Chapter 1 #2
“The history books at Fortune Academy don’t have information on what kind of events we can expect from the Echos of Calamity at this stage.
We are in the Third Echo after the first two Echos have partially come to fruition.
” He held up one finger. “The First Echo broke the barrier between realms.” He held up a second finger.
“The next Echo succeeded in merging realms, such as Hell and Earth. That’s why Lucifer has such a strong foothold right now. ”
Balthazar scoffed. “It’s also why Hell hasn’t returned to a frozen rock. It’s still linked to its Princess.” He tilted his head at me, making that cheerful sunlight glint on his horns. “Although, it’s been draining you, hasn’t it? You look like a corpse.”
Kaito silenced him with a stare, but I dropped my gaze to my hands.
He was right. I was as white as a sheet and I felt so… numb.
The kind of numbness that came with having all the heat leeched from one’s body.
Was that why I felt like this? Hell was doing its best to stay in one piece, but I was an entire realm away. Even if the realms were linked and it could still draw from me, it would make sense if something was lost during such a long power exchange.
Kaito cleared his throat and I flicked my gaze up to his again.
His lesson wasn’t over.
He held up a third finger. “We’ve been approaching this Echo all wrong.” He took his other hand and wrapped his three fingers together so tightly that I couldn’t see the crease between them.
In typical professor style, he waited for me to realize where he was going with this. A lesson worked best when the student came to the conclusion on their own.
My eyes widened. “The Echos are working together?”
He nodded. “The Echos of Calamity aren’t separate events. They stack up onto one another to create greater and greater waves. Each amplifies the next.”
I blew out a breath.
That changed everything about what it meant to be a Champion of Calamity.
My mother had once written me a letter apologizing where she had failed, because now the burden fell onto me.
Quite literally.
I wondered if she had known the truth all along.
Olivia had remained silent this whole time, but she ran her fingers over mine and gave them a squeeze.
Unlike my mother, I wasn’t going to have to do this alone. Having mates was one thing, but having a friend was another. I gave Olivia a weak smile, hoping she knew how much I appreciated her.
Kaito continued, “When the First Echo weakened barriers between realms, the Second had the opportunity to amplify that effect. That’s why Earth and Hell began to merge. And that impact has only increased during the Third Echo, making the deepest, most forbidden layers of Hell more accessible.”
His hands fell and he half-turned himself to wave to Balthazar.
He paused again, waiting for me to connect the dots.
The ancient demon beamed and flexed his wings, finally blocking out the sunlight and casting the room into shadow.
Except a swirl of green magic took up the darkness, betraying that I wasn’t the only one feeding my power to another realm.
Balthazar was linked, too.
I tilted my head at him and chewed on my lower lip. “What realm are you feeding?” I finally asked.
Balthazar’s grin grew into a toothy smile, showing off his sharp teeth. “Oh yes, now there’s the Champion of Calamity you promised, Kaito.” He flexed his wings. The movement sent a shimmer of green magic wafting through the air.
Kaito folded his hands together. “He’s linked to a place called the Netherworld.”
Balthazar nodded as my stomach tightened, daring for the false hope that had been previously mentioned.
“Yes,” the demon swirling with green power said, “it’s otherwise known as the Realm of the Dead.”
I squeezed Olivia’s hand. She didn’t stop me even though I was probably breaking her fingers.
Hendrik.
Dante.
I’ll do whatever it takes to save you both.
“Are Hendrik and Dante there?” I asked.
His wings wafted back and forth for a few moments before he answered. I patiently waited, but had the growing desire to throttle him. “In a sense.”
I glanced at Olivia. Her lips pressed together in a thin line. She didn’t have to say anything. I read her well enough.
She didn’t trust Balthazar.
“Let me ask you something, Lilith,” Balthazar said with a silky, sweet voice.
I drew my attention back to him. “Answers come with a price,” I countered.
He chuckled. “Indeed they do. What’s your price, princess?”
In typical demon fashion, I counted to five before I answered. Balthazar wanted me to squirm, but two could play this game. “I need allies. And only someone I trust can properly be an ally.”
I didn’t have to elaborate. Balthazar must have known the situation and obviously, he wanted something from me.
He nodded. “You want to trade information, then?”
I counted to three, then tucked my chin to my chest in affirmation.
He glanced at Olivia and Kaito. “I’ll only speak about my past to you. The others need to leave.”
Kaito stiffened. “I’m not leaving her alone with you, Balthazar.”
Olivia remained silent, but she didn’t look like she was intent on going anywhere.
Information was something I needed right now. While I was in a weakened state, I knew Balthazar wasn’t going to hurt me.
Not when he needed something from me.
