Chapter Thirty-Three #2
“That human died a long time ago,” I muttered, “and now I’ve killed the monster that controlled her. I’d rather let my old habits die with them.”
“And what an admirable aim that is.”
Sitri stalked back toward the bed, reaching up out of my sight. With a click, the light vanished, and the room came alight in monochrome. That action was so familiar, but I hadn’t seen it performed in weeks.
“Wait, is that…”
“Electricity, darling?” My Prince flashed me a devilish smirk. “Quite a marvel, isn’t it?”
Electricity. All this time, the Duke had electricity.
While Sitri and his demons bathed with rags and relied on oil-burning lamps, Vapula had modern convenience at his fingertips.
No wonder his weapons were more efficient, his tools more sophisticated; the kingdom of Scholars and Savants produced them with advanced technology. Technology Vapula had kept for himself.
“Do I even want to know how it works?” I asked.
Sitri laughed. He came to the side of the bed and eased down onto it. “Probably not, but something tells me you will find out in time.”
“No more surprises. I’ve already had too many of those today. If there’s some terrible, messed-up explanation for it, I might lose my mind.”
“Very well. We shall leave it a mystery for now.”
I winced as Sitri shifted, bringing his body against mine.
When he settled, I loosed a breath. One of his arms wormed its way behind my head, curling around me to caress my cheek.
The other trailed along my chest, thrumming the undone buttons on my shirt.
His warmth, his rough, scarred skin soothed me in a way no drug could.
Though my wounds still ached, I could stomach it for now.
I closed my eyes. This feeling was worth it, better than any tonic that came in a bottle.
“Sitri? Can we talk?”
He let out a hum of acknowledgment. “What about?”
“Anything,” I said with a sigh, “or… everything. I think I need to speak my thoughts out loud, work through what’s happened. It’s… been a long two months.”
“Of course, darling. If you lead, I will follow.”
For a moment, I let the silence reign and focused on my thoughts. So many emotions, so many worries and questions burned in my chest. Somehow, despite their sheer enormity, I knew where to start.
So, I opened my mouth, and words flowed forth.
I stared down at the envelope I held, repeating the words of its message over and over in my mind.
The folded crisp, white paper bore a broken seal of indigo wax, stamped with a sigil I recalled from my very first day in Hell; parallel lines and curves inlaid in concentric circles. The seal of the Duke Zaleos.
I’d read that damned letter a hundred times in the week I’d spent recovering, locked away behind closed doors. Sitri and I were weapons, indeed—pieces on an enemy’s board, like Vapula had said—and we’d been brought into alignment.
The only condition for the Duke’s aid was that Sitri faced Vapula alone.
Anything he needed, the letter declared, Zaleos would supply; explosives, transportation, troops, intel, and strategy were all at Sitri’s discretion, so long as he met that requirement.
In the aftermath, the reason became clear.
Zaleos had ensured my rule. He installed me on the throne, just as he’d installed Sitri.
“Your debts,” I said, glancing up from my paper and settling my gaze on Sitri. “He’s going to collect on them, isn’t he? And he’s going to collect mine, too.”
Across the bedroom, my Prince sifted through letters and parcels piling up on the desk.
Some of them were words of welcome. Some of them were gifts, signs I’d been acknowledged as the rightful heir to Vapula’s throne.
Though only a handful of couriers had arrived thus far, I knew I could expect seventy of them to pay me visits in the coming days.
One for each of Hell’s nobles, save myself and Sitri.
He looked up. “It’s too soon to know what he really wants, darling. He wouldn’t bother handing out debts if he didn’t plan to collect, but when, how, and why are still a mystery to me.”
“There was something Vapula told me… about the movement of things long fallen, tombs best left sealed. He said we’d wind up exploited without his protection. Used to alter fate.”
“And you believe him?” Sitri asked.
“I don’t know. I think I do.”
Vapula had stepped away before he spoke, putting distance between us until I could no longer smell his secrets.
