AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I can’t get answers if he’s dead.
I released my choke hold just slightly. “If I let you go, do you promise not to portal off at the first sign of trouble?”
Phaidros nodded.
“Swear it on the Styx.”
“I… swear… on the Styx.”
I relaxed my hand and pulled my arm back. Phaidros recovered in a blink, sheathing his sword and adjusting his wrinkled vest in the span of two seconds.
“The teeth. Did they have anything to do with that thing?”
“That thing?” Phaidros laughed. “The undead dragon you managed to bring back to life, allowing you to regain the favor of the realm?Thatthing?”
I growled.
He shrugged as if he wasn’t fazed by my theatrics now that I didn’t have him pinned against the wall.
It made me want to turn furry and rip out his throat.
“Yes. I’m impressed you put it together, love. Or should I say Soteria? They seem to be singing your praises rather thoroughly.”
“I’m not your love,” I hissed. “How could you release that beast on us? It was supposed to be a small favor where no one got hurt. Cole nearlydied.”
“Us?” Phaidros chuckled. “I would hardly call gardening a dangerous task. Having a magical entity such as yourself plant dragon’s teeth may have had a few consequences, but that wasn’t part of the favor. If the dragon hadn’t shown up, we’d have been square.”
“Why?” I demanded.Why would he want to bring that monstrous creature here?
“Why, indeed. Unfortunately,thatinformation isn’t for sale. And you already have a debt you need to pay on. I’ve come to collect.”
“I won’t do it. I don’t care if it makes me an oathbreaker.”
Phaidros’s eyes flashed. “Ah, love. If only it was so easy to double-cross. But the magic binds you, as you well know since you just used it on me. There is nooathbreakingwhen it comes to the Styx.”
Fear gripped me.
He can’t collect if he’s dead.
I launched myself at him, but Phaidros was fast. Faster than me, faster than even Cole. He used my momentum against me and pinned me to the wall, face forward. I jerked my neck aside to look at him out of my periphery. He pressed me into the cold stone, the unnatural angle painful.
Hetsked. I had overpowered him before with the element of surprise. But now, I couldn’t so much as shift in his grasp. My hands were shoved through the stone into small portals that held them like handcuffs while the sparkling yellow rings shrank around them. I couldn’t call on my magic like this.He’s been hiding his true power.
“Now, now, no need for that. You’re going to keep your word to me, Avery. Or I’m going to portal out of here and find that pretty little friend of yours and kill her. Now, hush. None of that,” he said with a put-out sigh as I growled at him and tried to kick him. “One more little favor and we’re square. Doesn’t that sound nice? Here’s what you have to do: the enchantress has a special scrying mirror in her chambers. You can identify it by the waxing and waning moons on the handle. All you need to do is take a little peek at the Alpha of your old pack for a few minutes. What’s his name, Jameson? Jared?”
“Jett,” I said through gritted teeth.
Phaidros snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Jett. Sounds like a right prick, doesn’t he?” He didn’t wait for my agreement. “Just scry on Jett in the Many Moon Mirror for a few moments and your debt shall be paid.”
“How do you know all of this?” How could he even know who Jett was?
“As I said, I’m not your ordinary demon,” Phaidros demurred, sounding far too casual for someone who had me immobilized.
“Why, then? If I have to do it anyway, just tell me the cost.”
He chuckled, looking genuinely amused at my request. “Ah, but where would the fun be in that, love?”
He eased back a fraction. I tested my hands, but they were still stuck in the wall.
