We went through one set of doors, into a set of rooms cavernous enough to fit my whole house, both stories. Two rows of windows adorned the far wall, giving an impressive view of a kingdom riddled with gardens, lush little landscapes, and buildings with gothic spires. The blue sky above went on forever, even though I was almost positive a cave ceiling existed above us somewhere. When I managed to pull my gaze away, I saw the doors dotting the other side of the living space, various rooms for me and my guests. There was enough space for all of my friends, including those from my neighborhood, to come and stay. There would be plenty of room, and surely plenty of creepy little helpers scurrying around.
Not plenty of air, though. And obviously, the non-magical wouldn’t be allowed in anyway. To stay here forever would mean giving up a massive part of my life.
I stopped in front of one of the large windows and remembered the last time I’d been to the Underworld. I remembered having Darius by my side.
A pang hit my heart.
He must’ve heard I’d been taken from the elves, but he’d probably know that I was safe here. Safe from physical harm, at any rate. Even though I missed him, I didn’t need him, so hopefully he would keep working on the vampires and not attempt to do something crazy, like try to rescue me. I was the one who’d gotten us through the Underworld the first time, for the most part, and even that had been close. I didn’t want him to try to find me, get caught, and have Lucifer turn him into a hostage situation. That would just complicate everything.
Still, though, it would be cool to stand here with him and take in the view.
“I guess you get a bed now,” I commented to Cahal, standing just inside the doorway.
“It seems so.” He pointed at the door at the back of the room. “That is yours. I’ll take the room next to it.”
“How do you know?” I zigzagged though the furniture and opened the door into a well-lit room with more of the fantastic view. The colors in the room were deep and pleasing, dark and saturated. The enormous bed backed up to a paneled wall. A little writing desk faced one of the windows and couches took up the other side, so I could lounge without going into the common area.
I blew out a breath and braced my palms against my hips. The arrangement of the furniture, the view with the gothic spires, the height of the room—as though I lived on a cloud—and the decor made me feel comfortable in a way that unnerved me. All of it blended together into a pleasing sort of utopia.
This felt like my room. Like I’d been living here all my life.
“Why did you say this was my room?” I asked, raising my voice so Cahal could hear.
“Because—”
I startled and ripped my elbow away from the guy who had snuck up on me and now stood two feet away. I clearly hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings, something that didn’t usually happen in foreign and dangerous places.
“Because,” he started again, “it is the corner room and the largest in this wing. It belongs to the person with the highest status. You.”
“It’s breathtaking.” I chuckled to myself and shook my head. “He used that gaudy room to heighten the pleasure of ending up here.”
“You get the joke.”
“It isn’t a joke. It’s a lure.” I shook my head again. “And it’s a good one.”
Four
Penny grabbed Emery’s arm as they slowed in front of the gate to the Underworld. Dead flowers and twisted vines lined either side of the path before it descended into a hazy black maw that threatened to suck travelers in if they got too close. Intense magic seeped into the air around them, pulsing with menace, violence, sex, and love, the mixture not as pleasing as Reagan’s brew of magic, but darker and more sinister. Beyond that maw would be an incredibly dangerous place, Penny could feel it.
She did not want to willingly walk into that.
“You’ve been this way before?” she asked, gulping, resisting the urge to take a step back.
Darius unslung a pack from his back and pulled out a torch. “Yes. Many times. It’s the safest entrance point I’ve found into the areas I usually traverse.” He handed the torch, unlit, to Penny. His normal vampire swagger, the one she was as accustomed to seeing as his suits, had been replaced with the sort of ruthlessness he showed in battle. His magic swirled around him, heady and vicious. “You can magically light this, correct?”
“Yes.” She took the torch. “How many times have you been down here?”
“Through this particular entrance—two dozen or so. There are others I’ve used, including the first area I visited with Reagan. I have business in the Edges, as they’re called. Your magic has helped me make good connections. Connections we will need now.” He glanced down at her fanny pack, one of Reagan’s old ones. Scuffed up and beat to hell, it still did the trick, holding a small fortune in spells.