Chapter 50

Cole

Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana

A fter hours on the phone arranging travel and finalizing their Budapest housing arrangements for the foreseeable future with Hayden, Cole threw his phone onto the nightstand with an aggravated groan. He pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, accidentally smashing his glasses into his face. Shit . He had forgotten he put those on earlier in the evening.

As expected, getting to Budapest wasn’t nearly as easy as it should have been. It got more difficult when you considered that Evie, currently tangled around him and completely passed out, didn’t have a passport, a driver’s license, or any form of identification besides a birth certificate and a cold case categorizing her as a missing person. A truly horrifying amount of his time on the phone had been spent on the phone with a close friend in the Department of State to see how exactly he could go about expediting a passport for Evie. After hours of discussion, which devolved into outright threatening, his friend finally said he could arrange for them to pick it up in five days from the nearest priority processing hub. Which just so happened to be in another state. Five days wasn’t ideal, but they could deal with that to make sure everything was aboveboard. He let Charles, Hayden, and the Moirai know; only Essi responded, her message chilling.

Hurry, Lord of the Underworld. You are running out of time.

Sighing, he shook his head and slid down the headboard, curling Evie into him and nuzzling his nose into her wild curls, taking a deep breath of her orange and cinnamon scent. His tension seeped out of him as she melted into him. A humming sound of satisfaction made its way to his ears, and a sleepy smile spread across his face.

He was dozing off when he heard pounding from downstairs. His eyes popped open in confusion. The hammering noise continued. “What the fuck?” he muttered, bolting upright as the wards protecting the house thrummed violently.

Evie made a quiet sound, her body shifting against his. “Cole?” she murmured, lifting her head from his chest, her eyes still mostly closed.

“Someone’s at the front door.” He skimmed a kiss over her forehead before sliding out of bed and pulling on the sweatpants he had dropped to the floor earlier.

“What?” All sleep vanished from her eyes, and she threw the covers back, jumping from the bed. She raced towards the closet where they had finally set up her clothing.

“Nope,” he snapped, catching her hand before she could get across the room. “I need you to stay in here.”

A disgruntled look settled over her face. “Excuse you? I am not staying here while you confront somebody who’s at our front door at—” Her eyes darted towards the clock. “—3:00 in the morning. Are you out of your mind?”

She tugged at her hand, but he held firm. “It could be dangerous,” he argued. “Good news doesn’t pound on the door at the witching hour. Ever. I need to be able to do what I need to do if it’s a threat, and I won’t be able to focus if you’re in danger. Please, Angel.”

“No.” Her voice was firm, the word snapped. “Absolutely not, Cole. I’m not going to stay isolated in safety while you risk your life, whether it’s right now or in the future.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she ignored him. “We’re a team. It’s the two of us together. Always. Even in danger. Actually, you know what, especially in danger. I’m not some wilting flower that you have to hide and protect. I’m your equal in power and responsibility. If you have a problem with that, we’re going to have to have a conversation about it that you will not enjoy.”

Despite the pounding noise that he finally recognized as coming from the front door, which was now paired with shouting, he found himself smiling at the powerful, commanding witch in front of him, demanding that he accept her as an equal. “Okay. Okay, petite déesse . We go down together or not at all. Mais yeah, you stay behind me, understand? And you best be drawing fully on your power the entire time." Even he could hear the thick accent coloring his words.

Evie nodded and followed him down the stairs, her palms lit with magic, her eyes glowing blue and gold in the darkness.

When he reached the bottom step, he turned, placing his palm against her chest to hold her on the stairs. Her head tilted to the side. “You’re down here with me, mon ange , but please stay on the step. You can strike anybody from here. This has nothing to do with hiding you away and everything to do with making sure you have a fighting chance if somebody comes in hot through the door.” He watched her process the thought, eyes begging her to agree.

“Fine,” she agreed haltingly.

“That’s my good girl,” he responded without thought. In the dim light of their magic, her pulse thrumming in excitement at his praise was clear as day. With a tight squeeze of her hand and plenty of internal screaming that he might be placing her in danger, he turned and strode to the door, leaving the wards in place to ensure the person on the other side couldn’t get in unless and until he lifted them. One last glance at Evie to make sure she was still on the stairs then he unlocked and opened the door.

