“Where's a Demon-eater when you need one?” Hunter Chung-are muttered.
Almost as if his words had summoned them, a crowd of people came through the market drumming and singing. Some of them wore feathered wings, some wore robes, but they wereall very happy. As happy as a Haechi. I mean Haechis in general, not the particular one who was with us. He was still grumbling.
“Move to the side,” Chung-ae said, his irritation vanishing. “You don't want to get caught in that.”
But it was too late. The crowd enveloped us, and I was lost among dancing, singing, and drumming cult Koreans. They smiled at me and spun. I tried to go with the flow, but that would have taken me in the opposite direction of where I wanted to be. So, I went still and played the part of a rock in their stream, letting them flow around me. The smiling faces got to be too much, so I turned around, setting my back to the cult and hunching in on myself.
My husbands and Star were in front of me. Only Hunter Chung-ae had gotten to safety. He stood staring at us from the side of the moving crowd, his expression one of irritation and concern. I shrugged at him.
Then I saw the robed and hooded man.
He came from behind me along with everyone else and swerved around me. But then he veered straight for Sever. Or was it Star? He went between the men and something in his hand caught the light. A dagger. No, two daggers, one in each hand. I shouted and raised a hand, but I couldn't use my magic in the crowd, especially notthiscrowd. I stopped myself just before I did and rushed forward.
As I moved, the robed man stabbed out to either side, getting Sever and Star in their ribs simultaneously. As they cried out in pain, he brought his hands in opposite directions, stabbing them again but with different daggers. And then he was moving on.
“I don't fucking think so!” I snarled and grabbed the man from behind.
Killian, alerted by Sever's shout and me, spun to help me.
I didn't need any help. The guy was mine as soon as I touched him.
As the man turned toward me, I flung a hand out, casting sparkling lavender dust from my fingertips and into his eyes. He was instantly star-crossed, a shimmer of magic sliding over his eyes before sinking in. I was one of two people who could star-cross. The other was my father. It was basically fairy-striking someone, putting them under my control (they couldn't even eat without my instruction), but I wasn't restricted to humans. All the races were fair game for me. Even Demons fell to my power.
And this man was no Demon.
He was human and didn't stand a chance against star-crossing magic. Using the power felt good. It reminded me that I was more than Anu's child. I was Fey and proud of it. I had magic granted to me by the Goddess herself. Fucking awesome magic. I—
“Seren, get Star!” Killian shouted.
I looked toward Killian automatically. He was holding Sever, who was swaying on his feet. I started to go to my husbands but then processed Killian's words and turned toward Star. He looked ashen, his stare unfocused, and the hand he reached out to me was trembling. It was so startling that I didn't realize the cult had moved on.
“Star!” I steadied him.
“Seren,” he whispered. “Angel blood.” Then he crumpled.
“Fuck!” I caught Star, but then snapped at the robed man, “Carry him!”
The man immediately picked up Star like a child. The human was solid, bigger than your average Korean. He had to be one of Lee Dae-hyun's new hires. That fucker had sent a mercenary after us. But why Sever and Star? Maybe because looking at them had taught Lee Dae-hyun their weaknesses. Oh, why the fuck am I bothering to give that man any respect, even that of his full name? Dae-hyun, the fucking crazy murderer, had found a way to poison the King of Hell and the ex-King of Heaven, all in one go.
“What happened?” Hunter Chung-ae demanded as he ran over to us. He went to help Killian with Sever.
“Angels and Demons are such opposites, their blood is poisonous to each other,” I said. “This motherfucker here stabbed them, then switched blades and stabbed them again. He used their blood to poison them.” I knocked the asshole in the back of his head. “Come on, we've got to get somewhere I can lalek.”
We got the men away from the night market and down an alley. Then I grabbed Sever and the robed man while Killian and Chung-ae grabbed me, and I laleked us to Heaven. Right into the Eternal Palace.
As soon as we arrived in Sever's old bedroom, the entire palace groaned, coming awake with the presence of the man it still considered to be King. The Eternal Palace hovered above the sea normally, but when Sever left Heaven, it fell to rest in the shallows. Now it was rising back to its lofty position, announcing to all that the King of Heaven had returned.
Maybe to die.
“Bring them,” I said as I left the royal bedchamber.
I don't know why I brought them to Heaven. It was an impulse, no thought behind it. I couldn't tell you where in Heaven I was going either. I rushed through the shining corridors of the Eternal Palace with a purpose that felt external, as if a greater force was moving me. And I was desperate enough to allow it.
Angels gasped and jerked aside, even the guards. My feet took me deeper into the palace, and soon enough, I realized where we were going.
The Sanctuary. God's throne. We wouldn't find him there, but we would find his scepter.
Anu's Scepter was kin to Hell's Light. It powered the planet of Heaven. A piece of the divine in physical form. I should have known fox pearls weren't pieces of Danu. If they were, they would have been too powerful to be contained in a physical body. Just as Anu's Scepter was too powerful for any one person to wield. Lucifer had wanted to wage war on Heaven to steal the Scepter. He was egotistical enough to think that he was an exception to God's law and would be able to wield the power. He wasn't. If he had won, he would have destroyed the planet. Maybe even all of creation.
