Page 62 of Happily Ever Bitten (Underworld Royals 2)

“Not really,” I told him.

Grigory shrugged. “Yeah, I think you’re misinformed. And I’m sorry; I didn’t catch your name.”

“Princess Napia requests your return,” the male reiterated.

“Princess Napia,” Grigory repeated. “Odd, I don’t recall making her a Princess of Noxia. Did our wedding go ahead without me? Because I know she was trying to move up the date without my acquiescence. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if she went to the altar without me by her side.”

“Sir, we’re under orders by Queen Lux and Princess Napia to bring you home. We kindly request that you come with us.”

“And I kindly request that you fuck off,” Grigory drawled. “The answer is no.” He went to shut the door, but a black boot appeared, stopping him.

“I can’t let you do that, sir.”

“If you value your life, you will remove your foot and be on your way,” Grigory warned.

The boot remained, causing the tension in the air to spike.

Zay, they’re about to—

A hum of electricity singed the air, followed by a crack as Grigory’s fist shot forward. Shouts ensued, and the energy in the apartment sizzled and popped.

I was moving in the next second, my knife flying as one of the guards tried to shove Grigory up against the wall with some sort of gadget against his throat. Grigory growled, the sound so menacing I nearly froze, but another demon shot through the doorway, coming right at me with a similar device.

My throwing blade sailed into the space between his eyes, sending him to the floor beside his buddy, who had received my other knife to his back.

It all happened so fast, in the span of a handful of breaths, and we suddenly had three dead demons in the foyer. Grigory had taken care of the third, his chest heaving from the assault.

Full-blooded demons were hard to kill and could usually recover from an attack like this. But Grigory’s blades had been laced with some kind of poison that seemed to be bubbling through their blood, ensuring the demons remained dead.

“What’s on the knives?” I asked, my heart racing in my chest.

“Styx stone,” he replied, referring to the pebbles that rested on the bottom of the River Styx. They were deadly and toxic to most creatures of the Underworld. Except those who lived in the river, of course.

I didn’t even want to know how Grigory had retrieved them.

Instead, I focused on the pile of bodies. “They don’t look like Noxia demons.”

“They’re not. They’re from Neptune,” he informed me, less breathless than I was. He bent to retrieve his blade from the demon he’d taken down and looked at the green blood oozing over the metal. “Which means my former betrothed sent her minions to take me into custody.”

“Doesn’t that violate some sort of territorial agreement?”

“It does,” he mused. “Which has me wondering how she located us and why her people would dare to take on such a mission.” He dropped his knife and kicked the door closed. “I think we need to take a trip to Neptune. See what’s going on.”

“Isn’t that the last place we should go?”

“On the contrary, I think it’s the best place.”

“Why?” I asked as I followed him into the bedroom.

He picked up his jacket from the chair, then handed me my own before taking a portal charm out of his pocket. “Because we’ll be hiding in plain sight in the last place they would ever expect us to go.”

Neptune reminded me of a swamp.

Hot.

Muggy.

Murky.

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