Standing in front of him was the goddess of witches, disheveled and irate.

“Cate? What the fuck are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?” he snapped.

Evie’s feet padded quietly across the wood floor until she stood behind him, one small hand resting on his back. Poking her head around him, she took in the goddess standing at the door. “What do you need?” Her tone was calmer than his own.

“I have news that both of you need to know.” Overhead, the gas lamps flickered, but their yellow light couldn’t pierce the darkness of the shadows gathered around Cate’s slim frame. “May I come in?”

Evie nodded and stepped back. Cole didn't move, still glaring in suspicion at the goddess. He must have impersonated a statute for too long because, suddenly, there was a sharp jab to his shoulder blades. "Cole."

Cole sighed but listened to Evie, inverting the wards to allow Cate to cross the threshold. Once she was in, Cole slammed the door and drew the protections back in place. When he finally turned back around, Evie already had Cate seated in the kitchen with a cup of tea in front of her.

“What is it, Cate?” Cole demanded, stepping behind Evie and drawing her against him.

“I don’t have much time, but I’m here to share recent conversations that the Witches Council has had about the two of you.” Cate lifted the cup of tea to her lips.

“The Witches Counc—” Cole froze as the conversation he and Evie had the night made its way to the top of his adrenaline-soaked mind. “The Witches Council? The Council overseen by the Witches Council Judiciary?”

“Yes.”

“The Judiciary upon which you sit as the primary member?”

Cate hesitated, her brow furrowing. “Yes?” The response was a question.

In front of him, Evie drew in a deep breath. Clever little witch figuring out where he was going with this. “Cole—” she started warningly.

But Cole ignored her interruption and went in for the cross-examination kill. “The same Judiciary that wouldn’t allow a coven to rescue a toddler abandoned in the woods unless they agreed to require her to undergo annual memory reversions and suffer a forced sterilization when she was eighteen?” By the end, he was all but growling. "Sound familiar?"

Cate’s face paled. “Cole—”

“You want to tell me why I shouldn’t annihilate you in our fucking kitchen and watch your blood soak my tiles?”

“It was a matter of safety—”

He stepped out from behind Evie, a menacing snarl emerging from his mouth. “I don’t want to hear about the safety of your precious covens, you traitorous piece of shit. You sacrificed your precious goddamn morals and values when you authorized the maiming of and dangerous experimentation on a child, Hecate.”

Shoulders drawing back, Cate finally snapped. “I will not be spoken to in this way—”

Magic pulsing under his skin, Cole roared back, “ You'll be spoken to exactly this way when defending your despicable actions against my queen while sitting in our home. ” At the rush of unnatural wind, the back doors slammed open, crashing into the walls behind them. Cate jumped as the lights flickered overhead, and then her body was thrown across the room, slamming into the wall. Pinned like a butterfly as Cole stalked towards her, funneling the surplus of death magic required to bring her immortal life to an end. “You’re not even worthy to breathe the same fucking air as her,” he hissed, lifting his hand to bring her final blow. Her body would crumble to dust, scatter to the four winds, and he would keep her soul in a goddamn box on their mantle until they took their rightful seat in the Underworld and he could fling it into Tartarus.

Cate flinched then bowed before him. “I understand, my lord.”

Suddenly, a halo of auburn curls filled his vision, blocking the raven-haired goddess bent in front of him. “Cole, no.” A weight settled against his chest, warmth radiating from the pressure. It felt like… his witch.

As quickly as it raged, his magic calmed. He blinked against sudden exhaustion then looked down where Evie was standing in front of him, her hand pressed to his chest. “Angel,” he rasped, his voice cracking.

“I know, love.” Her arms went around his waist. “I know you want to destroy anyone who hurt me.”

“I wish to assist you with that,” Cate supplied from behind Evie where she was making being trapped against a wall look elegant. “I understand vengeance and pain all too well, and I want to make sure that you’re able to face those who condoned the measures the Council forced upon you.”

