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“Actually, the gods are not in possession of the treasures from the Night Prince’s Vault.” Meda, the Goddess of Technology, pointed at Faris. “Faris is.”

“And we demand our share of the treasures,” added Maya, Goddess of Healing.

“Yes, everyone is just full of demands today,” Faris said impatiently.

“Perhaps we should divide up the Night Prince’s treasures evenly between us,” Grace suggested.

Faris’s gaze cut to her. “I did all the work. Therefore, I shall enjoy all the spoils.”

Grace laughed. “By the time you got to Midnight Castle, the slaves were free and their former masters all dead.”

“There were still the Night Prince’s soldiers to fight,” he said.

No one cared. They just carried on like he hadn’t said anything

“But are the pirates truly all dead?” asked Asteria, the Demon of Dark Shifters. “Not all their bodies were recovered from the castle.”

“A great many bodies were found, burnt beyond recognition,” said Aleris, God of Nature.

“Because the slaves started a fire that consumed an entire wing of the castle,” replied Ronan, God of War and Lord of the Legion.

“A fire my soldiers put out before it consumed the entire castle. In other words, without me, there wouldn’t even be any treasures,” Faris pointed out.

“Fine,” Grace said. “You may keep the treasures.”

Seth, the Demon of Healing, rose to his feet. “You do not speak for the rest of us, Grace.”

“Sit down, Seth,” she said tightly, her voice dark and dangerous.

Seth had the good sense to do as she said.

“As I was saying,” Grace continued, turning to Faris, “you may keep the treasures from the Vault. And the rest of us shall divide the entirety of the Forgotten Territories amongst ourselves.”

“That is absurd,” Faris growled. “You’re talking about hundreds of worlds. And dozens of Immortal burial sites, each one overflowing with more treasures and Nectar and Venom than we’ve ever seen before. And you expect me to simply give that all up?”

“Why not?” Grace countered. “After all, you expectusto give up all the treasures in the Night Prince’s Vault.”

At that, the gods and demons switched from icy insults to a full-on shouting match. Five minutes later, they were still shouting. At around the ten-minute mark, they drew swords. And five minutes after that, they set those swords on fire. That’s when I lost my temper.

“Enough!” I bellowed, pumping so much magic into that one word that it knocked them all back onto their thrones.

Fourteen pairs of eyes snapped to me. And they didn’t look happy.

“You are supposed to be these wise and powerful deities, and instead you’re all behaving like a bunch of unruly children,” I scolded them. “All you do is bicker and fight and whine. So here’s what we’re going to do.” I rose out of my throne, slowly, majestically. “I am going to keep Midnight Castleandall the treasures in the Vault…” Faris opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. “I’m also claiming the entire Forgotten Territories and all its spoils.”

“You overstep your authority, Leda,” Aleris said brusquely, like a bull exhaling.

“Outrageous!” growled Khalon.

“Ridiculous!” agreed Maya.

“You’ve turned this council session into a farce!” Sonja exclaimed.

“Silence!” I shouted, weaving light and dark siren magic into the word.

I was pretty pleased with myself when that worked. There were advantages to being a god-demon hybrid.

“I am going to keep Midnight Castleandall the treasures in the Vaultandthe Forgotten Territories. You can each send soldiers to my castle to assist me in the search, butIam in charge,” I declared. “After I’ve decoded the map and found all the Nectar and Venom sites, then I’ll divide all the worlds and treasures fairly between you. But only if you start getting along and stop pissing me off.” I shot Sonja a pointed look.