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“Can we please get back to the reason for our call?” Omaera asked, earning my deepest appreciation for her attempt to redirect the conversation away from my disgraceful parents. “Why does Kenvin hate Lerris so much?”

“Don’t know,” Ryden said, clearly still ruffled from learning who my parents were. “Not sure he’ll tell you either. But it’s no Realm secret that if given the chance, he’d behead your uncle in a heartbeat.”

“Well, that’s some anger we can work with to our advantage,” Zandren said. “Now all we need to do is find a nearby portal to Hell and go find this Kenvin.”

Oh yeah, easy peasy. Let’s just find a portal to Hell and walk on through.

If there was ever a statement that gave away Zandren’s ignorance regarding Hell and the fact that he’d never been there, that was it. Portals were very difficult to find. Because they always shifted. They weren’t like doorways that were a fixed structure forever. They were at the mercy of the wind, the tide, and who knew what fucking else. It was a way to keep idiot humans from stumbling through one accidentally and going on a Narnia-like adventure into the Demon Realm where they’d sure as fuck be roasted on a spit by demons looking to liven up a Friday night.

Also, going through a portal wasn’t like walking through a doorway into the kitchen pantry. It was painful. It tore every molecule of your body apart, then reassembled it back on the other side. It wasn’t afunprocess. You also never knew where in Hell the portal was going to spit you out. It could be right where you wanted to be, or a day’s journey from where you needed to be.

“Can’t help you there, son,” Ryden said. “Make a point ofnotgoing to Hell if I can help it. Painful process it is, what with the whole being ripped into a million pieces and such.”

Omaera and Zandren’s mouths dropped open.

I glanced at Drak who still held a stoney expression. “Resting Vamp Face” we called it, since they all always looked like they’d bit into a decaying corpse and sucked some curdled O-neg. Melissima didn’t look shocked either. They knew what it took to go to Hell.

“Howar will know where a portal is,” Drak finally said.

King Ryden made aharrumphsound in his throat. “Yes, I’m sure he does.”

Even though I’m sure King Ryden hated me because of who my parents were, the old bear was growing on me, simply because he shared my disdain for vampires.

“What about Queen Anysa?” Omaera asked, turning to me. “Do you think she’d know where a portal is?”

She would, but I wasn’t exactly a right hand to the Mage Queen. She knew of me, and I of her, but that was about it. She mostly knew of me because she kept an eye on me, given my lineage. She kept an eye on all themage spawn from the crew who nearly wiped out the human race.

“Let’s see what King Howar has to offer first,” I replied, offering my mate a smile.

“Thanks for your help, Dad,” Zandren said.

The King merely grunted. Then the line went dead.

All eyes focused on Drak.

“I guess you’re calling your cousin for a friendly family chat,” I said, biting into a piece of bacon, though I wasn’t really hungry. “Hopefully, he can help us this time and not nearly kill us like he did with that demon-bitch Raewyn.”

Ire burned icy-hot in Drak’s eyes as he glared at me. But it was impossible to mistake the unease in his expression either. He didn’t like what I said, but he also didn’t entirely disagree with it.

Interesting.

CHAPTER FOUR

Drak

All eyes were on me as I reached for my phone and found Howar’s number. Unlike the bear who had no problem calling his king and putting him on speaker-mode, I wasn’t so keen on doing it with Howar. Especially since I was having some disconcerting feelings about my cousin—which in and of themselves did not sit well in my stomach. The idea of not being able to trust my monarch, who was also family, was like a stake to the heart.

And yet, something in the back of my mind told me not to trust him. Not completely anyway.

“I’m, uh … I’m going to ask him where a portal is in private,” I said, standing up and heading for the front door, knowing they were all watching me walk away.

Even putting that small bit of distance between Omaera and me created a slight nausea in my stomach. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t ignore or push past, but I was aware of its presence.

Melissima, thankfully, was able to compound and spell a new batch of pills for me so I could be somewhat civilized around Omaera while she continued to bleed and not attack her like a rabid beast.

She did smell incredible though. Even from across the room, her signaturescent of lilacs, honeysuckle, and cayenne was intoxicating, but mix that with the scent of her blood and I was practically salivating.

Once I knew I was out of earshot of everyone, I punched in Howar’s number, knowing that he’d have to be bound and gagged not to answer a call from me.