And even if I didn’t yet trust Balthazar, I trusted Cole. He wouldn’t have sent the demon here if he thought that I would be harmed.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, wincing when my gravelly voice didn’t sound as confident as I would have liked.
Olivia and Kaito both glowered at me, but I set my jaw with determination.
Kaito sighed. “I’ll be right outside the door, okay?”
After I nodded, he turned to the demon. “If I hear so much as a squeak, I’m coming back in here and chopping your head off.”
I knew Kaito would make good on that threat. Balthazar chuckled and bowed his head. “Of course.”
As Kaito stood, Olivia gave me a concerned look. “It’s okay,” I assured her and nudged her toward the door. “Go wait with Kaito. If Cole sent him, then he’s not going to hurt me.”
Olivia chewed her lip. She didn’t know Cole like I did. She might not trust Cole, but she trusted me.
That seemed to be enough to convince Olivia and Kaito to leave the room, finally giving me some one-on-one time with Balthazar.
He grinned at me while I studied him. Sharp teeth gave his handsome face a dangerous edge. “Would you believe me if I told you that I sought death on purpose?”
I folded my hands in my lap. “Were you unhappy?”
He laughed. “Demons don’t experience such an emotion.”
Frowning, I resisted the urge to correct him.
My influence had changed both Cole and Kaito, allowing them to feel a broader range of emotions other than just rage that powered Hell’s heat.
Maybe they weren’t exactly happy, but I hoped I could make them happy once this was all over.
Even demons were capable of more, if given the chance.
But I wanted Balthazar to give me information, so I waited for him to continue.
He sighed and glanced at my demon’s wing.
A wing that had once belonged to Cole.
“I suppose Cole would argue with me on that one,” Balthazar amended.
He leaned against the wall and ran a long, sharp claw over the expensive marble.
He picked at it, sending bits of debris crumbling to the floor.
“He’s changed a lot since I’ve last seen him.
Your mates would do anything for you, hmm? ”
I flinched, then regretted it. Balthazar’s lips twitched at the movement.
He was supposed to be giving me information, not the other way around.
“How did you die?” I asked, changing the subject.
He ran his nail over the marble again.
Scratch.
He tilted his head in an eerily inhuman way. “You’re not a very good listener. We’re past that part.”
Oh, I had no problem listening. He said he’d sought death, but as a supernatural who had apparently been trapped in a place called the Netherworld, that could mean a lot of things.
Deciding to start there, I fired my next question. “When did you discover the Netherworld?”
His grin widened.
Scraaaatch.
He licked his lips with a long, forked tongue before replying. “You’d make a good demon. But I suppose that’s to be expected for a Hell Royal.” He wrapped his fingers around a chunk of the wall and pulled, sending white dust puffing into the air when it released.
What the ever-loving-fuck is this demon doing? Does he just hate nice things?
“Yes, I intentionally died when I found a portal to the Netherworld,” he continued as if he wasn’t defiling property. “Unfortunately it was a one-way portal not just into another realm, but another dimension. Something I only discovered once I was on the other side.”
He pulled out an object from the new groove in the wall and my eyes widened.
He hadn’t just been aimlessly destroying the marble.
There was something there.
In my room.
Inside a wall that had likely been there for ages.
He brushed off a thick layer of dust from the rounded object, revealing a glass bauble with a black flower inside.
Unable to help myself, I leaned forward to examine it.
Because even without my magic, I knew what that was.
A Death Lotus.
He held it up and admired it. “I was able to send something back, though. Before your conception. Something that would ensure our paths would cross.”
Demons had otherworldly ways and means to see into the future, or at least manipulate it into their desired shape.
Balthazar’s power surpassed even my own. I didn’t doubt that based on what little information I could glean.
More so, based on the Death Lotus that he so casually held before me.
One he had sent across dimensions as a calculated move.
Making me the center of his plans.
That knowledge should have given me the upper hand in whatever dance we had going, but my entire body began to tremble. I couldn’t look away.
If I could make a deal with this demon for the Death Lotus, it would give me my power back.
It would give me power over death itself.
And maybe it wasn’t a deal Balthazar wanted from me, but my sacrifice.
“What do you want for it?” I asked.
“Oh, this isn’t for sale, my dear.” He turned it so that the light caught the edges. The bloom seemed to suck it in like a black hole, devouring any lit source into its pollen of shadow. “Plus, I don’t think you’d be willing to pay the price even if I named one.”
“Anything,” I breathed, regretting it the moment I said it.
“Anything?” he asked, his red eyes sparkling with magic.
“Anything that means my mates get to live and so do I,” I amended.
He narrowed his eyes. I’d somehow managed to word that correctly.
He stood up and breathed words in an otherworldly growl that I hadn’t heard from him before.
“Deal.”