What I really needed stood a few feet away, watching me inspect the tonic, no doubt sensing the internal war I fought.
“I can do without for now,” I murmured as I passed the ether back to Sitri. “If the pain gets too bad, I’ll take some, but I don’t want to sleep right now. I want to be here. With you.”
Sitri smiled and stashed it in a drawer far outside my reach. “My, how much you’ve changed. I don’t think the human who arrived on my doorstep all those weeks ago would have thought twice about such a thing.”
“That human died a long time ago,” I muttered, “and now I’ve killed the monster that controlled her. I’d rather let my old habits die with them.”
“And what an admirable aim that is.”
Sitri stalked back toward the bed, reaching up out of my sight. With a click, the light vanished, and the room came alight in monochrome. That action was so familiar, but I hadn’t seen it performed in weeks.
“Wait, is that…”
“Electricity, darling?” My Prince flashed me a devilish smirk. “Quite a marvel, isn’t it?”
Electricity. All this time, the Duke hadelectricity.While Sitri and his demons bathed with rags and relied on oil-burning lamps, Vapula had modern convenience at his fingertips. No wonder his weapons were more efficient, his tools more sophisticated; the kingdom of Scholars and Savants produced them with advanced technology. Technology Vapula had kept for himself.
“Do I even want to know how it works?” I asked.
Sitri laughed. He came to the side of the bed and eased down onto it. “Probably not, but something tells me you will find out in time.”
“No more surprises. I’ve already had too many of those today. If there’s some terrible, messed-up explanation for it, I might lose my mind.”
“Very well. We shall leave it a mystery for now.”
I winced as Sitri shifted, bringing his body against mine. When he settled, I loosed a breath. One of his arms wormed its way behind my head, curling around me to caress my cheek. The other trailed along my chest, thrumming the undone buttons on my shirt. His warmth, his rough, scarred skin soothed me in a way no drug could. Though my wounds still ached, I could stomach it for now. I closed my eyes. This feeling was worth it, better than any tonic that came in a bottle.
“Sitri? Can we talk?”
He let out a hum of acknowledgment. “What about?”
“Anything,” I said with a sigh, “or…everything.I think I need to speak my thoughts out loud, work through what’s happened. It’s… been a long two months.”
“Of course, darling. If you lead, I will follow.”
For a moment, I let the silence reign and focused on my thoughts. So many emotions, so many worries and questions burned in my chest. Somehow, despite their sheer enormity, I knew where to start.
So, I opened my mouth, and words flowed forth.
I stared down at the envelope I held, repeating the words of its message over and over in my mind. The folded crisp, white paper bore a broken seal of indigo wax, stamped with a sigil I recalled from my very first day in Hell; parallel lines and curves inlaid in concentric circles. The seal of the Duke Zaleos.
I’d read that damned letter a hundred times in the week I’d spent recovering, locked away behind closed doors. Sitri and I were weapons, indeed—pieces on an enemy’s board, like Vapula had said—and we’d been brought into alignment.
The only condition for the Duke’s aid was that Sitri faced Vapula alone. Anything he needed, the letter declared, Zaleos would supply; explosives, transportation, troops, intel, and strategy were all at Sitri’s discretion, so long as he met that requirement. In the aftermath, the reason became clear.
Zaleos had ensured my rule. He installed me on the throne, just as he’d installed Sitri.
“Your debts,” I said, glancing up from my paper and settling my gaze on Sitri. “He’s going to collect on them, isn’t he? And he’s going to collect mine, too.”
Across the bedroom, my Prince sifted through letters and parcels piling up on the desk. Some of them were words of welcome. Some of them were gifts, signs I’d been acknowledged as the rightful heir to Vapula’s throne. Though only a handful of couriers had arrived thus far, I knew I could expect seventy of them to pay me visits in the coming days. One for each of Hell’s nobles, save myself and Sitri.
He looked up. “It’s too soon to know what he really wants, darling. He wouldn’t bother handing out debts if he didn’t plan to collect, but when, how, and why are still a mystery to me.”
“There was something Vapula told me… about the movement of things long fallen, tombs best left sealed. He said we’d wind up exploited without his protection. Used to alter fate.”
“And you believe him?” Sitri asked.
“I don’t know. I think I do.”
