"Welcome home, sister." His warm, charismatic voice filled the room. "Been a while since we last saw each other."
Qapla's head snapped between us, eyes full of confusion. Adrastos set Velyan gently on the couch, then stepped forward to stand beside me.
"Nox," he asked, "do you know this person?"
"I do." The words came out heavy with regret. "Unfortunately, this ugly bastard is my brother."
My brother chuckled. "Ah, Nox. I've missed that sharp tongue. How have you been?"
My hand tightened on my sword. That bastard knew exactly how I was. "Good. No thanks to you."
I took a seat and sat my boots on the table.
"What are you doing here?"
"Why do you think Nox?" He said, humor curling his words. "You stabbed a Duke and ran from the royal guards, dragging our sister into your schemes. You abandoned Lucifer's side and fled halfway across the ocean, disobeying direct orders to fight."
"How is Lucifer these days?" I said, my tone sharp "I bet you're polishing his balls nice and pretty."
"The Duke placed a bounty on your head Nox. You and Dalia both."
"And you are here to collect on Lucifer's behalf?"
"Oh no." My brother laughed. "Lucifer thought it was hilarious that you stabbed the Duke in his balls. Said it took serious guts. Bloody good stab by the way, wish I could've done it myself. But you have been given full pardon. Apparently, he respects the effort. But your squad was executed, symbolically of course, can't have Dukes being stabbed left and right."
My gut twisted. I had formed that squad myself, pulling only people I could trust into that group. "So, this is personal then. Get rid of the black sheep of the family, take back the golden goose, get more money, restore your name in a position of respect?"
"By the Seven, no. I've plenty of gold. And nobody would dare mock me, that would be the equivalent to mocking Lucifer. Can't I just want to see my dear little sister?"
"You and I both know we don't have that relationship."
"What if this could be the start of one?" he offered, smiling faintly, "A turning point."
"It's far too late for that."
"Well…" My brother sighed deeply, popping a grape into his mouth, "Then I suppose I should tell you why I'm here if we can't pretend to be family."
I knew it.
He pointed behind me. "I've been sent for her."
I turned. Her silence since the wall seemed to stretch on as she simply gaped at my brother's words.
"Lucifer wants her." My brother said casually, leaning back in his chair. "For someone important. Don't ask who, I wasn't told. My orders are to retrieve her willingly."
"Who is this Lucifer," Annalise asked, "and why does he want me?"
My brother laughed, loud and cruel "You mean she hasn't told you?" His eyes gleamed. "Lucifer. The first Demon Prince of Hell. The Archangel of Pride. The First Traitor. Ring any bells?"
Qapla and Annalise both shook their heads. How could they not have heard of him. I thought everyone would know of him. Adrastos spoke, his voice heavier than anything I've ever heard.
"I know that name. The angel who rallied the six others, gathered an army, and joined the fallen gods in the war against the heavens. After they lost, he and the angels were cast into hell and sealed since then. You are saying he's escaped?"
"Not just him, little wolf," Darius said, his grin widening. "All of Hell itself. A friend on this side opened the gate. He brought the Seven Princes, their Dukes, and their armies."
He gestured grandly toward himself. "Look at me and my sister. Hellborn through and through. Has she told you nothing?" He cast a scathing look my way. "Typical. You should trust your friends more."
I felt their eyes on me. Burning. Judging. I knew I shouldn't have trusted them. Not with this. Opening myself to others has always led to pain. But even knowing that, their silence hurt more than any flame of Hell. I thought they were different.
"As for why the King of Hell wants you." Darius continued, "I haven't the faintest idea. But he does. And when Lucifer wants something, he gets it. One way or another."
"You'll be taking no one." Qapla said, his longsword leveled at my brother's chest.
Darius smiled, brushing the blade aside with a single finger. "Oh, I'm not here to take. I'm here to offer a deal." His grin widened, polished, sharp teeth gleaming. "A one-time offer. I scratch your back, you scratch mine."
I frowned. "What kind of deal."
"I'll take you across the Deathcrest Mountains. You'll skip the forest, the swarms, the wastes. Straight to your stone. No delays. No danger. No death."
"And the price?"
"The girl," He said smoothly, "She comes with me. She won't die. You have my word. I even have Lucifer's guarantee."
That was an incredibly generous offer. But it wasn't mine to accept.
"Why?" Annalise asked quietly.
Darius shrugged. "Again, no idea. Someone powerful wants you. Someone that can talk down to Lucifer. Give him a command. I've never seen that happen before."
That sent a chill through me. Lucifer was hedonistic, prideful, and spiteful. But it could not be denied that he was the strongest in hell. If they were giving commands to Lucifer, then they were dangerous.
