“There you are.” Persephone beamed as she came around the bend in the stairway, leading Riona back down despite her reticence to budge. “We’re all set up in Dad’s throne room. It should just take a few minutes.”
“Steph, do you know if Dee’s here yet?”
The goddess’s shoulders jerked. “Maybe. Too many nephilim in the house. It’s too hard to hear him among the crowd with so much chatter going on. We’ll go back to the party and find him together just as soon as we get this signed. After that, I’m leaving.”
“Leaving?” Riona asked. “To where?”
“Anywhere I want. I was thinking Tahoe. I love skiing, but I’ve never been able to do it in the northern hemisphere. You want to come with me?”
Riona felt a blush in her cheeks. “I’ll be... busy.”
“Oh, I forgot. Newlyweds.”
“Yeah, newlyweds.”
The throne room looked much the same as the first time she visited, with the exception of a writing table they brought in. Zeus stood to greet Riona as they entered, taking her by the hand and depositing her in a wingback chair next to Hades.
“Thank you again for your assistance. This will be quick.”
Riona’s knuckles bleached as another stitch tugged her in the gut, this time, working a finger down into her core. “Good.”
Zeus straightened, taking on an air of authority. “We come together today to annul the contract of marriage between Hades of Olympus, formerly King of the Underworld, and Persephone of Olympus. Two of my clan who, having agreed to marriage in the third century of the modern realm, do now request the cessation of this obligation unto each other; and forthwith, shall be rendered separate and unbound creatures. Terms?”
“Witness” pinned the tail on the donkey here. Riona sat back and watched the show with growing interest. Persephone cleared her throat and scooted to the edge of her chair.
“I’d like sole ownership of our properties in the city of Boston in the mortal realm: the house I’m leasing out to the Pure Souls, the loft where I’ve been living, and the night club. I’d also like to maintain rights to our villa in Valhalla, and to continue employment of the three cerebi guards Hades has provided for those properties during the last two years, until such time as I’m able to find suitable replacements.”
Zeus looked toward his brother. “Hades, would you like to negotiate terms?”
He shook his head. “She can have everything.”
Zeus noted a few lines on the document before him, then looked up again. “Very well, it is duly recorded that Hades grants Persephone’s petition for the Boston and other properties and continued use of the cerebi.”
“Brother, you don’t understand,” Hades interrupted, leaning forward in his chair. “The cerebi are not my property, they are merely loyal to me. If Persephone wishes to approach Chipper’s lot about continuing on under her direct employment, she is at liberty. My only request is the continued use of our home here on Olympus as my private residence, in the state in which it currently sits. I surrender everything else, and allow it to be granted to her. Every prize and possession I have fought to gain has only been for her wealth and comfort.” Hades turned to Persephone. “If it is your will that we must part, I would have you take everything. It’s always been yours, after all. The only prize I ever earned and desired to maintain was your love. Alas, it is the only thing beyond my power to demand.”
She crossed her arms and huffed. “You think that’s going to sweeten me up? Like I would swoon just for a few houses and Swiss bank accounts? Well, fine, I’ll take everything then. And you can have the house. I have no intention of ever staying there again.”
Zeus grumbled as he scratched the quill over the brittle parchment.
“Hades, do you wish to request any additional terms?” the king asked.
“Only one. I request a clause in the dissolution that stipulates if Persephone should ever desire to negate this undoing, it shall be undone. That in such an event, the terms of our original marriage contract will be reinstated, and I may, once again, have the grand honor and privilege of calling her my wife.”
Dumbfounded, Zeus looked at his daughter. Persephone pursed her lips, gnashed her teeth, and finally exhaled a much belabored, “Fine,” while adding under her breath, “like that’s ever going to happen.”
A few more scratches, and Zeus dipped the quill in the inkwell again. He handed the feather to his daughter and pointed at a spot on the bottom of the page. “Here, Steph.”
