Page 28 of Mastering Mayhem

He fished my device from his jacket pocket and gave it to me. The wordsNo Servicelit up the center of the screen, so I handed it back to him.

I took a deep breath and blew it out hard. “Let’s take stock. What do we know?” I made a grabby motion at Shade. “Tell me.”

“Hazel has the amulet.” He leaned against the gate, crossing his arms. “And she’s planning to sell it to Adrian…or so we assume.”

“Worcester doesn’t have a coven, and it’s on the way to Boston. Adrian hired her for sure.” I continued pacing, keeping my body occupied so my brain could do the work. “What else?”

“She appeared to be as surprised about the fae dropping in as we were,” Mayhem said.

“Right. She didn’t know she was setting us up to be slaughtered. That’s obvious.” I grabbed the sides of my bra and hauled it up, putting my boobs back into place.

“She is a skilled actress, though,” Mayhem said. “We all fell for her show of innocence.”

“Did Adrian know about the fae?” Shade ignored his admission. “Or was it an unfortunate coincidence?”

“That was no coincidence.” I tapped my index finger against my lips. “I think he pretended to make amends with Prince Ignacus and set up the whole thing.Wewere the peace offering.”

“Ignacus promised him immeasurable power in return for his fealty. Why would he need to pretend?” Mayhem examined an antique apothecary chest, opening and closing the drawers, finding them empty.

“Ignacus lies. Adrian lies. Neither can trust their right hands to know what the left is doing. Why would Adrian turn over the amulet when he could keep all the power to himself?” I crossed my arms, shifting my weight to one leg. “He wouldn’t.”

“So Hazel’s on her way to Worcester,” Shade said. “If she makes it that far, she’ll sell the amulet to Adrian. We still have two-thirds of it, so he won’t get ‘immeasurable’ power. Just a little boost.”

“A little boost like Chrys? You saw what it did to her. It changed her.” I rested my hands on my hips. “Adrian is a thorn in our side now. Once he gets his hands on the amulet, and it affects his brain, he’ll be an entire bramble.”

“We must intercept it before Hazel initiates the exchange.” Mayhem strolled toward the gate and shook it the same way Shade and I had. One corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk as he glanced sideways at me. “Back up, please.”

I moved to stand next to Shade as Mayhem tightened his grip on the bars. His muscles tensed, new ones not normally visible protruding beneath his skin as he strained. He inhaled, exhaled hard, inhaled. On his next exhale, he ripped the gate from the wall and tossed it aside as if it were made of foam.

“Impressive.” I couldn’t fight my smile or ignore the flutter in my belly. I was in love with a strong man. So what? “Can you do that to the vault door too?”

My demon ran his fingers around the seal before bracing his palms against the center and pushing with all his might. No hinges creaked. No walls groaned against the pressure.

He leaned his shoulder against it, pushing for a few seconds before backing away and slamming his weight against the door. Nothing. “I’m afraid even my strength is no match for this.”

“What if we all tried together?” Shade braced his arm, angling his shoulder toward the door. “On three.”

He counted. We shoved. Twice. Three times. Nothing moved.

I gripped my aching shoulder, rotating it to loosen the tension. “When brawn doesn’t work, we have to use our brains. Fabulous.”

“We are surrounded by magical artifacts.” Mayhem leaned down to kiss the bruise already forming on my shoulder. “Surely you can find something of use.”

I spun in a circle, taking in the possibilities. “Except we don’t know if these things actually do what the tags say they do. They were wrong about the amulet.”

I lifted the information sheet. “‘A nineteen-carat Burma ruby, rumored to increase physical strength tenfold.’ They had no idea.”

“How could they?” Mayhem picked up a gem-encrusted dagger, the blade intricately etched with Celtic designs. “The amulet was never meant to see this side of the veil. Discord should have left it in Hell when Isabel summoned us.”

“Our lives would be a helluva lot easier if he had.” I tossed the info sheet into the black velvet box where the answer to—and cause of—our problems should have lain. “I wonder who listed it, and why they’d want to sell it.”

“If the bearer lacked a strong inborn ability such as fire or another element, the amulet’s power would be difficult to ascertain.”

“You have to have power to increase power,” Shade said.

“Precisely. Which is why your friend Chrys was able to harness it fully. She was a force.” He said it matter-of-factly, and I knew deep down he wasmydemon and what experiences he’d had before we got together didn’t matter.

But he’d been inside Chrys the same way Chaos had been inside Ash. The way he’d been inside me for a short time. Jealousy reared its ugly head again, but I squelched it. Mayhem was mine. Period. End of story.

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