Page 32 of Death God

Hmm. There was still hope for him.

“Keep it that way,” Going-gray warned before he turned to me again. “I’ll escort you—”

“I’m not going back to the fucking party,” I said, lifting my chin.

“I was about to say that I’ll take you back to your room in the west wing, so you can call it a night instead of stirring more shit,” said Going-gray. “You’ll ride with me, so there’ll be no more shenanigans. I’m tired of this! Handling you is more work than handling an entire army.” He turned to the guards, his expression not friendly at all. “You’ll follow in another van. Next time, if you can’t control where Lady Pip’s going, you’ll be dismissed from the military and you’ll bring your family shame.” He sneered at me. “Congratulations, Pip girl, you’ll be the one responsible for ruining their careers if you keep pulling stunts like this.”

“Better to kill their military career than kill them,” I said. “Better than sending Earth into the Dark Ages again.”

“That’s dangerous talk, Pip girl. And you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he growled, then yelled at his men menacingly, “What are you waiting for? Move!”

The guards rushed toward the end of the hallway as if there was a fire under their shifter butts. Going-gray had that kind of effect on his soldiers.

And then, I was in the passenger seat of the car while he took the wheel.

“I didn’t see you at the awesome party your Alpha King hosted in my honor,” I said. “How rude, Commander.”

He was silent for a second. “Things will be different now, Pip girl. Be smart. You need to adapt if you want to survive.”

“So that’s what you’ve been doing, GG?” I asked. “Closing your eyes in order to live another day? Soon, there’ll be nothing left of your cousin. Jared pursued power at all costs, and he’s going to pay for it with everything, including his soul.”

“I told you not to bring this up again, Pip girl,” he cut in harshly. “Keep getting on my nerves and I won’t shield you, not even for Shade.” He cruised around the curved courtyard and pulled the car in front of the building. “I didn’t even bother asking you about what happened in that forbidden room, even though you came out looking different. So, let’s just leave things the way they are. Nothing good will come of constantly challenging the current orders.”

He wanted to be blind, choosing blissful ignorance over anything else.

He got out of the car before one of the guards could open it for him.

“Escort Lady Pip to her room, and she’ll stay in for the rest of the night. Don’t bother the maids. One of you can bring dinner to her room. Give her whatever she orders.”

Instead of going into the building, he strolled off into the night.

CHAPTER 9

The maids had cleaned the room nicely.

But I instantly sensed the black spells that hadn’t been in the room when I’d first come in. Some dark mages must have come in to do the dirty job while the Alpha King summoned me to the orgy party. One particular spell was making the spot above my shoulder blades itch. It was a scrying spell, equivalent to magical surveillance.

With it active, Spartoi would see everything I did and said here.

Son of a bitch.

But it didn’t surprise me.

The stench of the dark magic made me gag, yet I pretended not to sense the spells.

One thing that was super important was that the fucker didn’t know that I’d made the connection to the dead—the powerful spirits of his enemies and victims and my allies—on the first day in his camp. As the new Death in town, I could mind talk to my spirit allies.

Pip. A few spirits’ voices sounded in my head at once. This room of yours is rigged with black spells.

I know that already, I said. Could you do something about it? I ain’t a mage, but a lot of you were once powerful mages.

What do you want us to do? a powerful light mage’s voice asked.

Don’t get rid of the spells but alter their intention. Let’s give the horseman the wrong feed, like the trick of a looping video recording.

A video recording? an old voice asked in confusion.

Another spirit explained to her patiently. Some spirits had never lived in modern times.

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