Page 26

Audrey

B y 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 keep you 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.

It wobbles slightly when her eyes land on me. I don’t want her to go, but I know there’s no way I can stop her. I hate that she has to go on this journey without me, but I know my place is here in the underworld with my mates.

“I don’t like it,” I admit. “But I understand. You have to do what you have to do. With that being said, if anything happens to her, I’m coming for the three of you.”

Gael holds up his hands in surrender. “Come now, little sister. If anything happens to Wren, you won’t have to worry about coming for us. We’ll come to you, Lucifer, and Ana for our punishment.”

“Not that we’ll need to be punished because nothing is going to happen to Wren,” Octavius adds.

“It better not,” I grumble, crossing my arms over my chest.

Okay, so maybe I’m not dealing with the idea of her being away from me for an indeterminate amount of time as well as I thought I was.

I mean, who can blame me? After Michael killed me, I was separated from her for six months, and she ended up dead. It makes sense for me to want to keep her close.

Wren mouths a quick thank you to me, and I shrug. What the hell else am I going to do?

If this is her destiny, then there’s nothing I can do to prevent it. I could try, but I would fail.

Plus, I think she needs this. I think she needs to find herself again. She might not admit it out loud, but I know her confidence was rocked when she found out just how much she’d been duped by Michael. She made him her whole world, and he destroyed it.

I like Riggs, Gael, and Octavius. They could be good for her. They could make her happy if she just let them. But that’s not for me to say.

Hopefully, they’ll be able to work out their shit while they’re on their journey.

Hell, maybe that’ll be part of her journey. I just wish we knew how to tell who our mates are without them being the ones to tell us.

Hmmm…maybe the Fates can answer that for me. After all, they seem to be the only ones who know anything about the three-quarter blood gods.

I’m still confused about how no one else remembers them. From the way I understand it, the gods have been around forever, just with different names.

I add it to my list of questions to speak to Cassian’s mom and aunts about. I don’t know if they’ll be able to give me the answers I seek, but if I don’t at least ask, I’ll never know.

“Okay, well, that’s one less thing to worry about.” Lucifer glances down, and I see there are notes scrawled across a sheet of paper.

It almost feels too mundane for him to be using.

My mouth drops open when he squints at the page before pulling out a pair of glasses and putting them on.

The devil shouldn’t have meeting notes and reading glasses. It ruins the entire persona.

Then again, so does him being so squishy with me and Wren.

I’m really going to have to stop thinking of him and the other gods—hell, most of the supernaturals—as they are in the stories I grew up with living earth-side. They’ve been proven wrong repeatedly already.

“Next up, we have crews working on putting Leyton back in order. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to restore it enough so they won’t know anything happened. As soon as that’s finished, we’ll put in a call to let them know it’s safe to return. ”

Wren snorts. “How exactly do you plan on convincing them that a nuclear site is suddenly safe?”

“Malfunctioning equipment,” Gael says with a grin. “It happens fairly regularly, even without us intervening.”

Huh. I guess that makes sense.

“Next, let’s discuss the demigods. Based on the number of them fighting yesterday, not all the angels agreed with Michael.

Who the hell knows what chaos is going on in Olympus?

Someone is going to have to head there to put things right.

They’ll need to watch over the angels who surrendered today to make sure they don’t try to stir up any more trouble, but also the angels that didn’t fight—at least until we’re successful in waking the rest of the gods. ”

Nyx taps her hand on the table. “Erebus and I can do that. It’s been a long time since we’ve visited Olympus. It’ll be nice to see our children when they awaken as well.”

“That’s much appreciated.” Lucifer glances down at the paper again. “There are only a few other things.”

“Wait.” Erebus raises his hand, continuing to speak once Lucifer gives him a nod. “Watching over the angels is going to be a big job. We’d like to recruit Diana, Melody, and Warren for the task, as well as some of the harpies.”

Lucifer’s eyebrows shoot up as he glances between the two gods and my bestie. “You want to take three of my reapers with you?”

“We do. Honestly, probably a few more than them.” Nyx pauses, seeming to think something over.

“Even with the amount of angels killed today, there are too many for us to watch between the two of us. Maybe we can do some kind of schedule where a group of reapers can come to Olympus for a set period of time to work alongside the harpies as guards?”

“You really think that’s necessary?” he asks, and she nods. “The upside is a lot of reapers just graduated today, so I have more than enough of them to be able to assist with that. As far as Diana, Melody, and Warren, I’ll leave that decision to them.”

Diana’s wide eyes meet mine, and I can tell she’s freaking out.

Oh, yeah. There’s definitely something going on there.

Warren’s the first to speak up. “I’ll only go if both Melody and Diana want to go, but I don’t hate the idea. ”

“Same. We’re a unit, so if anyone doesn’t want to go, we won’t,” Melody adds, and I can see the panic growing in my bestie’s eyes.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, Diana,” I tell her. “If you want to remain here, it’ll make me happy knowing that one of my best friends is safe and sound. Well, both of them—unless someone wants to send Celeste somewhere too.”

Celeste laughs, shaking her head. “If they do, the answer is no. This was more than enough adventure for me.”

That sends the table into a round of laughter, and it’s nice to just let go—even if it’s only for a moment.

“We’ll go,” Diana finally says, but she still looks worried.

I’ll need to make sure I take the time to talk with her before she goes.

Damn it.

My bestie and my twin are about to head to Olympus, which I don’t even know where it is. But something tells me it’s not close by. I really don’t like it.

Lucifer continues the meeting, although it doesn’t seem to be anything important. Which is good because I can feel myself dozing off .

I rest my head against Nex’s shoulder and the next thing I know, he’s shaking me awake.

“Time to wake up, gorgeous. The meeting’s over.”

I blink away the sleep, glancing around to see the room is empty except for me and my mates. “Shit. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s all good,” Wraith assures me. “Your dad even laughed a little, but he made sure everyone left as quietly as possible so as not to disturb you.”

See? Like I said, he’s squishy for me and Wren.

“Let’s go home, firecracker.” Brenden pulls me to my feet and tosses his arm over my shoulder.

I grab Nex’s hand and step into the shadows. I bring us straight into the bathroom and start stripping down.

“I need a shower, and so do you. Let’s make this quick so we can get some sleep.”

By the time all my mates join us in bed, it’s clear they all have the same idea. As soon as the last of my mates climbs into bed, I pass the fuck out.