by Lizzy Ford
Trayern had dropped his guard once, when Wynn had stabbed her in order to force her mother – a goddess named Chaos – to appear, so he could manipulate her, too.
Since then, Trayern was never farther than a foot from her. They’d become fed up with one another within a week after Stephanie was confined to her chambers. Despite her annoyance, she’d also started to figure out not all demons were wild animals who only wanted to murder humans.
Trayern was smart. Threats to eat her aside, he only interfered when he deemed it necessary – normally around Wynn – and stayed out of the way the rest of the time.
“What would you do in my circumstances?” she asked the demon.
“Murder Wynn.”
“That’s a lot easier said than done. Wynn always knows.”
“But can he stop it?”
If there was anything Stephanie believed without a doubt about her father, it was that he could stop anything headed his way. He had a knack for anticipating everyone and everything and controlling a room full of people with a few words and a look. Fate and Darkyn believed Wynn’s gift to be similar to Stephanie’s, in that he could read the deepest fears out of people’s minds. If that were true, he was much more skilled at it than she was, for most of the secrets she encountered weren’t important enough to manipulate a god or goddess.
“Is Darkyn afraid of Wynn?” she asked curiously.
“Darkyn fears no one,” Trayern said firmly. “He respects Wynn.”
It was either high praise or an ominous sign. Or both. Either way, Stephanie didn’t believe she had a chance against her father, if she challenged him directly. Kiki had once told her Wynn would smell a lie before she walked into his study, and he’d fuck her up mentally if she tried to manipulate him.
The truth, then, was her only alternative to being confined in the dungeon or worse, being sent to Hell, like Wynn had done to Andre. The truth also limited her ability to work behind the scenes.
A knock at her door sent Trayern on full alert. He withdrew a jagged, curved dagger and opened the door. He scowled and stepped aside. He sheathed the knife and walked away.
Stephanie knew who was present before the door opened completely. Trayern despised Peace and the calming effect he had on those around him. As usual, Trayern went to the point of the chamber farthest from Andre.
“You doing okay?” Peace asked, taking in her tight features.
She made a face, and he laughed.
“Wrong question,” he said. “Do you need anything?”
“Can you open a portal so I can visit my family?”
“Even if I did, you couldn’t walk through it,” Peace told her. “Wynn’s blocked you.”
She sighed and sat. “Has Wynn said anything about Fate or my family?”
“Not to me.”
“I feel like I should do something.”
“You are,” he said warmly. “You’re doing your duty until there’s an opportunity to help those you care about. It’s all you can do. The more content Wynn is with you, the better your chances are of him hearing you out eventually.”
As usual, Peace’s reasoning soothed her. “Thanks. He did let me go to my Humans Anonymous meeting last month. It helped. Maybe I can ask him to let me visit my family.”
“I have a feeling things will change soon.”
She studied him. “Meaning …”
“Wynn hasn’t been himself of late.”
Stephanie perked up. “Should I ask him again about Fate?”
“I think you’ll know when the time is right.”
Agitated about the cryptic advice, Stephanie had to admit she was starved for Andre’s tiny bits of hope. They were all she had for the time being. If Andre thought to mention the thaw in Wynn to her, it was important. Her oldest brother wouldn’t mislead her.
“How are the boys in the dungeon?” Andre asked.
“Completely fine with their circumstances,” Stephanie said. “There’s something wrong with all of us.”
“Immortals in general can take a beating better than humans.”
“No shit,” she murmured. “I keep holding out for things to get better.”
“They will, and soon. I have faith.”
Stephanie wasn’t nearly as optimistic as her brother, but she prayed he was right.
“Guess I gotta spend time listening to petitioners,” she said.
“The duties of royalty never cease,” Peace said dryly. “You’re doing good. If not, Wynn would be correcting your behavior.”
“I don’t want to know what that entails.”
“No, you do not.”
She shivered. “Come on, Trayern,” she called to the demon scowling from the far corner.
Peace stepped aside, and Trayern skirted him to reach the door. Stephanie left her chamber for the petitioner hall on the first floor.
Everyone who offered her advice stressed the need for her to play Wynn’s game. Even Fate had told her so. In his case, it wasn’t just the threat of Wynn in general, but the survival of the entire Immortal society. If civil war broke out, the society itself would implode, and the human world would be exposed to demons and other deities.
Some days, she wanted to walk away. Stephanie was often incredulous by the idea that the survival of an ancient world could rest on her shoulders and decisions, or that saving everyone meant obeying the tyrant who would sacrifice her and her brothers without blinking. Fate believed her to be the key to both preventing civil war and holding her family together, two opposing goals and neither of which appeared possible at the moment.
The biggest obstacle to everything she needed to do: Wynn. He was also the one person who could help her negotiate the release of her mate, if she played his fucking game.
Until she had a plan, she’d spend her mornings on petitioner duty and her afternoons struggling to manage the dump truck-sized load of paperwork that came with running an empire.
