Calm, steady. “I’d like to go back. Please.” Begging hadn’t worked with Katarina, but then, she was far more stubborn than the king of darkness.
Hades stood a few feet away, giving Baden an up close and personal view of the tattoos covering his body. Like the ones on the Iron Fist, they moved, slithering like snakes. “Worried about your female, eh?”
Something about his tone... Had he learned the truth about the pups?
Will kill him if we must, Destruction said. Oh, how allegiances had changed.
“Well, you can stop worrying,” the king added. “I’ve sent a message to those who think to hurt one of mine in order to collect Lucifer’s bounty. To harm the girl is to die by my hand. Or my mouth. I’ll make the decision on a case by case basis.”
Hades knew. Maybe not everything, considering he was protecting Katarina rather than attempting to slay her, but he knew something. “My hand. My mouth. She’s mine.” Even Destruction bristled at the male’s claim.
“Semantics. You are mine, and what’s yours is mine.”
Be at ease. The more time Katarina spent in the Realm of the Forgotten, the more likely this world—this king included—was to forget her. “I’m not here to discuss her, I’m sure.”
“True. I have your next task.” Hades reached into his pocket and withdrew the necklace Baden had stolen from Poseidon’s concubine. “Give this to the water king. If—and only if—he agrees to support me during the war. If not, you have my permission to cut him into little pieces. But you’ll need this.” He tossed a weapon; Baden caught the hilt. “Deliver the pieces to every other immortal king in existence.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. He studied the new weapon. A mini-scythe, with a curved golden blade.
“The weapon needs only a taste of your target’s blood,” Hades said. “After that, it can hack at the target all on its own. You have only to release it.”
Nice. “Poseidon won’t agree. I stole the necklace. He’ll only want to fight me.”
“That sounds like a you problem,” Hades said. Like father, like son. He clapped his hands. “Pippin.”
The robed man materialized with his stone tablet and placed a pebble in Hades’s hand. Once Baden inhaled the ash, he gained the ability to flash directly to Poseidon. He also gained the ability to survive in the water-world, just in case Poseidon happened to travel there.
“Before you go, we have one more piece of business.” Hades drummed his fingers together, a true evil overlord. “The coin.”
Baden stiffened. His greatest failure. “I will—”
“Aleksander has agreed to give the coin to Lucifer.”
Aleksander still lived, then. Was still bound to Katarina. Destruction bucked like a bull before the blare of a horn. “I’ll stop him before he can keep his word.”
“Lucifer has blocked your ability to flash to the male. And he’s already kept his end of the bargain, granting Aleksander an immortal army.”
“Armies can be destroyed.”
“Yes, and so can you.”
The male worried for him. It was suddenly as clear as newly cleaned glass, and he wondered how he’d ever questioned Hades’s affection.
No more waiting, he decided. The time had come to present his questions. “I know the bands make me your son. What do you plan for me—for Pandora—after the war?”
Hades peered at him for a long while, silent, as if debating the wisdom of his next words. Eventually he called, “Leave us.”
Pippin, the guards and every creeping thing Baden hadn’t noticed before—snakes, spiders and snake-spider hybrids—rushed from the room as if their feet were on fire.
“I’ll give you the answer you seek.” Hades side-eyed him. “But I desire a boon in return.”
Something he couldn’t command Baden to do? That should prove interesting. “You have my full attention.”
“You know you are...bonded to me.” The admission came grudgingly. “And I know your woman trains hellhounds.” Those words—they came smugly.
Both Baden and Destruction brimmed with anger—will protect, no matter the cost. “You will not harm her or the pups.”
The king smiled at him. “I don’t want to harm them, Baden. I want to use them.”
“I won’t involve them in the war.”
“They’re already involved.”
“No!” An explosion from Baden, accompanied by a snarl from Destruction. “Never.”