Chapter 33
Maliki
Netherworld Kingdom
My fingers are still in Ossa’s fur, my heart suddenly in my throat. “Morpheus…”
“Give it a minute,” he says, his tone and expression exuding a seriousness I feel to my very core.
The last few hours have been agonizing, the lack of a connection to Sera nearly driving me insane.
All I could do was sit here and try to comfort Ossa, her soft whimpers long gone.
Because she isn’t breathing.
Neither is Mort or Howl.
I have no idea how any of this is possible, how an immortal beast just… dies.
But I refuse to let them be alone.
Not after how scared Ossa appeared to be in her final moments of consciousness.
Fuck, her silver eyes looking up at me will forever haunt my dreams.
Hades’s beast had better not be fucking dead.
That statement applies to the God of Death, too. Which I realize has a fucked-up sort of irony to it. But I don’t bloody care about that Styx right now.
I need Sera to start talking into my head again.
I need Ossa to breathe.
I need Hades to fucking appear.
The Netherworld Kingdom is in chaos, the fae not knowing how to handle the fall of their God.
Because everyone felt his disappearance.
The mountains fucking shook in response to whatever happened to Hades. Then everything began to crumble.
Orcus and his mate-circle saved the kingdom from utter destruction, but Morpheus doesn’t know if it’s going to hold—something I’ve heard in the God of Dreams’s thoughts, not from his mouth.
He only recently returned from his prolonged meeting with Typhos Lucifer.
I chose to stay in the hut I once borrowed from Tank, mostly because I couldn’t leave Ossa alone in her suffering. The moment I brought her here, she collapsed her big head in my lap while her two brothers fell unconscious. None of us have moved since.
Sera? I whisper, hating that she feels separated from me again. Talk to me, trouble. Please.
I don’t think Morpheus’s idea of touching the wall was a good one is her reply. In fact, I think it was a very bad idea.
Why? What’s happening?
I’m falling, she mutters. Into a void. Or a vortex. Or… Wait… I see something glowing… I…
She goes silent.
Sera?
Nothing.
I repeat what she said to Morpheus and note the way his pupils pulse. “Start talking, or I’m going to introduce you to another blade, God of Dreams.”
“You really should work on your patience, Enforcer,” he returns. “She can only speak to one of us at a time.”
I narrow my gaze. “So she’s talking to you?”
“She’s trying to,” he growls. “But a knife-happy fae keeps interrupting my thought process.”
“Then you should ignore him and focus on the more important person in the conversation,” I tell him, my fingers resuming their path along Ossa’s head and nape.
It’s a nervous tic at this point—the petting.
The motion makes me feel grounded in a way I can’t explain, like I’m somehow connected to Hades even though he isn’t here.
Which is confusing, as I’m not sure why I even need to feel connected to him.
Perhaps because of our initial bond. Or, more likely, because of our mutual ties to Sera.
Sighing, I close my eyes and try to feel her. To hear her. To anything. But it’s still quiet. Still vacant. And I fucking hate feeling this way.
“Maliki,” Morpheus says, jolting me with not only his words but also his touch.
I frown, not sure when he grabbed my shoulder.
His eyes are assessing as I focus on him, like he’s trying to discern something. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask, somewhat surprised to hear the exhaustion in my voice.
“Because I’ve been trying to talk to you for five minutes,” he tells me, his brow furrowing. “Hades must be tugging on your life source, just like he’s doing to his familiar.” His grip on my shoulder tightens. “We need to find him and Serapina.”
“No shadows,” I slur, feeling suddenly far too tired. “This is…”
Morpheus grabs my face, his palms burning against my cheeks as his energy pulses between us.
I flinch, then try to move away, because fuck. “What the Styx is that?”
“My life essence.” The God of Dreams sends another jolt into me that seems to rocket down my spine. “Now get up and help me, Enforcer.”
“Get up and help you do what?” I demand, feeling both stronger and more pissed off now. “You have to actually communicate for me to know what the fuck to do, Morpheus.”
“Just as I need you awake and moving for me to be able to communicate,” Morpheus bites back. “So stand up.”
I hate that his demand makes my legs twitch, almost as though he’s commanding me like a puppet.
But my hands flex, too, and my shadows begin to writhe.
So I’m clearly still me because that reaction was driven by my sudden desire to punch the Alpha in the face.
However, hearing Sera suddenly in my mind again helps, her voice steady as she asks, Are you okay?
Am I okay? I nearly laugh the words back at her. Sweet mystery, you’re the one who disappeared.
Yes, but I’m corporeal again.
And thank Styx for that, I mutter, carefully moving Ossa’s head from my lap.
“You’re going to be okay,” I promise the beast, bending down to kiss her on her big, fluffy head. Giving her floppy black ears a little scratch, I adjust her to where I hope she’s comfortable and slide out of the bed.
Morpheus observes me with interest. “She’s going to attack you the moment she wakes up.”
“Yeah,” I say, agreeing with that assessment. “And I’ll welcome her version of love bites.” Because it’ll mean she’s fucking alive.
Fleur heaves a sigh nearby, clearly feeling the same way as I do. I can see it in her blue eyes and feel it in her aura that she’s worried. Though, as I investigate deeper, I realize she’s more concerned about Hades than anything or anyone else.
“He’s siphoning my energy,” I realize, that link to Fleur awakening me to what I should have already discerned. Shifting my attention to Morpheus, I add, “That’s why you just gave me a dose of your godly power.”
“Obviously,” he deadpans. “I wouldn’t offer such a gift to anyone, Maliki. Consider yourself fortunate.”
“To have your essence inside of me?”
