Page 84 of Hell-Bound

Jester ignored her and began walking towards the city.

“Jester, wait. You can tell me. I won’t judge you,” she said, taking his hand and halting his movement. “I just want to help,” she tried to inject as much care into her voice as possible.

A long breath marked his surrender.

“There are a lot of things you don’t understand about The Hells. Even more, there are a lot of things you don’t—can’tunderstand about me. My relationship with Azur is complicated. But it has its benefits, too. I have the power to help people, but that’s really all I can say. I hope you can respect that.”

She realized at that moment that Jester was being as truthful as he was capable of being. She could see the discomfort in his expression, and she knew if he could tell her more, he would. Yet she, with all her demands of honesty, hadn’t been truthful with Jester. He had saved her more than once, and she hadn’t done him this courtesy.

“What you said about The Almighty, why did you say it?” she asked.

Jester’s expression turned cold.

“Thatis something I cannot speak of without violating my contract.”

“I see. There is something I want to tell you about The Almighty.”

Jester furrowed his brow as she spoke. She noticed a faint uptick in the pulse at his neck—fear in this creature that she now knew was capable of destroying an Immortal.

“I am working for him. He’s looking for something called Vutar’ka Zhartun. Have you heard of it?”

Jester’s lips parted slightly. He didn’t look like he was breathing.

“Ren, what have you done?” he said, almost inaudibly.

“If I find it, I could restore my memories!” she said quickly. “He said that he could release you from your contract…”

The second part trailed off, and she hoped he wouldn’t shut down again.

Jester scrubbed his face in his hands.

“He said…” she continued, hoping to ease his anxiety, “he told me that Azur would know where it is.”

His eyes shot to her. They were wild and piercing.

“He? You talked to Nainaur?”

His tone was becoming increasingly aggressive, and she officially regretted her decision to tell him.

“Yes. I’ve met with several gods recently, as you know,” she said defensively.

One of Jester’s eyes twitched as they widened in disbelief.

“Nainaur is the sworn enemy of Azur. How could you even consider that I might get involved with this? I have to tell Azur. I can’t—won’t keep this from him.”

“That was actually what I was hoping for. Maybe he can help us—”

“You don’t understand! Vutar’ka Zhartun is an ancient relic given to Azur by his brother, Faydir, before his death!”

Jester snapped his mouth shut.

“Faydir? The Fae god? Hedidabandon the Fae?”

Jester’s jaw tightened.

“I don’t know. But that’s…what I think. Regardless, Nainaurcannotpossess the tome. I’m sorry, I have to go. Canyou make your way back to the tavern alone?”

Before she could respond, he disappeared.

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