“Not okay! He kilt the Simi’s boo. My children. I want him, Akri! Gimme his organs!”
Grim dared to meet her tear-filled gaze. “I’m sorry, Simi.”
“Not as sorry as you’ll be when the Simi gets her fangs on you!”
Acheron turned her to face him. “Breathe, Simkey. Breathe.”
“No! I—” She broke off into tears.
Ash held her against his chest as he rubbed her back. “I know. I know. I feel the same hatred for him that you do.”
“Then why’s he not dead?”
“Because you need me,” Grim said. “I’m the only one here who knows how Cyprian did what he did. Who knows where all the bodies are buried.”
Nick hated to give him credit for anything, but Grim was right. They needed him. “Fine. Get me to Styxx, and if I can release him, we’ll let you join our merry band.”
“Deal.”
One moment they were outside the castle, with the eerie statues, the next they were in what appeared to be a dungeon.
Nick shot into his Malachai form. His used his powers to grab Grim by the throat and pin him against the nearest wall. “What is this?”
Grim choked and held his hands up. “It’s where Styxx is. Please … let me go. I’m helping. I swear!”
Nick wasn’t so sure.
Acheron put his hand on Nick’s arm. “Give him a chance to speak.”
A tic started in Nick’s jaw. His instinct was to splatter Grim all over the wall. But that was the Malachai speaking. His human part wasn’t quite so gory.
So, Nick lowered him to the ground. “Speak quickly.”
Still wheezing, Grim pushed himself to his feet. He used his powers to light the torches around them, then smirked. “You’d think someone would put power in this place, wouldn’t you? But no. Let’s keep the medieval torture theme going.”
Nick scowled at his segue as Grim headed to an arched doorway that was barred with a locked gate. “What is this place?”
“One of Noir’s prisons. It’s a labyrinth. Styxx is in the center of it. You get to him, he’ll be free.”
“What’s the catch?”
“You have to get to him.”
It seemed deceptively easy. Which meant it wouldn’t be at all. “How do I reach him?”
“Only you can figure it out.” Grim glanced around to the others. “And you have to go alone.”
Xev sucked his breath in sharply. “Nick—”
Grim held his hands up to cut him off. “The rules aren’t negotiable. There are some doors and some things that everyone has to face alone. This is one of them. If you try to take someone in there with you … None of you will return.”
Awesome.
Kody shook her head. “Don’t do it, Nick. I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do I, but what choice do we have?”
“We gut him and go in.”
