Page 45

LUCIAN

I was fond of the half-dragon most of the time, but his timing warranted lifelong enmity.

He talked a lot, and I comprehended about a word out of three, my mind still fixed on the way Kleos’s tongue flicked around the tip of my cock, and the way she sucked it, drawing me in. She let me fuck her face. There was no other word for the way I’d held her as I thrust deep into her throat.

She didn’t have much of a gag reflex. I wondered how she’d trained her throat to take on this much. I needed a list of every man whose cock had entered any of her orifices. I’d murder them all. I’d take my time and enjoy every second of it.

Mine, mine, mine.

Except she wasn’t, was she?

I always knew she’d be open to sex. First, she was a witch: we were all a lot more open about fucking than mortals.

Sex was part of life, and a necessity for the overall wellbeing of most paranormal creatures.

Witches and sorcerers weren’t as sex-crazed as shifters or vampires, but I’d never met a single one of us who was a prude.

And I knew how I looked. But blowing my soul through my dick didn’t mean she was open to anything more.

“—today. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, I say,” Gideon concluded.

Yeah, no clue what he was talking about. “I beg your pardon?”

Ever so sorry, I was thinking about shoving my cock into your cousin’s mouth.

Easygoing as usual, he repeated himself. “Let’s get this done now. That way, I can write a report on Monday. If it’s forbidden, well, they can’t exactly stop us, can they?”

“Wise.” No wonder he was a man after my own heart. “I’ll only need a moment. Feel free to help yourself to some tea, or tag along.”

“Is that brandy?” he asked, walking into the drawing room.

Apparently, Kleos and I weren’t the only one in need of alcohol this morning.

The pool where Kleos and I drained ourselves of excess energy was in the atrium in the main gallery—a vast hall meant for entertainment. Neither Cassius or I were the kind of people to have guests, so we never used it for anything else.

Back in the day, when he used to be social, Cassius held his bacchanals right here.

Now, the narrow and long Olympic-size pool, falling into a waterfall on the other side of the manor, and draining into the river underneath the bridge, was so full of magic it would have either changed or killed most people upon contact.

Of course, it was mostly my magic—and Kleos’s, which was in no way harmful—so I was immune to it.

I brought my palm to the cool water and took in tendrils of dark red mist, swimming with golden threads that felt like sea and summer. Kleos’s felt different from mine. But powerful.

So powerful.

I opted to get changed into something a little more casual—I drew enough attention without the bling.

By the time I returned to the drawing room, Kleos had joined her cousin, dressed in the same cream pants, but a red top that showed off her neck and collarbones.

She looked delicious.

“ Dude !” Gideon said. “You look like you might be radioactive. Or dead.”

I rolled my eyes. At full power, I was paler all around. Overpowered , I glowed, which was ridiculous. “Ready when you are.”

“I’ll come with,” Kleos announced. Before I could repeat that no, I wasn’t letting her in the room while raising the dead, she added, “I have an interview today, and a few things to sort out at home if I don’t want my mother to strangle me. Might as well catch a ride with you guys.”

Ha. So, she was running. I should have expected as much. Wise, really. “An interview,” I repeated, calling the bluff.

She nodded. “About the murders. Gideon thinks we should warn people to carry salt. I’ll say I was recently cursed and managed to get out of it with a salt circle. It should convince a few people to make sure they keep some on their person.”

“I see.”

Except, I didn’t. We’d talked about it before, and she’d pointedly mentioned it was Tuesday.

I remembered that, as I’d checked her schedule before planning Delphi.

Either she was an excellent liar, she’d prepared the story ahead of time, or she actually had that interview now. I couldn’t quite tell which.

“I thought that was next week.”

“They moved it up.” She seemed unbothered. “If you don’t mind, I’ll come back tomorrow to continue with the research? And talk about what you find out today.”

I let myself take a moment to decide before saying, “Tomorrow won’t work. I have lunch at my parents, and there’s a town festival following Samhain. I’ll be away most of the day.”

I could have invited her along. I could have told her to use Theke. But it was clear we both needed space.

“Let’s meet at Apollo’s temple Monday morning, for the Delphi trip.”

Two days. Hopefully, by then, I could think about something other than throwing her on the nearest surface.

“All right.”

We were both silent on the way back, but luckily, Gideon had no problem taking up air. He loved Ronan’s horses. He loved the carriage. He loved coming to unders and absolutely adored the hydra kebabs he bought once we reached the town circle.

I loved the fact that his babbling allowed me to keep to my own thoughts.

What Kleos had offered had been clear, and I should take it at face value.

She’d made herself get off over me, she felt bad about it, and blew me to even the score.

It meant nothing. I wasn’t entitled to more.

And yes, she would likely let me fuck her into next week if I asked, but she wouldn’t want more.

I was already in too deep. I needed to get a grip.

We walked her from the Hall of Truce to her house, right across the park. Premium real estate for the vale, but I would have hated to live so close to everyone else. I memorized the address all the same.

Gideon waved as she crossed the threshold, then turned to me. “All right, what the hell happened?”

Ugh. I forgot he was less of an idiot than he seemed. “Nothing.”

