Ronen
Chapter
Sixteen
Normally, ice didn’t bother me. At least not anymore.
When I first sought sanctuary here, I’d detested every second of it, having no shelter and no Hellmarks to pay for a room.
I became quite acquainted with suffering.
In fact, at the time I’d desired it, feeling as if it was well deserved.
Eventually, my body couldn’t take the frigid temperatures, and I was forced to find other sleeping arrangements.
So the cliff next to the Eternal Forest became my home.
To this day, I still preferred the ground beside the starry lake over the luxurious bed in the castle.
My back didn’t always think so, but I found peace there.
In the last couple days, I’d started to despise ice again.
First, Lucille threw it in my face to keep me out, not once, but twice.
Second, it had ripped through the circle, making it difficult to search for the infected and Cecilee.
Third, it now entirely encased Lucifer’s chambers, along with the doors to the Hall of Judgment.
This was not the sound reasoning I’d expected from him. I thought the end of the blizzard and the warm shower I had just taken meant progress.
For fuck’s sake. What was this?
At least a foot of ice barricaded the doors. It’d be no simple feat to break them down. Could I do it? Yes. Did I have the time? No.
I thought it a courtesy to tell Lucifer I was going to send the missives he should’ve already sent to our citizens.
I thought he’d at least care enough to do that, seeing as he wasn’t helping with any of our other problems. I understood it had only been five days since Saraqael’s death, but he didn’t just stop being the King of Hell.
We needed him. If he continued to ignore me and everyone else, I’d break down his barriers, if only to make sure he was still fucking breathing.
I shouldn’t have to be his damned babysitter nor be burdened by the weight of his kingdom.
But who else was going to care as much? This dimension was my future.
Even if I wanted to go to Heaven when I died, I never would.
That was the cost of the Obscurus Rune hidden in my tattoos.
That was the cost of Etan never finding me.
Stepping out of the castle with Rune, warmth hit my face and sent my uniform into a cooling mode. I stilled.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The snow covering the sparse evergreens bordering this side of the castle slowly melted.
Last night it snowed. I remembered Lucifer’s blizzard dying down.
But to transition to this? It had to be at least forty-five degrees out.
Hell never approached a temperature higher than freezing. This was unnatural. Wrong.
I cringed as snow squelched beneath my boots on my way to the barn, spraying Rune’s legs. She tried to nip at me in retaliation, and I moved to the side.
“You could walk ahead of me if you’re so concerned about dirtying your peach fuzz.”
She snapped her large canines together and growled, refusing to move as I suggested.
Ever since the hellion entered our lives, Rune had tried to be the perfect Soulhound—around her.
She groomed what little fur she had daily, like a Hellcat before she saw her.
She curled into a sweet little ball as she slept next to her, unlike the sprawled monster she was in my bed.
Oh, and she never ate in front of the hellion—unless it was the cured meat thrown at her.
Meat, I might add, that made Rune’s stomach ache and gave her no sustenance.
“She’s going to find out soon that you’re not just a sweet, cleanly groomed princess like you’re trying to portray. You’ve already misstepped once,” I chided, remembering the hellion mentioning the way Rune ate the infected Damned.
Rune sent me a sharp feeling of reproach and defensiveness.
I shrugged. “You could’ve swallowed the soul whole. You’ve done it before. But you’ve always loved to chew on your victims and bloody your muzzle.”
Rune’s ears flattened as if I told her the hellion was about to leave and never speak to her again. I sighed and ruffled the shadow fur on her head. “Stop it. She loves you,” I assured.
Rune licked my hand, our connection humming with happiness again.
“Muddy fur and all,” I teased. To which she responded by shoving me into the barn door with her large head. The wood slammed together with a loud bang.
I shot her a glare. “Little demon.”
She tilted her head, acting as if she heard but didn’t understand, but I could feel her smugness through the connection.
“What in the circles is going on out there?” Alexei shouted as I opened the door. He had his dagger positioned, ready to launch it at me. “Took you long enough.” He released his blade.
Rune, ever my bodyguard, caught it in her jaws and flung it back at him. The dagger landed near his feet.
“Damn.” He patted one of his Hellcats’ heads. Not sure which one. They all looked the same to me. “I need to train the ladies to do that.”
I grunted.
“Any clue as to why Hell’s ice circle is turning tropical?” he asked as casually as if he were asking my favorite weapon.
