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Desolation settles over the group, ruining what should be a celebration, and that just won’t do.

“Enough of the heavy talk,” I declare. “We’ve had enough of that to last us multiple lifetimes. We need to make our way back to the underworld, but I’d really like to see Audrey put the bodies back to rest. I love how powerful my mate is.”

Audrey smiles, ducking her head as she flushes, but she doesn’t deny my words.

When it’s time, Nex and I join Audrey in the sky to watch the corpses ramble back to their graves. It really is hot how powerful she is.

Too bad we have a meeting to attend or I might have tried to convince her to sneak off so I can show how hard it gets me.

Alas, we must deal with our responsibilities first.

Chapter Twenty-four

Audrey

By the time we make it back to the underworld, I’m exhausted. I would love nothing more than to go home with my mates and pass out for a few days.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be in the plans for the day.

As we step into the war council room, I’m surprised to see that the table seems to have grown and three additional chairs sit around it.

The mood in the room is somber, and while I hate it, I understand it. We won the battle and the war, but at what cost?

“Audrey, you made it finally. Good. Will you come sit beside me?” Lucifer gestures to the chair on his right, the one on his left already filled by Wren.

“Umm…sure.” I look around the table, realizing everyone has moved around the table.

Mom sits beside Wren with Octavius, Riggs, and Gael beside her. The five seats beside the one my dad asked me to sit in are empty—for my mates, I assume.

Hypnos, Thanatos, and Hecate sit at the far end with the Fates. Charon and Celeste still sit beside each other on the other side of the empty chairs, with Meg and Cerberus beside them. Diana, Melody, and Warren are across from them, with Nyx and Erebus sitting among them.

When I had my girls’ night with my besties, they swore nothing was going on with them and the others on the war council. Yet, the new seating leads me to believe that there is something going on. Or at least that they want something to be going on.

But that’s an issue for another day.

I trudge to my seat, Nex grabbing the chair at my side as the rest of my mates fill in the other spots.

Lucifer sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Thank you all for agreeing to this meeting. I know we’re all exhausted, but we need to start planning our next steps. Sadly, taking out Michael and the rogue angels doesn’t fix everything. We need to wake the gods. Originally, I thought they’d chosen to sleep, but as we know, Michael confessed that it was the rebel demigods who put them to sleep with stolen power. I just don’t know how we’ll wake them.”

“It needs to be me,” Wren says, shocking the hell out of me as her eyes sweep toward the end of the table where the Fates sit. “This is my quest to undertake.”

Lucifer shakes his head. “I don’t think—”

“We’ll go with her,” Gael says, cutting off my dad. “If this is something my mate needs to do, then the three of us will join her.”

“Your mate?” Lucifer’s brows shoot up as he considers the horsemen. “Since when?”

“They’re not—” Wren breaks off, shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter. I need to do this, Dad.”

Lucifer’s face immediately softens with her use of the word dad. “This would be quite the undertaking. We don’t know how to wake them or what condition they’ll be in when they do wake. I trust Gael, Riggs, and Octavius to keepyou safe, but I need you to understand exactly what you’re taking on by signing up to wake the gods.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Wren tells him point blank. “The Fates told me I’d know when my destiny was calling, and this is it. This is what I’m meant to do. I understand everything you’re saying, but if I don’t do this, we might never be able to wake them. At least not all of them. I don’t know the details. I just know that if we’re going to succeed, it has to be me.”

His eyes move to the Fates at the opposite end of the table, narrowing slightly. I expect him to argue, but he surprises me when he lets out a sigh. “Fine. It’s not like I can stop fate. My horsemen—minus Wraith, of course—will travel with you. I expect regular check-ins, though. I just found you and your sister, and I’m not ready to lose either of you.”

Wren grins, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze. “And you won’t. Thank you for supporting me.”

“Not that it really matters, but you have my support too,” Mom tells her, causing Wren’s smile to grow.