He rolled his eyes. “Please. That was downright painful. Was it because you fucked last night? Practically everyone did, you know. Hell, I fucked Silver , which was insane. And painful. I still have bruises.”

“Too much information.” I started to walk back to the Guard. “And no . Some of us have self-control.”

Some of us didn’t include Kleos, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Then, what?” he insisted, catching up with me. “You went from acting like an old married couple to a couple of angst-driven teenagers.”

“I will hit you,” I promised.

“Come on, tell me! If I have to put up with all the drama, the least you could do is keep me in the loop.”

He made a nuisance of himself all the way to the morgue, but thankfully left me alone once I was alone with dear cold Nancy Pebbles.

The woman was the last victim found, a week ago. I didn’t doubt we’d have a fresher corpse soon enough, but in the meantime, she’d do.

I brought my hands to either side of her head and closed my eyes, opening up the portal to the underworld that existed inside my mind. My proximity to the corpse brought me close to the specific soul I needed. I could see her shimmer at the bank of the endless dark river.

You again.

You dare!

Unnatural.

Nyxspawn. The worst.

“Yes, I dare,” I said, my voice echoing, reverberating through the walls as it resounded right here and in the realm of Hades at the same time. “It’s my birthright, and you know it. Lest you wish me to leave the portal open, you will allow me to take her back.”

The guardians whispered amongst themselves in old forgotten tongues that I had always understood.

Eat him!

We can’t. He’s not here.

When he dies, we eat him.

Well, he’s seventy-percent immortal. That could take a while.

Send the furies!

They’re too busy with billionaires.

Cerberus, then. He can eat the body; we eat the soul!

Cerbie can’t world travel.

I say we let him take her. She’s a bore, anyway. Stinks of the Fields of Asphodel.

She didn’t even have coin.

This was starting to get my way. “I have coins, you know,” I mentioned. “And before I bring her back to you, I can fill her pockets with a square dozen.”

They dropped the ancient Greek.

…A dozen coins?

You’re bringing her back?

I always liked Nyxspawns!

I grasped for the soul with my red threads of power before the guardians could change their minds, and pulled her back.

Fuck . I brought my hand to my nose, unsurprised to see it stained black with my blood.

Reanimating the body was a piece of cake in comparison to world surfing with my soul while leaving my body behind.

Armed with her soul between my hands, I forced tendrils of life which had no desire to leave me right back into her body, the shimmery, immaterial substance slowly entering her nostrils and eyes as her cold, pale body warmed up.

Ms. Pebbles inhaled so deep it ended in an otherworldly scream.

Finally .

“Welcome back,” I said gently.

She was confused, and terrified. No doubt, the sight of me right now was no comfort, between the blood under my nose and the dark magic still gathered around me.

“I—what was—” She shivered. “So cold. Empty. I was waiting.”

And I was getting bored.

“You were killed last week, Ms. Pebbles.”

“I was.” It didn’t sound like a question. She knew. “Did you save me?”

“No.” I let the word hang between us.

There was a very short window of time I could use to pull someone out of the jaws of death: minutes. Then, they belonged to the lord of the underworld.

I was not dumb enough to steal from Hades. Borrow? Certainly. He wasn’t stingy enough to be picky over one Asphodel soul for a few moments. But the only godspawn stupid enough to have stolen from him, Asclepius, had paid the price. Sure, Zeus brought him back, but I wasn’t about to take that bet.

“The one thing I can offer you is justice. Tell me what happened. Who did this to you? What did they look like?”

She started crying. “I’m so young.”

She was. I would guess she was around my age, if that. Young, healthy people died every day. The world was cruel and cold and uncaring. I felt sorry for her, but not enough to risk the price. “If you can’t answer me, love, I’m sending you back, and those who killed you won’t pay the price.”

She kept sobbing, but I could tell she tried.

“I was—it was night. Came back from dinner with a man. Very nice. Important. He walked me to the door. Then I heard a voice. A woman, I think. Someone hit me from behind.” She sobbed harder.

“I passed out, but the pain woke me up. So much pain. They were cu—cutting. Burning. Cutting and burning, over and over. I was tied up. I heard a laugh. That voice. So cold.”

“They,” I repeat. “More than one person?”

“Yes. One cut. Another one chanted. And that voice,” she repeated.

Then she cried and cried and screamed.

“Shhhh,” I said softly. “It’s all right. All is well.”

I brought my hands to the magically flat inner pocket of my jacket, pulling out a purse. “You’re going to sleep. You’re ever so tired.”

This voice, I never used. The fact I was able to had always greatly disturbed me.

I was nothing like my mother, or even my brother, who could sing someone to the edge of a cliff and beyond.

But there was siren blood in my veins, and if there was one time I had no shame in making use of it, it was when I was comforting the dead.

“That’s it.” I laid down ten coins onto her body, over the plastic sheath, keeping the last two for her eyes, before brining my hands back to her head. “Sleep, Nancy.”

The way back to hell was much easier, alongside her soul. She was meant to be there; I only rode along, and dropped her off at her spot.

The moment I closed the link, all twelve coins disappeared.

I grunted.

I was going to need a drink before this was over.

I slid her back inside the refrigerated chamber, wiped my nose, and pulled out the next one Gideon had indicated.

Time for a chat with Mr. Swann.