Page 81 of Empire of Death
25
WRATH
Due to the bond of debt, I felt his call through the ether. Felt him command me as a servant when I was a god to be revered. It was an altercation I wanted to avoid because I already knew the outcome.
My treachery had been exposed.
But I obeyed the call and appeared before him, standing in the same throne room where King Ithaca had once ruled. It was clean now, not a sign of blood from the massacre that had taken place in here after I pulled Lily away.
Kennt stood before me in the black and maroon uniform of his kingdom, his golden mask left somewhere else. His face was exposed, the deep scar along his eyebrow where a hook had sunk deep into his flesh before it was tugged. Angry eyes bored into mine like he’d put me on my knees too if he could.
“Seems we have the same taste in women.”
“You see her as a victim. I see her as an equal. Our taste is not the same.” I didn’t deny my motivations or emotions. Not when my allegiances were as clear as a shallow cove on a tropical beach.Not when they were as transparent as a cloudless sky. I wasn’t loyal to the Covenant or the people of the mortal world. I was loyal to a person—Lily Lena Rothschild.
A sick smirk moved across his mouth. “Didn’t realize the god of the underworld was capable of love.”
“I’m capable of many things, Kennt. What do you want?”
“What do I want?” His hand moved to his chest in mock offense. “You’ve been plotting against me this entire time, and then askwhat do I want? You told her about the cannons, and you told her our plans to come here. And not only did you give her the ability to command the dead and give her the strength of a god, but you gave her every ability you have—like the ability to appear unseen. Lily Lena Rothschild is no mortal foe—but a goddess.”
“I make deals with many people, even those who are enemies.”
“Yes, but did you take her soul in exchange for those gifts?” He took a step toward me like he wanted to put his blade to my neck, even though it would never leave a mark.
I didn’t lie, but I didn’t confess the truth either. “All of my arrangements are confidential.”
“Her body, that was the price.”
“She’s not a whore, Kennt.”
“Then what did you take?”
My eyes shifted back and forth between his. “I didn’t come here to be interrogated.”
“She does not get greater gifts without the same price. That’s unfair, and you know it.”
“I’m the god of the underworld. It’s my business to be fair.”
His head tilted slightly as he read my gaze. “So you admit it.”
“I admit this conversation has bored me. If there’s nothing else, I have other matters?—”
“There is something else.”
My expression remained sharp and stoic, but my impatience started to grow.
“It’s only fair that you give me more since she’s paying less.” He cocked his head the other way, anger in his eyes but an arrogant smile on his lips. “Destroy all the platinum in the world, and we’re even.”
I thought I couldn’t feel more disgust for this man, but I was wrong.
“With my army of vampires and my fleet of golden ships with cannons, I will destroy the Southern Isles. Your clandestine lover will be my wife, and I will put children in her belly and watch her cry as she pushes them out. Those dragons will be my dragons, and not just every kingdom in our proximity will fall to my regime, but every regime in the known world. King Ithaca informed me that King Talon Rothschild is gravely injured…but still alive. I need to make sure he never recovers.”
“Why?”
“The men I’ve conquered have told me many tales of Talon Rothschild. They revered him far more than their own king, which is understandable because King Ithaca was a treasonous swine. An entire army of dragons is loyal to him. I need him to be dead if I want them to be loyal to me.”
“They will be loyal to Talon Rothschild forever—dead or alive.”
