Perse shifted her attention to Paige. “Go, find your ex-husband. Keep an eye out for him and relay any changes to us. Keeping the two in a cage together might not be the best idea. Maddox will only be able to hold him for so long, and we don’t know what kind of man Maddox will be when he comes out.”
Tom pressed his lips into a firm line. He placed both hands flat on the table like he might rise and ask to join us so he could protect his nephew. His fingers curled into fists. I had a feeling that he was cursing his humanity when he turned glassy eyes towards his wife.
I wished we could have had this conversation elsewhere, anywhere but here. This was Maddox’s family. They didn’t need to stay up all night, worrying about how their nephew was locked in a constant battle with a world-ending entity. There was no getting around it, though. Fenrir would have found his way here eventually. He couldn’t go after my friends without facing a challenge. Tom and Kelly were easier targets.
I was just glad that we’d been here when Fenrir showed up.
It would have been interesting to watch Fenrir go up against Ness. Would her vocal arcana be able to stop him? Would Vi’s hellfire burn him? Would Cerri and I be able to raise another monster with the ability to stop him?
None of that mattered. Fenrir was in Hel’s prison with Maddox. Persephone needed me to help her find Fenrir’s long-lost lover. It sounded complicated, but I was up for the task. In the meantime, I placed a few calls. If Fenrir didn’t want to tango with my friends, the best way to keep Tom and Kelly safe would be to have my friends come to them.
I hoped this would be unnecessary. If all went to plan, Fenrir wouldn’t have the chance to come back here. Nothing ever went to plan, though.
I looked at Paige before she left. “Keep him safe for me.”
She locked eyes with me and gave a small yet truly happy smile. “Of course.”
She vanished from sight. I turned to Persephone. She took my hand, and I felt the warmth of her magic climb up my skin. Where my arcana was the chill of nothingness, Persephone was the first warm rays of the spring sun.
How the hell did I end up with her on my side?
“Good luck,” Kelly said with a firm nod.
Tom lifted his gaze, his features hardening like he’d finally finished processing what’d happened today. “Take care of my boy. I’m trusting you.”
I thumbed the wedding ring on my left hand. “You have my promise.”
Persephone plucked us from the mortal realm before anyone could say more.
Maddox
Fenrir broke away from me.He spun, taking in his surroundings, and howled with rage. The cell was dark and musty and somehow completely obvious. He knew exactly where he was. When he flung himself at the locked door, I leapt on him.
I wrested Fenrir away from the exit and threw him across the room. He slammed into the far wall and slid down. The man lifted a wrath-filled glare in my direction before staggering back up to his feet.
“I could have given you half of all things!” His features morphed, becoming monstrous.
My own beast pushed closer to the surface in response. It changed the shape of my face until I was afraid to catch a glimpse of my own visage. I knew, if I looked in a mirror, I would see Fenrir in my reflection.
“I don’t want anything you have to sell,” I said, my voice rough from the partial transition.
Fenrir pulled his fist back to strike but was jerked back at the last second. Here, in the underworld, I could see the chains that Addie had managed to get around Fenrir. They glistened with oil-slick color all the way up to the iron manacles around his wrist and neck.
Fenrir thrashed in a mad panic. He slashed at the chains. When his claws left deep gouges in the metal, I knew I had to stop him. This was going to be a constant battle. If I didn’t keep him from struggling against his chains, he would escape them, and Addie’s work would be undone.
For Addie, I had to make sure that Fenrir remained in the two manacles.
I rushed in, but Fenrir hit me with a left-handed sucker punch. He knocked the air from my lungs and brought me to my knees. The rush from Addie’s arcana was fading. I didn’t have much energy left.
Fenrir grasped something around my neck that hadn’t been there before. He yanked me forward by my own manacle. “See what that witch has done to you? She put this collar around your neck in case she had to chain you, too. Do you think she trusts you? Do you really think that she is going to be onyourside? That’s a laughable thought.
“That woman of yours is Hel’s flesh and blood. Hel was a betraying bitch, and her kin will be, too. You gave up your soul so easily. I’m disappointed in your naivety. It makes you weak and malleable. That’s why you bound yourself to a woman who sees you as a tool and nothing more.”
I had…a collar? I glanced down, and Fenrir was right. He grasped a metal collar around my neck, though it didn’t match the manacle that he wore. My collar gleamed bright. It shone with threads of gold and green and bone white. It was the link to my soul, still back with Addie.
Fenrir was wrong about Addie, but I let him go on because he was giving me insight into his past. The monstrous man despised Hel far more than anyone should. It made me wonder what the two of them had done in the past, and how it had ended with one in prison and the other as a queen of her own domain.
I had to push Fenrir in the right direction, and there was only one way to do that.
“You know, I rather trust Hel.” I had to provoke him.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
I paused. Fenrir hadn’t said that. A familiar, female voice echoed in the room. Paige stepped out of the shadows.