“According to the book, the archer shot a shock-wave arrow that turned bones to dust. Across the battlefield, demons writhed on the ground like worms, never to regenerate. You were no less deadly, taking out battalions with your ax.”
“That demonarchy was attempting to awaken a malevolent god who once tried to bury all of Gaia in ice. But none of you are old enough to remember that. The M?ri?r are.” If those demons had succeeded, the apocalypse would be a lot sooner than any in the Lore expected. “We warned them what would happen should they stand against us. We always warn them.”
She tilted her head, as if she didn’t know whether to believe him.
“What else have you heard about my alliance?”
“Rumor says Orion the Undoing can detect weaknesses in everything and everyone.”
True. “Is that the rumor?” Sian would never give this female information that wasn’t commonly known. And he’d reveal no weaknesses—history wouldn’t repeat itself—but then, the M?ri?r had very few. “Our leader’s powers are unimaginable. Any who challenge him are doomed to failure.”
“The M?ri?r’s base is supposed to be a dimension that moves through space and time.”
“It’s called Tenebrous, and that’s no secret.” The war room in Perdishian—Orion’s black-stone castle there—had a wall of glass through which one could see worlds flashing by.
“Many believe the M?ri?r’s dragon can incinerate an entire realm.”
Also true. “King Uthyr is a long-term visitor here at the castle.”
Voice scaling higher, she said, “Do the others visit often?”
“They rarely travel to Pandemonia,” he told her, noting the relief in her expression. She should be afraid of them. But . . . “You are currently with the M?ri?r who poses the greatest threat to you.”
She shot him another glare. “I have heard a lot about your alliance, but I could never determine one thing: what do the M?ri?r want?”
“To stop the apocalypse.”
“Stop it? You bring the doom.”
He shook his head. “We herald it. The Vertas alliance is led by N?x the Ever-Knowing, a madwoman who seems bent on destroying this universe. She foolishly believes she can match Orion in power.” Her counterintuitive maneuvering left the M?ri?r scratching their heads. If Orion was known as the Undoing, N?x should be known as the Unpredictable. “Yet so many in Gaia—including the fey—foolishly trust her. We will stop her. We will right the balance.”
“By enslaving us all? By annihilating our way of life and burning our realms to the ground?”
“By defeating and governing you. We journeyed from the Elserealms to Gaia solely for that purpose.”
“Do you intend to govern us like you did the legions who’d gathered below? I think the word you’re looking for is oppress.”
Irritation simmered. “I might have . . . intimidated them so they would return to Slaughter Gorge, to resume their interminable punishment.”
“That sounds dire.”
“It should be. They took part in an uprising against my sire, so Devel punished them diabolically.”
“How so?”
“He divided them into two armies, banishing half to an inferno on one side of the valley and half to an abyss on the other. Each of their strongholds contained a locked portal that led out of hell and a golden key.”
“Let me guess: the key only worked on the opposite army’s portal.”
Sian was impressed. “Just so. Their desire to leave hell embroiled them in eternal strife. They’ve battled each other every night for millennia.” At least until the Vrekener queen had somehow stolen both keys. All Melanthe had wanted was the godsdamned gold.
“Millennia? You didn’t think they’d served a long enough punishment?” Calliope asked, incredulous. “So you sent them back for more?”
“Eternal means eternity.” Sian had replaced the keys, starting the whole thing back up again.
“What about forgiveness? Or peace?”
“Demons don’t forgive, and peace is overrated. War is what I live for. I have the disposition for battle and a body designed for killing.” He took a drink. “Let me guess: you don’t believe in war.”
“Only when it can’t be avoided and it ends in peace. You’re planning to invade Sylvan, but you don’t have to. Is there anything in the universe that I could do or say to keep you from attacking?”
Careful, Calliope, you could give a demon dangerous ideas. What did he want more? Payback against Sylvan, or its former princess in his bed?
He intended to have both. “I will enjoy my long-awaited revenge.”
“Then fey children are right to be afraid of you.” Did younglings truly fear them all? “What will you do when you conquer the kingdom?”
“So certain of my victory?”
She rolled her eyes.
He liked that she understood his might. “After wiping out any resistance, I will free the demons of that land, then enslave the fey nobility. I daresay you’re a member of the Sylvan gentry.”
“I daresay I’m already a slave.”
Gods, her insolence was sexy. Excitement continued to burn away his ennui.
“I would support your first decree,” she said.
“Would you indeed?”
She nodded. “If I were queen, I’d liberate all the demons.”
“You mean those serfs?”
Her cheeks flushed, his barb hitting home. “I was young when I left the kingdom. I might not have understood Sylvan as well as I’d thought.”
Her admission surprised him. “But you wouldn’t support my second decree? Do you not think the fey overlords deserve a like punishment for enslaving others?”
“If you did that, you would be duplicating the worst thing that kingdom ever did.”
“Your actions were critical to the success of that slave raid!”
“I’m not Karinna.” Seeming to rein in her temper, she said, “You don’t have to be that kind of ruler. Don’t do this, Abyssian.”
“What do you know of ruling? Or of anything?”