if you would perhaps give him the benefit of the doubt, would it not?” He folds his hands in front of him, blue skin shining out lilac against the red light of the hallway as an expression of serene calm remains, blanketing his features and masking any and all feelings he must have.
The Opal Blade (The Ashen Touch Trilogy Book 1) Page 38