Persephone sat on the edge of her chair and signed her name in bold strokes. Zeus did the same beside hers. Next, came Hades’ turn. He polished off his John Hancock with an artistic flourish and a devilish smile. As he handed the quill to Riona, she wondered if he were saying something telepathically to Persephone. If so, the goddess revealed no reaction.
Zeus pointed beside Hades’ scribble. “Mrs. Romani, here if you please.”
The very moment he said it, another curl of calling cracked through her. It took every ounce of her will power not to call out a string of curses at Mr. Romani. Her toes curled as she sucked in enough air to lift an airliner.
Persephone squatted on the ground in front of her. “Riona, what’s the matter? Are you okay?”
Riona fixed the feather in her hand, determined to get it done before murdering her spouse. Or fucking him. Perhaps both, though the order of the two events was still up for debate.
“I’m fine,” she said as the drips of ink dotted the parchment. “Just suddenly much more sympathetic for wishing pain on one’s spouse.”
Then it happened. No sooner did Riona dot her i’s when the parchment’s color darkened. The black ink began to glow, reminding her of the day Hades awakened an entry spell carved into stone on the rock that let her into Hell. The alabaster parchment grew firm, and looked heavy. Within a few moments, it went from looking like any other scroll, to something that looked like Moses could have brought down from the mountain.
“What the...?” Shooting to her feet, Persephone traced her fingers over the document. “It’s turned to stone!”
“Of course it has.” Zeus seemed amused at their surprise. “It’s been signed by an angel, after all.”
Three blank faces stared up at the king. Zeus, with a smile, both comforting and weary, looked so much older at that moment.
“How long have you known?” Hades asked.
Zeus stared off into the distance. “I suspected it the first time I met her. My heart has longed for no woman in years. Since my actions caused Dee to lose the very thing he treasured most, and destroyed my grandchild, I did not think myself worthy of further companionship. But Mrs. Romani, you ignited a bonfire of desire in me I’ve not felt in many a year. It would take powerful magic to cause such a reaction that could stir the embers of my being. Who else, but an angel, could make an old man like me wish again that the world were young and fresh with limitless opportunities for love?”
Persephone’s throat bobbed as she gulped a mouthful of air. “Daddy, don’t lightning her. Please, I sponsored her. I knew what she was. I was just trying to help protect her. If you’re going to punish anyone, let it be me.”
The king threaded his fingers through his daughter’s hair and pulled her forehead to his lips, kissing her gently. “I have no intention of killing her, sweet. What does surprise me, however, is that your husband, knowing her true nature, agreed to host her in your home.”
“She’s only a half-angel,” Hades clarified. “I was wary, but she displayed none of the vitriol and hate towards us that others of her kind have shown. Besides, like you say, she was Persephone’s friend. I would not harm a person for whom my wife shows such affection.”
“Ex-wife, and would that were true,” Persephone said.
Almost imperceptibly, the muscles in Hades’ face twitched. “A person, Steph, not a minion who desires our destruction. You’ll come to regret him, mark my words. He will betray you.”
“Wait a minute.” Riona stood up,
making the others aware that she was, in fact, still in the room. “Can we back up for a second? Explain to me again why my being an angel made that thing turn to stone?”
Persephone rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard the expression, ‘carved in stone?’”
Riona’s face remained blank.
“You are an angel, even if just partly,” Zeus informed her. “As an angel in good standing, your endorsement of a contract is considered a Heavenly-bound agreement.”
Riona felt the words of the oracle Jerry once told her dancing across her lips. “She will pull Heaven to Hell, and circumscribe creation. Holy shit. Um, I have to go.”
“Riona, wait. Is something wrong?”
She turned at the door and tried to ignore how her stomach was churning with agitation. “It’s nothing, Steph. Only, I think I may have just triggered the apocalypse.”
Chapter 35
“Just some light reading to pass the time?”
