Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I could feel the way my fist closed magically around the queen’s throat. I could see her feet kicking and the thrill it sent through the man who’d taken over my body.
Pain screamed through me, and then I was falling.
I welcomed the darkness.
Chapter Thirteen
Kelsey
I closed the door to the salon with a heavy sigh. It had been a rough couple of days, and I worried it was going to do nothing but get worse. “She’s asleep. Casey’s with her, and Lee went to check on Dean. Did you already talk to Tix?”
Our previous session had been disrupted by Liv’s fainting spell. Evan had looked her over and declared her not to be dying, which was Casey’s assessment as well.
What was going on in my bestie’s brainpan? Was there some kind of war happening in there? We’d talked about the fact that Myrddin might have had more control over Liv than previously thought, but now I had to wonder if that was still affecting her with him miles and miles away.
“No, I wanted to wait for you,” Gray explained. “I gave him some minor duties. He’s freaked about the hounds ruining the house. Says they would never behave like this around his mother.”
Fen snorted. “They’re some seriously indulged canines, but they’re sweet and smart.”
“You know this how? Have you started talking to animals while I was gone?” There was still a lot about my son’s powers that I didn’t understand. Things that scared me a little. Not because I was scared of Fenrir. Because the more powerful he was, the more they would come for him.
“In a way, and also not. I mean they get me when I talk to them,” Fen explained. Evan had moved off his lap when Liv had taken ill. She’d gone up with me and Casey, and now she was off playing nurse while Fen kept watch over this odd pack. “Hercules, talk to me.”
The biggest of the hounds lifted his head and howled, the sound shaking the room a bit.
“Thanks, buddy.” Fen stood, Puff cradled against his chest. He leaned over and gave Hercules a quick scratch, which seemed to please the hound as he lay back down. “See. They’re smart and they’ve had some training. I would bet their mom indulges them.”
“Oh, shamelessly,” Tix agreed as he walked in with a tray of what appeared to be tea. Crizzelo followed him, carrying her own tray of sandwiches and cakes. It was good to know they kept proper teatime in Hell. “She’s always had hounds around. She raises them from puppies and treats them like her children. Since she stopped bearing children they rather are.”
“She’s not in a relationship?” I asked, curious about his mother.
Tix placed the tray down, and then his head fell back and he laughed. And laughed. After a moment, he put a hand to his belly and shook his head. “The mistress is so amusing. No, Lady Sloane. My mother is not in a relationship and hasn’t been in thousands and thousands of years. Her ex is rather daunting.”
“Her ex being the Lord Lucifer,” Crizzelo explained. “Not many demons want to date the Lord of Hell’s ex-wife. It’s said he still has feelings for her.”
“But she has a couple of thousand kids. And I didn’t think they were Lucifer’s.” I remembered what he’d told me.
He waved that off. “No, of course not. Those were all experiments. Only one of them was Lucifer’s, and she was my mother’s only daughter. After Layla was lost to us, my mother broke things off with Lucifer and pursued having the perfect child. She finally got him and she stopped.”
Crizzelo’s head came up, and the expression on her face made me think there was another side to the story, but she simply went back to her work.
Gray snorted. “I take it you’re her youngest.”
Tix shrugged, an elegant gesture. “Well, you can’t top perfection. So now she has these hounds, and there is no way she would allow them to be spelled and sent to take out my master. She knows how seriously I take my job.”
I had to wonder because the hounds had definitely been spelled. Liv had briefly examined the collars and she’d told me she suspected blood magic. She’d thought it was a witch rather than a demon because of something she called the “signature” on the spell. It was some kind of mystical witch thing, like a unique scent or particular handwriting.
The only problem was things like that could be faked or copied.
“Have you informed her the hounds are here?” Trent asked. Hestia had snuck over his way and had her big head on his lap while Trent ran a hand down her broad back. The males had taken up spaces on either side of Fenrir, while Puff stayed on my son’s lap. I swear that puppy had his pride on. Like he was telling the bigger, badder hounds “Look at me. My dad’s the best.”