“No, it isn’t,” Adrian said, grabbing his brother by the neck of his filthy white silk tunic. “Bex pulled you out of the Lowest Hells. She left her people and braved the toxic flood to help you save your precious princess. She could have taken Mara and left you to rot down there, but shedidn’t.”
“And I’ve paid her back for that,” Leander snarled. “I helped her escape the inescapable Hells. I fought my own brother to the death alongside her wrath demon. I dideverythingshe asked of me, but this goes too far.”
He looked at the woman bundled in his arms. “You’re welcome to die with your love if you want to, but I’m keeping mine alive. And before you try guilting me again, know that it won’t work. You have to have honor to feel guilt, but I’d happily trade the lives of every demon and human on this planet to see my Mara smile again.”
Leander finished with a defiant look, and Adrian let go of his collar with a sigh.
“If that’s really how you feel, then you’re making the wrong choice,” he warned. “Running away might save her for a little while, but there’s no future for your Mara if Gilgamesh wins. You’re right that this is no longer just a rebellion. The reason the Morrigan and Bex are pushing so hard is because we’re already in Gilgamesh’s endgame, and the future he’s planning doesn’t include witches or demons.”
He stabbed a finger at the unconscious woman Leander was clutching like a lifeline. “The only thing that can save your beloved now is if Bex wins, so if you actually care about Mara like you say you do, you won’t leave our victory to chance. You’ll fight with us to make it happen, or you might as well have killed her yourself.”
That last part was cruel, but Adrian didn’t take it back. If Mara was all his brother cared about, then Mara was the lever he would use, because they needed Leander. He was their insideman. If anyone knew where Gilgamesh was hiding, it would be him. But while Adrian’s threat had clearly struck a nerve, Leander still wasn’t moving.
“You don’t understand,” he whispered, his black-bloodstained hands shaking where they clutched Mara’s wrapped body. “Ican’tfight Father, and not just because he’s a better sorcerer than I am. No prince can fight Gilgamesh because he controls the quintessence in our blood.”
Leander looked pointedly at Adrian’s once-again-human eyes. “You got free because you’re the damn golden child the entire universe bends over to save, but I’ve never been so blessed. If I give upmyquintessence, I won’t just lose my sorcery. My true age will catch up with me, and my body will turn to dust. If I go in as I am now, though, Gilgamesh will be able to put me on my knees with a flick of his finger. I’ll be no better than a demon defying their queen, so it’s pointless to ask me to help.”
“I don’t know,” Adrian said with a smile. “I’ve seen a lot of demons defy their queens recently. But just because you can’t face the king directly doesn’t mean you can’t fight. If nothing else, we need your help navigating the palace, because we don’t actually know where Gilgamesh is right now.”
The desperate look fell off Leander’s face. “Oh,” he said, straightening up. “Is that all you need?”
“That’s it,” Adrian promised. “Just take us to Gilgamesh, and we’ll do the rest. I’ll even have my forest hide Mara’s body to keep her safe while you’re away.”
Leander scowled. “You mean take her as a hostage.”
That wasnotwhat Adrian had meant, but he didn’t bother to correct his brother, because Leander had already sighed.
“Very well,” he said, cradling Mara to his chest. “It’s pointless to stay in denial when presented with facts. You’reright. I knew running was a temporary solution, but do you think you can actually win against Gilgamesh?”
“I think we’ve got a good chance,” Adrian said. “As you’re constantly complaining, our mother always puts the Blackwood first, but she’s brought the entire coven to Heaven for this. She’d never take such a huge risk if she didn’t believe it would pay off, but even sure bets can fail without support, which is why we all have to do our part. If wedowin, though, you can be absolutely certain that Bex will make sure her sisters survive. That makes this a fight for Mara’s future, and isn’t that what you said you’d do anything to protect?”
“Don’t turn my own words against me,” Leander muttered. “But very well. I’ll help, but you have to swear on your forest that you’ll protect Mara with everything at your disposal. No matter what happens to the rest of us, Maramustsurvive. Swear that, and I swear I’ll guide you to Father.”
“Done,” Adrian said, sticking out his hand.
Leander shook it grudgingly before returning his grip to his princess. “Where can I put her so she’ll be safe?”
Adrian looked around the crowded tunnel for a moment before pulling his brother over to the rootway’s far wall and giving the wood a knock. The new forest responded at once, opening the swirling roots to reveal a hidden grotto that looked like a wooden bunker complete with a mossy bed hidden inside a nook in the wall. Adrian was certain none of that had existed a second ago, but just like Heaven itself, the forest up here seemed to have looser rules than the groves he was used to working with back on Earth. Adrian wasn’t sure if that was a good change or a bad one yet, but the extra wiggle room did make it easier to accommodate his brother as Leander carried Mara inside.
“Where are the rest of the queens?” he asked as Leander set Mara carefully on top of the moss.
“I left them with the evacuation team,” Leander replied as he arranged the Queen of Sorrow’s dark hair behind her head so it wouldn’t get tangled. “The queen’s favored lust demon came into the building we were using as a shelter and started yelling at everyone to get to the tunnel. They were already prioritizing the unconscious, so I left the queens in their care.”
That was pretty irresponsible behavior for someone who’d volunteered to look after Bex’s sisters, but if Lys was on it, Adrian wasn’t worried. They’d absolutely make sure the other queens made it down the rootway safely. Right now, his job was to get Leander to the front, but no matter how strongly Adrian stressed their need to hurry, the prince refused to leave until he’d tucked the feather comforter he’d clearly stolen off some warlock’s bed around Mara’s shoulders.
“I’m going to win us a future,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss her fingers. “Wait for me.”
“She doesn’t even remember him,” Boston muttered before Adrian shushed him, holding his cat impatiently in the doorway of the new bunker until his brother finally finished fussing and walked out to join him.
CHAPTER 8
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DESPITE BEX’S BEST EFFORTS, they didn’t get underway for another thirty minutes. She’d dealt with big crowds before, so she knew that was actually lightning fast, but it still felt like victory was slipping through her fingers with every minute that ticked by.
It didn’t help that the army that did show up looked so shabby compared to the grandeur of Gilgamesh’s palace. Zargrexa and the demons from the Seattle Anchor had come prepared with the weapons and combat armor they’d gotten from the witches, but the demons from the Hells had nothing but the guns from Iggs’s bag and the clothes on their backs. Most of them weren’t even wearing shoes. She knew she shouldn’t underestimate them for that, but it was hard to feel like a mighty queen when half her army was starved and barefoot, not to mention grossly outnumbered.
That was the real problem Bex didn’t know how to overcome. Thanks to the hard deadline, lack of any communication except yelling and word-of-mouth, and the congestion caused by the evacuation, only fifteen hundred demons actually made it to the rally point. She could’ve doubled that number if she’d been willing to wait another hour, but even if they’d had a full day to rally everyone into position, nothing could change the fact that the majority of the demons they’d freed from the Hells were in no condition to fight. Plenty had volunteered anyway, but Iggs and Captain Roga—who was leading the war demons, their largest contingent of actualsoldiers—had ended up sending most of them away again for being too weak or too wounded to join the battle. Including, to everyone’s consternation, Lys.
