“When I went to Fairy to congratulate you on the birth of your daughter, the feelings I've been having for you intensified. They grew stronger when I saw Mirielle. I felt a strong urge to have a child with you.”
“Called it!” Killian slashed his hand upward in a told-you-so gesture.
“A child that would be heir to the throne of Hell,” Tiernan said.
“No, it wouldn't,” I said. “The King of Hell is chosen by the planet. Which means he's chosen by Anu.”
“Yes, but my child would be seen as the most likely heir, especially if Anu orchestrated the conception,” Star said. “And it would be a greater bond between Heaven, Fairy, and Hell. A bond that couldn't be broken. A child would give Hell hope.”
A shiver ran through me. The thought of having a child with Star was . . . oh, fuck, I liked the idea. What I didn't like was not being in a relationship with my child's father. Plus, I'd have to leave the baby with him on Hell.
I could visit, as I do with—“Ugh!” I cut off my thoughts with a cry. “No. I'm not having a child with someone I can't be with.”
“Fairies do it all the time,” Tiernan said. “Your father is the result of such a union.”
“Yeah, thanks, Tiernan. I know.” I rolled my eyes. “And Dad would probably encourage me to do this. But I'm not just a fairy, am I? The whole reason Anu can affect me is because I'm human. And I'm fucking done with this bullshit!” I screamed thelast bit upward, as Star had done with his prayers. “You cut it out! You hear me, Anu? You stop it right now, or I'm going back to Fairy and I'm never leaving again! Your World-Strider will stop striding. Your Light-Bringer will cease to—”
My words were cut off by a rush of magic that sent me swaying forward.
“Seren!” Killian, Sever, and Star rushed to me.
But then Star fell to one knee and grunted.
“I'm fine.” I straightened and looked at Star. “What about you?”
Star grinned. Then he started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh.
“Well, you don't have to be that relieved,” I grumbled.
Star shot to his feet and pulled me into a hug, still laughing. Then he lifted me above him and spun us in a circle. “You did it!” He brought me down and kissed my cheek. “You got him to free us, Seren.”
I grinned. “It sure feels like it.”
“Thank God,” Killian said.
But Sever was staring at me oddly. And he didn't thank Anu. His look sent a shiver down my spine, and with that shiver came a memory. Not of Anu but his sister.
Saying,“Not yet.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Everyone was so happy. Star was beaming, clinking glasses with Killian, and tossing back soju. It was vaguely insulting. But I understood. He'd been through hell, a new kind of hell for him, and this was coming out the other side. I wouldn't tell him that it might be a momentary reprieve. Maybe this would last several years. Maybe if it returned, I could rail at God again and get him to back down. But looking back on what I'd done, I felt unease. I shouldn't have spoken to Anu like that. I was lucky he didn't smite me. He didn't have his sister's tolerance. But I'd been so frustrated. Over it. I just lost my shit.
“Congratulations,” Extinguisher Connor Teagan said. “And I'm sorry to break up your party, but there's work to be done.”
“Of course.” Star instantly went serious, but his face was free of the tension that had been residing there recently. “Have you got an address for us?”
“Better than that. I've got blueprints and pictures of where the bodyguards are posted. Since it's in Pyeongchang-dong, we'll have to be extra careful. It's a wealthy neighborhood and quiet. If we start making a lot of noise, we'll have more than Lee Dae-hyun and his men to deal with. We can, of course, take care of the local law enforcement, but it will take some time.”
“Got it. Kill quietly,” Killian said.
Connor nodded as he went to a table and unrolled some blueprints. “The property is huge though. So, hopefully, a little noise will go unnoticed. Based on the permits his contractors filed, we believe the lab facility is underground.” He pointed at a portion of the blueprints. “There's a main house and a guest house with gardens in between. State-of-the-art security, of course, but we can take care of that.”
“If we shut it down, he'll know we're coming,” Sever said.
“I'll hack into it and loop some footage,” Extinguisher Cara Murdock said as she lifted a laptop. “And most of us will be invisible anyway, right?”
“Right,” I said.