“No,” I practically hissed. “And the king has decided to barricade himself in his rooms.”
Alexei quirked a brow, but his fingers drummed against the handle of his dagger. “The infected Damned Lucifer recycled—you said a black substance seeped into the marble, right? And Lucifer had felt a growing and lessening?”
I nodded.
“What if he wasn’t feeling one thing, but two? What if, as an infected soul recycles, a piece of that infection absorbs into the land before the soul disappears and corrupts it? Maybe that’s why Hell’s melting.”
I considered it. “Lucifer hasn’t recycled that many infected, though. It would take a lot more to poison this land.” The Redemption Circle was big and powerful. “Even so, if Lucifer is losing control of the land, wouldn’t we see a gradual decline in the weather instead of abrupt shifts?”
Alexei ran his hand along the spotted coat of the Hellcat closest to him, thinking. Her purrs were loud, and Rune peered up at me from my side, desire sifting through our connection. I gave in to her and scratched behind her ear.
“Unless his powers are battling to keep control? So when he wins, we receive blizzards from his grief, and when the infection does, our circle melts.”
“It’s a good theory, Lex, and if I saw Lucifer recycle more infected, it’d have merit.
But even Sam said the more powerful they are, the longer the infection takes to root.
This is something else.” Which meant I had yet another fucking thing to figure out.
I released a heavy sigh. “I shouldn’t allow this little excursion. ”
Alexei gripped my shoulder. “The only way we can help our king is by finding the infected and destroying them, and the Dreads and Nightmares are searching. There’s nothing else we can do.”
“There is.” I told him about my new theory. He didn’t wear the skeptical expression MJ had. After our failed sightings and staring at a map that held no answers, an impossible theory didn’t seem so impossible anymore.
“Anya might actually fall in love with you when you talk to her about her witchy powers.”
I shot him an unamused look.
He rubbed the spot just above where his wings connected with his back. “Ro, you know Lucille needs this. And you do too. We’ll be gone an hour max. We’ll relieve some stress, then we’ll divide and conquer.”
“Fine. Where is she?”
Alexei jumped into the sled and immediately grimaced, scooting forward to give as much room as he could for his wings.
He grabbed the reins attached to the Hellcats.
“She’s with MJ. They decided they wanted to lusceler there.
Something about getting some fresh air.” He patted the seat beside him.
“Let’s go! This was supposed to be my date with Lucille, and everyone’s ruining it. ”
“You wanted me here,” I reminded him as I reluctantly climbed in the sleigh, being cautious of Alexei’s draping wingtips and leaving space for Rune.
“You’re right. Lucy inviting Aspen ruined our date, and I had to salvage it with you.”
“What exactly makes it a date?” I inquired, trying to distract myself from what was to come and gain valuable information.
He shrugged. “Two people doing something enjoyable together.”
I crossed my arms. “She finds training enjoyable?” Last I noticed, training was a means to an end for her. Now that she had her prince back, would she train as hard as she did before? Did she find it a relieving outlet like I did?
Seven Hells, what did I even know about her?
“She finds me enjoyable, and that’s all we need to have a good time.”
I should’ve known better than to ask the heartthrob hustler about dating. I loved Lex, but he was a womanizer, albeit an open and honest one. Maybe that was why his females didn’t mind the extra bodies in his bed.
Rune’s humor bubbled down our connection. I pursed my lips, sending her a feeling of revenge. She bowed her head right as Alexei glanced over.
“Aww, it’s okay, my sweet girl. We’ll be there in a blink.” Alexei winked, scratching beneath her chin.
He even had his claws in Rune. Or it may be the other way around, as she faked her whatever this was—fear, sadness, pouting?
Rune wielded her cuteness as well as Alexei wielded his face. I couldn’t count how many times she’d had people eating out of her hand. And he’d had people—never mind. I didn’t want to go there.
“Little demon,” I muttered to her.
She rested her head on my lap, gazing up at me with innocent golden eyes. And damn. It got me.
We blinked and landed in the snowy clearing next to the glinting Shard Field within seconds. Nausea slammed into my gut, and I shut my eyes, fisting my hands until it passed. This was the reason I never took a sleigh. Or any other mode of transportation besides flying and luscelering.
“I find it kind of ironic that the one person who could help with motion sickness is the only one who’s ever affected by it.”
“Fuck off, Alexei.”