40. Max
Max
My father pushed a bowl of leafy greens toward me. “Eat more salad, daughter.”
I gave him a look. “I’m not on a diet.” A beat, and I lifted my chin. “I like meat.”
He smiled. “Salad is good for you.”
What had happened to him? The King of Hell drank nothing but sparkling water with ice and lime. And where did the salad come from, that fresh? It sure didn’t grow here.
“Now, about the marriage contract.” He tipped his head. “I don’t suppose you have the paper on you?”
“The paper?”
“The contract. Hecate signed it in her blood, and my blood outranks hers in every court that has ever existed,” he said flatly, as if describing how to unstick a window. “I sign over the top of her name, and her signature dies underneath mine. The whole thing comes apart in an afternoon.”
Dread dropped through me.
Xander owned it.
“Fuck,” Drakken cursed, and there was murder in it. “We should’ve taken the contract off that fucker in the ballroom. Even if we couldn’t kill him. We had him in the room and we let him walk out with it.”
“We couldn’t have taken it from him even if we’d tried,” I said. “He pulled the parchment out of his pocket realm and sent it right back. That was why he looked so smug. He knew no one could access it.”
And there was no way to drag my half-brother down to Hell.
“There must be another way.” I held my father’s gaze, ancient and powerful.
“The Oracle didn’t say ink. Sera said blood.
She said my father’s blood would override my mother’s.
Don’t tell me that I came here for nothing.
” My voice came out fierce. “You’re known as the greatest trickster in the universe, so you’ll help me break this goddamn blood contract. ”
Lucifer chuckled, and pride smoldered in his eyes.
“And for your faith in me, it shall be done,” he said. “But I have to warn you. It won’t be easy.”
“I never expected it to be easy.” I bit my lip.
“Whatever it takes.” Drakken laid his hand on my shoulder. “I’m with you. Always.”
“All right then,” Lucifer said, looking between us. “I exaggerated a little. It might not be that hard. And here’s the fun part. Do the deed, and the contract comes apart on its own.”
I frowned. “Deed? What do you mean?”
“The mating ritual, of course,” he said, as if he were offering coffee.
“It’s the only road left. Fortunately, you brought the dragon.
We can use him.” He nodded at Drakken. “No geas operates in my realm without my leave, which means yours stays dormant under this roof. You will mate with the dragon in his humanoid form, and you must consummate it with my entire court standing witness. Nothing less than that voids a contract sealed in blood.”
What? What the fuck?
The coffee cup stopped halfway to my mouth and stayed there.
Witness. His entire court. Packed wall to wall with demons who had traded lewd opinions about Drakken’s body.
I set the cup down before I dropped it.
Beside me, Drakken had gone rigid, his eyes turning gold again. Enraged or aroused?
“That’s only the first step.” Lucifer leaned back, his elegant fingers tapping the counter. “Once it’s done, the geas remains inactive. The moment you leave this realm, you have exactly twenty-four hours to take the other three heirs, or it wakes.”
My father had been watching. He knew about Aelindor, Caspian, and Nikolai as well.
“Only then will the blood marriage contract dissolve.” He gave me a nod. “You can do the rest in public or in private. That part I leave to you.”
Twenty-four hours to mate the rest of the heirs. And the dragon and I had to fly ten hours straight to get to the three of them, assuming they were still in the fortress.
A clock I hadn’t known existed until nine seconds ago was now ticking.
No pressure.
I lifted my head and looked at Drakken, expecting him to say no right to my face.
“Whatever it takes, remember, Spartan Max?” He grinned, all white, even teeth.
“Excellent.” My father rose from his stool and untied the apron. “Let’s get the ball rolling. So much to do, so little time.”