Lucifer lowered his spectacles. His visitor wouldn’t accept being ignored, unlike the Grigori who stopped by over the last few days to rub his ouster in his face. No, Michael didn’t care for the silent treatment, and preferred to cure outbreaks of it with soul-wrenching fire therapy. Consequently, he removed his glasses (a showpiece, of course, but he personally thought he looked too intellectually sexy in them for words), and marked his place.
“Research, actually,” Lucifer clarified. “Been awhile since I’ve consulted the source documents. I’m a bit rusty.”
“I’ve always taken the book of Revelations as pure fantastical allegory.” Michael conjured up a folding chair just outside the cell. He settled himself down and crossed his legs, taking on a relaxed posture that suggested they could have been discussing the effect of carbonization on the beverage industry instead of the end of the world. “It’s not one of Big Boss’s works. You know that, right? You might as well dive into a Cormac McCarthy novel for predictions on the future. Chances of getting it right are about the same.”
“Oh, it’s not entirely accurate, I’m sure, but there’s some truth there. You may not realize that the original document was written by one of the earliest Pure Souls. A seer, in fact, one who found a way to pop up again and again throughout time. Rare, indeed, those single, recyclable mortal souls. Ever met one?”
Michael leaned forward and grinned. “One. Recently, in fact.”
“They’re very knowledgeable creatures, but I’m afraid they don’t last too long on Earth. Frequent, short existences, from what I understand. That is, unless someone found a way around that whole too-young-too-die routine. But I’m being rude, aren’t I?” Lucifer settled himself down on his cot. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, my Prince?”
“Just wanted to let you know, you won’t be in prison too much longer.”
“No?”
“No,” Michael confirmed. “Other than your general lack of competence in your work, and that horrible British brogue you insist on using, I have nothing against you, Luc.”
He drummed his fingers on the spine of the Bible on the bed. “No? Because when you threw me out of Heaven and sentenced us to eternity, keeping us from our home and our true form, you seemed a bit miffed. And what’s this about me not doing my job? Under my management, prophets are down, apostasies are up. Evil was a vague concept before we took over the Underworld. The best thing that ever happened to your side was the existence of ours. They never wanted to get into Heaven so much until there was Hell to pay if they didn’t.”
“Because of you, Big Boss wants to destroy the world again.” Michael hunched over, resting his elbows on the knobs of his knees. “Convinced He’s made another mistake, and not sure He has it in him to try for a fourth time. In fact, it’s because of your little brat routine of corrupting so many that I’m here. I had to fall myself just so I could get down here and do the dirty work that really needs to be done.”
“And just to be sure you had a way back into Heaven, you made yourself a baby angel. Your creation, someone obligated to carry out your will when you force her to do it. I don’t know if your conspirators have keyed you into it yet, but we actually tried that. Doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for the same reason your plan will fail. Oh, but you’ve probably figured that out already.”
Michael leaned back in his chair, stretching long, muscular legs out as he threaded his fingers behind his head. “Enlighten me.”
“Moral Right Truth and free will,” Lucifer declared. “As long as they’re part human, it’s their birthright. You can’t control Riona with your will. If she decides it’s her moral calling to oppose you, she’ll do it. And she’s just bitchy enough that she’d do it just to spite you.”
“Oh, sounds like you’re a bit bitter still there, Luc. Is it because you failed to get into my daughter’s pants? Please,” Michael laughed. “You never stood a chance. I’ve had Azazel tagging your ass the whole time. Or did you really think you weren’t being watched when you tried to seduce her? How in the hell do you think Jerry could possess a body on the mortal plane even after he was vanquished to keep you from succeeding? And overcoming you so you couldn’t breach Hell anymore and stir things up again? Unplanned, but perfect icing on the cake.”
“Have no doubt, I would have loved the opportunity to fuck up your daughter’s purity. But I’m sure I wouldn’t have enjoyed that as much watching her fuck you up.”
