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“I also found myself jealous when you spoke with Minthe. At least, I believe that is how I felt. I have no real experience with this. I just knew I didn’t want you to stop that kiss. I wanted you to ignore her and, well, I needed you to kiss me.”
She found herself unable to look him in the eyes as she truly felt embarrassment for the first time. At least as far as she could remember.
Such human emotions, yet they were not exclusive to humans. Silly for her to think she was ever untouchable by human failings.
Since she had met Devon, she felt like her body had come to life after a state of just existing. Perhaps these feelings she thought of as human flaws were not at all flaws, but a state of being alive. That her heart beat did not mean she was truly alive if she could not use that same heart to love.
He pulled his hand out from under hers and moved it to her jaw as he turned her face to his.
“This is something we need to discuss,” she whispered again at the look in his eyes.
Her heart raced in both excitement and trepidation about where this all would lead. The damage it might cause between two immortals who were stuck together for the rest of eternity.
At the fierce look in his eyes, she knew he had no intention of discussing any of this further. The look in his eyes only held one meaning, and it was one she could understand completely.
Words be damned.
***
Her eyes lit with Godfire at the same moment he felt another presence enter their space.
Closing his eyes in irritation at the coming interruption, he leaned away from her. When he opened them again, one of the guards stood at attention in front of them.
“My Queen, we have found Tristan and are holding him in the throne room as ordered.”
Devon did not miss the furrow of Persephone’s brows as she clenched her jaw.
Before he could ask what was going on, Persephone stood and turned to him.
“My guards have retrieved Tristan for questioning on some matters and as a God of this domain you are within your rights to be a part of the interrogation.”
“Tristan?” he asked as the aggravation built back up under his skin, thankfully not nearly as strong as at the gala. Persephone only nodded to him in confirmation as Devon stood to move beside her.
“Yes, my initial intent on visiting the riverbank earlier was that I felt something was off in that part of the Underworld. Hecate confirmed my suspicions moments ago when she notified me that at the gala there was an amplifier that had targeted you specifically.”
“An amplifier? I understand what the word means, but how does that relate to my power?” he asked as a feeling of aggravation strengthened its hold on him at someone pulling his strings like a puppet.
The doors opened by the same Reevka that always welcomed Devon to the palace. As they walked, she filled him in on her conversation with Hecate. The guard trailed them before he took back up his post at the throne room doors.
“Some Oracles with rare abilities in the past were bestowed powers of amplification through amulets. The amulets helped to push someone’s power to the surface because the Titans wanted accurate revelations of the future. Unfortunately, the women given these amulets could rarely handle the power, and it ruined their minds. The power to foresee the future can be overwhelming without something unnaturally pushing them into a vision.” The guards opened the doors, and she took Devon’s arm to guide him inside.
“It is illegal to use these powers without consent and overview of the Senate in Halcyon,” she continued. “As of the last Senate meeting, we have no registered oracles in the region. How they were able to amplify your power without putting the amulet on you, or touching you, is a concern. The only way to focus on you in that way was if an oracle of your blood was wielding it.”
With that loaded statement, she dropped his arm and strode into the throne room. He watched as her aura moved to cover her, black and red, like an angry entity all its own.
Directly ahead of them, Tristan knelt in the center of the floor, his hands shackled behind his back. He was in only jeans, which were dripping with water.
Devon followed Persephone around the prisoner to the front of the room where the throne resided. He noticed that Tristan’s skin was tinted green, some scales flashing along his arms, and gills opening and closing on his neck.
Persephone took a seat on her throne. It was not the same chair he had thought of as a throne on his first night here, but one made of sharply pointed obsidian stone that looked like black horns on either side of her head. Skulls were carved into the arm rests, a black and blue cloth draped over one corner. Behind the throne hung a coat of arms, which boasted snake-covered scythes crossed under a skull, where an owl perched. He wondered at the owl for a moment before a Reevka brought the court to attention.
Flames burst over Persephone’s head before calming to create a crown of blue fire. Her eyes bled black as black crept up her arms, her veins darkening beneath her pale skin. The guards took their places at the bottom of the dais on either side of her.
Persephone motioned for Devon to come up, and as he moved to stand next to her, he caught Tristan’s eyes narrowing at him. Devon met his gaze directly as he leaned against the throne. It was tall enough for him to do so without being punctured by the jutting horns from the top.
He kept his focus on the man in question in front of them.
Tristan’s blue power rippled out like water. So unlike Persephone’s power, which always looked
