“They missed you,” Loki said.
Héctor bared his teeth.
Loki raised his hands in surrender. “You half-bloods are like the meanest hedgehogs.”
“Keep your negative opinions of my mates to yourself,” I said, and then sighed over Loki’s worried looks. “Fine, I’ll just tell you what happened in the Void. First, Ares—” I paused, glancing at Axel.
He clasped my hand in his large, rough ones. “The God of War is dead,” he said emotionlessly. “Héctor speared his heart and Queen Lilith beheaded him. Ishouldhave been the one to slay him for what he did to my mate.”
Loki looked stunned, then he smiled. “That was unexpected, but no one should mess with Marigold.”
I drew a breath. “However, we have a problem.” I peeked into his abyssal eyes. “Lucifer is missing.”
“What do you mean he’s missing?” Loki shrieked, his face paling. “I thought you took care of him.”
“After we escaped the Valley of the Monsters, we never saw him again,” I said. “Mom couldn’t locate him either, even with their mate bond.”
“Where can he be?” Loki asked, his nostrils flaring. A trace of Hell smoke scented the air.
“The Void is a big place,” Zak said. “And the devil obviously knows how and where to hide.”
I nodded. “Even Mom is nervous about having him roaming freely in the Void. She believes Lucifer is scheming to take the Realm of the Ivory Tower from her.”
“So he won’t return to Earth, right?” Loki asked hopefully. “Not that I want that jackal to be Lilith’s problem. I hope the monsters swallow him. Aren’t gods their favorite snack?”
“His sins might be too much even for the monsters,” I said.
Loki widened his eyes, darkness swirling inside, which was kind of disturbing.
“It was a joke,” I said.
My mates chuckled on cue to support me, but Loki wasn’t in the mood, and he didn’t think I was funny.
“Don’t worry.” I hugged him. “You took care of me before, and I’ll take care of you if Lucifer ever steps foot on Earth or Hell. I’ll sever his spine for what he did to us.”
Loki hugged me back, trying to contain his shudder. For a moment, he felt like a boy again, chained in the dungeon and brutally whipped by his sadistic father.
“I’ve got you,” I said, sending a trace of my Living Flame along his neck to let him feel my power so he would know I could keep my promise.
“And I’ll always have your back,” he said gently, and then he no longer trembled.
“Now, if you don’t mind, Loki,” Zak said, “it’s better we sit around the table in the dining area and discuss the new terms of our pact while enjoying crème brûlée, Rosebud’s favorite.”
“Axel teleported to Paris to get them for me,” I offered.
“For beloved Belle Marigold Celeste, we’ll end the Great Merge,” said the new devil.
CHAPTER 22
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Fiercely and diligently, Héctor worked on rewiring the ward around his suite with dark spells and blood runes as soon as Loki left.
We didn’t want Loki to pop out again, announcing he forgot something here. Actually, he had. He’d mentioned that he brought me a gift, but never showed me the present. I’d follow up with him tomorrow. I didn’t like people not keeping their promises.
“Call Loki, Paxton,” Héctor barked after he finished the runes. “We need to test if he can get in this time. He’s the only one who’s ever breached my ward here.”
“Call him yourself,” Paxton barked back. “What can he do even if he shows up again? He knows the four of us can take him if he tries anything stupid. Manhattan is our territory now, and we have the sentinels patrolling the streets. He should be grateful that we let him keep that luxury suite in this building.”