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Bravely she held out a trembling hand. "Shall we?"
I took her cold hand in mine and squeezed it reassuringly before I led her back to the throne room.
Marduk and his bride were already present, as well as Behlial and Ishtar on their thrones.
"Rumors of you not spending the night in your bride's company have reached us," Behlial said by way of greeting.
A cold shiver moved through me. Even though I had expected Behlial to find out sooner or later, I hadn't expected it to be this soon. I really would need to be more careful in the future.
"I already told you I want no part in playing your sick game," I replied as icily as I always was with him, praying he would not see through my charade. Even though what I said was true, Behlial had an uncanny ability to see through veils of deceit.
"Well, if you don't want her, I'm sure another of your brothers will be more than happy to do the honors," Behlial warned.
I knew he was baiting me, and I wouldn't have cared, but Phoebe's hand in mine began to tremble even more, and I knew I could never let any of my brothers touch her, no matter that she didn't mean anything to me. For some reason, I felt responsible for her.
Thankfully Abaddon and his maiden entered just then, pulling Behlial's attention to them. Something about the way Abaddon held his bride nagged at the edges of my mind. It seemed… affectionate. And his bride didn't appear frightened of him at all, not like Phoebe looked at me or the other girl at Marduk.
Seconds later, Balaam entered with two girls. I gave Marduk a questioning glance.
"You missed the fun yesterday, brother. Nergal chose the girl Seth wanted and Seth killed him for her." Marduk's right eyebrow and lip rose in sync.
Astounded, I looked at my brother Seth and his bride entering next. The bond of affection between the two was hard to miss. Briefly I wondered what that might mean for me and Fay, but my thoughts were interrupted by Behlial.
"So nice of you to finally join us, Seth. Well, since you are here now, we can all have a happy family breakfast together and get to know one another," Behlial rose. "I hope—"
Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a shout of pain. Bewildered, I stared at Balaam, who held a hand to his throat. from which red blood spurted. I froze. Red meant he must have bonded with his bride.
A small fact I had forgotten about, and a reminder that I could not fight any of my brothers in the open if I wanted Fay and our secret to stay hidden. Bleeding red would be a dead giveaway. I had seen the way Balaam and his bride had looked at each other; there was no way I could pull this off with Phoebe.
What happened next though shocked me to the core. First, I realized that it had been Abaddon's bride who stabbed Balaam in the throat, and second, I watched in amazement as Abaddon sprang forward and, with a victorious cry, severed Balaam's head from his body.
Even though Abaddon's bride had used a blade made of mortferrym, the only metal that could kill Daemons, it was Abaddon's strike that killed my brother.
The two females with Balaam screamed, but while one ran, the other fell on her knees. Drenched in Balaam's red blood, she screamed and wailed.
I pushed Phoebe to the side and grabbed Abaddon's sword from him before he could kill another one of us.
Up from his throne, Behlial thundered, "What have you done?"
"What we are supposed to do," Abaddon stated, straight faced, while his bride rushed to his side. She, too, was covered in red blood.
"What is happening?" Phoebe wailed next to me, and I cursed myself for not having filled her in about what was going to happen.
"You fool!" Behlial rushed to Abaddon, slapping him across the face. To his credit, Abaddon didn't flinch or move.
"I only did what you want us to do," Abaddon stated, wiping red blood from his cheek while glaring challengingly at Behlial.
"You, whatyouare supposed to do, not your bride. And look at you. Already bonded, hah," Behlial spat and swiveled his head toward Balaam's wailing bride.
Surprising all of us, Behlial broke out into loud, manic laughter. "Who else has bonded? Speak up. Or do you need me to cut you to find the proof?"
Cold sweat broke out over my body. If Behlial did that, he would find out that I had bonded as well. I couldn't allow that to happen and prepared myself to fight the bastard, even though I feared what would happen to Fay if I lost.
Don't lose, a cold voice inside me whispered.
Thankfully Seth spoke up, stepping forward. "Lilith and I are bonded."
"Who else?" Behlial stared Marduk, Grigori, and me down and we shook our heads in unison, while I prayed Behlial was too busy with the events to sniff out my lie.
