“I know,” she told them in a shaking voice that sounded so much smaller than the queenly voice he remembered. “I know what he did to you, but I’m here now, and I promise it’s almostover. My demons are in the tower getting the keys to unlock your shackles as we speak. Just wait a little longer, and I swear on Ishtar’s sacred name, you will be free.”
Adrian smiled, waiting for the cheers of joy, but no one in the cavern said a word. He didn’t know if that was because they didn’t believe her or if the demons here were simply too beaten down to know what hope was anymore, but all Bex got back were silent stares. She met them dead-on, holding her hornless head high.
“Youwillbe free,” she said again in a voice that shook with fury. “Ishtar’s Bonfire of Wrath is going to burn everything Gilgamesh has built to the ground. This fire was just the start. There’s a lot more coming, so hold tight. My people will be coming with the keys soon.”
Again, there was no answer, but Bex didn’t seem to mind this time. She just dipped her head to the silent crowd and started marching back toward the central tower again as fast as her legs would carry her. She was so fast that Adrian was forced to get on his broom to keep pace, waving for Boston to make room as he hauled himself onto Bran’s back and flew after her.
“Are we really doing that?” he asked quietly when he caught up. “Are you actually here to free everyone and burn Heaven to the ground?”
“That wasn’t the original plan,” she admitted, her face set in a determined scowl as she sprinted across the flooded floor filled with silently watching demons. “In hindsight, though, it was probably inevitable. I should’ve known there’d be no way I could enter the Hells andnotfeel the need to tear it all down, so yeah. We’re doing this.”
“I’m glad,” Adrian told her with a smile. “What’s our strategy?”
“I have no idea,” Bex confessed. “I’m kind of winging it at the moment, but I do have something for you.” She dugher newly-reattached right hand into the inside pocket of her bomber jacket. “Your aunt asked me to give this to you when I found you.”
Adrian’s stomach dropped several inches. “Which aunt?”
“The one who looks like a teenager.”
That was a very small relief. Considering how long his Aunt Lydia held grudges, anything she sent would probably come with sharp teeth and a taste for Adrian’s bones. Aunt Muriel’s witchcraft was more abstract, though that didn’t make it any less lethal. As Adrian had just been freshly reminded with the Morrigan incident, the Witch of the Future’s plots were only good if you could survive them. The object in Bex’s hand didn’t look dangerous, though. It didn’t even feel magical when he picked it up, causing Adrian’s healthy paranoia to collapse into befuddlement.
“I don’t understand,” he said, holding up what appeared to be a completely normal acorn. “What’s this for?”
“I was hoping you could tell me,” Bex replied, resuming her breakneck pace toward the tower. “Your aunt was kind of light on details.”
“She always is,” Adrian muttered, turning the acorn over in his fingers. “Considering how much is at stake, you’d think she’d be alittle clearer, but I guess I’ll figure it out when the time comes.”
“That is the way of the Witch of the Future,” Boston agreed as he climbed up the back of Adrian’s coat to resume his favorite perch on his witch’s shoulder. “Perhaps you’re supposed to perform a divination to determine its use?”
Adrian winced. “I think I’d rather be surprised. Divination takes time and materials we don’t have, and my readings always turn out wrong anyway.” He tucked the acorn into his coat’s quick-draw chest pocket. “Let’s just play things as they come.”
“Spoken like a true Witch of the Present,” Boston said, patting Adrian on the cheek with his paw as Bran flew them swiftly over the water, following close behind Bex as she ran for the hole the princess’s tackle had knocked through the side of the warlocks’ white tower.
CHAPTER 13
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“ICAN’T BELIEVE HEmade a princess out of me while I was still alive,” Bex growled as she raced toward the tower, curling both of her hands into fists because she could do that now. “Seriously, did Gilgamesh think you’d roll over and become his prince for real just because he kidnapped you?”
She looked at Adrian, who was hovering beside her on his broom, but he was too busy staring at the tower ahead to answer. In his defense, it did lookreallydifferent. The whole place had been a raging battle when the princess tackled Bex through the wall just a few minutes ago. Now, Desh and his team of Lowest Hells escapees had taken it over top to bottom.
They’d already torn open the central security cabinet and were frantically handing out keys, which made Bex feel a lot better about the reckless promises she’d just made to the slaves on the floor. Lys was supposed to be helping with that, but Bex didn’t see them anywhere. She did see Kirok, though. The former general was on the bottom floor, addressing all the war-demon guards who’d suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of a revolution. He nodded to Bex when she and Adrian rushed by but didn’t try to stop her, proving yet again that he was an invaluable addition to the team.
Bex was going to have to thank him properly when she got a moment. For now, though, she focused on running down the spiral stairs as fast as possible. She’d already cleared two full rotations when Adrian hovered down the open center beside her.
“Would you like a lift?”
Bex grinned and grabbed his offered hand, leaping onto the broom in front of him.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Adrian said, sounding extremely pleased with himself as he wrapped his arms around her and signaled Bran to start the descent, which the broom did like a falling elevator.
“He didn’t bring me here to be a prince.”
“What?” Bex asked, clinging to the broom as it dropped into the dark.
“Your question earlier,” he clarified, completely unfazed by their rapid descent. “You asked what Gilgamesh was thinking. I won’t pretend to know his actual logic, but I’m certain he didn’t bring me to Heaven because he wanted to add another son to the family business. I was more like one of those captured scientists who worked on the atom bomb. Even the princess he made out of your hand was only there to make sure I stayed in my cell and on schedule.”
