Page 103 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

Ophelia’s head turns and she arches one fine brow at me. “Absolutely not,” she snaps. “My people and I are far more discreet than that.”

Confusion and surprise collide within me. “What?” I gape at her. “But you always told me that one life is not worth the lives of the many.”

With an eye roll, she waves a hand at me in far too similar a fashion as Kalix had. “That may be true, but we are assassins and thieves,” she states. “Even we have honor, and knowing you’ll be killed regardless of whether you give your enemy information or not only tends to make one more spiteful. I know I, myself, would have died before I offered them a damn thing on you.”

My heart slams to a stop within my breast. All this time, I’d assumed that Ophelia would sell me out in a heartbeat, that I was never truly a part of the Underworld, but merely a tool she used to get what she wanted. All that torture. All that training. I thought she and the Underworld were the only ones to receive that kind of loyalty. To find out that she would have protectedme, that they all would have, even if it meant their deaths … this time, when my laughter comes, I don’t try to suppress it.

A bubble of amusement creeps up my throat and I find myself crying as I double over, hands planted on my knees as I heave in great big bursts. Laughter flows forth, over and over again as tears stream down my face. I arch up and press my hands flat to my belly.

In hindsight, I suppose, I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, the younger me didn’t think she deserved loyalty or love. The younger me blamed herself for her mother’s disappearance and father’s death. The current me, though, she and I know the truth. Life is all about looking back and seeing the reality that you couldn’t while you were in the midst of it all.

When the laughter drifts away, I find myself reaching for Ruen’s hand and then the closest other Darkhaven, which happens to be Kalix. Theos joins us as I look out at the sea of Mortal Gods, all of whom wait for an announcement from one of us to decide their fate.

The truth is far greater than anything we could tell them. Their fate is their own and we intend to give them the chance that the Gods never would.

Epilogue

KIERA

One Year Later…

Taptaptap.My heart leaps into my breast at the sound and I glance across the desk before me, strewn with papers, but there’s no fuzzy black Spider Queen. The pain that echoes back to me from the loss of my familiar, so brave in the face of a God King that wanted to slaughter me, swells in me as fresh as if twelve months hadn’t passed.

She’s gone now, Aranea. Off to a different place where I hope she’s designing the most beautiful of webs and spinning to her heart’s content.

Taptaptap.This time, when the sound starts up again, I glance over to see the fluttering dark shape of a bird flapping its wings and pecking the glass with its beak.

“I got it.” Theos puts down the book he’d been going through and walks across the office that had once belonged to one of the Gods who had been an in-residence instructor within the walls of Riviere Academy.

Flicking the latch on the slice of square cut glass to the side of the depiction of what I now know is my mother’s incarnationpainted into the transparent framework of the window, Regis’ crow flies in through the opening and lands on the edge of my desk. With a smile, I pat its little feathered skull, earning a demanding head-butting when I pull away to retrieve the note tied to its leg.

Unfolding the parchment and scanning the contents, I reach up and slide a fingertip over the bird’s head in a soothing motion. Theos ambles over. The heat of his body warms my side as he steps up and around the desk to peer over my shoulder at the letter sent by Regis from Perditia.

Theos hums in the back of his throat as he moves away from my side and around to my back. Hands dip and touch my shoulders, fingers digging into the sore muscles there. A groan emanates from my throat as the letter falls from my grasp and flutters to the surface of the desk.

“Seems like all is well with him and Ophelia, huh?” he asks despite already knowing the truth from what he and I both just read.

Planting both hands firmly on the edge of the desk, I let my head drop down towards my chest and relish in the feel of his kneading. “And Maeryn and Niall,” I mumble in response.

“Yes, I’m glad you asked her to go there and assist them in redefining the Perditia Academy. Maeryn’s got a good head on her shoulders.”

An unintelligible grumble escapes me, but no words. Sinking lower and lower into the chair as my bones and muscles liquefy into nothingness under his masterful touch, the sweet moment of relief is abruptly cut off as the door pops open and a heavy pair of footsteps intrude.

“If you’re here to tell me another young one has set fire to a building,” I say sharply without opening my eyes, “I’m going to tell you to throw yourself on the flames or face my fucking wrath.”

The rumbling, masculine chuckle that responds has my eyes fluttering back open to reveal both Kalix and Ruen standing shoulder to shoulder. A heavy snake curls around Kalix’s neck, its eyes shut as it rests against his massive pecs. I’m not bitter. Nope. Not at all. Even if I wish it were me sleeping on his chest right now. I sit up as Theos’ hands retract and rub my tired eyes.

“I’m still surprised you offered to train the younger Mortal Gods we freed,” Ruen says with a shake of his head. “I did warn you that they would be more than a handful.”

“What?” I snap. “Should I have left it to him?” I point to the Kalix. “Or him?” I turn my finger to Theos as he, too, walks around the desk to join his brothers, shuddering at the thought.

Reaching up, Kalix strokes a fingertip over the arrowed head of his serpent. The snake’s eyes open sideways in that unnerving way of theirs before closing once more. “My familiars love children,” Kalix replies. “They’re very tasty according to this one.” A glitter of that odd insanity of his in his eyes makes me question whether he’s joking or not. You never know with Kalix.

“That’s not why we’re here,” Ruen says with a shake of his head.

Leaning to the side, I crack my stiff neck and then push away from the desk, rising to join them on the other side. “Then why are you here?” I glance to the open door and a Terra—Iver is the man’s name,I remind myself,not Terra.There are no Terra anymore—pauses to offer a nod as he passes by with an armful of papers.

Kalix moves around his brothers, back to the door and quietly shuts it. I follow him, a frown pulling the corners of my lips downward. “What’s going on?” I demand, feeling a bolt of nervous energy strike through me. “What’s happened?”

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