by Lizzy Ford
He heard the soft footsteps of Stephanie, though her guard demon’s stealthy approach was silent.
“You knew why I was going,” Stephanie said. She kept her distance, as if recalling their first interaction at the lake, when he’d stabbed her.
“I did,” he replied.
“You didn’t stop me. Why? Because your evil plan for world domination is too far along for me to stop you?”
Wynn was quiet.
Stephanie drew abreast of him, studying him the way she often did. “Or did you want me to talk you out of it?”
“What do you think?” he replied.
“You aren’t bad, Wynn,” she said pensively. “You’re fucked up but not essentially bad.”
He glanced at her. Stephanie, like Karma, was honest. Was this why he respected both women? Accustomed to playing games and to people hiding their true intentions with him, Wynn didn’t have to be completely on guard with the two women.
Like Karma, Stephanie’s greatest fear was endearing. She wanted her father to love her.
He wasn’t capable of love. He’d disappoint both the women in his life. They’d realize it soon enough, and he’d end up alone again. At least if he went forward with his plan, he’d end up alone and omnipotent.
“Maybe you are. I don’t know sometimes,” Stephanie said.
“You’re doing well here, Stephanie.”
“No!” she snapped. “You do this every time. You’re trying to deflect. I want to talk about you and what you’re doing.”
“You know that answer.”
“I don’t know why.”
“Why anyone would want to become a god?” he asked, amused.
“Why you want to.”
“I want to reclaim what’s mine.”
“You woke up one day and decided to be a god?”
“Is that so hard to understand?” he challenged.
“That seems too simple.” She was frowning. “Don’t you lose all of us when that happens? You become someone else. You get a new soul. You’ll no longer be part of the family.”
“I’m leaving the Immortals in your hands. Andre can help you manage your brothers. Everything will be taken care of as it should be.” Except for Karma. Wynn was torn between hoping the bond between them broke when his original soul returned and having the goddess at his side. He couldn’t ask himself what happened to her, if his deity soul returned and broke the bond. Would she feel as if he’d died-dead, since technically, his Immortal soul would return to the Underworld when he had his deity soul? Would she be in pain?
He couldn’t afford to let himself think about it.
“Sometimes, I want to strangle you.” Stephanie sighed. “If this were truly what you wanted, you wouldn’t have allowed me to see your plans. Don’t tell me I need to be prepared. I want a real answer. A real discussion with you, Wynn. I’m tired of all the guarded shit. I want to have an honest talk.”
Wynn faced her. Trayern inched closer, eyeing him.
“I find myself at a crossroads,” he said. “For both my lives, all I’ve ever wanted was to reclaim my title. You’re right. I will lose my family and the society I’ve dedicated my life to creating. I didn’t expect the decision to be as difficult as it is.”
She scrutinized. “It should be difficult. Aside from your duty, which yes, I know you take seriously, you’ve got a family, and not all of us hate you.”
Wynn smiled.
“You’ve got a mate.” This statement was hushed. A haunted expression crossed Stephanie’s features before she refocused on him. “I know what that means. I know what you feel.”
“I doubt that.”
“Every morning when I wake up, my heart is ripped out all over again, because he’s not there,” she whispered. “It’s the nature of the bond. You feel that way now. All this bullshit about your family doesn’t matter. You’ve never thought twice about what you’re doing, but you do now, because of Karma.”
“She’ll be better off without me.”
“She’ll be in agony the rest of her life. She will feel what I do now when she wakes up every morning and when she goes to bed, knowing she has to face another day without her mate.”
Wynn clenched his teeth. He didn’t want to think about what Karma was feeling. He needed to focus on becoming a god.
“I don’t know if you want me to talk you out of what you’re planning, or if you want me to understand why I need to take over,” Stephanie continued. “But you owe her an explanation as to why you’re hurting her.”
“She was never part of my plan.”
“Welcome to my world!” Stephanie exclaimed. “You’re the one who gave me the original shit-happens speech.”
“You are wrong about one thing, Stephanie. I have always considered the impact of my actions on my family.”
“You show you care in a very unusual way.”
“It’s always been about survival. During my absence, four of my sons died-dead. Two were brought back but the remaining two remain dead-dead. What I do protects you all and allows you to go around caring or doing what you wish with your lives. The survival of my family and society has always been my responsibility.”
Stephanie was quiet.
“Do you have any idea how many threats to my family and the balance among worlds and races there are?” he continued. “Do you know how fortunate we are for only two family members to be dead-dead after thousands and thousands of years? It’s unheard of.”
“How long will we last when you give all that up?”
“You can hold the family together, with the help of Fate. In time, you’ll learn to protect as well as lead.”
“You have a great deal of faith in me. I can’t be what you are – the ultimate politician balancing everyone.”
“You’ll learn, and you’ll have the help of your brothers. As useless as they can often be, each of them possesses a unique gift that will help you. They’ll listen to you and work with you. As a unit, you all will survive as long as you keep an eye on Kris. He will turn on you.”
She looked away, toward the smooth surface of the lake. She was frustrated; he sensed it.