We all turned to Annalise. She looked small, afraid.
"Where would I be going?" She asked.
"Not here." He replied. Smug as ever.
I wanted to break his jaw. But I wasn't strong enough. Yet.
"Somewhere far away from all this chaos." He added with a chuckle. "Without my help, you're doomed. The last expedition took two years to get to Bleaksands. There were a hundred of them, and there are five of you."
He clapped his hands. A scroll shimmered into existence on the table.
"But who knows, maybe you all are just better than them. But I'm your guarantee for salvation here. You can be the heroes you always wanted to be. And in return I get one person."
He slid the contract over with the confidence of a man who has already won. Annalise stared at the parchment, her hand rising to clasp her necklace subconsciously.
"That's a pretty good deal, one of the best I've ever offer. The lives of several cities, the security of no Primarch living over you, all your friends safe. All in exchange for just one life."
He continued twirling a finger in the air.
"That's the hero play, isn't it?" Darius teased "Sacrifice. Your name carved into legend."
"I…"
"Annalise stop." I said firmly. "Devils never make fair contracts. You said you would get us there right, what about back here?"
My brother's smile froze, "You always have been clever sister. Fine, I'll add it." The quill scratched across the parchment, adding the new terms
"Annalise." Adrastos warned. "I do not believe that you should do this. It is not right. We do not even know where this stone may be. We may not be strong enough to get it."
"One time deal" Darius said cooly. "In five minutes, I call it off and you will have doomed the continent to suffer the wrath of an angry little wolf."
Annalise was sweating. "I… I think--"
"She's not going." Qapla cut in, voice like iron. "We will cross the continent ourselves and retrieve the stone. We will no trade a friend for convenience."
Darius sighed, almost disappointed "I didn't want it to come to this."
I tensed, bringing my feet to the floor grabbing my sword. The others followed suit.
He reached into his suit and pulled out a sealed letter. He broke the wax with a sharp, black nail, and unfolded it.
"This was the original message I was supposed to deliver." He said lightly. "But I wanted to try my own way first." His grin widened. "Annalise, it seems your mother says hello."
Annalise face contorted, pained, her cheeks a pale green, "My… my mother's dead. She died giving birth to me."
"Well, that's awkward," Darius laughed. "Because I have a letter from her right here."
"That's... not possible."
"I assure you dear. It's quite possible." He said, waving it tauntingly. "You come with me, and it's yours."
Qapla's jaw clenched. "Why shouldn't I cut you down where you stand? You invade our home, threaten us, mock the dead—"
"Qapla stop." I barked. I knew how dangerous my brother truly was. Someone who could face Helena evenly. His politeness was only a mask.
Qapla looked back at me, eyes full of doubt. And that stung.
"As much as I'd enjoy a duel, boy," Darius said lazily, "you're not even worth the warm-up."
He turned to Annalise. "Time's almost up. Choose."
The silence stretched. Only her uneven breathing filled the air.
"Y… you said that is my mother's letter?" Annalise's whispered. "I… I don't want it. My father, I have to find him first, and he's here on Duskmere, not wherever you say my mother is. I'm supposed to be the brave one. I can't just leave him."
For the first time, Darius's smile vanished. The air grew still. The warmth of the hearth cooled down. He was struggling to keep on his mask.
"So, you've chosen." He clapped his hands once. The food, the wine, the warmth. All of it vanished, leaving behind an empty table. "Very well. I wish you the best of luck. If the wolves, spiders, dragons, slimes, or other various monstrosities don't kill you, we'll meet again soon."
"Hopefully not." I muttered.
Darius met my gaze, silent for a heartbeat. He opened his mouth for a second then closed it into a firm line. Then he gave a mock bow. "May your blade find your enemies and cut them down. Farewell, sister."
Behind him, the air fractured into thousands of glasslike shards, folding inwards. Beyond lay a vast marble hall under a blue sky. Fiends, hellbeasts, and devils walked about, not in hell, but here. On the mortal realm.
He waved once, almost playfully, before the fracture sealed shut.
Silence fell. It was heavier and colder.
No one moved. Then, a small, choked sound came from Annalise. She gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles white. "He… he knew my name," she whispered, her voice trembling so hard the words barely formed. "Hell. The King of Hell. And he… he wants me."
Her eyes were wide with terror that went beyond the battles we had fought. But rather a dread of being known, I knew it well. Qapla turned, but his eyes weren't on Annalise. His sword was still in his hand, and his gaze bored through me. Through gritted teeth, he growled. "What are you?"
Your friend,
I thought, but instead I spat out, "A hellborn."
Why did my brother have to come here? Why did he have to ruin me again – every damn time?
"What does that even mean?" Annalise asked, sinking into a chair. "Hell's open?"