Stephanie entered through the back door of the large hall where the petitions were heard and sat at the table opposite the entrance. Already, the line extended out the door. The scribe, a young Immortal who played games on his iPad between recording her decisions, appeared as glum as she felt.
Stephanie motioned for the first petitioner to approach. Her eyes slid to the chair where Fate had once sat, helping her determine who told the truth and who lied. He hadn’t sat there in weeks, but she couldn’t help expecting he’d magically appear whenever she entered the hall.
Resigned to her duty for the morning, Stephanie began taking notes as the first petitioner spoke.
Four
Karma had visited every deity she knew to visit, and summoned those whose names she had heard at one time or another. In all her encounters, not one was willing to hear her out, once they learned who exactly they were speaking to and that she was unwilling to part with favors, the currency of the deity world. The exception was Gabriel, the god Death, the only human-turned-deity in existence.
He found her sitting in the cold, dark cell in his Underworld, where she’d spent most of her life. It was a safe place, the only place she knew to go when she was upset. With her back to the corner, Karma toyed with one of the shackles that had been wrapped around her ankle for a millennium. The wall was cold against her back, the air musty, and the familiar, permanent twilight of the Underworld comforting.
“You can’t just drop in whenever you want,” Death said and crouched in front of her.
Karma glanced up at Gabriel, a massive man with dark hair and eyes, whose brooding presence was as ominous as his job title.
“Past-Death said I could as long as I don’t balance you or her while I’m visiting,” Karma said, referring to Gabriel’s mate, the goddess-turned-human who had appointed him to the position of Death before she retired.
Gabriel sighed. He sat in front of Karma and draped his arms over his knees.
“I don’t know where else to go,” Karma added. “This was my only home.”
“That’s fucked up.�
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“I can’t find anyone to help me, Gabriel,” she said.
“If you stop threatening to balance people, it might help.”
“They deserve it.”
“Probably. But alienating them isn’t going to save your brother.”
“I don’t know what else to do.” Karma jiggled the chain connected to the shackle. “It’s my fault he’s down there. I balanced him, and now he might die. I thought he would’ve earned his deity powers back by now.”
“You were doing what you’re supposed to. Sometimes, our duties are difficult,” Gabriel said. “We all know the risks of being who we are and interacting with other deities.”
Karma couldn’t stop the guilt bubbling up inside her. “Then what do I do, if no one will listen to me? I have no favors to cash in. I only have five friends: my brother, you, the Deidres, and Stephanie.”
“You might have to let things run their course.”
“And if he dies?”
“He’s tough. He’ll survive. Besides, he’s part of the three bonds that must exist. Mates-blood-fate.”
Karma frowned, not liking this answer. Her brother was weak and vulnerable until he worked off his debt to her. If what Wynn had told her a few weeks ago were true, every deity in existence who had a bone to pick with Fate was throwing a favor at the Dark One to take his or her turn torturing her brother. Darkyn would likely keep him alive long enough to collect as many favors as he could, but once that was over, he had no incentive to release Fate.
“Would you tell me if he came up on your list?” Karma asked.
“What good would it do?” Gabriel responded. “You’re already on the verge of a breakdown.”
If her brother died, because she’d tried to help him become balanced …
“Holy shit. Don’t cry,” Gabriel said, sounding defeated. “I don’t think a cell in my prison is a proper home, but you can visit at will until he’s back. Try not to tell anyone else I’m harboring Karma.”
She smiled. “I won’t,” she promised. “Thank you.”
“Tonight is the monthly meeting of Humans Anonymous. Three of your friends will be there. Why don’t you come?”
Karma brightened.
“You have to promise not to balance any of us.”
“Karma will be good.”
“I’ll let the dealers know not to bother you here.” Gabriel rose and left her in her cell with the door open.
Karma knew it was for the death dealers’ sake, and not hers. She had no trouble balancing anyone who crossed her path, but she respected Gabriel’s domain enough not to balance anyone, unless she had his permission, or unless someone really, really needed it.
Karma sat back. She’d been ruminating over the only two options she had left: the Dark One and Wynn. Of the two, she preferred to speak to the Dark One but was afraid he wouldn’t even consider hearing her out when he was reaping the rewards of imprisoning Fate.
She’d shown unusual restraint in not offering up favors to sway deities to help her. As of this morning, she had depleted her other options when the last of the deities refused to work with her. Only one remained.
Karma summoned a portal and walked into the chilly, foggy place-between-places The door to Hell remained closed to her. With a deep breath, she did what she should have done the second she learned her brother had been imprisoned.
“Darkyn,” she breathed the name.
The Dark One, ever eager to exploit someone’s desperation or weakness, appeared through the gateway to Hell, as if waiting for her summons. A few inches taller than she was, he possessed cold eyes and fangs – and a merciless nature that made even her cautious. The lean demon was deceptively small and plain in appearance.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Why have you closed Hell to me? I thought you would have loved to have desperate people wandering into your domain,” she started.
“I didn’t close it to you,” he replied.
“Then why can’t I enter?”
He smiled, and she shivered. Nothing was as unsettling as a demon’s smile.
