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“I will never hear the end of it if you don’t both get your ass’s out there and act like you hate each other!” he replied, prompting us to do just that.

But as I popped my head out from behind the back of the wagon, I couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of Garmr’s army spread out as far as the eye could see. Of course, he wasn’t the only one, and I glanced back at ours and took in the impressive sight of our own forces.

Standing there, in the middle of both sides, was a lone figure, waiting.

“Orthrus,” Jared gasped out his name. “Get everyone ready,” Jared then said, his voice hard, knowing that once I stepped out there, then, there was no going back. Quite literally, all Hell would break loose.

“You’re up, Nero girl,” Marcus told us, making her nod, saying,

“You just tell those ginger bastards to be at the ready.”

Marcus granted her a salute with the tip of his staff. But I glanced back and nodded to him, silently telling him to remember what I said. Then he turned, ready to walk away, but something stopped him in his tracks and his shoulders tensed. Then he said,

“Fuck it!” He then slammed his staff in the ground, so it stayed there, and he turned suddenly. Striding back to me, he pulled me in for a hug and whispered,

“Listen to the voices, Cookie, follow them, no matter what, promise me, Ella.”

I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say, so I nodded as he held me back, his hands at my shoulders, looking in my eyes until he was satisfied. And with that he left.

“What did he say to you?” Jared asked, and because I didn’t want to chance anything going wrong, I told him,

“He told me to be careful,” I said, watching him as he ran toward the others, who were all waiting for the signal.

My family.

“It’s time, Chica,” Nero told me, and I nodded before stepping out from the proverbial stage curtains.

And there was Garmr, appearing from a portal he created behind his own prisoner.

So, with him watching, it was time for everyone’s game face.

Which meant that when I walked past Jared, he made a show of looking disgusted with me.

He turned his head away, before following behind where Nero walked, gripping my arm like my warden.

“Get moving!” Nero shouted, giving my shackled arm a shove.

“Nice,” I muttered, making her speak while barely moving her lips.

“Thanks, think I missed my calling?”

“Totally,” I agreed.

Her lips twitched but other than that, she didn’t give anything away. Especially the closer to the enemy we got, but then as soon as we were within hearing distance, Jared shouted,

“That’s far enough!”

“I have to say, I am surprised, HellBeast,” Garmr said in that overly confident tone, and when I struggled to get free, Nero held up her hand, making the shackles crackle with fake power. And as for me, it was my cue for my Oscar winning performance to start.

I screamed in pain and dropped to my knees, doing so hard enough that it would actually hurt and therefore look more convincing. And whereas Jared remained passive and unaffected, keeping his arms crossed, Garmr did not.

“Anástasi!” he called out to me. But when I got up and lunged for Nero, with my hands about to try and strangle her in my fury, I stopped inches away.

I shook the shackles, making them spark like crazy.

I tried to look like I was struggling against her non-existent hold, whereas she simply ended up looking like a bad ass.

She held up her hand, like she was in control of my restraints.

“I… WILL… KILL… YOU!” I screamed at her, but because I had my back to Garmr when I did so, I added a wink to it.

When she gave me a nod, I dropped to the floor again, faking agony as I writhed on the floor, my dress getting caught up around me.

“Alright stop… STOP IT!” Garmr shouted like he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“You know what I want, Garmr. Hand over my brother and you get your summoner back… and your fucking war!” Jared snapped, sneering back at me.

There was such venom in his burning eyes that had I thought it was real, I would have flinched back in fear.

As it stood, I just wished I was free to boop him on the nose in some comical cute gesture.

“Get up, traitor!” Nero snapped, grabbing me under the arm and yanking me up to my feet. At this, I asked her through my teeth,

“Is he looking?”

“Yeah.”

So, I gave her slight nod, and like we planned, she looked the other way back at our army, giving me the chance to steal her blade and hide it down by my skirt.

Jared also knew to be looking away from us at this point, so it looked like I had just pickpocketed her weapon.

One I would need if I was to get Garmr to believe this ruse completely.

Because he would accept nothing but blood being split.

I turned to start walking, giving Jared the cue to issue his demands.

“You know how this works, arsehole, my brother walks this way, and your bitch does the same!”

“And you would so easily give up on who you believe is your woman?!” Garmr tested, but as I passed him, Jared snarled at me and said,

“She isn’t my Ella anymore! You made fucking sure of that!

My Ella is dead because of you and you will fucking pay for every life she took from me!

” Then he nodded to Nero, who pushed me along, while Jared remained where he was.

And I could see how difficult it was for him to do so.

He even took a step forward but forced himself not to take another.

My heart was in my throat the whole time, silently begging for him not to break.

Not to ruin the plan and snatch me away like I knew he wanted to.

So, the more distance that stretched out between us, the harder it became to breathe.

I so badly wanted to look back, just as much as he wanted to no doubt run for me.

But then as Orthrus got closer, I could see that he was wearing the same fake shackles that Anástasi had changed.

Meaning his wounds on the outside were superficial, keeping them there like we had planned…

so that he appeared weak, when internally he would have healed himself.

Garmr nodded to his own guard, a large demon with a horned helmet that hid most of his features, exposing only his lower jaw that looked like rotting flesh, exposed bone, and pointed teeth. What did he have, a zombie army or something?!

Orthrus staggered forward on his own, before straightening enough to walk without being aided, and Nero did the same. Which meant we both walked toward each other. My face was passive as Orthrus frowned when he saw me. Because of course this hadn’t been a part of the plan I had told him about.

I never told him the exchange would be me.

In fact, when he started shaking his head, saying,

“No… no, not you.” I thought the plan would go to hell… literally.

But then he looked to his brother and whatever he heard in his mind or saw on his face, made him continue to walk toward me.

The second he was close enough, I grabbed the dagger I had hiding and told him,

“I’m sorry… but it had to be me.”

Then I stabbed him.