His lips quirk. “I’ll give you my true essence later, if you’d like. While our mate watches.”
I’m not sure if he’s talking about his knot or something else. But the euphemism is clear. “Are you really choosing now to flirt with me?”
“If it makes you move faster, then yes,” he replies. “As it is, I’ve already spent ten minutes attempting to rouse you, and I would like to head over to the Soul Yards to start hunting for Serapina.”
I still. “You know where she is?”
“Not precisely, no. But I have an idea.”
“And you wasted time on me instead of going to get her?” I demand, irritated as fuck. “What if she—”
“You’re about to waste more time with unnecessary speculations, Enforcer,” he interjects. “So let me just state this plainly for you—we are stronger as a circle. Therefore, I need you alive and aware to assist me in finding our mate. Now stop asking unhelpful questions and follow me.”
Rather than comment further, he turns toward the door and strides out of the hut.
I stare at his back for a moment, my hands wishing for a knife.
But then his voice is suddenly in my head, reiterating, We’re stronger as a circle, Maliki.
My jaw ticks. I fucking hate that you can read my mind.
Shall I also point out how that strengthens our ability to function as a circle? Morpheus asks. Or are you as stubborn as my cousin?
I grunt and grab a pair of boots to shove my feet into. Then I steal a dark shirt from the dresser—which is still full of my clothes—and meet Morpheus outside. “No one is as stubborn as Hades.”
“Hmm, that’s true,” he says slowly. “But there’s a reason he chose you for our circle, Maliki. And it has everything to do with compatibility.”
“I’m not like Hades,” I tell him as we head toward the Soul Yards.
Morpheus grins. “I think you’re more like my cousin than you care to admit.”
“Are you trying to insult me or motivate me?”
He bats his long lashes at me. “Oh, I thought we were flirting, Maliki.”
I shove him away from my side, and he laughs. “I’m starting to see why Hades did not choose you for his circle.”
“It’s our circle,” Morpheus corrects me. “And my cousin wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Which is good because I provide balance.”
“Balance.” I scoff at that. “Right.”
“You’re about to retract that skepticism,” he informs me as we wander through the Netherworld Village in the direction of the Blood River Bridge.
Ignoring him, I connect to Sera again, as I haven’t heard her voice in far too long. Everything okay, trouble?
I’m surrounded by symbols I can’t read or understand, and I’m pretty sure Hades is… nearby. She sounds distracted.
Are the symbols runes? I wonder.
Yes, that’s what Morpheus says, anyway. He thinks I’m at the bottom of one of the geyser-like things in the Soul Yards, she tells me. Or something about tunnels?
I look beyond the Blood River to the open tombstones surrounding the Death Fae Castle. Normally, spirits swirl up into the air from the various cracks along the ground between the grave sites, hence the Soul Yards name. But everything is all dried up and, well, dead in appearance.
Some of the annoyance Morpheus provoked in me dies at the sight. I could feel the world falling apart, the impact of Hades’s fall echoing throughout the Netherworld Kingdom, but seeing it… makes it far too real.
“If she’s at the bottom of one of those crypts, then how do we reach her?” I ask him.
Morpheus’s wings appear in a sudden swoosh of energy, the gold-tipped plumes brushing my shoulder. “We’re going to fly, Maliki.”
“Is that what you meant about providing balance? Because I’m fairly certain Hades can fly, too.”
He slants me a look, his blue-green irises swirling. “My balance is currently thriving through your blood, Enforcer. Without me and our connection, you would be as dead as Hades’s familiar right now.”
I flex my hands, feeling the life energy flaring at my fingertips.
“What did you do to keep me alive?” It’s a serious question, not a sarcastic one.
Because I’m tired of banter. Tired of flirting.
Or whatever the fuck this is between us.
I just want to understand what the Styx is happening right now.
“Honestly, I’m not sure how to explain it.
My soul sensed the depletion in yours, so I…
I bolstered it. But the power is draining faster than I anticipated, meaning we need to hurry.
Whatever Demeter has done to Hades is…” He trails off, his brow coming down.
“I fear that it’s causing irrevocable damage. ”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s becoming one with death,” Morpheus says softly, pausing in the middle of the skull-adorned bridge to look at me. “If she manages to kill him, he might take you with him, Maliki.”
I stare at him. “He’s immortal.”
“He should be, yes. But Demeter also shouldn’t possess this kind of power either.
So at this point, anything is possible.” Morpheus sounds uneasy, an emotion that trickles through our connection.
“The only way we stand a chance is as a circle. Which makes it time for you to decide—do you trust me or not?”
After everything we’ve been through, it would be very easy to choose the latter option in that inquiry.
However, oddly, all of our chaotic experiences have had an opposite impact.
Perhaps because I enjoy danger.
I also thrive on the unknown.
And Morpheus has packaged both qualities rather spectacularly.
“I assume you have a plan,” I tell him, my arms folding across my chest. “And it doesn’t involve lingering on this bridge?”
His lips curl. “Actually… it does.”
I frown. “Morph—”
He grabs me by the arms and lifts me into the air, his wings spread wide.
A curse echoes in my mind—which I’m sure he can hear—as he takes us over the Blood River toward the dried-up waterfall.
It’s chilling to see the crimson flow frozen along the jagged rocks, the evidence of this kingdom’s trauma staring me straight in the face.
But Morpheus doesn’t give me time to ponder it as he angles us directly downward toward a wicked-looking crack.
I thought we were going to the Soul Yards, I say into his mind.
We are, he replies. I just didn’t tell you how I intended to enter them. His arms tighten around me. Better hold on, Enforcer. I think we’re about to experience a rather bumpy ride.