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Layala chuckled and rubbed her thumb over the top of the massive diamond on her finger. She had a feeling it was hers from before. “I’m a great actress. If either of us is going to expose the truth of our marriage and we’re not the happy couple we claim, it’s you. You even hate the curve of my lips, remember?”

“Oh, and you’re so fond of me?” He rolled his eyes.

Pressing her lips together, she didn’t know what to say.

His stare seemed to heat her from within. Several beats passed in silence until he finally said, “Are you?” His brows furrowed and his garnet eyes sparkled in the sunlight filtering in from the window.

Layala kept quiet. The truth was she did care about him. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were concerned for Presco’s safety and you’re getting a little soft. Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.”

Hel let out a dark chuckle. “But you do know better. His and his family’s safety are more your area of concern, but if it will encourage you to side with me, then yes. Presco going to prison or being killed would devastate his family.”

Layala’s stomach seemed to knot, thinking of his wife’s screams if he didn’t make it, and his children… “Anyway, you were going to show me how to push and pull things from the aether, and I need to test my persuasion skills before this opera event.”

He scooted off the bed and picked up a potted fern from the stand next to the bed. With a curl of his finger to call her forward, she stood, and he pushed the fern into her hand. “It’s easy. All you have to do is think of the aether, imagine this fern vanishing and it’s gone, tucked away in your own hiding place. When you want to retrieve it again, you imagine the same object in your grasp. Your powers will do the heavy lifting.”

“Alright.” Layala rubbed a fern frond between her fingers and thought of a place where no one could exist, but things could go, a place of nowhere, and imagined the weight lifting from her palm and it disappearing. The tingle of her magic warmed her skin, but the fern didn’t budge.

“I’ll help you the first time.” Hel placed his palm flat beneath hers. His warm touch sent a pulse of electricity through her. She couldn’t help but stare into his eyes, surprised at the gesture. His methods were usually much more brutal or tricky.

She nodded and kept her gaze pinned to his. The longer they stared the more the temperature in the room seemed to rise. He swallowed hard. “Think of how vast and endless the stars and worlds are and then picture the blackness in between,” he said.

Eyes closed, she imagined the moons, shimmering constellations, colorful nebulas, the vast inky blackness surrounding it all and found herself dancing with Hel there, both of them smiling and laughing, carefree in a way Layala had never been. In a heartbeat, the weight of the fern was gone. She opened her eyes to Hel’s smile.

He let his hand drop to his side and the electricity flowing between them dissipated. “Good. Now call it back.”

Keeping her palm up and open before her, she pictured it there again, the weight of it, the smell of dirt and feel of it, the fuzzy texture between her fingers, and suddenly it was there again. Smiling, she lifted her gaze to his. “I did it.”

He chuckled. “Yeah.”

She quickly set the fern down, and thought of Darkbringer, her goddess blade and imagined feeling the weight of it, the smooth pommel, but after several beats, it didn’t come forth. With a frown she tried again and no luck. It must be locked in the vault, and magical wards would prevent her from being able to retrieve anything that way.

But Soulender…. It too was gold, shorter than Darkbringer, with an inscription along the blade though she couldn’t recall exactly what it read. She stowed it in a silver chest with black runes engraved all over it. It wasn’t just left floating around the aether for someone else to pull, even if it was a rare talent. In her mind’s eye, the lid to the chest popped open, and in reality Soulender flashed into her palm, heavy and yet light. She sucked in a sharp breath, felt the hum of its power, a subtle vibration. The only weapon left in all the realms that could kill a god, the true reason they were hunted.

Hel stared at it, face unreadable. What if he’d lied and it was the thing he’d been after? She had it right here out in the open for him to take. Whoever possessed this dagger was the most powerful being in all the realms, the most feared.

“You should put that away,” Hel said. “Someone might sense it.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, it vanished back into the chest, sealed in tight.

“Are you ready to mind control some poor fool to do your bidding?”

“Not to do anything bad,” Layala said with a scowl.

“You do something bad? Of course not,” he said with a smirk. “We’ll save the fun for me.”

* * *

Night felland the stars shined above, as did the twin moons. Several streets over from the affluent Pearl Avenue they came upon what appeared to be a party for young adults. Hooting and hollering young males jumped off the roof with wings spread wide. A whirlwind from them speeding past whipped her loose hair. A few roaring bonfires gathered groups. Loud music of drums and tambourines and other thumping instruments came from the mansion with four white pillars holding up the overhanging balcony. Young dragon ladies wearing scant dresses with horns growing out of their brightly-colored hair, some with wings on display, some not, gathered in groups in the front yard with bottles of what must be wine and liquor in their hands. A stark contrast to the upscale wealthy street of establishments they’d been at with Presco.

“Ah perfect,” Hel said, coming to a stop outside the white picket fence surrounding the home. “Now, when you’re using your persuasion, look them in the face, and it works better if you touch them. A brush of contact is all it takes for most. For more resistant minds, longer touch.”

“I remember.” She hadn’t forgotten how he made her follow his commands.

“Be subtle about it, casual. We don’t want anyone figuring out who we are.” He flashed his pretty white teeth. “Smile. Use that charm I know you have somewhere in you.”

“I got it,” Layala drawled. “What are you going to do?”

“I’ll be around. Grading your performance.”