“Talk to her,” Stephanie said. “Tell her why she deserves to be in pain the rest of her life.”
“You assume she’s talking to me.”
“Oh, I’m sure you fucked it up,” was the quick response. “But you can fix it, Wynn. Don’t push her away or sentence her to the dungeon. Fix it before you destroy both of you.”
Wynn knew very well he could repair his relationship with Karma, probably with a simple apology or touch, but he didn’t want to. The worse off they were, the easier his decision would become.
Not that this reasoning was working. He didn’t fully understand why he allowed Stephanie to learn about his history. Perhaps it was a test. If anyone could convince him not to go through with it, it was Stephanie. If she failed, then his resolve was solid, his decision made.
“I don’t know what else to say,” Stephanie said after a short silence. “You’re going to do what you want.”
“The Council is yours tomorrow at midnight. I’ve already provided the instructions for the official records to be updated and eliminated every traitor I could identify. You’ll have a clean slate,” he responded.
Stephanie turned and walked away, back towards the castle.
Wynn remained where he was, unwilling to leave this spot before the time for Karma’s visit had passed.
Twenty-Five
After her dissatisfying discussion with Wynn, Stephanie slept worse than usual. She dreamt of the night with her mate and awoke aching and fatigued. Her guardians were already awake and moving around the chamber. She wanted to stay in bed for the day but forced herself up.
First on her agenda this morning wasn’t tracking down her stubborn father to try to talk more sense into him or, failing that, to cram as much of his knowledge into her head as possible.
She dressed and rose, leaving her chamber. Trailed by Trayern, she wen
t to the dungeon and stood in front of the door leading to Kris’ cell. Of all her brothers, he was the most like Wynn: ruthless and manipulative. If anyone could think of a way to outsmart Wynn, it was Kris.
The jailer opened the door, and she stepped into it.
“Can you wait out here?” she asked Trayern.
He looked around the cell and at Kris, who sat at his table with a tray of hot tea. “Door stays open,” the demon said.
Stephanie nodded and entered. She needed some private time with Kris and didn’t trust Trayern not to report whatever he learned to Darkyn.
Kris waited for her to enter, a light in his gaze that left her uncomfortable from the start.
“You need something,” he said.
“I hate how you do that,” she said and sat across from him at the small table. “Yeah. I do.”
“I’m happy to negotiate.”
“Is there no honor among family?”
“None,” he said with a half-smile. “But my demand is simple. I want out of this fucking dungeon.”
“Okay. I’ll work on that. Might take a day or two to convince Wynn.”
“Nice try, sis. Lying isn’t your strong suit,” Kris said.
“I take over the Council soon. I’ll let you out then,” she snapped. “Is that good enough?”
“It’ll do,” he said. “What’s up?”
She took a moment to determine the best way to present her issue. “Wynn is going to do something incredibly stupid in a day, hence the reason he’s turning over the Council.”
Kris waited.
Stephanie explained Wynn’s plan as quickly as possible. By the end of it, Kris was leaning forward in interest.
“Amazing,” he said at last. “I had no idea. No one did.” He shook his head. “You want to stop him, I assume.”
“Absolutely,” she said without hesitation.
“Probably smart. There’s a good chance the breaches will open if his power disappears.”
Stephanie said nothing, but she hadn’t considered that Wynn’s power kept the breaches closed in her equation. Was that the threat Fate and the Oracle foresaw? A literal Hell on earth?
“There’s a chance they won’t, too, if he’s technically still alive,” Kris said, debating.
“If we stop him, we don’t have to find out.”
“What are you proposing?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I know what I believe to be his weakness, but I don’t know if it’s enough to stop him.”
“His family,” Kris guessed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t count on that, though he’s taken a liking to you.”
“My thought was, if our lives – all of them – were in danger, he wouldn’t follow through,” she said. “The kind of danger where he’d have to use up the favors he’s collected.”
“It might delay his ambition but not stop it.”
“Maybe that’s enough for now. We can let Karma do the rest. He won’t be able to resist her much longer.”
Kris was quiet, studying her with predatory quiet similar to their father’s.
“That’s all I got,” Stephanie said. “I don’t know. Maybe we can all be trapped in Hell or something. The Dark One allegedly doesn’t issue favors often or easily. If Wynn used up that one, maybe he’d have to wait a few thousand years for another opportunity to pop up.”
“It’d be enough to garner Wynn’s attention, but may not be enough to encourage him to stop,” Kris said. “While our father’s weakness may be his family, he chose you to take over and trusts you with the safety of our society. What if we upped the ante?”
“Meaning …”
“You need to die-dead.”
“You may overestimate how much he cares for me,” Stephanie said. Already, her mind was working through the scenario.
“It wouldn’t be just you. With no one to head the Council, the Immortals could fall into chaos,” he added. “You could send Kiki and Rhyn back here before you do it, leaving the Council completely vacant.”
