“I wouldn’t be much of a queen if I was afraid of a few sorcerers,” Bex reminded him. “And I wasn’t planning to go alone. Adrian and Nemini are coming with me. Leander’s here, too, but he’s working through some stuff, so we’ll leave him as a backup for now.”
“Stuff?” Adrian repeated with a worried look.
“He ran into your mom,” Bex explained. “It wasn’t a pleasant reunion.”
Adrian winced. “I can see how he’d need a moment after that. Is he going to be okay?”
“I have no idea,” Bex said honestly. “But he’s still going to fight, so that’s good enough for now. We’ll swing back and pick him up once we know where we’re going. Iggs, you lie there and make sure no one follows us. Call me on the comm if anything happens.”
“Yes, my queen,” Iggs replied, bowing his horns as far as he was able on his back.
“Boston, you and Bran stay with him,” Adrian ordered. “Make sure he doesn’t move.”
Iggs scowled at that. Boston, however, looked incredibly relieved. “I’ll take utmost care of the patient,” he promised, hopping off the broom to sit on Iggs’s bandaged chest, which made Bex’s cat-loving demon suddenly look much less mad about being left behind. “Good luck.”
Adrian nodded and turned toward the stairs, offering his hand to Bex as he went.
She took it without hesitation. “Thank you for saving Lys,” she whispered as they walked across the room. “And Iggs. And me, while I’m at it. Your vines pushed back the prince’s fear.”
“That was Aunt Muriel’s magic,” he insisted, squeezing her fingers. “I merely provided the foundation, but I’m happy it worked. We’d never actually cast the Witch’s Spite before.”
“Hell of a first run,” Bex said as they started down the giant staircase, which was even more blackened and battle-scarred than the rest of the room. “Is this big walkway how Heavenly citizens got down to the Anchor Markets?”
“Yes,” Adrian said. “Or at least, that’s what I assume it’s for. These stairs were closed off the last time your princess dragged me through this part of the palace.”
“Don’t mention her,” Bex said with a shudder. “Just thinking about Gilgamesh making a princess version of me still gives me the creeps.”
“She was never you,” Adrian assured her. “But she wasdefinitelycreepy.”
Despite just asking him not to talk about it, Bex wanted to hear more. She wanted to talk to Adrian about all sorts of things, but there was no time. The chamber at the bottom of the scorched staircase was already coming into view.
Like everything she’d seen in Gilgamesh’s palace so far, it was enormous. Between the soaring ceiling and the long list of destinations carved into the floor, Bex felt like she was walking into a station from the grand age of railroads. The room’s circular walls were pierced with multiple doorways leading to hallways that were lined with even more doors, which Bex presumed were the entrances to all the various Anchors. But while she spotted plenty of good places for an ambush, she didn’t see any chains, or any people. Either the sorcerers Iggs mentioned earlier had already fled down to Earth or there wasanother level to this place. She was looking around for a second staircase when she finally spotted someone.
Bex had no idea how she hadn’t noticed him sooner. The man was directly ahead of them at the dead center of the giant circular room. He was kneeling on the ground with his head bowed all the way over so that his forehead was pressed flat against the marble. Between the humble position and his filthy clothes, Bex’s first thought was that he was a demon slave who’d been left behind when all the masters ran. Then she saw the white sword lying on the ground beside him.
Her boots squeaked to a stop on the slick-polished floor. Adrian froze a second later, his blue-gray eyes flying wide. Nemini was the only one who didn’t seem surprised. She simply moved a little closer to Bex, her snakes hissing protectively on her head as the bowing prince lifted his empty, dirty hands and said,
“I surrender.”
CHAPTER 12
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“WHAT DID YOU JUSTsay?” Bex demanded.
“I surrender,” the prince repeated, finally sitting up to show them his mirrored eyes, which weren’t even looking at Adrian yet but still managed to make his whole body tremble.
It was a natural reaction. Adrian had only spoken to this prince for less than a minute of real time, but he’d stared at his dirty face for what felt like hours during the Walking Memory. His armor was even dirtier than the last time Adrian had seen it, so coated in black dust that the ornate gold was no longer visible. He looked more like a coal miner than a son of Gilgamesh, but it was impossible for Adrian to forget the prince who’d almost killed him with a single flick to the forehead. That wasdefinitelythe man from the chain desert, the Prince of Envy.
“You’re surrendering?” Bex said, her voice deeply skeptical. “Why?”
“Because you are here,” the prince replied. “The Prince of Fear would die before he allowed the Coward Queen to enter the Palace of Heaven, so if you are standing before me, that must be what has happened.” He glanced at the white sword on the floor beside him, and then he bowed his head again. “My brother is a much better fighter than I am. If he couldn’t beat you, I have no hope. All I can do is put myself at your mercy and beg you not to cut the chains.”
Adrian let out a relieved breath.Thatwaswhy the prince was acting this way. He still thought Bex was here to destroy the chains and bring back the gods. That idea was totally offthe table now that Bex had told him what Ishtar had said about resetting the world, but the Prince of Envy didn’t know that. If the chains were still his primary concern, maybe he could be reasoned with. He certainly didn’t seem as fanatical as other sons of Gilgamesh Adrian had met. But before he could tell the Prince of Envy they weren’t here for the chains, so there was no reason to do anything extreme, Bex beat him to the punch.
“The chains are worth that much to you?”
“They are worth more than life itself,” the still-bowing prince replied. “Gilgamesh’s chains are the only protection this world has against the return of the divine tyrants. I know you think the gods will restore your kind to Paradise, but their rule was anything but paradise for humanity. The fact that Gilgamesh was able to free us from their hold once is the miracle of our race. I’m not so cocky as to think we’ll be so lucky twice.”
