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He blinked, trying to get a better look at her. “You’re Ava, the Demon of Hell’s Army.”

“I am.”

“How’d you get here?”

“A djinn brought me.”

His chuckle was as rough as a machine that hadn’t been oiled in years. “You want to know how I had so many children.”

“How did you know?” Ava asked in surprise.

“Why else go through all the trouble to come all the way out here? I’ve been here for a very long time, so I don’t know anything about the gods’ war plan, and they’d rather see me die than pay a ransom to get me back. But I am the only deity who has ever had ten children. That’s valuable information.”

So his mind was in much better shape than his body. And his house.

“Tell you what, I’ll explain to you exactly how I did it.” He smacked his lips. “If you get me off this cursed moon and back to civilization.”

“I have another offer.” Ava pulled a slender vial out of her jacket. A bright liquid sparkled and swirled inside it, moving almost like it was alive.

He gaped at it. “Nectar.”

“How long as it been since you’ve had some?”

Regin watched the Nectar move in the vial, transfixed. “No.” He shook himself. “I want my freedom. That is my offer.”

“How disappointing.” Ava moved to tuck the vial away again.

He caught her hand. “Wait.”

“There’s enough magic in this Nectar to return you to your former glory.” She used her other hand to retrieve a second vial of Nectar from her jacket. “And I’m offering two doses.”

“I want the first one before I tell you anything.”

“Very well. But be warned. If you cross me, I am more than powerful enough to deal with the likes of you.”

Ava set the first vial of Nectar into his hand. With eager, shaky fingers, Regin popped the vial’s top and poured the entire contents into his mouth.

The effects were immediate. An ethereal glow washed across his skin, smoothing the wrinkles. The glow spread across his hair, turning it from white to black. His clothes not only mended; they completely transformed into a glorious gold-and-purple robe befitting a king. His eyes grew sharper, and it wasn’t only thanks to the dramatic dash of dark eyeshadow on his lids. His lips became fuller and smoother; they were no longer broken by dry cracks.

Ava smiled. “Now, that’s better. You actually look alive. And you don’t smell like garbage anymore.”

Regin leaned back in his chair and braided his fingers together in a thoughtful pose. “Yes.”

“Now it’s your turn.”

“Very well.” Like his face, his voice wasn’t rough anymore either. It was as smooth as rose petals. “You wish to know how I beat the odds? It’s quite simple. I changed the rules of the game.”

“How?”

“By changing the flow of magic in my favor. You see, the universe has a kind of balance sheet. In order to have life, you need death. It’s the so-called balance of the universe. But you can cheat that balance. To create a powerful life, you merely need to compensate with powerful death. The more death, the better. That puts the balance sheet in your favor.”

Ava leaned forward. She was very, very intrigued. “There are often battles that result in a lot of death. That doesn’t mean more people are born.”

“No,” he said. “You need to channel that death. You need to transform it into life. After all, we’re cheating our way out of our own infertility by paying for it with death. It’s not an easy procedure. Nor is it appreciated by certain closed-minded individuals who claim to speak for all the gods.”

“The gods’ council exiled you because you did this,” Ava realized. “Ten times.”

“They exiled me because of the massacres I created in order to achieve the necessary balance to make my children. They labeled me ‘mad’ and sent me into exile here. And they dropped off my children on ten nearby moons. We’re all orbiting the same world, all so close, and yet so far away. It wasn’t enough to exile me. They had to torture me too.”