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“You have no proof that Zarion will attack the demons,” Faris said with a dismissive flick of his hand. “He’s probably just feeling nervous with all the demons coming and going from our worlds, and he wants protection.”
“Are you sure that’s all this is?” I asked.
Faris hesitated for a moment before replying, “Of course.”
It was just a tiny moment, but it was there.
“Bring me proof, not speculation,” Faris told me. “And then I’ll deal with Zarion. But right now, I have something far more important for you to do.”
“Which is?”
“I have a mission for you.” He said it like he was giving me a present. “I sent soldiers to Scourge.”
I assumed that was another of his worlds, not a hellish punishment the god had created for his soldiers.
“I sent them to investigate rumors of rebels gathering there. I have not heard back from them.”
“That seems to be happening a lot lately,” I noted.
“Yes.” His carefully neutral expression dipped into a slight frown. “I’m sending you and Stash to find my soldiers and kill anyone who stands in your way.”
13
THE DARK FIEND
Luckily, Alec was available to babysit Sierra. So now here I was with my cousin Stash, hiking down a trail that looked like it had been burnt into the earth, on a lovely little world called Scourge. Faris sure knew how to pick them. The whole place was hot and unpleasant and had a distinctly unwelcoming aroma, like lime juice squeezed over smoldering charcoal.
“Why does Faris even care about this world?” I asked Stash, frowning. “It looks pretty useless.”
At least the last world I’d visited that belonged to Faris had had people in it. And villages. And roads. This place was just one big, barren expanse. With a big, hot, burning sun in the sky.
Stash looked around, frowning when the hot wind blew sand into his mouth. “Maybe it has strategic value?” he guessed.
Yeah, I’d heard that one before. There seemed to be an awful lot of worlds in the gods’ territory that were good for nothing else than their ‘strategic value’.
“We should pick up the pace,” said Stash. “It’s a long trek to the compound.”
We hiked side-by-side in silence for a minute or two before I decided I’d rather talk than enjoy the stunningly hellish view in silence—even if it meant risking the occasional mouthful of hot ash.
“So, coz, how’s life?” I asked. “Dating anyone?”
I’d considered it a perfectly innocent question to launch our conversation, but apparently I was wrong.
“Why?” Stash asked, his face guarded, his shoulders tense. “What have you heard?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “But now I have to hear it from you. Who are you dating?”
He looked everywhere but at me when he answered, “No one.”
A smile tugged on my lips. “Ok, then who do you want to date?”
“Being a soldier in Heaven’s Army doesn’t leave much time for dating.”
“That’s not an answer,” I told him.
“It is.” Stash was still avoiding looking at me. “It’s just not the answer that you want.”
His face was flushed. And his heart was definitely beating faster. That made me really curious about his mysterious romantic interest. But I decided to let him off the hook. This time.
