Thunder shook the room as my Drystan surged to his feet. “Normally I’d not let this interruption stand, but something tells me we need to see what she’s prattling on about.”
“The spell worked?” Alek asked, clearly recognizing the orb in her hands.
“You bet your man titties it did.”
I pressed my lips together to avoid laughing at the incredulous look on the demigod’s face.
“Man titties?” he parroted.
“You could hide a pencil under those things. Hell, you have better cleavage than me,” the witch continued with a pointed look at his tight-fitting shirt.
“You’ve found him,” I stated, snatching the orb from her hands and staring into the swirling gold mist within.
“Yep. And I locked in on him good too.”
“Then let’s go. We need him on our side,” Alek said, shoulders back as he clearly was preparing himself for a conflict.
“That’s the only problem. This isn’t like the spell I used to open a portal to Novasgard. It can’t transport a bunch of us.”
“How many of us can go?” Alek asked.
I could already tell what was coming, but I waited for her to say it.
“One.”
Predictably, the room devolved into everyone vying for the opportunity.
“I’ll go,” Alek offered, all heroic bluster and bravado.
“Why would you go?” Evander pressed. “You don’t know him beyond a few encounters. How could you even help him? I will go.”
The stench of testosterone was more than I could bear. We didn’t have time for this, and the longer Gabriel was gone, the less aid he could provide.
I threw the orb onto the stone floor hard enough to shatter it into dust, and before the two of them even noticed, I was stepping through the portal.
“Lilypad,” Drystan called, alarm ringing in the lone word.
I’d have to explain myself to him when I returned, and Ineverexplained myself to anyone. But that was a problem for future me.
Between one step and the next, I left my temporary office and vexed lover behind. When my new surroundings took shape around me, I was only mildly surprised. It was not all doom and torture dungeon as one might picture. It was giving Rapunzel locked in her tower, which was somehow wholly unexpected and completely on the nose all at the same time.
Some sort of vine grew up one side and gracefully framed the door. No doubt during the summer months, it would bloom with fragrant blossoms and give this structure an even stronger fairytale vibe.
“Fucking Lucifer,” I muttered. “Always has to be a bloody show pony.”
The thick wood and iron door beckoned, and I reached for the handle, not quite knowing what to brace myself for. Would an army of minions rush out at me? Would Lucifer be waiting on the other side?
But no. It was none of those things.
The door swung open with nary a squeak.
The bastard hadn’t even bothered to lock it. The knowledge did not fill me with comfort. One would expect all manner of security and defenses, but Lucifer had done the opposite. He was either overly confident Gabriel would never be found, or this was a trap, and the angel was the bait.
But what he hadn’t planned on was me. It didn’t matter what he had waiting on the other side of the threshold. He couldn’t catch me. I was most concerned about the state in which I’d find Gabriel. I was limited in my abilities to render emergency first aid. My kind wasn’t exactly known for healing. That said, depending on the state of him, I should be able to get us both safely away in time for others to do what needed to be done.
Inside the tower, I found very little aside from a dust and cobweb-covered table with an empty vase in the center and two wooden chairs, but that wasn’t of interest to me. The spiral staircase that led up to the top was my goal, especially after the soft sound of chains rattling overhead caught my ear.
I grimaced at the seemingly never-ending staircase, but begrudgingly made my way up.
