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Hel pulled his civar from his lips and through a hazy cloud of smoke watched Varlett approach. Her heeled boots tapped lightly on the stone floor. Her reptilian eyes raked over him in a hungry gaze, and he wasn’t certain in which ways she craved him. There were times he thought she might rather take a bite than ride him. The sitting room he waited in was one of many with wide-open windows overlooking the property, and fancy high-backed chairs with side tables and tea cookies.

“Valeen and I are leaving,” he said before she made it to the seat across from him. He’d rather have a chair between them lest she might be tempted to do something rash.

She stopped and gripped the back of the cushioned chair. “For how long?”

“I don’t know. Could be weeks, months, not likely years but…” he lifted a shoulder. “You’ll stay here with War. Protect him. Take out the demon and any other assassin that comes for him.”

Her knuckles turned white, and her black talons punctured and drove into the backrest of the cerulean cushion. “After all I did, after all the time I waited, you’re just leaving with her? I waited over four hundred years, and I made sure she stayed alive for you.” She shook her head, horns slowly grew out of her head, and smoke puffed out of her nostrils.

Here we go.

“No,” she said firmly.

“Yes.”

They stared each other down, seconds ticked by, and neither of them moved.

“I’m not bound to you anymore. You can’t force me. I’m going with you.”

“I never forced you to do anything, Varlett. Everything you ever did was because you wanted to. And you’re staying and doing exactly what I said.”

She tore her eyes away from him and gave a cruel smile. “It wouldn’t matter what she did. You’ll always be obsessed with her. It’s all about preciousVal. Even if she’s a lying cheating whore, you can’t let her go. And after everything I’ve done for you, proved to you my loyalty, loved you, even after all that you’d still choose her. Round and round we go, me chasing you, you chasing her, her chasing War. It never ends.”

Hel rolled his eyes. “Stop it, Varlett. You’re being dramatic. I need—”

“Something from her memory,” she mocked. “You know what I think? I think you just can’t stand to see her with him and even if you don’t love her anymore you’ll never let them be happy. And that means you never will be.”

Hel took a pull from his civar. “You know me well, Varlett. You’re absolutely right.”

This was what they fought about right before he went into his long slumber. She went feral when he said he’d sleep until Valeen came back to wake him. Then she told him she never wanted to see him again and she hoped he stayed asleep for eternity. That was the truth of their falling out all those years ago. She told Layala it was about power because she didn’t want to admit it was about her.

Varlett picked up the chair and threw it against the wall, leaving a chip in the stone and the chair in broken pieces on the floor. “Am I ever going to be enough for you? Are you ever going to love me and not her?”

Hel’s gaze flicked to the window. The lush green bushes swayed in a breeze. “I’ve told you before.” He slowly rose from his seat and adjusted his left sleeve. “I don’t love you and I never will. But you know what I can offer you, if you stay loyal to me, you’ll be at my side when I rule Runevale. The choice is yours. You stand with me, or you can go back to being a ruined princess in Ryvengaard, disowned by your father for turning your back on him and choosing me over him and War.”

Varlett’s eyes flashed with dragon’s rage, but her talons sliced down the front of her dress, tearing open the fabric, exposing her naked flesh beneath. She pushed the ruined gown away from her body and strutted toward him. “Even if you don’t love me, you’ll make love to me before you go.”

Hel held up a hand and halted her with magic. His gaze swept over her naked form and then he lifted his gaze to her face. “I’m not in the mood.”

* * *

LAYALA

A few hours later,Layala and Hel stood at the portal inside the unnamed forest. They’d made it an hour before sundown. There were no goodbyes with her friends, no crying or asking if there was another way.

She didn’t see Thane again before leaving.

Not a word had been exchanged between her and Hel since he saved her. Her bags were slung across her body. He carried nothing but the clothes on his back.

“Isn’t Varlett coming?”

“No. She’s going to help War.”

Layala glanced back toward the direction of the castle. It was not even close to seeing distance and the thick gnarled trees would have blocked any view anyway. She wanted to protest, what if she hurts him? What if she is the one who tried to kill him and not the demon, but she clamped her mouth shut.

“Where are we going?” she finally asked.Not the Void.It dawned on her that he brought them here with his magic but if they were using a portal, it meant they must be going further than he was capable of taking them.

“To Ryvengaard.”