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Presco was the first to move but Varlett jumped to her feet, holding up her palm, with the demon ring, and he halted. “Look, it was a long time ago.”

“Your betrayal is fresh in my mind.” Valeen’s fists clenched at her sides. “You must have forgotten who you’re dealing with.”

“I knew exactly who I was dealing with, goddess of night, whom my life is now bound to. I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep that secret, that you’d never stay silent after what you witnessed.”

“A lie. It was all a lie.”

Varlett let out a dark cackle. “Hel was so devoted to you it was pathetic. I’m surprised you believed it, although I am good. That illusion worked better than I ever hoped. All it took was a dash of truth, a play on both of your insecurities, a few whispered lies to all three of you, and it was over. The mighty always crumble from within.”

In a flash, she had her hand wrapped around Varlett’s throat, not tight enough to hurt but she was barely able to restrain herself from choking her. “Why?”

“Careful.” Hel was right beside her; his hand wrapped around her shoulder easing her off Varlett, but she didn’t let go entirely. “You could hurt yourself.”

Varlett licked her bottom lip. “Why? Because you had everything I wanted. Immortality, might, love, devotion, the god of magic who I knew could give me power like I’d never dreamed.” Her reptilian eyes flicked to Hel. “I learned how to create illusions from your personal spell book that you stupidly left unguarded in your castle.” She turned back to Valeen. “You even had the heart ofmybetrothed, and now because you were foolish enough to make a deal with me, everything that happens to me, happens to you. If I die, so will you. If I get a scratch, so will you. I bet my life on you, the possessor of Soulender, and the fact that Hel and War would do anything to protect you, and when you become immortal again. So. Will. I.”

Valeen clenched her jaw, restraining herself from attacking the dragon shifter. The person who’d ruined her life and countless others was now bound to her. Clever witch. She would get her wish of becoming an immortal after all. “This isn’t over.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “It’s just begun.”

Hel’s hand wrapped around Valeen’s upper arm and turned her toward him and away from Varlett. She reluctantly released the dragon shifter, and they took several steps away.

I will find a way to undo this. But it won’t be easy even for me. Something like this can’t be undone with a simple spell. It will take time.“And Varlett is going to help us get our immortality back.” He looked at her. “Aren’t you? Because it benefits you, and you care more about yourself than anyone or anything.”

She smiled, reptilian eyes flashing. “I am at your service.”

As much as Valeen wanted to punish her, what could be done?

War stepped forward, standing between the three of them. He shook his head in disbelief and raked a hand through his hair. “If I’m putting the pieces together correctly, you’re saying that the only reason you left Hel was because of her? She was the one you thought he had an affair with? But…”

“But I didn’t,” Hel finished.

For assurance, he turned to Varlett. “It’s true. He was never unfaithful back then, at least not with me. Although in this life, we did have many hot and heavy nights, mornings, afternoons…”

“Shut the fuck up,” Hel said, ready to charge her. “I may not be able to kill you yet, but don’t think I won’t find the darkest, dirtiest prison cell imaginable and put you there.”

War looked like he was going to be sick as his emerald eyes went back and forth between Hel and Valeen. “We would have never been together or even lived here in Adalon at all. You never would have fallen in love with me. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” He looked off into the distance and ran his hands down his face. A smear of dirt and blood spread over his cheek.

She wanted to comfort him, to say it wasn’t true but that would be a lie. The truth was it was always supposed to be Hel. He was always the one she was supposed to be with and that was destroyed, stolen from them. So, she stood in silence staring at him, unable to find words. Unable to go to him because she wouldn’t break Hel to do it.

Piper put a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe it wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did. And you’re here with us now.”

Fennan stepped up to his other side and nudged him with his shoulder. “We wouldn’t have it any other way, Thane. You’re our High King. And my best friend.”

In that moment, she realized even on the darkest of nights, when all seemed lost, and no light could shine at the level they had fallen, a glimmer of hope could always be found.

“Don’t you all get it? If it wasn’t for her, Hel never would have become the Black Mage. There would be no curse and no war with the pale ones. The elves would still have their magic…” His chin shook and his eyes filled with tears as he met Hel’s stare. “And I never would have lost my brother.”

For the first time ever, Varlett looked guilty. It wasn’t an emotion Valeen thought her capable of harboring.

His pain made her even more angry with the dragon.

“And we can’t take it back,” Hel said, striding forward. “But we can let it go.” He jerked him into a hug, and Valeen couldn’t hold back tears.

Chapter48

VALEEN

Valeen paced the hallway outside her old room. Everyone had come inside to bathe away the blood and dirt of battle. Varlett was held in one of the rooms with katagas serum in her and handcuffs. With their new connection, the serum affected Valeen too, but she’d take dimmed magic over letting that horrible dragon wench run free. Hel lay on the bed in her room to give her time to talk to War alone. She just hadn’t gotten the courage to knock on his door yet.