Samael shrugged. “Potato pohtahto, Odin.”
Lilith giggled. “That was funny, darling! Well done.”
“Was it?” Samael frowned. “I wasn't trying for humor. This trickster has stolen people. Now, they have a god item that can extract souls. That means they can upgrade to stealing souls.Stealingthem. I didn't say anything about the trickster consuming them.”
“This guy is too much,” Viper whispered.
“Let's head back to Pride Palace,” I said. “The Squad will be arriving at the Golden Citadel soon, and it might help to have multiple minds on this.”
“You're having a meeting?” Samael asked.
“Yes, and you're welcome to attend,” Azrael said.
“Oh, we'd love to!” Lilith exclaimed. “Can I invite a few friends?”
“No,” Samael and Azrael said in unison.
“Just family then.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Lilith invited her daughter, Gello, who brought her husband, Anubis. Re approved and not just because he was Anubis's doubly great grandpa (Re's term, not mine). Anubis was the Egyptian God of the Dead, and the Pasha had been a tool of Yama originally, another Death deity. It was looking more and more as if it was a member of the Death Club behind this.
It was a good thing we had a few of them on our side.
Samael, Anubis, Azrael, Odin, and Kirill were all Gods of Death. You could even count Hades and Hekate among them if you stretched the requirements a bit. Hekate was the Goddess of Ghosts and Necromancy, both deathly things. And Hades was, well, Hades.
Jesus had shown up as well, and he was a God of Resurrection. So I guess he could be a member of the Death Club. But it was really hard to look at his peaceful face and think of death. Although death is about as peaceful as you can get. And there was that whole cross thing. Huh. I guess humans think about his death more than his life. Weird.
“There is something here, right under our noses,” Thor said.
We were in one of the Golden Citadel's meeting rooms. The design was simple, but in the way of the Fey. Which means it was beautiful to the point of distraction. I kinda wished I had insisted on having the meeting at Pride Palace.
The Golden Citadel had a theme for its décor, but it was a loose one—the elements. Each element was represented throughout the citadel. The only one left unseen was Spirit, which was kinda everywhere. As one of the simpler rooms, there was little decoration in the meeting room. But because it was a place for business, all the elements were acknowledged there. Unlike some of the rooms that focused on one or two.
The floor was green marble tiles, patterned subtly with leaves so that it mimicked a forest floor; the table was sturdy oak, inlaid with dizzying gold designs of more leaves; the chandeliers above were old-school fire braziers; huge windows opened to the air, giving a spectacular view of the Wild Forest since we were several floors up (although it was currently dark since it was three AM there); and one of the walls was an aquarium full of fey fish. It reminded me of the dining room in Castle Deuraich of the Water Kingdom. Not the entire room, just the aquarium.
And yes, this was a simple room.
“Just tell me who to kill,” Machar said.
Arach turned to look at Machar.
Machar went still.
No words were said. None were needed. One predator faced another, but there was never any doubt as to who the apex beast was. Arach was Machar's king, no matter where they were. And Machar had seemed to forget that. Momentarily.
Looking as if he might pee himself, Machar cleared his throat and said, “Beggin' your pardon, King Arach. I'll just wait for your command.”
Arach nodded curtly then looked at Thor. “Proceed.”
Thor blinked and looked at me.
I shrugged.
“As I was saying,” Thor started again. “There are clues here, but we must set them in order and distinguish which are real and which are planted to mislead us.”
“They used bleach,” Finn murmured.