Now that he was gone, and my access to Sitri’s gifts along with him, all that remained were my unanswered questions.
He had to have had a reason for telling me.
Something he’d wanted to achieve. It would be unlike him to offer that information otherwise.
“His President painted the future for him. Those paintings must show something horrific if they made him act like that,” I said. “He was a predator, but he wasn’t stupid—he was threatened. And whatever threatened him is still out there.”
“That is what I would be inclined to believe as well.”
“How do we find it, then? Before it finds us?”
Silence stagnated in the room, then Sitri heaved a sigh. “We don’t, darling, at least not yet. You have just inherited one of Hell’s most powerful kingdoms, and all of its horrors. You will need training first. Lots of it.”
“Right.”
Though his words disappointed me, they also carried truth. I could barely ride a horse. My combat skills were rudimentary at best, and I didn’t know a thing about running a settlement, let alone a whole kingdom.
Besides, I had the sinking feeling I’d have to slay the monsters hiding at home before I could go hunting. If Vapula’s military utilized amalgamate beasts, souls bound over and over until they lost themselves in their agony, then what other nightmares would surface during my reign?
Sitri set down the envelope he was holding, and his brow furrowed.
He brushed aside a few parcels and letters, unearthing a large, rectangular package.
I drew a sharp breath at the sight of it.
Standing from the edge of the bed, I made my way over to the desk, passing Zaleos’ letter back to my Prince as I squinted to make out the messy handwriting on the label.
To: Lillia, Honored Duchess of Scholars and Savants.
From: Marbus, President of Plague and Prescience.
My heart sank as I took in the simple address. President Marbus. The seer who had painted fate for Vapula.
“He… called me by name?”
“He is the only noble to have done so, darling. Fourteen greetings thus far, and all the others are addressed to the Duchess Vapula.”
The confusion on Sitri’s face mirrored my own. He handed the package over. My fingers shook as I undid the ties that held the cloth and pulled it away to reveal a painting.
Not just any painting, either.
He’d painted me, shackled and dressed in bloodstained rags, impaled on Vapula’s blade.
The Duke lay helpless at my feet, waiting for me to smash his skull in with a heavy iron chain.
And then there was Sitri, hand outstretched, face twisted in a desperate plea to stop before I crossed a line I’d never walk back from.
It was the moment I’d been crowned as Duchess, rendered with rough brushstrokes and in vivid hues—beautiful, haunting, and raw.
“An omen,” Sitri whispered. “One he failed to deliver to his master. A bid for your favor, by the looks of it.” He glanced from the painting back to me. “And also, a suggestion that you’ve decided to keep your name. Not much for tradition, it seems?”
I bit my lip. In truth, I hadn’t—not yet. But seeing my human name written on that package, when the rest bore the name of the demon who’d exploited me, it felt… right. I smiled, embracing that rightness. “I think I’ll keep it for now.”
“Duchess Lillia Sparre, the one and only.” Sitri gave a grin of his own and caressed my cheek. I leaned into his gentle touch. “What a statement you will make, darling. Haagenti will adore you. Zaleos may well loathe you, and I wish for nothing less.”
I planted my lips on his, curling my arm around my Prince’s waist and pulling him into a kiss, which Sitri readily returned. Our mouths melded, tongues dancing, breaking away only once our breath was spent.
“Then I look forward to making a strong first impression. On Haagenti, at least.”
Sitri laughed. “Before you begin ruffling feathers, there are others you should speak with. Our legates are waiting, and we mustn’t be too late.”
My smile faded. “Vapula’s surviving chosen, preparing to stab me in the back, I’d bet.”
“Come, it won’t be so bad. They are as uncertain of your mercy as you are. Besides, Apollo and I will be there. They would be fools to try today.”
He offered me his hand. I took it in a heartbeat. We exchanged reassuring squeezes, then my Prince led me out of the bedroom and into the palace’s halls.