Page 71 of Flirting with Death

"Can you call off your brute?" I asked.

He nodded, and the dragon dropped his hands and stepped away. "I don't think I agreed to be your Queen."

I crossed my arms and leaned back in the wooden chair. I studied the room we were in. It looked like a large warehouse, and it must be the dragon's home, because there was a pile of treasure in the far corner. Something about it felt familiar. It was all a very déjà vu feeling.

He shrugged, and a grin spread across his face. "You can't blame me for trying. You didn't. To keep the demons in line, you agreed to become my right hand. A win-win for all of us."

I narrowed my eyes at him. It felt closer to the truth, but why would I agree to that? Play along. Something whispered in my subconscious.

"Then return my dagger. If we are cohorts, you have nothing to fear from me." I held my hand out expectantly and watched as he hesitated long enough for me to know I was right. We weren't working together. I wrapped my fingers around my blade and laid it in my lap. I wouldn't strike until I knew more.

CHAPTER 40

Alastor

Ragged breaths filled my chamber as I stared at the spot where the portal closed. I ran like the coward I was. Like the coward both Lex and Bellamy accused me of being. I swallowed hard as tears filled my vision. My whole body vibrated with the need to go back. I clenched my fists tight as I held myself still. Cer licked my closed hand, and I looked down at him. His sad eyes looked up at me with more knowledge and emotion than a pet should have.

Whatever the ruby released took their core memories, or at least the ones attached to each other. I left them all in danger. That thought had me tearing through the palace down to the throne room. My father was waiting for me, no gloating look on his face, no expectation that everything was going to plan, just a seriousness that scared the shit out of me.

"I knew you'd do the right thing," he said, clasping his hands behind his back as he stood up and strolled toward me across the vast room.

"The right thing? They might die now, and I abandoned them." I threw my arms up, hands flung wide, and genuine power flowed from them, not my useless flowers. It knocked me back with shock as spirits bounced off the granite walls. I stared down at my palms, the electricity skimming over the surface. The souls I just released hovered close, waiting for instruction.

My father's face lit up like it was his birthday when he received the best present he could have asked for. The grin spread from ear to ear as he observed me. "What would the son of the Underworld be if he couldn't command spirit?" he asked as if I hadn't gone mute.

I shook my hands out, but the souls bobbed in front of me as the fizzing of the electricity dissipated on my skin. "What am I supposed to do with them?"

"They will do your bidding. What do you want them to do?" He paced in front of me, but I could barely concentrate on him.

I wanted them to help save my people, my found family, even if they didn't all accept me. I couldn't lose even a single one of them. My father nodded when I lifted my gaze, like he heard my thoughts.

"That's my boy," he cheered.

"But how?"

He pressed his lips together, telling me without words he would not tell me the path I needed to take. Of course not. I let out a heavy breath and turned away from him. The spirits I didn't know how to release followed me.

"Son, one at a time, save them one at a time. They will be under the dark mage's thumb. He will twist their realities, making them believe what he wants them to. The girl has a brother. Could that be an opening?"

As he spoke, I lifted my head, staring sightlessly at the door in front of me, taking in every single word he uttered. It was beyond what he should tell me, and it gave me an idea.

"Thank you, Father," I said, without looking back at him. As quickly as I could, I took the stairs up to the tower I held Bellamy in. I had to prepare it for a new visitor.

* * *

Tyler slammed his car door and headed for his home. I stepped out of the shadows, startling him more than I meant to if the glow on his hands was any sign.

"Dude, I almost fried you," he grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Do you regularly lurk in the shadows? Is that an Underworld thing?"

I let out a low laugh at his questions. It could be for all I knew. "Have you seen Samantha?"

"No, and she isn't answering my texts. I am getting a little worried." He turned back to the house, gesturing for me to follow him.

I hesitated for a moment. Her parents were inside. Sure, I'd 'met' them both, but not under the best of circumstances, and this was not a great time either. They would not be happy to know that their daughter could be under the control of a high-level demon. And I wasn't sure if they knew about the other Gods at play.

"What are you doing? We can have this conversation inside, out of the creepy-ass darkness."

"Afraid of the dark?" I quipped.

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