Page 116 of Death Bringer

“Well, how was he going to achievethatunless he got rid of you and your father, who are both more powerful than he was?” She rolled her eyes. “Men are so dumb sometimes.”

His hand shot out and he pinned her to the wall. “So you were not trying to save me from having to kill Adam. You were merely carrying out your half-bakedtheoryto get yourface back?”

His tone was withering. She smiled into his storm-filled eyes. “Oh, no, I was trying to save you all right. The theory part was just a bonus.”

She held her breath, but instead of kissing her, he dropped his hand and turned away from her. She frowned at his broad back. Why wouldn’t he kiss her?

“We should go and check out the bodies.”

She pushed away from the wall. “Sure.”

He didn’t say a word as they walked down the endless hallways; his mind was closed to her as well, which was starting to tick her off. In the main hall, she spied Rossa in conversation with one of the gatekeepers.

“Hey!” She waved at him and he strolled over.

“You’re both alive! You look great now, Ella.” He grinned at the unsmiling Vadim. “It’s awesome that you beat all those guys. I knew you could do it.”

“What are you doing here?” Vadim’s question was distinctly uninviting.

“Your mother called me in to keep an eye on the place while everything’s up in the air.”

“She called you?”

“I have skills.” Rossa raised his eyebrows. “I also happened to be right here, so she didn’t have much choice. Were you looking for her?”

“No, we were wondering where they’d put all the bodies.”

“Oh, right. They’re in the place of worship, which is down this hall and then to the left.”

“Thanks.” Ella smiled at him. “And thanks for everything.”

Rossa preened. “It was nothing, babe. Anytime, for you.”

As they moved on, Vadim said something under his breath in Fae, but she chose to ignore it. After a moment he cleared his throat.

“He didn’t exactly do much, Ella.”

“He was very helpful to me when I first got here.”

“Because he’d been ordered to keep you safe.”

“I know that.” She kept her gaze on the hallway. “But he wasterriblysweet about it, and he did help me get into this place.”

He resumed muttering in Fae.

It seemed to take forever to get to the chapel, or whatever it was called. The doors were gold and marked with a myriad of religious symbols from both the human realm and Otherworld. Inside, portraits of members of the sect lined the wood-paneled walls, the most prominent being one of Adam that hung over the ceremonial table at the front. About two hundred candles had been lit, and the waves of heat coming off them were extreme.

“Oh my, the cult of Adam. All bow down.”

He was blond in the picture and looked far too benevolent for her liking. To the side of the main altar was a row of four open coffins. Vadim had already moved toward them and stood looking down into the last one, his expression unreadable.

“Is that Adam?”

He nodded but didn’t take his gaze away. Ella went to join him.

“Well, that’s definitely not my face.” She angled her head to one side. “He would’ve looked odd with it anyway, and I don’t think I could’ve brought myself to try and take it off a corpse.” She shuddered.

Vadim turned away and checked out the other coffins, where Red, Baldy and Blondie had been laid out, all magically restored to their full beauty.

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