“Fine. I want to know the price of freeing my brother,” she said firmly.
“I heard you refuse to part with any favors. I have no other use for you, little goddess,” he assured her. The Dark One began circling her, unafraid of her power.
“I can balance you,” she replied.
“Not here you can’t,” he stated. “Which is why you chose here rather than elsewhere. You know you’re no match for me.”
The place-between-places was the domain of Death, a neutral territory for Immortals, deities and demons.
“I am the only deity who is a match for you!” she retorted, anger flooding her face with warmth.
“Really?” Darkyn asked with a cold half-smile. “Your brother tell you that?”
“I can balance anyone. It’s my duty.”
“Your brother and Past-Death threw you in a prison when you challenged my predecessor. Why do you think that is, if you could defeat me?”
Karma had asked herself the same question during her imprisonment in the Underworld. She’d yet to figure out the answer, especially when balancing the most unbalanced soul of all could possibly counter the amount of evil in the world in general.
In any case, if she died-dead in the process of taking on the Dark One, she was of no use to her brother. Peace and Past-Death had advised her to negotiate first, threaten second, balance third. It wasn’t in Karma’s nature to back down, and she hated the idea of bending her will to anyone, especially in a situation this critical.
If challenging Darkyn wasn’t on the table, she was forced to heed the advice of others.
“What is the price?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Wrong question,” Darkyn replied.
Karma paused to think. She’d thus far avoided offering up what everyone wanted from her. Uncertain if she was about to make the right decision, she plunged ahead. “Assuming I decided to part with any favors, how many would it take?”
“Ah. Much better.”
“But you will not answer her,” a second man’s voice asserted. Wynn stood in the glowing yellow doorway leading to the human world.
“You have no business here!” she told him, though her pulse began to race. “Pass through and leave us be.”
“I’m here to prevent you from making a deal you can’t possibly afford.” Wynn’s calm resembled Peace’s, but there was a sharp edge to this Ancient she’d cut herself on once already. She couldn’t balance him, couldn’t kill him, couldn’t trust him.
She had yet to determine what to do with Wynn.
The Dark One’s assessed Wynn briefly.
“I can handle this!” Karma snapped and returned her focus to Darkyn. “Answer my question.”
“He won’t answer,” Wynn said.
“Wynn, leave,” she ordered.
“I will not.”
Surprised, Karma turned to face him head on. She was accustomed to Immortals and deities alike being scared off, and in truth, some small part of her enjoyed the idea she intimidated everyone she met. Wynn hadn’t backed down from her in the office when she attempted to balance him, and he didn’t appear to be ready to retreat now. If not for Andre, she’d still be trapped in the catacombs.
With a glance towards Darkyn, Wynn moved closer, pausing within her comfort zone with no fear of her trying to balance him. They alone knew why, and she hated the fact he was the one person she couldn’t intimidate. If anything, he intimidated her, and she was unaccustomed to feeling powerless.
“This isn’t the right way,” Wynn said, gazing down at her. “You can’t play at this level.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m a goddess. This is my level!”
“Then you’ve assessed the Dark One’s plan, if you give him what he wants.”
Karma was quiet, suspicious.
“He’ll extort several favors from you, or perhaps, five or ten. Whatever you’re willing to pay, which is a si
gnificant amount, because we all know you’re desperate,” Wynn said. “You know what he’ll do if you agree?”
She folded her arms across her chest, reluctantly interested. She was already terrified of fucking up the Future by offering up favors after Fate’s warning. Her brother had told her Wynn was the most cunning man he’d ever met. The claim, spoken by Fate in anger, was a backhanded compliment, for even the god of the Future could appreciate a mastermind when he met one.
It was hard to walk away, when she needed help, and Wynn was the mastermind her brother claimed him to be. It was harder to walk away when the strange electricity bouncing between them made her want to step closer.
“With the first few favors, he’ll force you to balance those people he wants to disable, people important enough to interfere with his plans. I’m guessing one of those people might be Death, another me, and whoever else is currently in his way. He’ll trade the second few favors to those he owes, and they will force you to do their bidding,” Wynn explained. “Eventually, with the final favor, he’ll tell you to balance yourself, and that will be the end of Karma.”
She frowned. “You can’t know that,” she insisted.
“It’s what I would do, and I’m nowhere near as malicious as the Dark One.”
Karma glanced at the demon, who wore a chilling smile. “I don’t care what happens to me, as long as my brother is free,” she said.
“You do care what happens to someone like Gabriel, the only god powerful enough to stand up to Darkyn, or Stephanie, who I intend to appoint to lead the Council. My family is the only thing standing between Darkyn and the humans whose souls he wants to possess,” Wynn pressed. “What would your brother think, if you murdered the woman he loved? Or if you single-handedly caused the annihilation of humanity?”
The images in her mind unsettled her. Karma did not hesitate to kill when warranted, but she couldn’t imagine one decision could destroy an entire race. She was about to give Darkyn whatever he wanted without caring about the consequences.