“There’s nothing,” I mutter.
“What were you expecting, a gift basket?” Zac says, folding his arms as Archan saunters out of the bedroom and flips the light switch on.
I plant my hands on my hips and study the lit room. “Pretty much. Zeus will want to gloat and cause terror, and he would want us to know it was him.”
I snap my fingers and rush into Zee’s room. “What did she just figure out?” Zac asks as I rifle through Zee’s bedroom. My hand grazes a piece of paper on Zee’s pillow. Bingo.
I hurry back to the sitting room and read the elegant scrawl. “Dear Pandora, I’ve taken something precious from you. No harm will come to him so long as you comply with my demands. Break away from your army to meet on the battlefield at the gates. Do not think to doublecross me, or I will slice his throat and bathe in his blood before slaughtering everyone you love. Zeus.”
“He has quite the way with words, but it’s nothing we didn’t expect,” Duncan mutters, taking the note from my hand and examining it.
“He is predictable,” I agree.
“What now?” Duncan asks as he drops the note on the dining table.
I fist my hands. “Now, we prepare for battle.”
* * *
“For the one hundredth time, I know what I’m doing,” I grumble as Archan checks me over in the great hall. The warlords are gathered around us, the excitement of the oncoming battle swells in the atmosphere. It focuses my mind as Archan steps back and examines me. I’ve ditched the dress and heels for my leathers and swords, but I kept the crown.
“I wish you’d let me coat you in armor,” Archan mutters.
I eye him up and down. He’s in a black t-shirt, matching combat pants and laced up combat boots, looking sinfully delicious. Archan wears his godliness as his armor, while I hang on to mine by the thinnest of threads. I can feel my immortality disentangling itself.
Bernard approaches us, kitted out in his own armor with his face covered in blue streaks. Lucifer slaps him on his back. “Bernard, your troops are ready?”
Bernard nods. “Yes, Sire.” Bernard eyeballs me and lifts a small crude wooden bowl towards me. “The warlords would like to share their woad in preparation of battle.”
I lean forward and eyeball the contents. Smeared in the bowl is blue gunk, which matches the color on Bernard’s and many of the other leaders. “What is woad?” I wonder.
“It’s a plant extract that helps to heal wounds, worn by many in wars, including yours,” Bernard explains, dipping his finger in the bright blue paste and holding it up. “Here it signifies unity. We fight for the same cause, even if we are at war with each other. It represents our belief in you.”
I swallow as the great hall falls silent and the eyes of the warlords fall to me, and my decision. I give Bernard a nod and he paints lines on my face. He steps back and tilts his head. “A queen indeed,” he says as he backs away and disappears into the crowd.
“How do I look?” I ask Duncan as he makes his way towards me, his face covered in the same paint.
He grins. “Like an avenging angel.”
Lucifer jumps up on the stage and I follow to stand by his side. “Before this day is through, we shall have slaughtered the monsters and banished the gods that threaten our world,” he booms. “Let them try to take our lives, our families, our realms—they are fearless, because they have nothing to lose. Living with no fear makes you stupid. We are strong because we believe in a cause, we are unstoppable because we have Pandora. Made as a weapon, it’s now time to turn that weapon on its maker. Zeus will lose, and it will be of his own making.”
Shouts of agreement thunder around the room as the warlords stamp their feet and bang their weapons on the floor. It sounds like a million people in here, not a hundred. The doors swing open and the crowd pushes through it out of the castle, and into the courtyard.
“Where are the legions of demons?” I wonder as we follow them and form a giant circle around the castle wall.
Lucifer struts to the center and winks at me. He lifts his arms in the air. Magic slams into me, making my knees wobble as the castle shimmers like a mirage. The sun stutters in and out of existence as the world transforms and we are left standing on an enormous field. The sky rumbles and a flash of lightning ignites the dark clouds. Thousands of demons stand behind us, layers upon layers of soldiers buzzing with adrenaline. Burning flesh lingers in the air, the corpses of fallen soldiers lay scattered amongst the long dead grass. Bernard approaches on a tall and muscular black horse. He swings his legs over and drops to the floor.
“She’s yours,” he explains. “Her name is Liberty.”
I blink as the mare eyeballs me. “Thank you,” I murmur, stroking her silky neck. She leans into the touch.
“Up you go,” Archan says, lifting me to sit on the saddle. The gang mount their own horses, the same ones we rode into hell on. I glance around, finding Goliath barking orders at the troops.
I pull on the reins, turning Liberty around. My breath catches in my throat as I survey the enemy. Monsters form a gruesome line of snarling and growling terror. Behind them a set of doors which stretch into the sky and beyond the clouds lay propped open. Creatures fly out of the depths of Tartarus, joining Zeus’s army.
“They are actual doors?” I ask.
Lucifer pulls up to my left on his own steed. “They are visible because they are open.”
