“Are you sure you want to take that risk?” Adrian stalled frantically. “I’m still the only prince who can use witchcraft andsorcery together. That makes me very valuable to Gilgamesh. Surely you don’t want to anger—”
“That line won’t work on me,” the prince interrupted as his princess moved around Adrian to wrestle his arms behind his back. “Perhaps all that cowering made you forget, but I’m the Prince ofEnvy. I hate every son Father raises above me. It’s not my fault. I’ve always striven to be the rational one, but no prince is immune to the influence of his sword. That’s why my princess and I are normally kept far away from the others, but Father doesn’t care what happens to us anymore. After Alexander’s disastrous loss of the Hells, Gilgamesh has washed his hands of this place, which means I’m finally free to eliminate the competition.”
“Doesn’t that mean youshouldn’tcare about killing me?” Adrian asked frantically, struggling against the princess, who seemed to be trying to wrench his arms out of their sockets. “If Gilgamesh has abandoned us, why do you still care about being his top prince?”
“Because hewillcare,” the Prince of Envy explained. “Father’s busy changing the very nature of this world. He doesn’t have time to burden himself with stupid family drama, but he will take note of who was effective and who wasn’t.”
He pointed a finger at the arched ceiling overhead. “Alexander made his first big mistake in centuries when he failed to halt the Coward Queen’s incursion. That means there’s a rare opening at the top. If I can prevent you two traitors from interrupting Gilgamesh’s work, he might just makemeCrown Prince instead.”
The princess who was currently mauling Adrian’s arms trembled with joy at the possibility, but Adrian had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. What was it with these people and sucking up to a king who so clearly didn’t care about anything but himself? The princesses he could understand—they were programmed to worship Gilgamesh—but his brothers were human. They had no excuse for this brain rot, but it was clearly pointless to say as much to Envy. The prince was already bouncing on his heels like a kid who couldn’t wait to run and tell his father what he’d done, which meant it was time to try a different tactic.
“Okay,” Adrian said as he slumped against the princess in defeat. “You win. I’m tired of fighting losing battles, and I hate Alexander too. If I have to die, I’d rather do it helping you steal his position than waste my life for nothing, but I want a favor in return.”
“I’m not sparing anyone’s life,” Envy warned him. “Leander’s head is worth as much as yours, and the queens are never coming back.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Adrian assured the prince, doing his best to look pathetic. “It’s just… I left my cat upstairs. If this is truly the end, I’d like to hug him one last time before I die.”
The prince’s mirrored eyes narrowed. “That’s a very suspicious request.”
“It’s an earnest one,” Adrian promised. “I might be a son of Gilgamesh, but I was raised as a witch. We Blackwoods are a sentimental bunch, especially when it comes to our animals. I just want to say goodbye, and surely the future Crown Prince of Heaven isn’t afraid of a cat?”
The Prince of Envy frowned even harder, but just when it looked like he was about to say no, Leander spoke from the floor.
“Just let him do it, Hector,” he said in a pained voice as he pushed himself off the cracked marble. “He’s our baby brother, and Father always says that mercy is the privilege of the strong.” He flashed the Prince of Envy a sneer. “You’ll look weak if you deny him.”
“As if you weren’t always the weakest among us,” the other prince snapped, but his face was set in a scowl.
“Oh, very well,” he said as the Princess of Envy released her death grip on Adrian’s arms. “You can say goodbye to your pet, but only if you call it here. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“Perfectly acceptable,” Adrian said as he rubbed his aching shoulders. “Thank you very much.”
The Prince of Envy rolled his eyes and gestured for Adrian to get on with it. The witch did so with great humility, crouching down and turning to face the staircase, where he could already feel his familiar waiting.
“Here, Boston,” he called. “Here, kitty, kitty.”
It wasn’t possible to share emotions through the familiar bond, but Adrian still swore he felt his cat’s disgust land on him like a wet blanket. In this as with every task his witch assigned him, however, Boston was a consummate professional. He galloped down the stairs exactly like a scared pet running to its owner. He even meowed, jumping into Adrian’s arms in a moving display of animal devotion.
“It’s under my left foreleg,” he whispered when Adrian caught him. “I had Iggs stick it there with tape from his first aid kit and covered it in a Nevermind.”
“You are absolutely brilliant,” Adrian whispered back, giving his cat a completely genuine hug of relief.
“Just be careful,” Boston murmured as Adrian began to gently pry the wrapped object out of the nest of tape his familiar had heroically allowed to be stuck to his fur. “It’s not fully cured yet, so the potency will be high.”
“I’m counting on it,” Adrian said, giving his faithful familiar a final squeeze before setting him back on the ground to run to Leander, who was crouched several feet behind Adrian like he was bracing for impact.
“Are you finished?” the Prince of Envy asked impatiently.
“I’m finished,” Adrian said, raising his hands to his face as if he were saying a final prayer. “Do your worst.”
The prince smiled at this clear display of surrender, but Adrian hadn’t been talking to him. He’d breathed those words over the object Boston had smuggled into his hands. The curse that was now crawling out of its wrapping to reveal the five-inch-long black body of a preserved wasp. Its wings weren’t dried all the way through yet, and its body was still soft in places where the magic hadn’t finished. The wasp was actually a lot less ready than he’d expected, but it still shot out of Adrian’s palm like a bullet, streaking across the white room to drive its half-inch-long stinger into the exposed skin of the dirty prince’s face.
The Prince of Envy screamed when it happened. Adrian screamed, too, falling to his knees as the burning venom raced through his system. Deploying the karma wasp always resulted in at least one sting for the caster, but this time was so much worse than when he’d used it on the Spider. Adrian was normally pretty invincible when it came to poison, but Boston must’ve been dead-on about the increase in potency. The toxin flowing through Adrian’s system was strong enough to dim his vision. Using the wasp was still worth it, though, because as hard as the poison was hitting him, it was hitting the Prince of Envy even harder.
“You underhandedwitch!” the prince roared, frantically loosening the hard collar of his golden armor as his head began swelling up like a balloon. His princess ran to help at once, but the prince shoved her away.
“Don’t bother with me,” he snarled. “Kill him!”
That wouldn’t be hard. Thanks to the karma wasp’s poison, Adrian couldn’t even open his eyes all the way right now. Killing him should’ve been the work of a second, but when the Princess of Envy turned around to rip his head off, Leander’s arm shot out first.
