“She was a worthy wife,” Hela murmured.
At that, Loki almost smiled, but it quickly slipped away. “Hearing news of my punishment, my first wife, Boda, tried to help. She helped Fenrir escape his chains to wreak havoc while she used the distraction to break me free. She and Sigyn carried me, weakened as I was, to the mortal realm and hid me until I could heal. When Odin discovered this betrayal, he slaughtered them both and collected my children’s remains. Then he caught Jörmungandr, forced his mouth open, and tossed them all down his throat.”
“He—” I swallowed hard, nearly choking on the bitter rage building in my chest. “He forced Leviathan to eat his own family?”
“That is why he spoke to no one for so long after he came to you.” Hela took a step toward Lexi, who had turned back to us with a look of sheer horror on her face. “And why this manipulation will see retribution, if I have to reap it myself.”
I curled my lip at Loki. “This is the same bastard you want me to ally with?”
“Bastard or not, his power can turn the tide of your war. Once the alliance is dissolved, we shall see what comes next.”
“He’s not getting that fucking spear back,” I said. “I don’t think I trust him not to stab me in the back with it.”
Loki’s eyes sparkled, despite the depressing subject. “Oh, he’ll get it back one way or another.”
Leviathan’s wail made us all flinch, and Lexi darted back to the railing. She grabbed her head and cried out, and Loki and I rushed to her side.
“What the hell is going on with her?” I yelled at Loki.
He shook his head. “I don’t know! This isn’t part of mine or Miranda’s power.”
I froze for a second, then glanced toward Leviathan’s murky aura. “Do you think the same person controlling Leviathan is trying to control Lexi?”
“No, this is completely different,” Loki insisted. “It’s her power, I just don’t know where it came from, or who. Is this what you were talking about that day on the roof?”
It seemed like a lifetime ago, the day Loki talked me down from, as he put it, being a diva. I’d mentioned her changing aura, the shift in her power, but he didn’t seem surprised then. In fact, I realized, he admitted up front he wouldn’t tell me what she was. Which meant he knew something else.
Slipping around Lexi, I grabbed Loki’s collar and pushed him into the railing. In my periphery, I saw Hela move into the spot I’d just left. “What else is she?”
“Her mother is a witch,” he said slowly. “I’m a god.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re not lying, but you’re still hiding something and I need to know if it has anything to do with what’s happening with her right now. Or so help me, I will bury you—”
“She’s my daughter!” Loki bellowed, shoving me away. For the briefest moment, the world stilled, then the rain came pouring back as if it’d never stopped. I would’ve thought I was hallucinating if not for the burst of gold in his normally hidden aura. “I would give you my secrets if I thought it had anything to do with this, but it doesn’t. This is outside of me, this is something I know nothing about.”
“Lexi?”
Hela’s concerned voice had both of us turning to see Lexi, one hand raised toward Leviathan. “He’s there,” she gasped. “I can almost reach him, I’ve almost got him.”
Above our heads, Thor paused midair and the serpent stopped thrashing. The muddy aura rippled, threads of Lexi’s unknown power piercing through, and Leviathan’s eyes cleared. For a full two seconds, Lexi brought her brother back.
Then Lilith appeared.
My stomach dropped as she pressed her hands to his scaly head, face drawn in concentration. “What the hell is she doing? We’ve got this handled already.”
Leviathan shrieked, nearly drowning out Lexi’s, and I darted forward to catch her as she fell unconscious. Lilith was thrown from the serpent’s head, but whatever she’d done had interrupted our breakthrough. The cloud had come back full-force, his eyes lifeless again as he turned on Thor.
Blood trickled from Lexi’s nose and ears. Hela dropped down on her other side, cradling her face. “She’s been using a lot of power recently, but she should be able to heal from this.”
“How do you know?” I asked, clearing my throat of the fear that had trickled in.
She pursed her lips and turned her dark eyes on me. “She is not marked for death this day.”
This day. This day.
The words echoed through my head. Her meaning had been plain. That sometime in the future, Lexi would die.
A loud crash resounded across the wharf, Thor’s presence suddenly missing from the sky. I looked up into the hazy eyes of one of my loyal demon kings, but his attention was solely focused on the woman in my lap. He bared rows and rows of sharp, jagged teeth, then opened his mouth and plunged right for us.
