“How is that my problem?” the Morrigan snapped. “Gilgamesh broke the wheel, not me. You should be grateful to be free.”
“I am grateful,” Bex insisted, running her hands between her new horns. “It’s just… Paradise is supposed to be our home.It’s the land we always thought we’d come back to, but how can I tell my people to make a life in a place with no food?”
“Maybe you don’t have to,” Adrian said, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “I know Paradise was always the goal, but I’ve heard you talk to a lot of demons at this point, and the number one thing they’ve always said they wanted was for you to set them free, which you did. They’re free from GilgameshandIshtar thanks to what we did today! But just because this place is no longer the Paradise it used to be five thousand years ago doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Quite the opposite. You’ve already led your people to anewparadise full of food where they can raise their families in peace and live exactly as they please.”
He finished with a smile, but Bex still felt like she’d missed something important. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Earth,” Adrian said, grinning wider. “It’s the home of every human in existence. That’s enough sin to feed your entire population a thousand times over, and thanks to the evacuation, your people are already there! They don’t even have to worry about being named. Now that the gods have all left and taken their quintessence blood with them, Gilgamesh’s warlocks are finished. They could know the name of every demon on the planet, but with no more quintessence coming down from Heaven, they won’t have enough power to order one to tie their shoes.”
His blue-gray eyes flashed as he moved closer. “You know what that means, right? Your people are free. Truly, one hundred percent completely at liberty in a land with tons of food, no threats, and no one who can tell them what to do. You don’t have to take them back to Paradise. They’re already there, andyou’rethe one who made it possible.”
It did sound incredible when he put it that way, but Bex was still shaking her head. Adrian didn’t understand. Paradise was more than a place. It was their promised land, their sacred home. Even if it was isolated and covered in impenetrable jungle, she couldn’t just let it—
Why couldn’t you?Drox asked quietly in her mind.When you confronted Ishtar and took her power, you said you were doing it to set your people free, and so you have done. Paradise has been our rallying cry for a long time, but this place is not the Riverlands of Ishtar. That was a golden realm of plenty. This is a mosquito-infested hellscape.
“I can’t believe you’re okay with this,” Bex muttered, staring at her ring. “We’re talking aboutParadise. Ourhome.”
Homes change,Drox replied in a wistful voice.Other than the Queen of Pride and the people of Wrath who were trapped in Limbo, none of the demons alive today are old enough to know what Paradise looked like, including yourself. Even those who do remember it wouldn’t recognize it now. If you ask me, this jungle is worse than the Goddeath Wastes. At least Gilgamesh’s desert didn’t have predators.
Bex did see some big shapes moving through the forest now that Drox pointed them out. Just thinking about that on top of everything else made her want to cry, but she couldn’t give up on this. She’d never given up on anything when it came to her people, but—
You’re not giving up,Drox said.You’re choosing the better path and the strategically stronger one. Nothing undermines a queen’s stability like starvation and dissatisfaction. Even your faithful Lysanae would object if you asked them to live in a foodless jungle over a land of plenty like Seattle purely for the sake of tradition.
He was right. Lys would hate thecrapout of that jungle no matter what Bex called it, and funny enough, the image of their horrified face was what changed her mind. Lys was the one who’d been saying Bex would take them home to Paradise longer than anyone else. If even they wouldn’t want to return to a place like this, then that was the end of it.
Wise choice, my queen,her sword said.I’m sure your people will appreciate you bending on this matter.
Bex was certain they would. Even pious old Zargrexa would balk if Bex told her she was moving the wrath demons, who’d already suffered so many years of starvation, to somewhere that didn’t even have a river. In fact, she couldn’t think of a single demon who’d call the jungle below them Paradise.
That made her feel better about her choice than anything else yet, and she turned to the Morrigan with a smile.
“If any of my peoplereallywant to return to our ancestral home, I hope you’ll allow them into your jungle,” she said. “In exchange, I’m willing to officially relinquish our claim on the former Riverlands of Paradise to the Witches of Blackwood. Is that acceptable?”
“Quite,” the Morrigan said, giving Bex a sharp-toothed grin. “It’s gratifying to know our victory won’t be marred by an ugly territorial fight. If you give up your lands to the wilds peacefully, I promise to welcome all demons beneath my trees. Just be sure your people understand that permission to live here is not the same as guaranteeing their safety.” Her grin grew wider. “The forest does not coddle the weak.”
“I’ll pass that along,” Bex promised. “I don’t think anyone will actually take me up on the offer, but I wanted to give them a choice. My demons have been forced to obey other people’s whims for far too long. I want the decision of where to live to be in their hands, not mine. All I’ve ever wanted is for them to be free.”
The words rolled so easily off her tongue that Bex didn’t realize the full implication of what she’d just said until several seconds later.
Her people were free. Paradise might not be a paradise anymore, but that was just semantics. Whatever land thedemons called home from this day forward, Gilgamesh was dead and the gods were gone. There’d be no more quintessence or divine edicts after today, nothing that could force her people to do or say or be anything they didn’t want to. Until the other queens woke up, there was no one except Bex left who could make them bow, which meant…
“It’s over,” she whispered, staggering into Adrian so hard she almost knocked them both over. “The war is over. We won. We’refree!”
She broke down totally after that, laughing and sobbing at the same time as she grabbed Adrian and spun him around in a fit of pure joy. She was so happy she felt sick and so relieved that she felt drunk. The heady combination pushed every other thought away, so Bex wasn’t surprised when she finally emerged from her victory-induced delirium to discover it was just her and Adrian sitting alone on top of the Morrigan’s invisible window above the forest.
“Hey,” he said, pulling her tight against his side. “Have you finally come down?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever come down from this,” Bex said, looking around the quintessence tank, which they were still technically sitting at the bottom of. “Where’d everybody go?”
“My family went back to the Blackwood to finish up Gilgamesh’s army, the Morrigan is off inspecting her new forest, and Boston decided to go exploring with Bran,” he informed her before his face fell into a scowl. “I should probably go check on those last two, actually. They’ve been gone for quite a while.”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Bex said, settling her head back against his shoulder with a sigh. “I’m sure everything’s fine and nothing will ever be wrong again.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t trust your addled judgement,” Adrian said, adjusting her position slightly so that her horns wouldn’t stab him in the face. Hertwohorns.
“Wait,” Bex said, sitting back up as she jerked her hands to her head. “What happened to my horns?”
“I was going to talk to you about that when you were more coherent,” Adrian said as he reached sheepishly into his coat. “But while you were busy processing all the emotions caused by nearly dying multiple times, the loss of your gods, and achieving the single driving ambition of all your lifetimes, they sort of… fell off.”
