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Faris gave me the side eye.

“Hey, Nero and I didn’t know your crazy brother had hidden a treasure trove of immortal artifacts inside that vault!” I protested.

“But you did break the seal,” he countered. “Because you didn’t follow the rules.”

“Your rules would have meant my death,” I shot back. “Is that really what you wanted?”

“No.” Faris rubbed his chin. “Nonetheless, your rule-breaking landed us in a messy situation. Once again.” His gaze snapped to Parisa. “What do Regin’s artifacts do?”

“Many things,” she replied. “There are a lot of them.”

“What about these?” He showed her the bracelets he’d taken from her. “What do they do?”

“They are weapons against gods and demons.” She gave the bracelets in his hand a longing look. “They have the power to kill either one, depending on how they are used.”

“Depending on how they’re used?” I prompted her.

“See those symbols?”

I took a closer look at the bracelets. “Is that the symbol for Dragon’s Storm?”

She nodded. “Dragon’s Storm, Fairy’s Touch, Psychic’s Spell…they’re all there. All active magic abilities. And you can cycle between light or dark magic.”

“So these bracelets have all those powers?”

“Yes, and when activated with Nectar or Venom, even a human can use them,” she said.

“Use them to kill a deity.” I hovered my hand over the bracelets, and they lit up.

“Hmm, it seems like they like your magic, Leda Pandora.” Parisa licked her lips.

I ignored her. “These bracelets,” I said to Faris, “they were integrated into the batons we took from the humans who captured your soldiers.”

“Yes.” He nodded slowly. “I recognize them.”

“Just how many of these artifacts does Regin have?” I asked Parisa.

“Thousands.” Her eyes twinkled with excitement. “Enough to outfit an army to rival the gods’ own. And the demons’ too.”

“They’re going to use humans armed with immortal artifacts, activated by Nectar and Venom, to take out the gods and the demons,” I told Faris.

“It will never work,” he replied.

“These artifacts are as old as the ancient Immortals themselves,” Parisa said proudly. “The Immortals tasked the legendary Sunfire with making them, just in case the gods and demons ever got out of control and challenged their authority.”

Damiel and Cadence looked at each other.

“Gods and demons getting power-hungry and out of control? Yeah, like that would ever happen,” Damiel said, spreading on the sarcasm nice and thick.

“And now the Immortals are gone,” Parisa continued.

“Not all of us,” Cadence told her, which did temper the smile on the goddess’s lips.

It quickly returned. “But my father found that ancient stockpile of weapons. And now, after all this time, he is going to use them to take you all out,” Parisa concluded with vicious delight.

“These weapons,” I said, “you didn’t only give them to your human soldiers, did you?”

“No,” she confirmed. “We did not.”