Page 63 of Bride of Death

“Impressive,” I mutter before misting ten feet away from him. “And stupid,” I add. “Do you want me to drop you in the middle of Hades’s old palace? Because I can. And I’ll leave you there.”

Where we both know you’ll be trapped,I don’t add out loud. Because I don’t need to. He knows trying to shadow in this realm would be dangerous for him. He’s not a Mythos Fae. Our magic works very differently here.

Though, Hades’s subtle claim might be enough to protect his pet assassin.

Fortunately, Maliki doesn’t know that. Which explains his irritated growl now.

I respond by tossing him the boots and socks.

He catches them before they can hit him.

“Be nice and I’ll give you this sweater, too,” I tell him.

His jaw clenches in response, then he searches the room like he’s looking for a weapon.

“No slug venom here, I’m afraid,” I drawl. “But there are a lot of other deadly creatures to play with in this realm, myself included, if you fancy a fight.”

I wouldn’t mind showing off for my intended. It would help me redeem myself for that embarrassing display Maliki made of me outside of her hut.

Alas, the assassin stalks over to the bench at the foot of my bed, drops the footwear to the floor, and sits to pull on the socks.

“The boots might be a bit big,” I say, wanting to goad him. “I’d apologize, but I’m rather fond of my Alpha characteristics.”

His gold eyes flash up to mine as he slides his foot into a boot. “They’re actually a tad snug.”

I smile. “I suppose one would need to be a decent liar to work for someone like Hades.”

Maliki grunts at that, though I notice that the footwear does seem to fit him perfectly. Not surprising, honestly. We’re nearly the same height and stature, which suggests other parts of us may be similar as well.

However, I’m the one with a knot.

Something Serapina will hopefully benefit from someday soon. Maybe while Maliki is inside her, too.Hmm. That would be fun.

The glare he shoots my way only makes me desire that outcome even more. He will be ever so fun to share a female with, as he’ll probably try to kill me while we fuck her.

Delicious, I decide, my focus returning to Serapina. She’s moved toward the balcony doors, her hands cupping the glass as she tries to see through the blue tint. “I’ll take you outside to explore after you’ve put on your shoes,” I promise her. “And also after we’ve discussed the rules.”

She turns around, her beautiful face taking my breath away even as her eyes narrow into a distrusting stare. “I said I wanted a Mythos Fae lesson, not to be kidnapped to… Where are we?”

“The Mythos Fae Realm,” I answer without hesitation. “Where I intended to provide a Mythos Fae lesson.”

Suspicion colors her features. “You tricked me.”

“I didn’t,” I reply. “Not intentionally, anyway. I offered you choices on what you wanted to learn more about, and you chose the Mythos Fae, so I misted us to my palace. I want to ensure I tell you everything and show you anything you might not believe.”

I’m very aware that she has no reason to trust me. And her commentary on her dreams made that even more evident. She probably doesn’t have faith in anyone right now, and I can’t really blame her for that.

Hades, of course, has only worsened the situation, too.

I’m not sure what he said to her while I was healing from the slug venom, but her broken expression when I arrived told me it wasn’t anything good.

If he weren’t mated to her soul, I would consider killing him for hurting her. Though, he would just regenerate since our kind can’t really die. So I suppose that’s an option to consider later.

“This is your palace? As in, where you live?” she asks me slowly.

“Yes and no. This is my palace, but I live in the Morpheus Kingdom.”

“Oh. So you just have… two palaces.”