"Hell is a terrible place," I said quietly, my gaze locked with Qapla's. "There is no sky, no clear air, no green life. It was made as a prison. During the Shattering, the gods sealed the fallen angels and their followers there. Those born under that corrupting miasma… we became hellborn."
I drew in a shaky breath. "No one wants to live there. The Seven have been searching for centuries on a way to escape. They found a way to open the gate. They reached across realms into the mortal plane and took with them fiends, hellbeasts, devils… and me. While the armies built their camps, I saw a chance to live free. I took my sister and we escaped."
"But… my mother…" Annalise whispered from the chair, the palms of her hands pressed to her forehead as she ran her fingers through her hair as though to calm herself. "He said he had a letter. Was that a lie, too? Nox, was it?"
"I… I can only assume so," I said, hating the flicker of hope I saw flash through her eyes. "Manipulation is what he does best. He'll twist anyone and anything if it gains him something."
Annalise's hands slid over her head as she buried her face into her forearms. Her silence spoke louder than any words. What could the right hand of the King of Hell possibly gain from manipulating her? Even I wasn't sure of the answer.
"She's right to be confused," Qapla's voice was dangerously low. "And I'm right to be angry. You lied to us."
"I never lied!" I snapped. "You assumed I was a changeling, and I didn't correct you. Last time someone found out what we were, we were thrown overboard a ship."
"So you're hunted," Qapla took a step closer. "You're a target. And you brought danger to our door. You let us fight beside you, sleep in the same house, all while carrying a secret that could get us all killed. What else are you hiding? Is your sister part of this? Was this a trap from the beginning?"
"No! I ran from them. I told you, I want to be free of them!"
"From my studies," Adrastos interceded, his voice the only calm thing in the room, "the souls of the unredeemable sinners, heretics, and the excommunicated go there. Beyond that, I don't know much."
That wasn't right. No mortal souls ever fell into Hell. Not the way he was talking of.
"I don't know hell," Adrastos said, meeting my eyes. "but, I do know Nox. I've broken bread with her, practiced with her, and spoken with her. I know her better than any book or myth. I choose to trust her. And if that trust leads to betrayal, then that's the path that Yaelin has chosen for me."
Qapla let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. "Faith. That's your answer? That's fine for you, healer. Your faith is a shield. But my doubt is what keeps people alive. And right now," his eyes raked over me, "I have a lot of doubt about her."
His words stung sharp and true. This was the moment. This was why I never told them.
"She saved my life, our lives." Annalise's voice whispered, flat, tired. Qapla paused, letting the words hang as each member seemed to weigh the present versus the past.
Qapla finally sheathed his longsword with a sharp, final shing. "Enough of this. All these emotions are making me sick."
He stalked over to the couch where Velyan lay, still and pale. Adrastos joined him, frowning at her unconscious form. "I still don't like this," Adrastos murmured, placing a hand over her forehead. "Her pulse is strong, but… it's different than before. I'll look at her again tomorrow and see what has changed."
Qapla grunted, his gaze fixed on Velyan's face. "One crisis at a time. She's stable. This," he jerked his chin back at me, "is not."
He lifted Velyan into his arms with surprising care and started for the stairs. He stopped on the third step, looking down at us. "We're sleeping in shifts. Adrastos, you take first watch. I'll take second."
He looked directly at me. "You don't get one. We'll talk in the morning. All of us. And Nox?" His voice was iron. "No more lies. Or I swear by my ancestors, I will deal with you myself."
He disappeared upstairs. Annalise, who had been doing her very best to disappear from existence, rose on shaky legs, her breath catching as she paused at the stairs.
Without turning, she spoke. "Who you are isn't your fault, you know. But what do, what you say, only you decide that."' And with that, her receding footsteps vanished.
The room was silent again, just me and Adrastos. "He is afraid, Nox," Adrastos said softly. "As is she. His anger is his shield, just as your secrets are yours."
"You shouldn't have done that," I muttered. "Defended me."
"Perhaps not. But it was the truth."
I looked away. "Thank you, Adrastos.
"For the healing?"
"For that. And for… earlier. For choosing to trust me. I won't forget it."
His ear twitched, and for a moment his calm composure softened. His tail began to wag, slow at first, then steady. He turned quickly, clearing his throat as he headed up the stairs.
I watched him go, a small, tired smile tugging at my lips. Maybe this time I chose right with Adrastos. But Qapla… he was right to be wary. I was a hellborn afterall. My gaze drifted back to the table where my brother had sat.
Whatever he was planning, whatever reason he had for coming here, it would not matter. Because next time, I would be strong enough. Strong enough to protect them. If he ever tried to hurt them, I would cut him down myself.