“You seem to have a lot more faith in my daughter’s abilities than I do. How... odd.”
“You’ve never taken her on is why. Besides, Mike, we both know how this turns out.”
Michael arched an eyebrow. Opening his book back up, Lucifer thumbed through the pages he just read. He cleared his throat in anticipation when he found the desired verses, positioning his spectacles on the end of his nose.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’
And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ Gender might have gotten confused in the translation, but I’m pretty sure I read that right.” He turned the book outward. “Want to have look-see?”
“I should have slaughtered you when I had the chance.”
“But you didn’t.” With a twist of his wrist, the Bible loudly snapped shut. “And I’m so thankful, because I wouldn’t miss this for all the tea in Tehran.”
Chapter 36
Officially, without a doubt, Riona was setting a record for the longest amount of time it took a healthy woman to climb a flight of stairs. As she crested the last step and emerged onto the patio terrace, she felt ready to kill the bastard.
“Show your god damned face!” she bellowed as she stepped into the cool night. The swirling mountain wind whipped up just in time, and in the right direction to remind her that she was, in fact, dressed in little more than bed sheets and a few undergarments. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to me? Using a summoning charm? That’s BDSM for wiccans.”
A figure appeared, tall, sleek, and tempting as fresh water to thirst, leaning against the far railing.
“So you got my message?” he asked, his grin just a little too lickable for her liking. “Wasn’t sure it could work. Didn’t think I’d be carrying so many of my former abilities along with me into the afterlife.”
She looked at him bug-eyed. It wasn’t until that moment she realized that he took the toga theme and decided to go for the gladiator look. He wore nothing more than a loincloth that barely disguised his unholy relic, and a crooked grin filled with delicious bad intentions. Suddenly, all the anger she brewed on the torturous climb up turned in on her, and the need to feel his hands all over her became the
only thing she could focus on.
She shifted without realizing it, pressing her lips on his with no mercy. He blinked once, somewhat shocked, but held out on her for the briefest of moments.
“I missed you, you bastard,” she said between kisses. “Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through?”
His hands squeezed her arms right below the shoulders, holding her in place just long enough for him to get a word in edgewise. “I’m going to guess about six packs of batteries.”
The quip brought her up short. Pulling back from his lips, she studied his face for a moment. Everything looked just the way she remembered: the cut of his jaw, the gruffness of his beard, the glint in his eyes that looked at her with a combination of lust and love. But something, and she wasn’t quite sure what it was, just wasn’t right. If only Jerry had his own body back, the one he had when they first fell in love a year ago. She was really getting sick of this whole it-looks-like-Marc-but-it’s-not-really-him facade.
She cracked a smile despite herself. “Weird.”
He planted another kiss to her lips. “What?”
“It’s just...” She sighed. “For a moment there, you sounded just like him.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Like who?”
“You know, Marc. I don’t know, maybe a little of his sarcasm was genetic and you inherited it from using his body. And no batteries, just so you know. I’ve had to rely on manual power. No Pleasure Pagodas in Olympus, much to my unhappy surprise.”
He took a few steps back. “Wait, you think...?” He pressed fingertips on his forehead, laughing into his palm. “You think I’m Jerry?”
“Well, I did, until you just said it like that.” Feeling all at once like she’d been punched in the gut, Riona shrank back, creating as much distance between the two of them as she could. “So it was you summoning me?”
“We had an appointment set up, remember? You were going to bring me a certain pointy knife I could use to kill off some Grigori, and I was going to take you up against a wall?” He shrugged when she clicked her tongue. “Not in the mood tonight? Okay, I’ll take a raincheck. Oh, by the way, your husband doesn’t look like me anymore,” Marc said. “Word is, he’s been restored to his former lack of glory. Shame, really, but at least, it will be easier now for him to not wonder if you’re fantasizing about me when you kiss him.”
Hex Goddess (All My Exes Die from Hexes Book 3) Page 23