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Loki chuckled softly as he watched Paralumen at work. This was all his doing. The dark circles under her eyes, the way her hands trembled — she might have aspired to become a goddess, but she was still human. When was the last time she slept, rested, or ate?

Not once had I thought that I would feel sympathy for Paralumen, but no one deserved this. This candle stub of a woman was dangerously close to burning out. Sociopathic sorceress or not, her life was still worth saving.

“Ah,” Loki said. “I see you’ve all noticed my little helper.”

“This is revolting,” Angelica said, her voice shaking with anger. “Inhumane.”

“Release her,” Morrow said, one hand in his jacket like he was reaching for a loaded gun. “Or we’re going to make you.”

The god rolled his eyes. “Spare me your empty threats. Speaking of threats — why should you care for her well being? Wasn’t she a very real danger to your precious city in the first place? Ask me how I know.”

My blood ran cold. Even before all this business with the charms, back when Paralumen was gathering her crimson flock, all those arcane distortions — Loki was already pulling the strings. What had he promised her? And now, what had she become?

“What are you going to do with her?” I asked, dreading his answer.

Loki parted his hands, smiling and shrugging like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Do I really need to spell it out? I’m trying to build a better goddess.”

CHAPTER 20

“Her cultists,” I said. “The magpies. Every single person wearing a charm is a magpie. You’re feeding on their essence.”

Loki rose from his throne and gave a mocking bow.

“Correct. Congratulations on finally putting everything together. The trances make them calmer. It’s easier to draw blood when someone is relaxed. The principle is the same.” He wrinkled his nose at Paralumen. “The charms that make them angry, though? We still have to work on those.”

“But why would you create competition for yourself?” Morrow asked. “You told us back at the hotel. It’s all about worship and attention. Why risk dividing it and giving it all to someone else?”

“Details, details.”

The god folded his hands behind his back as he approached the pile of charms where Paralumen knelt. They tinkled to the ground in glittering handfuls as she raked her fingers through again and again.

“I told you already. I’m interested in what it might take to elevate a particularly ambitious sorceress to the level of an actual deity. And so we bolstered Lady Paralumen’s natural ability to charm others, allowing her to harvest her own crop of worshippers.”

The magpies. The crimson hoodies. All of her devotees. Their zealous belief in their human goddess had actually given her enough power to bestow them with miracles, the pseudo-magical abilities they’d used in the Battle of the Basement.

Every prayer reinforced the terms of an unwritten contract, devotion in exchange for a miracle: a transaction. It was just like Scrimshaw said. A mage didn’t need to limit themself to a single familiar.

But no miracles for the charm-wearers. Not yet, at least. Maybe the charms were only designed to work one way. Or maybe they hadn’t refined the enchantment. If every single charm-wearer received Paralumen’s blessing, an accursed miracle? Total chaos. Hell on earth.

“Didn’t you already have your hands full running your stupid company?” I asked. “Now you’ve got your hooks in these people, sitting on top of your fucked-up corporate ladder.”

Loki pressed the tips of his fingers together, shaping them into a triangle.

“I’d say it’s more of a pyramid.”

A tense silence hung over the room. Angelica’s heels clicked as she stepped forward.

“Then there are others,” she said. “Paralumen is only one of your experiments.”

“Do you remember how the Goddess of the Valley intended to ascend with a ritual? Before you ruined our plans, of course. She was supposed to replace someone in my pantheon. A goddess of magic.” He leered at me. “You may have heard of her.”

“Wait a minute,” Xtra Xtra said. “So you’re planning to replace your entire pantheon with gods you created yourself? A whole squad of gods under your command — and you’re planning to replace Odin himself.”

The god clapped, grinning hugely.

“Then it appears that we’re finally all up to speed.”