That gave him the power and the skills to do a lot more than RV repair, but he’d still done an incredible job. He’d put their whole home back together and then some, adding more power to the engine and more space to the inside, including an office expansion that gave them enough room for Bex, Lys, and Iggs to all have their own desks.
They certainly needed them. Bex might not be the official Queen of All Demons anymore, but she was still the only one all the newly freed factions could agree to listen to. After the fall of Paradise and the defeat of Heaven’s final army at the Blackwood, the demon population had scattered to the four winds. This was partially due to practical concerns—with no more access to the Rivers of Death, everyone had to eat emotions straight from humans, and too many demons feeding off one population quickly led to problems—but an equally big part of it was freedom.
Now that they were free to go anywhere, anywhere was where they went, scattering all over the globe in search of new food, new opportunities, and a chance to finally get away from each other after the horrific overcrowding of the Hells. There were still a few teams of former slaves who’d become trench buddies after centuries of working together under a warlock, but the vast majority of demonkind seemed to want to get as far from anything involving their old life as possible.
The diaspora made it harder to keep tabs on everyone, but Bex didn’t care. That freedom was the entire reason she’d done this. Shewantedher people to run off and enjoy their new lives, especially since modern technology made getting resources to demons who needed them easy even when they were on the other side of the planet. The number of video meetings was already decreasing as everyone settled into their new homes.Case in point, Bex didn’t have anything on her schedule for the rest of the afternoon, which meant she was finally free to get out of this damn chair.
Rising with a stretch that didn’t get anywhere near the office’s new arched ceiling, Bex grabbed her new leather jacket—a present from Adrian, who’d made it himself—off the wall hook and made her way out the door. In the RV’s old configuration, this would’ve put her in the hallway on the crew level, but Leander had expanded more than just the office. The lower floor of their RV had been completely gutted and redone into a hospital wing for the sleeping queens.
Nemini was with them as always, sitting in her new recliner with her eyes closed. She spent eight hours a day like that, searching through the darkness as she called out for their lost sisters, but her yellow eyes opened when Bex came over.
“Any luck?”
“Luck is just a projection of our personal wants upon the infinitely unpredictable cosmos,” the Queen of Pride reminded her. “Our sisters have been lost in an infinite void for five thousand years. Even with their names returned, it would be extremely unlikely for me to find them so soon.”
“I wish I could’ve saved their swords,” Bex grumbled. “I found their hands when I searched Gilgamesh’s workshop, but their rings had already been turned to ash.” She heaved a furious sigh. “It’s my fault. If I’d just remembered to go back sooner instead of having a joy-induced meltdown, I could’ve saved them and given you some help.”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” Nemini assured her, reaching up to touch the nest of snakes snoozing on her head. “From what you’ve said about Gilgamesh’s setup, he chose his fuel well. Once they get going, nothing can extinguish Enki’s sparks of creation. Even if you’d removed the rings the moment you laid eyes on them, they still would’ve burned to ash.”
So she kept saying, but that didn’t stop Bex from feeling guilty as she turned to look at the only bed in the big new room that was separated from the others by a curtain.
It was Mara’s bed, and Leander was sitting beside it as usual. The Queen of Sorrow still hadn’t budged—shenevermoved except to breathe—but she was looking much better with her huge, downward-pointing crown of horns back on her head and her right hand reattached to her wrist. Bex was certain she would’ve looked even better with her ring, but the sight still gave her hope.
“They’ll come back,” she said, more for herself than Nemini. “And we’ll be waiting. Even if it takes another five thousand years, we’ll be here to welcome them home.”
“Five thousand years is longer than you think,” Nemini warned as her eyes slid closed again. “But I hope you’re right.”
Bex was certain she would be. She had no idea how long her life would last now that she was filled with the fires of life instead of Ishtar’s wrath, but her flames were far from out. She’d hold on until her sisters found their way home, and then she’d explain to them in person exactly how things had ended up this way. After all they’d been through, it was the least she could do.
She just wished they wereallthere. Leander had designed it to look palatial, but the queens’ recovery room still had only six beds. Bex and Nemini didn’t need spots, of course, but despite promising that she’d look, the Morrigan had yet to turn up any sign of the Queen of War’s body. Not that a traitor like her deserved to lie here with the rest of them, but Bex still felt bad about leaving her behind, especially given how terrifying the Morrigan’s new jungle was becoming.
As Bex had predicted,noneof her demons had wanted to move there. A few adventurous souls had visited the new Blackwood just for a chance to see Paradise with their own eyes, but every one of them had come racing back through theroots with stories about a nightmare jungle that sounded like a haunted version of the Amazon on steroids. Bex was happier than ever that she’d decided not to take her people back there, but she still felt bad about leaving War’s body behind to rot. Still, her sister was strong and stubborn. She’d turn up eventually, Bex was sure of it. Meanwhile, she had other, much more pleasant things to look forward to.
Speaking of which, it was getting close to dinnertime. Adrian had said something about getting sushi. Bex had never tried sushi, but he swore raw fish was the best fish, and her witch hadn’t led her wrong yet when it came to food. He hadn’t led her wrong, period, which was enough to make Bex grin as she left Nemini to her meditation and started toward the stairs. She’d just begun climbing up the steep spiral that led to the RV’s main floor when a man’s voice called her name.
“Queen of Wrath.”
Bex looked back over her shoulder and saw Leander standing at the foot of the stairs. The prince was lookingmuchbetter these days. Not that it’d be hard to look better than the skeleton he’d been when she’d pulled him out of the Lowest Hells, but the healthy man standing behind her was an improvement even over the gaunt prince he’d been when Bex had first seen him on the street behind Pike Place Market. He’d put on weight, cut his dark hair, even gotten himself some new clothes—boring, severe clothes that made him look like a lawyer, but still an enormous step up from the haunted man in dirty white pajamas who’d helped her and Adrian storm Gilgamesh’s tower.
He insisted the changes were for Mara’s sake, that a man seeking to woo a queen couldn’t possibly do so while looking like a starved vagabond, but Bex suspected that Adrian had a great deal to with it. He’d been stuffing food into Leander like a worried grandmother from the moment his brother arrived inSeattle. She wasn’t sure if it was brotherly affection or allowing anyone to be underfed in his presence went against Adrian’s nature as a Witch of the Flesh, but Leander was looking much better for it. He was also looking impatient, so Bex turned all the way around and gave him her full attention.
“What’s up?”
“I would like to ask a favor, if I may,” the prince said, looking up at Bex with mirrored eyes that would never stop creeping her out.
“Name it,” she told him. “We owe you big time for fixing our home.”
“That is good to hear,” the prince replied. “Because your home is what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m about to begin renovations on the topmost story, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to let me use the master suite.”
“The master suite?” Bex repeated, crossing her arms over her chest. “You meanmymaster suite?”
“That would be why I’m asking you instead of someone else,” the prince answered drily.
It made sense when he put it that way, but, “Didn’t Adrian already build you a whole bedroom in his loft?”
“My youngest brother has been most hospitable,” Leander acknowledged. “But while my new room is perfectly adequate, I find living in a witchwood to be… emotionally unpleasant. I’d much rather be here where I can’t feel the forest, and where I’m closer to Mara.”
As always when he said her name, Leander’s face softened, making him look almost handsome. “I’d like to be as close as possible when she wakes up,” he continued. “I’d also like a private bathroom, and since you never seem to spend the night in your own room anymore these days, I thought it’d be more practical if we switched.”