Her soul was in Hell, the property of Deidre. Stephanie wouldn’t be sent to the Underworld, and she’d collected several favors to date from Death, Chaos, Karma, and Fate. If she used one or all of those to negotiate with Darkyn, could she guarantee she wouldn’t be permanently dead? During her initial meeting with Deidre, the queen of Hell had shared with Stephanie the fact that only two deities could resurrect someone: Death and the Dark One.
Fate had warned her against negotiating with Darkyn at all. But if she fulfilled her end of the bargain with Deidre and replaced Wynn, Stephanie would earn her soul back. Perhaps, she could negotiate a temporary death and return with her soul. If Wynn were made aware that his sons were imprisoned by Darkyn, and Stephanie’s soul and body were in Hell, would that be enough to dislodge him from his current path?
Or was her death what Kris secretly wanted?
Stephanie studied her brother’s features. Like his father, he revealed nothing. Killing her would give him a chance to seize control of the Council once more.
“What if someone threatens to kill me?” she asked.
“Wynn sees through threats. If you want this to work, it’s got to be extreme. All his sons go to Hell, and his daughter dies-dead. I’d say that’s the minimum.”
“Scorched earth,” she murmured.
“Exactly. If you can talk his mate into attempted suicide, that’d probably help, too.”
“Karma is too crazy to attempt suicide,” Stephanie replied.
On the surface, she saw why Kris wanted them to go as far as they could. But she couldn’t shake the idea he was as ambitious as Wynn and would leap at the opportunity to reclaim the Council. As an advisor, he was likely indispensable.
As an ally? Stephanie wouldn’t trust him at all.
“We run the risk that Wynn leaves me dead and you all in Hell,” she mused.
“He’s not going to want to leave the Immortals exposed. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t bother transitioning power,” Kris pointed out. “If you were Wynn, what would you do?”
“Whatever it takes,” she replied. “Everything it takes.”
“Then you need to be more dedicated to stopping him than he is to succeeding.”
Stephanie dwelled on this idea. She had to be willing to go farther than he would. It was the only way to beat him at his own game. She couldn’t shake the doubt from her mind about what Wynn would choose: his family or his status as a deity. He’d been willing to give away his Immortal soul once before. The Immortal society had been stable at that point and Kris in charge.
If she made it clear his decision would destroy both, she’d push things as far as she could. The ball would be in his court.
Did she believe in him enough to risk everything?
“Let me think about it,” she said and stood. “I’ll be back later.”
“Tell Andre I said hello,” Kris said with a smile.
Stephanie left, creeped out by how the other members of her family always predicted her next move.
Deep in thought, she walked through the catacombs. The stale air and narrow passageways didn’t bother her, not when she was seriously considering the prospect of asking to be killed. If she believed Wynn would stop what he was doing, she wouldn’t feel as uneasy about the solution. But she wasn’t confident of how he’d react, despite what Wynn claimed about the greater good and protecting his family.
She returned to the first floor, where she was expected to perform petitioner duty before shadowing Wynn the rest of the day.
She summoned Andre before leaving the private corridor leading into the interior of the castle.
Her brother appeared with a smile that faded when he witnessed the grave expression on her face.
Stephanie inched closer to him and lowered her voice. “I have a crazy idea,” she said. She gave him the same background about Wynn she’d provided Kris before launching into her terrible, terrible plan.
Peace studied her hard.
“My only concern,�
�� she said when she finished, “is if it’s enough and whether or not I can trust anything Kris says to do.”
Peace appeared to be formulating his response carefully. “You can’t trust Kris,” he started. “But he’s brilliant in the same way Wynn is. You will have to evaluate everything he tells you. I agree this solution is likely to catch Wynn’s attention. It’s also dangerous to predict how you think Wynn might act. He might pause but not stop, especially if he feels like he’s being manipulated.”
“We’d have to make it look real, that somehow, Darkyn got hold of them and killed me.”
“The other real danger is striking a deal with Darkyn. He won’t lose, Stephanie,” Andre warned.
“You agree with Kris about me dying?” she asked skeptically.
“Yes and no. I agree with Kris that you are Wynn’s successor for a reason. What I can’t determine is if your death would be enough, or if Wynn would appoint someone else then go about his business. Darkyn isn’t going to negotiate to resurrect you without a substantial price tag. Wynn would have to choose between you and becoming a god.”
In that light, Stephanie wasn’t convinced she’d win. “It’s also Karma,” she reasoned. “He’d lose her, too, if he became a god. Maybe we need to pile as much onto this bonfire as possible.”
“If you’re going to pull out all the stops, you’d need to make this an apocalyptic scenario. There’s no going back and no guarantee you’ll survive.”
“I want to believe, if forced to choose between his duty to the greater good, and his ego, he’d choose us.”
“Stephanie, I can’t guarantee you he would,” Andre said quietly, sadly. “I want to believe in him as much as you do, but I simply don’t know.”
Her mind had shifted to creating an apocalyptic scenario. The thought emerging from the back of her mind was crazy – and perfect. The crisis she created wouldn’t have to look real – it’d have to be real. Everything and everyone Wynn remotely cared about would have to be in danger, and only he could prevent the worst from happening.