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If nothing else, I’ll go down fighting for my realm, and the world where she saw me as more than a monster.
20
MEG
One second I’m calling for Leander in the labyrinth, and the next I’m standing in the library of the haunted house. The scents of the maze vanish, replaced by the smell of leather and designer cologne. The room’s silent, other than the hum of electrical heating.
Oggie’s weight in my arms and the ruined dress on my body serve as my only two connections to Leander’s realm. Theo steps away from me, swiping dust from a crumbling castle off his bespoke suit that costs more than my beater hatchback—the one the repo truck will come for soon if I don’t make a payment. Real problems from my normal life bounce off me, though, my gut twisting around the two-ton boulder of worry I have for Leander and the world I left behind.
“What the hell?” I ask. Too late, I realize that I dropped the h-word while yelling at one demon and holding another, but Oggie meows in agreement. So there, take the supernatural assumptions and shove them. “You left Leander in the middle of an earthquake?” Or magic-quake, or whatever that terrible rumble had been.
“His realm is dying,” Theo says, as if he did me a solid instead of ripping me away from Leander before I got some real answers. “You couldn’t stay there, or you would die with it. By teleporting you back to your world, I saved you from a horrible death. You’re welcome.”
No way will I thank this jerk. “You have some explaining to do, starting with telling me where my friends are. Because I left them here two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks for you, a few long and grueling days for us, thanks to your demanding friends. Who knew the labyrinth match would be the easiest one to deal with?”
I’m tired of his snobby commentary, tired of his tricks. “Where. Are. They?”
He rounds his desk to a liquor cart stacked with top shelf booze. “Your friends remain with their matches. Your contract’s over due to the obvious dangers of the labyrinth realm.” He clips out the explanation as if I’m an idiot. What an asshole. My first instinct to run from him had been right—except then I wouldn’t have met Leander.
“You have to take me back.”
“Why?” He heaps sarcasm in his voice. I can almost hear the lip curl, but he smooths that away so quickly, I couldn’t tell if it was an actual sneer or a twitch.
“To check on him. Sure, Leander played me as the other woman and cheated on his mate, but I deserve to make sure he’s okay and then tell him off myself.” If I’d faced the same stakes he had, with the potential destruction of an entire world, I might’ve picked screwing over a human to save everyone in a realm, too. Okay, no, I wouldn’t have, but I can see how he could have felt he didn’t have a choice. Although he said he loved me when he sent me back to save me. Had he lied then? It hadn’t sounded like a lie.
Theo heaves an imperious, impatient, why do I bother with humans sigh. Ignoring my demands, he unscrews an expensive-looking crystal decanter. “Drink?” he asks.
“Yes, and answers.” I pull my shoulders back, straighten my spine, and hit my best queen pose while cradling a kitten with horns and wings.
He pours two of whatever he’s having. “I’m the premier matchmaking demon in all the realms, and I won’t stay the best if I lose a match that I’ve signed. You die while under contract? You cost me business.”
“Such compassion over my impending death.” I grab the drink and swig instead of sip. My mistake. The alcohol slides down my throat with a wicked punch, and I choke on the burn.
“Feelings don’t make me profit,” Theo says. “Leander knew the risk when he signed the contract, and because he understood that I would terminate it if you faced any real danger, he paid me in full the moment you signed. No need to view the goods first.”
“Great.” Now I feel betrayed, cheated on, and worthless.
“He got his fated mate and the magic you created. Any powers thief with a hard-on for killing his world? His problem, not mine.”
I want to smack the smug off his too-pretty face. Instead, I mimic his know-it-all arrogance. “You’ve been misinformed and screwed up your contract, because Belaya’s his mate. She told me.”
“That crackpot of an elf hybrid? You would believe her instead of my superior matchmaking abilities, the magic that rebuilt the labyrinth, and Leander prioritizing your life ahead of his entire realm? Silly human.” This demon takes the deadly sin of pride to the gazillionth level, but his words come out more than self-centered. There’s unshakable certainty underlying that confidence.
“She said Leander specifically needed a human to make magic, that he and Bess poisoned her.” Just as Bess said Darnell had talked about poison in connection with Belaya.
“If anyone cooks up poison in that realm, it’s her. While she lost her magic, she didn’t lose her ability to brew up vile concoctions. Besides, only a fated mate can create magic. You’re his mate—the only one in the infinite realms destined to be his true heart’s desire, regardless of species.” He drains another glass. “I need to start dealing in less sentimental drivel. Something easier, with less emotional attachment. Perhaps I’ll take up soul trading or politics—or both, as there’s little difference.”
“Leander loves me.” I try out the smooth feel of the words in my mouth, the sweet taste on my tongue. If a video game had attack butterflies with stabbing antennae, those would be the squadron swarming in my stomach right now. My heart droops pitifully in my chest, bobbing against my ribs like a pendulum unwound. “I’m his mate.”
“You were his mate. He’ll be dead soon, given the destruction I saw.”
“No.” Panic sends energy pinging through me, the same as a quadruple expresso. I race for the basement door, fling it open, and take the stairs down as fast as I can. At the bottom, there’s a plain basement with stacks of crates, boxes, and disappointingly normal things. No portal, no glowing lights, no way back to Leander. “No, no, no.” A sob pulls the chant from me as though I could wish myself back to the labyrinth if I tried hard enough.
Oggie headbutts me and makes a pitiful meow.
I let him rub his little horns against my shoulder. “I know, Oggs. We’ll find a way back.” Storming up the same stairs, I confront Theo. “Take me back.”
