AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Leda?” Grace said in surprise.
Speaking of family…my mother was striding down the hall toward me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as she stopped in front of me.
“I’m here to represent the demons in talks with Faris,” she replied. “After what Ava did, relations between the demons and the gods are quite sticky.”
“Sticky? Teetering on the precipice of war would be more accurate. So you’re here to prevent that war?” I guessed.
“Yes.” Grace sighed. “I assured Faris that Ava acted alone, not with the blessing or knowledge of the demons’ council. We haven’t even spoken to her in three years, not since the day she fled from the battlefield of the Guardians’ great defeat.”
“Do you think Faris believes you?” I watched her closely for her reaction. Because that would determine whether I even believed her.
“I’m not sure yet. I hope he does.” Grace wrung her hands, then, when she saw I’d noticed, tucked them behind her back. And when she spoke again, her voice rang with confidence. “I should get back to Faris’s meeting room. I have work to do.”
Stash waited until Grace was gone, then asked me, “Do you believe her when she says she had nothing to do with the attack?”
“Do you?”
“She’s a demon.”
I snorted. “That’s not an answer.”
“Demons are devious,” he said slowly.
“So are gods,” I reminded him.
“Oh, I am well aware of that.” He touched his face to his jaw, his gaze drifting off, like he was remembering a treacherous blow. “Yes.” His eyes snapped back to me. “I believe her.”
“I believe her too,” I admitted. “Wow, that feels weird to say.”
“Yeah,” he chuckled in agreement.
“So, are you going to step aside and let me see my sister?” I asked him. “Or am I going to have to throw sleeping powder in your face?”
“Should I feel happy or offended that you’re threatening to knock me out with sleeping powder instead of punching me in the head?”
“Happy, of course. I punch hard.” I grinned at him.
Stash pressed a glowing hand to the gigantic lock on the door. It was bigger than a steering wheel—and way thicker.
“Ok, I’ll let you in, Leda,” he said as the lock clicked open. His muscles bulged from the effort when he removed the large metal block from the door and set it on the floor. It must have weighed a ton—literally. “But I’m not doing this because I’m afraid of you.”
“No, you’re doing it because you’re a big teddy bear.” I hugged him hard. “Thank you,” I whispered into his ear.
“I hope you can help your sister.”
Past the door, the place looked like a tomb. Dust covered the floor and coated the bars of the many empty cells. There were bones in some of them—human bones, I was pretty sure—which made me wonder how many prisoners had died in this dungeon.
“Bella?” I called out. My voice echoed and bounced off the soulless stone walls.
Unlike the rest of the gods’ bright and shiny castle, this place was ugly, dull, and reeked of death.
“Leda?”
I followed the sound of my sister’s voice to a cell. In place of bars, it had a thick sheet of glass. Magic slithered across the glass, sparkling like freshly-fallen snow.
“They coated the glass with Nectar?” I slid my hands across the smooth surface. The spell nipped at my skin but didn’t attack. “No, not coated.” I frowned. “They baked the Nectar right into the glass.”