Cole’s eyes met Cate’s over the top of Evie’s head, and he gave an abrupt nod. “You’ll give us those names.” With a wave of his hand, he let her fall to the ground.

“Yes,” she said firmly, bracing her knees against the fall to the floor. “I will share those names with you, but, first, I have to make you both aware of a grave threat.” At Cole’s raised eyebrow, she continued. “After you attacked the Barataria Coven, the elders were understandably confused and reached out to other covens to determine whether you were the old gods returned that implicate our prophecy. One of the High Priestesses recognized the name Aidoneus as—”

“The original Hades’ mortal name,” Evie sighed.

“Yes. And they called the Council together to determine whether this, general human bullshit as it stands right now, and the devastation that they don't know is caused by shades require us to initiate the prophecy.”

“And?” Cole ground his teeth at the idea that he had to accept assistance from a woman who sat on the Judiciary that ordered the maiming of his witch. No matter whether Cate actually supported it or not, he was still unable to separate her role from what happened in his mind.

“The Council voted that you are the old gods returned. For the last three days, the elders have been discussing whether the prophecy requires an apocalypse or if it’s more metaphor than anything else. I was there when the original prophecy was recorded, and I know my interpretation of it. Unfortunately, mine is the only accurate recollection of the prophecy since I was there.”

“Why can’t you just make them listen?” Evie asked. “If your interpretation doesn’t demand the witches bring an apocalypse, then why would you let them keep believing it?”

Cate shook her head. “It’s not that easy. Much like the humans, witches have grown more isolated and more polarized as time goes by. With the covens largely decentralized, distrust of others grows until, eventually, it’s just too much to overcome. Passion becomes zealousness and caution becomes exclusion until all you’re left with is a broken connection that can’t be remade.” The Mother of Witches released a harsh breath and raised her eyes to Cole and Evie. “About an hour ago, the Council came back in a dead tie about what to do next. Half of the coven elders support bringing about the apocalypse; the other half are aggressively opposed to it. The Judiciary vote to break a Council tie must be unanimous. It wasn’t.”

“How did it shake out?” Cole asked.

“Medea and Circe in favor of following the prophecy. I was alone in opposing it.” Cate took another sip of her now-cold tea and reclaimed her seat at the kitchen island. “The next step is for those opposed and those in favor to appoint a representative to put forth their best, most persuasive case in support of their position.”

“So why are you here?”

“I’m here because I think it is now an urgent matter to install the two of you as the Underworld’s regents.” Cate shifted, raising her gaze to Cole. “I don’t think we have all the time in the world anymore. You should move as quickly as possible no—” Without any preamble, her voice stopped. Confusion raced across her face. Then, just as suddenly as the conversation ended, Cate screamed. Loud, banshee-like wails shattered the glass in the kitchen windows, and shadows wrapped around the goddess as she sank to her knees on the floor, arms wrapped around her waist, tears pouring down her face.

“Cate?” Evie cried, pushing against Cole’s arms, trying to cross the kitchen to the screaming goddess. He tightened his grasp around her, locking her in place. There was no way in hell his Evie was going anywhere near whatever the fuck was happening to Cate.

Cate’s familiars leapt from her tattoo, landing silently on the floor next to her, circling her once before beginning throwing their wolf-like heads back and howling in agony. Their cries were perfectly pitched to Cate’s own, a haunting chorus that filled the kitchen. The shadows surrounding her suddenly exploded outward, the tendrils wrapping around the edges of the room and blocking out all light in the kitchen. Then they vanished, revealing… nothing. Cate and her familiars had disappeared.

“What the fuck was that?” Evie’s eyes were wide, her expression dazed as she glanced around their utterly destroyed kitchen disbelievingly.

“ Mais I don’t know, me,” Cole responded, so shocked by the unexpected turn of events that the Cajun patois he hadn’t used in decades slipped out of his mouth easily. “Whatever it is, though, it moves our timeline up by a lot. We don’t got the time to wait for your passport to come through. We’ll take the jet in the morning and wing it once we get there. Go make sure we're packed, Angel, while I get everything arranged for us to leave at sunup.”

She had them packed in an hour, everything was arranged for their departure in less than two, and they were on the plane within three.