Page 44 of Death God

“Let them go.” I swallowed hard. “Drop them in a safe place.” I thought for a second. There’d be no safe place for them unless they were with my friends. “Leave them with Prince Shade and I’ll marry you willingly.”

Marlowe would give his life to protect my family, but he’d bring an army to Spartoi’s door when he found out where I was. My family would be safer with Shade.

“Now, now. Don’t be so dramatic, little Pip.” Spartoi giggled, and my stomach flipped horribly. “Family is everything. I know family and friends are most important to you, so I found your family and brought them to you as a great gift. Your human mother named you Pip, didn’t she? It fits you better than Ophelia. When you wandered in the wilderness alone and scared, you didn’t remember anything else, but you remembered the name Pip. Never underestimate the power of love from your true family. I’ll experience it with you, and we’re going to be one big family. After we wed, I’ll deposit your human family in any place they desire, and they’ll never want for anything.”

Chills sank into my bones, freezing my bone marrow. I couldn’t even flip him off or ridicule him while he held my family hostage.

Sam stared at me in dismay, understanding in her intelligent brown eyes. My family finally realized the magnitude of the situation here and what they’d stumbled into. Their fear almost undid me.

I shoved down all emotions. My family’s arrival had complicated things. My most important and imminent task was to get them to safety.

“Just so we have an understanding,” I told Spartoi in a hostile voice, “if any harm falls on them, you won’t get a damn thing from me.”

“I would never think of hurting them now that you’ve confirmed that they’re truly your family, little Pip,” he offered. “You need to learn to trust me. You’ll be my queen, and they’ll be princes and princesses.”

A wave of repulsion washed over me along with ice-cold fear for my family.

He smiled at me. “To please you further, I’ve prepared a feast for your family to honor them.”

I thought of the orgy reception he’d thrown for me.

“We thank you, but there’s no need for that,” I said curtly. “They’ll dine with me.”

“And you’ll dine with me, my dearest Pip,” he said.

“It’s a custom for the groom not to see the bride often,” I said. “It’s bad luck. You don’t want bad things to happen to my future husband, do you?”

“You’re such a sweet thing, Ophelia.” He chuckled. “No matter. We’ll wed soon.”

“Not that soon. We haven’t even gone on our second date yet,” I said.

“I can arrange the second and third date tomorrow,” he said.

I snorted. “If you want to understand Earth dating culture, you should know that desperation doesn’t smell good.”

“But no rules apply to us,” he said. “We set the rules for others. Now that we’ve come to an understanding during our first date, I’d like a dance with my future queen.”

When I sent the witch crashing into the table, it had toppled, all the dishes breaking apart and food spilling on the ground. Spartoi hadn’t batted an eye. His minions had cleaned up the mess swiftly. One of the mages had used a spell to restore the setting and make the scene look perfect. They had also added another table with four chairs for my family to sit.

Before I could turn down the horseman’s offer, a romantic melody rose in the garden, floating to every corner. A live band appeared out of the blue playing violins, all seven musicians dressed like French courtiers.

Kill me already.

“I’m not in the mood,” I said. “And I don’t like dancing.”

“Give Jared this dance and you can spend the rest of the day with your family and roam the castle however you like. The wolf alpha has been nagging at me to romance you relentlessly. It’s exhausting.”

A new idea slid into my head. I had the power of death touch. If it could end Spartoi now, I’d take the chance. Then I’d call my spirit allies and we’d fight our way out while protecting my family. Not even an army could stop us when our biggest threat was eliminated.

Then I’d break the ward at the portal, assisted by my small army of spirits. While I was at it, I might free the tens of thousands of angry spirits and set them upon War’s army.

“Why not?” I said, a savage smile on my lips.

Spartoi pressed his hand against the small of my back, his other hand holding mine. Instead of laying my other hand on his shoulder, I pressed my palm against his cheek and called for my death power.

My death power had killed a couple of his powerful mages by merely touching them.

His cheek felt icy cold as I pushed my death power into him and waited in giddy anticipation. As soon as he fell down, I’d cut off his head and kick it away before my nephew saw it. Then I’d summon my small army of spirits and we’d flee toward the portal, with them guarding my family.

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