Page 16 of Tricky Princess

Ellea’s eyes went wide as the words rushed out of his mouth. It had to be something good. First he wouldn’t tell her about the twins, and now he wouldn’t tell her about a simple ripple of magic dividing something. How bad could it be? She was already in Hel. And why was he so worried about her?

“Tell me anyway.” She smirked over her cup. “And then tell me why you and the king think I’m some kind of troublemaker.”

He squinted at her and slowly sipped his own drink.

“It’s your nature, the energy you give off.”

“Don’t tell me you’re reading my ‘aura.’” She made air quotes with her free hand.

“No and yes,” he said, scratching at his short beard. “Consciously or not, your magic naturally gives off the energy of a troublemaker.”

Ellea thought about it. He wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t a hundred percent right either.

“I don’t go around playing tricks on people,” she said with a shake of her head.

“What about that moment with Reaver?”

“He seemed like he was scared of me.” She paused, blinking a few times and then rolling her eyes. “So I wanted to see if I could push him.”

“And when I tell you that divide is there to separate mortals from the resting Gods, what is the first thing you want to do?”

Ellea pressed her lips into a thin line. Her first thought was to go to it, feel the magic, and push it. She had spent her whole life suppressing her magic, and now that it was free and she was in a place where she was scared and unsure, she didn’t want to hold back.

“Wait.” Something clicked. “You said mortals. Where are the supernaturals?”

His lips pressed into a thin line before he blew out an aggressive breath.

“They are to the east of the Gods’ territory,” he said with a clipped tone.

Ellea’s eyes unfocused as the realization of what he was saying fully formed in her mind. Mortals were separate from supernaturals. She skipped past the Gods completely, saving that for another time. Mortals and supernaturals were kept separate.

“Why?” she blurted out. “Why would they be separate?”

“Because that is how it is and how it always has been,” he said with a sigh. He seemed unhappily resigned to it.

“That makes zero sense.” She placed her coffee down as it turned sour in her stomach. “Is this the fucking seventeen hundreds? Is time different here?”

“No,” he said. “Your time is our time, but these ways were set before the Gods retired. It’s how it always has been.”

Ellea pushed around a small sandwich on her plate. What if a supernatural was friends with a mortal? Were they in two different parts of Hel, unable to visit each other? She looked up at Duhne, who already looked defeated. This was only her second day in Hel, and she didn’t want to push away the only person who had talked to her. She took a small bite of her sandwich and let the information she’d been given wash over her. The sandwich settled poorly as she glanced toward the divide.

“What kind of books do you like?” Duhne asked after he finished his food.

“Fantasy, romance, or anything with dragons and monsters.” She smiled sadly, thinking of the book she’d dropped before she was taken here.

“Are you done eating?” he asked. With a glance toward the food she’d barely picked at, he stood.

“Yeah.” She stood too, waiting for him to dictate what came next.

“Follow me.” He walked toward the double doors. “Viatrix has a collection of books you may like.”

Ellea followed him into the library, down a few sections of books, and took a right at a very crude and beautiful statue of a man seated on another man’s lap. They both wore extremely pleased looks on their faces.

“Here.” He gestured toward a wall of books.

“What are these?” she asked, getting in closer to read some of the names.

“Viatrix has been here for ages,” Duhne said with a chuckle. “Every book in the world of the living dies here, and she cares for them. Her afterlife has been spent organizing and researching every book that has ever existed—even the smutty ones.”